"And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Gen. 5:24). Since God is Life, Enoch must have walked with Life, and he was no longer visible to those who held a concept of life as materially personal. The human sense, that which appears to see solely from the standpoint of material sense, sees only its own finite beliefs. It is not strange that Enoch's true selfhood, the expression of Life, was not visible to what is called the material senses, because the material senses never have any cognizance of God, eternal Life, and its manifestation.

This experience of Enoch is a glorious one, proving the ability of Mind to dispel the mist which, according to the mythical record of creation, "watered the whole face of the ground" (Gen. 2:6). Through our recognition of man's spiritual nature the undying reality of existence becomes apparent. Life is present, never past. And we demonstrate our oneness with eternal Life in the measure that we realize our real, our only selfhood is entirely spiritual and perfect.

In her definition of "day" in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Mary Baker Eddy tells us (p. 584) that "the objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded." In our progress as Christian Scientists, the sense that material things are important or limiting, or even true, steadily lessens. Thus more of divine, reality appears. Material, cramping thoughts are displaced by a majestic sense which recognizes creation as it was "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7).

Christ Jesus understood the spiritual nature universal Life and demonstrated in all that he said and did the divine nature of true existence. It was his mission to show the way out of the human sense of existence through the ever-unfolding recognition of the one eternal Life, God, and of man's inviolable oneness with that eternal Life. The basis of his resurrection and ascension was his recognition that man's being, his own spiritual selfhood, existed even before Abraham, thus repudiating the belief that life has a beginning and an end.

False education teaches that man is material, having a physical body which is subject to all manner of disease, to disability, and to disintegration. The mortal theory is that he has a finite, restricted mentality; that his capabilities are limited; that his opportunities are lost, lacking, or infrequent. This is what the material senses would have us believe. Christian Science, basing its teachings on the true record of creation in the first chapter of Genesis, reveals man as incorporeal, spiritual, and perfect.

In reality man is eternally at one With God, who is the only Life. Man's body, or identity, is constituted of right ideas, and is the very expression of Life itself. Man can no more be separated from Life, can no more lack opportunities, or be destroyed, than Truth can stop being Truth. A vital step has been taken when we become aware of the power of Truth, God. Unfoldment of our real being comes with the ever-continuing recognition that the real man is the manifestation or expression of Truth. As we learn to identify ourselves with the divine, we begin to comprehend that which is.

Irrespective of what one may think, beliefs never change facts. Facts have their inception in Truth itself, and therefore directly express Truth. Principle, God, constitutes being in all its reality and perfection, for there is nothing besides God. In arithmetic one begins with its fundamental rules, wherein enters no human opinion, in order to demonstrate even the simplest problem. It is self-evident that only by strict adherence to these rules is the right solution reached. Likewise, in Christian Science strict obedience to its rules is required.

Mrs. Eddy's healing of a supposedly fatal accident took place after she had read the incident described in Matthew 9:2. She describes the experience in "Miscellaneous Writings" as follows (p. 24): "As I read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That short experience included a glimpse of the great fact that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely, Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence."

The timelessness of the unfolding understanding of Life is seen in the fact that it was the Christ-understanding of both Enoch and Jesus which overcome the last enemy. By refusing to admit as real suggestions of imperfection and limitation and accepting the limitless unfoldment of the true sense of Life, we experience the Christ-power in dispelling error as light dispels darkness. If confronted with stubborn resistance, let us keep to our course, maintain our ground, knowing that Life, Spirit, expresses itself continuously in true being, which cannot fade out, wear out, or die out, for the only substance, which Spirit, is man's substance.

Do years have anything to do with Life? Can Life ever grow old, wear out, or die? No, because God is Life, immortal and unchanging. Can one truly say that Life is six, seven, twenty, or a hundred years old? The angel in Revelation (10:6) says that "there should be time no longer." Our indivisible Life, God, never began and can never come to an end; it is now perfect and indestructible.

Being is one and eternal. The eternality of being is never identified with mortal measurements. The Bible exhorts (Isa. 2:22), "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils," and live! Our textbook. Science and Health, reveals that man, the expression of God, is unfallen, without beginning or end. God is the Life of the real and spiritual, the only man.

Take away the belief in time, and the curse of pressure is relieved. Timeless being is free and unrestricted. Infinity includes nothing of a finite character. The expression of Life and the passage of time are not synonymous; neither are they parallel. Life is; time is not. Life and its manifestation are indivisibly one. There is no time element connected with Life and its manifestation. Life is always I AM.

No matter what we may be doing, whether serving as Christian Science lecturers, or serving our family by keeping the home orderly and harmonious, or serving in other useful work which blesses mankind, no matter how high or humble the task may be, we express the Life which is Spirit in proportion to our recognition of the practical facts of true being and the all-presence of Life. We evidence Life eternal only as we reflect Love, for Love is Life. Then to live graciously, joyously, radiantly is individually to show forth the Love which is Life.

Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.—John 4:14.