Article August 18, 1928 Issue

Reflection

CYRIL ROANTREE HEWSON

On page 301 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes: "Few persons comprehend what Christian Science means by the word reflection. To himself, mortal and material man seems to be substance, but his sense of substance involves error and therefore is material, temporal." This passage is illuminated and the scientific meaning of reflection made clear by the paragraph beginning on page 515, under the marginal heading "Reflected likeness." After referring in this paragraph to a person beholding his reflection in a mirror, Mrs. Eddy says: "Now compare man before the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God."

In making use of the illustration here given we need to turn entirely to the spiritual truth which Mrs. Eddy indicates in presenting to us in this manner the complete unity of God, man, and divine Science. God is the eternal, self-existent I AM, the divine Principle of all being. Man is God's spiritual reflection—the son of God; and divine Science perfectly reveals God's nature and being. Divine Science standing for the mirror and man being God's reflection, man can be discovered only in divine Science through spiritual understanding.

Mortals, generally, are looking for man and believe they find him through the medium of the material senses. These so-called senses, however, are mere counterfeits, and may be likened to distorted and defective mirrors, which, whatever may be the object reflected, show only an imperfect and distorted image. It may truly be said, therefore, that the material senses have never seen man, since they cannot serve as the mirror—divine Science—in which alone man can be found. The objects of mortality—sick, sinning, and dying humanity—are not man, and have no true relationship to man; they are the supposititious manifestations of an imperfect and distorted sense of God and His idea. God, as the self-existent and eternal Principle of all being, must be absolutely unchangeable; therefore one's experience depends upon whether he is looking from the standpoint of so-called material sense or looking into the mirror of divine Science.

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
Truth's Infinitude
August 18, 1928
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit