Article January 20, 1934 Issue

Spiritual Reflection

JOHN MILLIGAN

From time immemorial a question which has greatly perplexed mankind has been, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" And this in spite of the fact that the answer has been given without equivocation in the first chapter of Genesis: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, accepted this statement without reserve; and she has made it plain that only as we gain this point of view do we have the true idea of God and man. On page 300 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she has written, "Finite sense has no true appreciation of infinite Principle, God, or of His infinite image or reflection, man." She also says, "The universe reflects and expresses the divine substance or Mind; therefore God is seen only in the spiritual universe and spiritual man, as the sun is seen in the ray of light which goes out from it."

Everyone is familiar with the reflection of sunlight by a mirror, and all agree that whatever light qualities exist in the primary rays of sunlight appear in the reflection. Thus, light from the sun, examined by means of a spectroscope, in seen to consist of seven primary colors; and the result is precisely the same if similar spectroscopic examination be made of reflected light.

Similar reasoning may be applied in our consideration of man as the image or reflection of God, divine Mind. As an illustration, the quality of love may be used, since love is a spiritual quality derived from divine Mind. To the Christian Scientist love is not a personal possession, it is an expression of divine Principle; and because it is like its source, it is not subject to the vagaries of human temperament or material conditions. Love, being purely spiritual, has nothing whatever to do with either time, space, or matter. Furthermore, because of this fact, there never has been and never could be a power that could change love into its opposite. If temptation presents itself to the alert Christian Scientist, suggesting that he become unloving, he knows that the suggestion has no power to make him so, and he reassures himself with the truth of God-given power, as set forth in our Leader's words (Pulpit and Press, p. 3), "Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love."

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"Love currency"
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