Editorial March 11, 1950 Issue

SUBSTANCE OR SHADOW

Robert Ellis Key

Within the focus of spiritual being there is complete release from evil. The reflected glory of Spirit is concrete being, substantial and tangible. The visible material world is like a shadowgraph. Remove the material shadow and spiritual substance is revealed. In the shadow appears the evidence of sin, sickness, and death. A finite mortal appears therein, born into death, or dying into birth, according to the belief entertained about him. In the shadow of material belief mentality appears to be mortal and imperfect; whereas, man's only mentality is divine intelligence, for man is Mind's image and likeness. In the substance appear health, holiness, and immortality. The substance and its shadow do not mingle.

We have no divine authority for the existence of Adam or Eve, but we have divine authority for the existence of man and woman. Mary Baker Eddy writes (Unity of Good, p. 51): "Man is the generic term for all humanity. Woman is the highest species of man, and this word is the generic term for all women; but not one of all these individualities is an Eve or an Adam."

With great persistence from time immemorial Adam has been confused with man. The shadow has been mistaken for the substance. Christian Science, however, pricks this bubble. In the allegory of Adam's dream, God is described as "walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Gen. 3:8). This was a part of the dream. God is not corporeal, for God is Spirit, Mind. Evil is portrayed as a fabulous creature, a talking serpent, and woman is said to have been made from a rib. The absurdity of these assertions is clear. We get nowhere by contemplating an absurdity or by analyzing a dream.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

SINCERITY'S ACCOMPLISHMENT