"The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal." This sentence, fraught with meaning, is found on page 70 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. The prophet Isaiah was stating the same truth when he said of God's creation (40:26), "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth."

Christian Science makes it clear that one's identity, like that of the star, is his selfsameness, his individual being, which persists eternally. One needs to establish a true sense of identity as God's spiritual image and not drop back into the error of believing himself to be less than God's coexistent expression, the formation of Mind.

To mortal sense, matter seems largely to define identity: one is recognized by the color of his hair and eyes, his size, form, and human character. Material conditions may change one's appearance and nature, may even seem to cause one to disappear in so-called death, to remand dust to dust. But under every circumstance one's identity persists, untouched by material conditions, unchanged even by death. One is forever himself; his identity persists eternally, the reflection of the one infinite individuality—immortal Mind.

The Christian Scientist's goal is to demonstrate his true identity, the function of which in God's great and universal design is to unfold the attributes of Deity. One knows when his real identity is coming to light by the spirituality he expresses. He knows when others are demonstrating their true identities by the justice and love, goodness and intelligence, which these individuals reflect. For this reason every gleam of genuine spirituality should be revered, should be recognized as something apart from flesh and independent of it, something which God treasures and maintains in heaven.

Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 261): "Detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning of God, or good, and the nature of the immutable and immortal. Breaking away from the mutations of time and sense, you will neither lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own identity." We know that the counterfeit identity is being relinquished by an individual when his spiritual qualities stand out more prominently than do his fleshly appearance and personality.

Luke tells us in the twenty-fourth chapter of his Gospel that Christ Jesus drew near to two of his disciples as they walked toward Emmaus after the resurrection and talked with them. The disciples did not know the Master, perhaps because the spiritualizing experience of the resurrection had changed his appearance. Jesus expounded the Scriptural prophecies concerning himself as they walked, and later, in the village, he broke bread with them, having first blessed it. The account has it that then "their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight." Later they remembered that their hearts burned within them as the risen Saviour explained the Word of God. Spirit had identified its representative by spiritual light, which characterizes the ideas of Mind.

Mrs. Eddy comments on this narrative in Science and Health, and she says (p. 46): "The divine Spirit, which identified Jesus thus centuries ago, has spoken through the inspired Word and will speak through it in every age and clime. It is revealed to the receptive heart, and is again seen casting out evil and healing the sick." Through Christian Science, Spirit speaks of the nature and activities of the real man, thus identifying its own offspring. God is revealing to those who are receptive the spiritual qualities which constitute real identity and is imbuing these individuals with the power to demonstrate health and joy and peace.

Christ Jesus' identification with the divine attributes enabled him to prove the persistence of identity in the resurrection. His ascension above the human sense of life did not imply the loss of his real identity, but such a pure attainment of it that he could not be cognized by the mortal senses. He said (Matt. 28:20), "Lo, I am with you alway." His identity, like that of the blade of grass or the star, persists in perfect distinctness forever. It can neither be lost from its Principle nor absorbed in it.

That Spirit's attributes are manifested only through real identities is recognized when one sees that he has never known a moral or spiritual quality except as it has been expressed by some individual. God's qualities are not floating about in space in order to be acquired in greater or lesser measure. Divine attributes, absolute and perfect, constitute real identity; and they can be and must be demonstrated in their infinite quality by each one of us. We must prove by affirming and expressing Godlikeness that identity is as permanent and persistent as the elements of which it is made.

The practical value of demonstrating the distinctness of one's true identity as Mind's reflection lies in the power that reality has over unreality. Thoroughness in affirming and demonstrating real identity makes it possible for one to reject the woes of human selfhood and to demonstrate his place in God's law-governed universe. With complete assurance one should cling to the fact that his identity cannot be tainted by materiality and cannot sink into oblivion. The purpose of identity is to unfold the divine nature of God throughout eternity. God maintains true identity, and divine Science reveals in all glory what God forever maintains.

Helen Wood Bauman