Editorial June 27, 1925 Issue

Timeless Being

Albert F. Gilmore

Mortal existence, with all that pertains to the belief of matter as a reality, is inseparable, it seems, from the concept of time, that is, of duration. This inseparable relationship appears in the definition of "time" on page 595 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," which reads in part thus: "Mortal measurements; limits, in which are summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, knowledge; matter; error." Mrs. Eddy, it appears, conceived of time not only as encompassing all human experience, but even in a certain sense as matter itself, inasmuch as it is impossible to conceive of matter apart from its essential factor, time.

Since matter in this sense is synonymous with time, matter bears no relation to the concept of eternity, for eternity pertains only to substance which is indestructible, that is, only to Spirit. Moreover, since we learn in Christian Science that one of the problems which every mortal has to work out for himself is the overcoming of a belief of mortality and all that pertains thereto, it follows that the sense of time as a concomitant of matter, like every other phase of falsity, is to be overcome and discarded. It is quite safe to say that, because of the universal acceptance of the concept of time, few realize the extent to which mortals seem to become the victims of this belief,—how much they are under what seem to be its inexorable rules. Time is the measure of human experience; it dominates the activities of the day; it determines our comings and goings to a degree that would render us its abject slaves. Does it not, then, appear how important is the gaining of a scientific understanding of this false concept, in order the better to destroy its claims to reality and power?

The true nature of the concept time is set forth in a brief sentence on pages 598 and 599 of Science and Health, where Mrs. Eddy says: "Time is a mortal thought, the divisor of which is the solar year. Eternity is God's measurement of Soul-filled years." Time, then, like every other mortal thought, that is, like every other false belief, is to be destroyed by application of the spiritual truth. What is the spiritual truth which nullifies the belief of time? The fact that since God is coexistent and coeternal with His creation, including man, and since there is no other creation, all there is, all that exists, is eternal. And, moreover, since time is no part of eternity, time disappears with the material dream.

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