In a college monthly magazine the writer recently read an interesting article entitled, "Relativity for the Layman," confirming the deceptive nature of material existence. From it the following is quoted: "We must first realize that our senses are inadequate; that they betray us. . . . For example, most of us agree that the earth revolves about the sun, even though our senses would have us believe the opposite is true. Similarly, many of us are able to believe that a sheet of paper isn't smooth and white and rectangular after all. Instead we can accept, as science tells us, that it consists mostly of empty space, that it has myriads of atoms, and that it really has no color." If the individual can accept the physical scientists' findings, even though contrary to the evidence of his senses, how much more important it is to accept the glorious spiritual fact of being: that all is, in reality, God and His spiritual manifestation, which exclude material sense testimony and mortal error.
In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 207): "The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things. The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth." She continues: "Spiritual facts are not inverted; the opposite discord, which bears no resemblance to spirituality, is not real. The only evidence of this inversion is obtained from suppositional error, which affords no proof of God, Spirit, or of the spiritual creation."
What is mortal sense testimony but the very opposite of spiritual fact? It is illusory. Its description of man as purely physical is as mistaken as the Ptolemaic blunder regarding the solar system. Again, mortal mind's portrayal of man as both material and spiritual is also mistaken. This sort of partnership is impossible, since the Bible teaches that a house which is divided against itself cannot stand.
One will agree that fundamental laws cannot be changed, regardless of how few understand their basis. When Christ Jesus called Lazarus to come forth from the grave in which he had lain for four days, the Master no doubt was the only one in all the company around him who was confident of a successful conclusion. Even before calling Lazarus forth, Jesus said (John 11:41), "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." Jesus gave no reality to matter and its so-called laws. His spiritual cognizance of God as Life, as the sovereign Principle and power, impelled him to look only to the spiritual premise as the true measurement of actuality. Knowing man to be perfect, spiritual, and immortal, the beloved child of a loving Father-Mother, God, the Master demonstrated the truth of man's uninterrupted life and harmony, which are based on divine laws.
To demonstrate spiritual facts, we must see, or understand, the nothingness of matter or mortal mind, recognize the deception of mortal sense testimony, and perceive the life-giving Principle, or Mind, as All. Reasoning rightly that God or Principle is the only cause, Christian Science declares that God has no opposite. There is in reality no error. If error were real, it would be of God, Truth, since God created all; and we then would have no hope. Therefore the testimony of the material senses is of a necessity untrue and consequently should be seen to be unreal, an illusion. The physical condition is caused only by what mortal mind concludes. If we strip mortal mind of its pretense to authority by the realization that all is divine Mind and its creation, then mortal mind is disarmed.
The instant one begins understandingly to declare himself spiritual, not material, he is putting into practice a provable fact. A spiritually quickened sense intelligently comprehends and proves that no false mesmeric and delusive belief can hinder one's dominion and control over physical actions and conditions. Harmonious self-government is the effect of having one Mind, one God. Thus the lie of material sense is destroyed through a better understanding of God and man. And since spirituality is fact, healing can be instantaneous.
Because man is really spiritual, error can be removed by right knowing. But right knowing is necessary. "The scientific statement of being," found on page 468 of Science and Health, is one of the most powerful statements extant. Many consistently turn to it as a very present help in trouble and find healing because it strips error of a false pretense to life. It reads as follows: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material, he is spiritual."
The writer experienced an instantaneous healing of severe burns through the application of spiritual truths, including those contained in "the scientific statement of being." The contents of a receptacle of boiling fat had been poured over both her hands. Immediately she declared herself to be spiritual, a child of God, and knew that she could not be made to believe in mortal mind's illusion of accident. The pain was severe, and for a moment she could not seem to think clearly. She began prayerfully and silently to repeat "the scientific statement of being."
The effect of spiritually right reasoning was immediate. The pain subsided and ceased at once. She did not look at her hands, but wiped the grease from them and went on about her work, completely forgetting the experience. That she was instantly healed is proved by the fact that dishes were washed and household chores were done without a twinge of sensation to remind her of the incident.
Christian Science conclusively unfolds the truth, separating fable from fact, fiction from truth, and unreality from reality. Science declares that God is perfect and that man, coexistent with Him, is pure, upright, whole, free, and is fully sustained by spiritual sense. Subordinating the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the truths of Science, one demonstrates that "the spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things."
