Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

M >> Mary Baker Eddy >> Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

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277:24 The realm of the real is Spirit. The unlikeness of Spirit
is matter, and the opposite of the real is not divine, - it is
a human concept. Matter is an error of state-
277:27 ment. This error in the premise leads to errors
in the conclusion in every statement into which it enters.
Nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is immor-
277:30 tal, for matter is temporal and is therefore a mortal phe-
nomenon, a human concept, sometimes beautiful, always
erroneous.

Substance /versus/ supposition

278:1 Is Spirit the source or creator of matter? Science re-
veals nothing in Spirit out of which to create matter.
278:3 Divine metaphysics explains away matter.
Spirit is the only substance and consciousness
recognized by divine Science. The material
278:6 senses oppose this, but there are no material senses, for
matter has no mind. In Spirit there is no matter, even
as in Truth there is no error, and in good no evil. It is
278:9 a false supposition, the notion that there is real substance-
matter, the opposite of Spirit. Spirit, God, is infinite,
all. Spirit can have no opposite.

One cause supreme

278:12 That matter is substantial or has life and sensation, is
one of the false beliefs of mortals, and exists only in a
supposititious mortal consciousness. Hence,
278:15 as we approach Spirit and Truth, we lose the
consciousness of matter. The admission that there can
be material substance requires another admission, -
278:18 namely, that Spirit is not infinite and that matter is self-
creative, self-existent, and eternal. From this it would
follow that there are two eternal causes, warring forever
278:21 with each other; and yet we say that Spirit is supreme
and all-presence.

The belief of the eternity of matter contradicts the
278:24 demonstration of life as Spirit, and leads to the conclu-
sion that if man is material, he originated in matter and
must return to dust, - logic which would prove his an-
278:27 nihilation.

Substance is Spirit

All that we term sin, sickness, and death is a mortal
belief. We define matter as error, because it is the oppo-
278:30 site of life, substance, and intelligence. Mat-
ter, with its mortality, cannot be substantial
if Spirit is substantial and eternal. Which ought to
279:1 be substance to us, - the erring, changing, and dying,
the mutable and mortal, or the unerring, immutable,
279:3 and immortal? A New Testament writer plainly de-
scribes faith, a quality of mind, as "the /substance/ of things
hoped for."

Material mortality

279:6 The doom of matter establishes the conclusion that
matter, slime, or protoplasm never originated
in the immortal Mind, and is therefore not
279:9 eternal. Matter is neither created by Mind nor for the
manifestation and support of Mind.

Spiritual tangibility

Ideas are tangible and real to immortal consciousness,
279:12 and they have the advantage of being eternal.
Spirit and matter can neither coexist nor co-
operate, and one can no more create the other than
279:15 Truth can create error, or /vice versa/.

In proportion as the belief disappears that life and in-
telligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of
279:18 being are seen, and their only idea or intelligence is
in God. Spirit is reached only through the understand-
ing and demonstration of eternal Life and Truth and
279:21 Love.

Pantheistic tendencies

Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and
medicine is more or less infected with the pantheistic
279:24 belief that there is mind in matter; but this
belief contradicts alike revelation and right
reasoning. A logical and scientific conclusion is reached
279:27 only through the knowledge that there are not two
bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, -
Mind.

279:30 Pantheism, starting from a material sense of God,
seeks cause in effect, Principle in its idea, and life and
intelligence in matter.

The things of God are beautiful

280:1 In the infinitude of Mind, matter must be unknown.
Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not prod-
280:3 ucts of the infinite, perfect, and eternal /All/.
From Love and from the light and harmony
which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections
280:6 of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are
ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and
the product must be mental.

280:9 Finite belief can never do justice to Truth in any direc-
tion. Finite belief limits all things, and would compress
Mind, which is infinite, beneath a skull bone. Such be-
280:12 lief can neither apprehend nor worship the infinite; and
to accommodate its finite sense of the divisibility of Soul
and substance, it seeks to divide the one Spirit into per-
280:15 sons and souls.

Belief in many gods

Through this error, human belief comes to have "gods
many and lords many." Moses declared as Jehovah's
280:18 first command of the Ten: "Thou shalt have
no other gods before me!" But behold the
zeal of belief to establish the opposite error of many
280:21 minds. The argument of the serpent in the allegory, "Ye
shall be as gods," urges through every avenue the belief
that Soul is in body, and that infinite Spirit, and Life, is
280:24 in finite forms.

