The renowned sculptor Michelangelo is credited with saying, “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.” I read his reference to statues being “perfect in attitude and action” as a specific manner of thinking about a person, place, or thing. He was careful to picture in thought the perfect representative of whatever he contemplated carving.
It’s very interesting that his method involved starting with the perfect model, and that he simply removed whatever didn’t belong to that perfection.
Mary Baker Eddy has this to say about viewing perfect models: “We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 248). This directive is premised on forming spiritual models in thought. This is in perfect alignment with what we read in the Bible in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, where creation is revealed in the infinitude of Spirit, God, divine Mind (see Genesis 1:1–4). It is a complete creation, and is pronounced very good (see Genesis 1:31). This is the only creation that exists, and it is beautifully framed in terms of being perfect, just as God is perfect. The divine Mind knows only perfection, and it would be impossible for there to be anything else.
