THE ACTUAL

BENTON S. WOOD

What is it that is actual and real to us, and how are we to separate the real from the unreal in our daily experience? Christian Science teaches that reality is God and His spiritual creation; hence matter is unreal, not actual. A dictionary defines "actual" as "existing in fact."

As we go about our daily rounds, we are mentally accepting something as true or rejecting it as false. We see the sun sink at evening, but comprehending something of the nature of the universe and stellar movements, we recognize the testimony of our eyes as not actual. Railroad tracks seem to converge, but actually we know that they do not. Understanding enables us to reject as untrue the testimony of the material senses.

Through the teachings of the Bible as spiritually interpreted by Mary Baker Eddy in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," one can gain the spiritual understanding which enables him to reject as untrue the material appearance of creation and perceive it as it really is. In the fifteenth chapter of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy elucidates the Scriptural account of creation, showing clearly that there is but onecreation—the spiritual. She says in explanation of the well-known first verse in the Bible (pp. 502, 503): "There is but one creator and one creation. This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected. These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of God."

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THE ACTUAL

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