Editorial July 22, 1939 Issue

Christian Science Changes Human Viewpoints

Duncan Sinclair

Generally speaking, mortals accept what the material sense tell them. They believe that what they see with their eyes is real; that what their ears report to them is real; that what the sense of touch tells them is real. They believe, on the authority of these senses, that they live in a material body, and that they are cognizant of a vast material universe existing in unfathomable space. The last thing which mortals, spiritually unenlightened, will deny is the evidence of the material senses.

A few sentences on pages 293 and 294 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, entirely reverse the point of view presented to mortals by material sense. They read: "The five physical senses are the avenues and instruments of human error, and they correspond with error. These senses indicate the common human belief, that life, substance, and intelligence are a unison of matter with Spirit. This is pantheism, and carries within itself the seeds of all error." Thus, in Christian Science, the material or physical senses, with which is associated the belief that matter is real and that life is dependent on matter or on a union of matter and Spirit, are regarded as false or erroneous. The senses upon which mortals place such reliance never report anything real, never make known the truth about real being. In testifying as they appear to do about so-called matter, they are deluding mankind. In witnessing to evil and the seeming effects of evil, they are blinding mankind to the truths of perfect spiritual being.

Christian Science is awaking men out of the mesmeric belief in the reality of material sense, changing their viewpoint from matter to Spirit. This may seem a difficult problem; it may even seem to the materialist an impossible one. But the Christian Scientist knows it is not impossible, since all men are in possession of a sense which is real and infallible, namely, spiritual sense. It is spiritual sense which, down through the ages, has made possible every revelation of spiritual truth. It is spiritual sense which has revealed God to men, including His goodness and love for His children, and made known man's relationship to Him. It is spiritual sense which has revealed the law of God, and shown how perfectly it governs His creation. It is spiritual sense which enables us to refute all the arguments of material sense. It is spiritual sense which today is changing, steadily and invincibly, erroneous human viewpoints of every kind. This absolutely reliable sense our revered Leader defines as "a conscious, constant capacity to understand God" (Science and Health, p. 209).

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