Editorial July 26, 1924 Issue

The Real Man

Duncan Sinclair

Christian Science teaches that the concept of man held by the so-called human mind is false. Many who take up the study of Christian Science are greatly surprised at what it reveals to them; and it is a certainty that as they grasp its teaching their most cherished theories about man will be overthrown. And happy is he whose thought is prepared for the great awakening.

A generally accepted belief is that man is partially material and partially spiritual; that he consists of a sentient material body in which is located a mind or soul which is rational and has the power to be moral, since it can distinguish between good and evil. This belief claims to be sustained by the record of the so-called material creation given in the second chapter of Genesis, wherein it is said that "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." It is also supposed to be buttressed by the modern theory of evolution, which holds that man, as the highest form of animal life upon earth, sprang from primitive forms of matter, and that his intelligence and moral sense are the result of innumerable years of gradual development. Both theories have a material basis: by both, man is held to have a material origin.

A very general belief resulting from these theories is that man is finite; that he begins at birth and ends with death. Indeed, the same is believed of the whole of the so-called animal creation. Peter, referring to this material sense of creation, said, "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass." The human race, then, appears to be bound by material sense to the finite or limited. Believing that matter is real, that man lives in matter and is dependent upon it for his strength and life, the thoughts of mortals are to an extraordinary extent centered upon themselves, with the inevitable results of sickness, sin, and suffering.

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