Article August 28, 1926 Issue

Reality

J. BALFOUR ELLIS

Every seeming ill and every seeming difficulty would vanish if we were constantly awake to the fact that good is always present and always the only power, and that error in every form is merely the contradiction of this fact.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, knew that failure to define terms leads to confusion of thought. She has therefore been exceedingly careful to give exact definitions of the words she uses to express the metaphysical ideas she desires to convey. On page 335 of the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, says: "Reality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable, immortal, divine, eternal. Nothing unspiritual can be real, harmonious, or eternal." From this it plainly follows that nothing we call material can be real, since matter has none of the essentials of reality. Physical sense, however, would persistently proclaim just the opposite of this truth; and unless physical sense is denied all right to appear to interfere with the harmonious direction of divine Mind, we shall be betrayed into belief in a power apart from God, good. For this reason it is necessary to watch our thinking, in order that all action may spring from the understanding and acknowledgment of the omnipotence and omnipresence of good. This is the only motive power which can defend us from the claims of error.

The test of reality furnished by the definition quoted above implies that man made in God's image and likeness cannot be material and mortal, since it is evident that these beliefs do not possess the qualities of reality; and the acknowledgment of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, good, leaves no room for the recognition of His unlikeness. We are, therefore, forced to the only logical conclusion, namely, that "delusion, sin, disease, and death arise from the false testimony of material sense, which, from a supposed standpoint outside the focal distance of infinite Spirit, presents an inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down" (Science and Health, p. 301). Just as at one time bigoted ignorance refused to admit that the earth is not the center of the so-called material universe, so now, as heretofore, physical sense refuses to admit that matter has no real existence. Yet, just as false belief ultimately had to yield to the demonstrable fact that the earth is merely a small unit in one of many vast solar systems, and that it revolves around the sun, so the false evidence of so-called physical or material sense is now being refuted on all sides. The leaven of Christian Science is doing its work very thoroughly; and the truth that "nothing unspiritual can be real" is daily being more widely recognized. It is difficult to see why there should be resistance to this statement of truth, since there is no evidence that material beliefs can afford satisfaction or lead to anything but disappointment; whereas the individual who acknowledges the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, good, and yields himself to the government of this beneficent power, has found that city which Abraham desired, "a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." This spiritual inheritance is the city of the Apocalypse, the city which "lieth foursquare," the demonstration of right adjustment, of adequate provision for the supply of every just demand of its inhabitants, the city which is prepared by and issues forth from divine Mind, the infinite creator, to meet the desire of each of His ideas.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Reality

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access