Sensationless body

Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient
material form, man has a sensationless body; and God,
280:27 the Soul of man and of all existence, being
perpetual in His own individuality, harmony,
and immortality, imparts and perpetuates these qualities
280:30 in man, - through Mind, not matter. The only excuse
for entertaining human opinions and rejecting the Science
of being is our mortal ignorance of Spirit, - ignorance
281:1 which yields only to the understanding of divine Science,
the understanding by which we enter into the kingdom
281:3 of Truth on earth and learn that Spirit is infinite and
supreme. Spirit and matter no more commingle than
light and darkness. When one appears, the other dis-
281:6 appears.

God and His image

Error presupposes man to be both mind and matter.
Divine Science contradicts the corporeal senses, rebukes
281:9 mortal belief, and asks: What is the Ego,
whence its origin and what its destiny? The
Ego-man is the reflection of the Ego-God; the Ego-man
281:12 is the image and likeness of perfect Mind, Spirit, divine
Principle.

The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called God, is
281:15 infinite individuality, which supplies all form and come-
liness and which reflects reality and divinity in individual
spiritual man and things.

281:18 The mind supposed to exist in matter or beneath a
skull bone is a myth, a misconceived sense and false
conception as to man and Mind. When we put off the
281:21 false sense for the true, and see that sin and mortality
have neither Principle nor permanency, we shall learn
that sin and mortality are without actual origin or right-
281:24 ful existence. They are native nothingness, out of which
error would simulate creation through a man formed from
dust.

The true new idea

281:27 Divine Science does not put new wine into old bottles,
Soul into matter, nor the infinite into the finite. Our
false views of matter perish as we grasp
281:30 the facts of Spirit. The old belief must be
cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the in-
spiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be
282:1 lost. Now, as of old, Truth casts out evils and heals
the sick.

Figures of being

282:3 The real Life, or Mind, and its opposite, the so-called
material life and mind, are figured by two geometrical
symbols, a circle or sphere and a straight
282:6 line. The circle represents the infinite with-
out beginning or end; the straight line represents the
finite, which has both beginning and end. The sphere
282:9 represents good, the self-existent and eternal individuality
or Mind; the straight line represents evil, a belief in
a self-made and temporary material existence. Eternal
282:12 Mind and temporary material existence never unite in
figure or in fact.

Opposite symbols

A straight line finds no abiding-place in a curve, and a
282:15 curve finds no adjustment to a straight line. Similarly,
matter has no place in Spirit, and Spirit has
no place in matter. Truth has no home in
282:18 error, and error has no foothold in Truth. Mind cannot
pass into non-intelligence and matter, nor can non-intel-
ligence become Soul. At no point can these opposites
282:21 mingle or unite. Even though they seem to touch, one
is still a curve and the other a straight line.

There is no inherent power in matter; for all that is
282:24 material is a material, human, mortal thought, always
governing itself erroneously.

Truth is the intelligence of immortal Mind. Error is
282:27 the so-called intelligence of mortal mind.

Truth is not inverted

Whatever indicates the fall of man or the opposite of
God or God's absence, is the Adam-dream, which is neither
282:30 Mind nor man, for it is not begotten of the
Father. The rule of inversion infers from
error its opposite, Truth; but Truth is the light which
283:1 dispels error. As mortals begin to understand Spirit,
they give up the belief that there is any true existence
283:3 apart from God.

Source of all life and action

Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no
inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious
283:6 action. Mind is the same Life, Love, and wis-
dom "yesterday, and to-day, and forever."
Matter and its effects - sin, sickness, and
283:9 death - are states of mortal mind which act, react, and
then come to a stop. They are not facts of Mind. They
are not ideas, but illusions. Principle is absolute. It
283:12 admits of no error, but rests upon understanding.

But what say prevalent theories? They insist that
Life, or God, is one and the same with material life so-
283:15 called. They speak of both Truth and error as /mind/,
and of good and evil as /spirit/. They claim that to be
life which is but the objective state of material sense, -
283:18 such as the structural life of the tree and of material
man, - and deem this the manifestation of the one Life,
God.

Spiritual structure

283:21 This false belief as to what really constitutes life so
detracts from God's character and nature, that the true
sense of His power is lost to all who cling to
283:24 this falsity. The divine Principle, or Life, can-
not be practically demonstrated in length of days, as it
was by the patriarchs, unless its Science be accurately
283:27 stated. We must receive the divine Principle in the under-
standing, and live it in daily life; and unless we so do, we
can no more demonstrate Science, than we can teach and
283:30 illustrate geometry by calling a curve a straight line or a
straight line a sphere.

Are mentality, immortality, consciousness, resident in
284:1 matter? It is not rational to say that Mind is infinite,
but dwells in finiteness, - in matter, - or that matter is
284:3 infinite and the medium of Mind.

Mind never limited

If God were limited to man or matter, or if the infinite
could be circumscribed within the finite, God would be
284:6 corporeal, and unlimited Mind would seem
to spring from a limited body; but this is an
impossibility. Infinite Mind can have no starting-point,
284:9 and can return to no limit. It can never be in bonds,
nor be fully manifested through corporeality.

