Two Jerusalem cherry trees grew side by side in earthen pots. In the course of time, their cherries began to wither, and soon one tree had shaken itself free from them and begun to put forth new green shoots. The companion tree, however, kept its dried-up cherries, and that tree sent out no new branches.

So it is, when we cling to a material past. We are then unready for growth and development. "God requireth that which is past," saith the Scriptures (Eccl. 3:15). Indeed, God does require us to give Him the past—to relinquish a false sense of having been born into matter, of experiencing either a pleasant or an unpleasant life in matter, of living apart from God—and to recognize and rejoice in the spiritual preexistence and continual coexistence of our real selfhood with God, divine Mind.

Many of us readily admit and joyously accept the fact that the life of the man of God's creating is immortal, that is, not touched by death, not subject to termination or destruction. Are we equally as alert to recognize that the life of the real man is also without beginning?

Mortal man, the Adam-dream, has no real existence at all, and certainly has had no pre-existence; but spiritual man is as eternal as God. The term "mortal" is from the Latin mors, mortis, meaning death, and "mortal" indicates a condition that is subject to death. Whatever has an end must have a beginning; whatever is without end must be without beginning.

The theory of reincarnation has absolutely no support in the inspired Word of the Bible or in Mrs. Eddy's writings, but Christian Scientists follow Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, in accepting and utilizing the glorious fact of spiritual pre-existence. "Before Abraham was, I am," said Christ Jesus (John 8:58). Mary Baker Eddy states in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 189), "The meek Nazarene's steadfast and true knowledge of preexistence, of the nature and the inseparability of God and man,—made him mighty."

Let us work scientifically from the standpoint of eternity, instead of time—from the standpoint of the spiritual man of God's creating, instead of mythical mortal man. In order to do this, we must look not through the unreliable material senses but through spiritual sense. Then we can answer aright such questions as, Where was I a thousand years ago, a year ago, a month ago? Where am I, in truth, at this very moment?

God knows not years; He knows only eternity. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," writes Peter (II Pet. 3:8). Since Life, God, is eternal, man, the reflection of Life, God, is eternal, man, the reflection of Life, must be eternal, "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God" (Hebr. 7:3). Man, then, has always existed, but never in matter or the flesh. What freedom is gained by accepting this revolutionary idea!

All human history is but a record of dreams. In Science, you and I were never born into matter, and are not living in matter at this moment. Our past belongs to God. Our true individualities have eternally been at one with Him, reflecting and expressing Him in all His perfection. Of Jesus, Mrs. Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 103, 104): "Even while his personality was on earth and in anguish, his individual being, the Christ, was at rest in the eternal harmony. His unseen individuality, so superior to that which was seen, was not subject to the temptations of the flesh, to laws material, to death, or the grave. Formed and governed by God, this individuality was safe in the substance of Soul, the substance of Spirit,—yea, the substance of God, the one inclusive good."

Are we haunted by memories of a loved one in pain or as having passed through "the valley of the shadow of death"? God never made a sick man. Such a situation has never occurred in all the realm of the real. At the very moment when suffering seemed to hold sway, the spiritual individuality of our loved one was safe, at one with his loving Father-Mother God, joyous and free. Let us acknowledge the perfection of God, and hence the perfection of His image and likeness, man, throughout eternity.

A woman went to a Christian Science practitioner for help in getting rid of an internal growth. It was disclosed that she was harboring resentment against some neighbors who had formerly been her friends. A business transaction had resulted in hard feelings on both sides, so that not only was the friendship broken, but the participants were not even on speaking terms.

The woman's problem was seen to be not physical but mental. The need was to clear away, through Christianly scientific thinking, the accumulated debris of resentment and hurt. This could be accomplished only by repudiating the evidence of the material senses, surrendering as unreal the unhappy concept of man with a discordant past, and, through spiritual sense, perceiving, accepting, and rejoicing in the glorious fact that the man of God's creating has never done wrong or been wronged; that divine Love fills all space, governs all spiritual creation; and that Love's idea, man, is eternally loving, loved, and lovable. The woman was encouraged to give the past to God; and this she graciously and sincerely did. Love for God and man—including her neighbors—filled her consciousness, and in three days the growth came away, and she was healed. Moreover, a cordial relationship was re-established with her former friends.

Our Leader assures us (No and Yes, p. 24), "There was never a moment in which evil was real." Then there was never a moment when the man of God's creating was sick or poor or afraid; never a moment when man was cruel, ruthless, tyrannical; never a moment when man was fighting, suffering, dying; and never a moment when man was homeless, grief-stricken, or hungry.

Mrs. Eddy continues (pp. 24, 25): "This great fact concerning all error brings with it another and more glorious truth, that good is supreme. As there is none beside Him, and He is all good, there can be no evil. Simply uttering this great thought is not enough! We must live it, until God becomes the All and Only of our being."

Through spiritual discernment we can learn what to wipe out and what to save, in reviewing the human past. All that God gives us is permanent and good; and we need to cherish love, joy, unselfishness, peace, spiritual inspiration, and understanding—all the God-given good that we have cognized and experienced. How sweetly this thought is expressed in a familiar hymn (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 238):

Our consciousness of the good that God bestows is at present but an occasional glimpse of divine reality. These moments we treasure, and continually add to them, until at length we shall be able always to apprehend the universe through spiritual sense. Then we shall see that the only past—the glorious eternity known to our spiritual individualities—belongs wholly to God.