Article April 2, 1932 Issue

Reflection

EDWARD BUCKLEY

Webster defined the word "reflect" in part as "to bend back; ... to cause to return, or to send back." The significance of this definition was impressed on a student of Christian Science one bright morning. The sun, pouring through the window of a room, shone on the smooth surface of a mirror, which immediately reflected sunshine to another part of the room. The mirror gave back, or caused to return, an approximate equivalent of what it had received. The sunshine's beauty, warmth, and light continued to shine on the mirror, while by the law of reflection the mirror gave back beauty and light.

Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 471), "Man is, and forever has been, God's reflection." Now, since God is Love, as the Bible teaches, the very nature of Love's reflection is to be unselfish to give, seeking not its own but rejoicing in another's good. The real man, therefore, is unselfish, and finds his own in another's good because, in reality, he is God's likeness. The natural function of God's reflection, man, is and forever must be to give back as much as he receives from God. Neither is there any strain put on man in reflecting God, any more than there is any strain put on the mirror when it is reflecting the sun. Reflection is harmonious activity; it is neither dormant nor passive, for, as in the case of the mirror, the reflection is continuously giving back what it constantly receives.

On page 301 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy makes it perfectly clear that the real man, reflecting God, is not a mortal or material man, of whom we appear to have physical evidence; but Christian Science teaches us how the understanding of this office of the real man, God's reflection, can be applied to human activities and problems by one who is obedient. And results obtained through Christian Science have proved that whatever one's occupation, wherever his place or his position, he can manifest the qualities of God and find joy, success, and contentment in thus doing.

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