Material recognition impossible

Is God's image or likeness matter, or a mortal, sin,
284:12 sickness, and death? Can matter recognize Mind?
Can infinite Mind recognize matter? Can the
infinite dwell in the finite or know aught un-
284:15 like the infinite? Can Deity be known through
the material senses? Can the material senses, which re-
ceive no direct evidence of Spirit, give correct testimony
284:18 as to spiritual life, truth, and love?

The answer to all these questions must forever be in
the negative.

Our physical insensibility to Spirit

284:21 The physical senses can obtain no proof of God. They
can neither see Spirit through the eye nor hear it through
the ear, nor can they feel, taste, or smell Spirit.
284:24 Even the more subtile and misnamed ma-
terial elements are beyond the cognizance
of these senses, and are known only by the effects com-
284:27 monly attributed to them.

According to Christian Science, the only real senses
of man are spiritual, emanating from divine Mind.
284:30 Thought passes from God to man, but neither sensation
nor report goes from material body to Mind. The in-
tercommunication is always from God to His idea, man.
285:1 Matter is not sentient and cannot be cognizant of good
or of evil, of pleasure or of pain. Man's individu-
285:3 ality is not material. This Science of being obtains not
alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here
and now; it is the great fact of being for time and
285:6 eternity.

The human counterfeit

What, then, is the material personality which suffers,
sins, and dies? It is not man, the image and likeness
285:9 of God, but man's counterfeit, the inverted
likeness, the /unlikeness/ called sin, sickness,
and death. The unreality of the claim that a mortal is
285:12 the true image of God is illustrated by the opposite na-
tures of Spirit and matter, Mind and body, for one is
intelligence while the other is non-intelligence.

Material misconceptions

285:15 Is God a physical personality? Spirit is not physical.
The belief that a material body is man is a false con-
ception of man. The time has come for a
285:18 finite conception of the infinite and of a ma-
terial body as the seat of Mind to give place
to a diviner sense of intelligence and its manifestations,
285:21 to the better understanding that Science gives of the
Supreme Being, or divine Principle, and idea.

Salvation is through reform

By interpreting God as a corporeal Saviour but not as
285:24 the saving Principle, or divine Love, we shall continue
to seek salvation through pardon and not
through reform, and resort to matter instead
285:27 of Spirit for the cure of the sick. As mortals
reach, through knowledge of Christian Science, a higher
sense, they will seek to learn, not from matter, but from
285:30 the divine Principle, God, how to demonstrate the Christ,
Truth, as the healing and saving power.

It is essential to understand, instead of believe, what
286:1 relates most nearly to the happiness of being. To seek
Truth through belief in a human doctrine is not to un-
286:3 derstand the infinite. We must not seek the immutable
and immortal through the finite, mutable, and mortal,
and so depend upon belief instead of demonstration, for
286:6 this is fatal to a knowledge of Science. The understand-
ing of Truth gives full faith in Truth, and spiritual un-
derstanding is better than all burnt offerings.

286:9 The Master said, "No man cometh unto the Father
[the divine Principle of being] but by me," Christ,
Life, Truth, Love; for Christ says, "I am the way."
286:12 Physical causation was put aside from first to
last by this original man, Jesus. He knew that the
divine. Principle, Love, creates and governs all that
286:15 is real.

Goodness a portion of God

In the Saxon and twenty other tongues /good/ is the term
for God. The Scriptures declare all that He
286:18 made to be good, like Himself, - good in
Principle and in idea. Therefore the spiritual
universe is good, and reflects God as He is.

Spiritual thoughts

286:21 God's thoughts are perfect and eternal, are substance
and Life. Material and temporal thoughts are human,
involving error, and since God, Spirit, is the
286:24 only cause, they lack a divine cause. The
temporal and material are not then creations of Spirit.
They are but counterfeits of the spiritual and eternal.
286:27 Transitory thoughts are the antipodes of everlasting
Truth, though (by the supposition of opposite qualities)
error must also say, "I am true." But by this saying
286:30 error, the lie, destroys itself.

Sin, sickness, and death are comprised in human ma-
terial belief, and belong not to the divine Mind. They
287:1 are without a real origin or existence. They have neither
Principle nor permanence, but belong, with all that is
287:3 material and temporal, to the nothingness of error, which
simulates the creations of Truth. All creations of Spirit
are eternal; but creations of matter must return to dust.
287:6 Error supposes man to be both mental and material.
Divine Science contradicts this postulate and maintains
man's spiritual identity.

Divine allness

287:9 We call the absence of Truth, /error/. Truth and error
are unlike. In Science, Truth is divine, and the /infinite/
God can have no unlikeness. Did God, Truth,
287:12 create error? No! "Doth a fountain send
forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" God
being everywhere and all-inclusive, how can He be absent
287:15 or suggest the absence of omnipresence and omnipotence?
How can there be more than /all/?

Neither understanding nor truth accompanies error,
287:18 nor is error the offshoot of Mind. Evil calls itself some-
thing, when it is nothing. It saith, "I am man, but I am
not the image and likeness of God;" whereas the Scrip-
287:21 tures declare that man was made in God's likeness.

Error unveiled

Error is false, mortal belief; it is illusion, without spir-
itual identity or foundation, and it has no real existence.
287:24 The supposition that life, substance, and in-
telligence are /in/ matter, or /of/ it, is an error.
Matter is neither a thing nor a person, but merely the
287:27 objective supposition of Spirit's opposite. The five mate-
rial senses testify to truth and error as united in a mind
both good and evil. Their false evidence will finally
287:30 yield to Truth, - to the recognition of Spirit and of the
spiritual creation.

Truth cannot be contaminated by error. The state-
288:1 ment that /Truth is real/ necessarily includes the correlated
statement, that /error, Truth's unlikeness, is unreal/.

The great conflict

288:3 The suppositional warfare between truth and error is
only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spir-
itual senses and the testimony of the material
288:6 senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and
flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the un-
derstanding of divine Love.
288:9 Superstition and understanding can never combine.
When the final physical and moral effects of Christian
Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth
288:12 and error, understanding and belief, Science and material
sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated
by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The
288:15 lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash
till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the
distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the
288:18 earth. As St. Paul says: "There remaineth therefore
a rest to the people of God" (of Spirit).

The chief stones in the temple

The chief stones in the temple of Christian Science are
288:21 to be found in the following postulates: that Life is God,
good, and not evil; that Soul is sinless, not
to be found in the body; that Spirit is not, and
288:24 cannot be, materialized; that Life is not subject
to death; that the spiritual real man has no birth, no ma-
terial life, and no death.

The Christ-element

288:27 Science reveals the glorious possibilities of immortal
man, forever unlimited by the mortal senses.
The Christ-element in the Messiah made him
288:30 the Way-shower, Truth and Life.

The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have
learned from error, and man's real existence as a child
289:1 of God comes to light. Truth demonstrated is eternal
life. Mortal man can never rise from the temporal /debris/
289:3 of error, belief in sin, sickness, and death, until he learns
that God is the only Life. The belief that life and sensa-
tion are in the body should be overcome by the under-
289:6 standing of what constitutes man as the image of God.
Then Spirit will have overcome the flesh.

Wickedness is not man

A wicked mortal is not the idea of God. He is little
289:9 else than the expression of error. To suppose that sin,
lust, hatred, envy, hypocrisy, revenge, have life
abiding in them, is a terrible mistake. Life
289:12 and life's idea, Truth and Truth's idea, never make men
sick, sinful, or mortal.

Death but an illusion

The fact that the Christ, or Truth, overcame and still
289:15 overcomes death proves the "king of terrors" to be but
a mortal belief, or error, which Truth destroys
with the spiritual evidences of Life; and this
289:18 shows that what appears to the senses to be death is but a
mortal illusion, for to the real man and the real universe
there is no death-process.

289:21 The belief that matter has life results, by the universal
law of mortal mind, in a belief in death. So man, tree,
and flower are supposed to die; but the fact remains,
289:24 that God's universe is spiritual and immortal.

Spiritual offspring

The spiritual fact and the material belief of things are
contradictions; but the spiritual is true, and therefore the
289:27 material must be untrue. Life is not in matter.
Therefore it cannot be said to pass out of mat-
ter. Matter and death are mortal illusions. Spirit and
289:30 all things spiritual are the real and eternal.

Man is not the offspring of flesh, but of Spirit, - of
Life, not of matter. Because Life is God, Life must be
290:1 eternal, self-existent. Life is the everlasting I AM, the Be-
ing who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.

Death no advantage

290:3 If the Principle, rule, and demonstration of man's being
are not in the least understood before what is termed death
overtakes mortals, they will rise no higher spir-
290:6 itually in the scale of existence on account of
that single experience, but will remain as material as be-
fore the transition, still seeking happiness through a ma-
290:9 terial, instead of through a spiritual sense of life, and from
selfish and inferior motives. That Life or Mind is finite
and physical or is manifested through brain and nerves,
290:12 is false. Hence Truth comes to destroy this error and
its effects, - sickness, sin, and death. To the spiritual
class, relates the Scripture: "On such the second death
290:15 hath no power."

Future purification