In the light of a dictionary definition of the word object as "a conception formed by the mind itself," Mary Baker Eddy's statement concerning Love's object, found on page 304 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," takes on fresh meaning. Here are her words: "This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death." Mrs. Eddy goes on to assure us that perfect man, being under the control of his Principle, remains sinless and eternal.

These comforting truths, which Christian Science reveals, show the inseparable relationship of God and man, Mind and idea, cause and effect, Love and its object. Man, being Love's object, is not external to Love, but is included in it as Love's own idea. And as a conception formed by Mind itself, man can never wander from Mind's control. In fact, because man is Love's object, or idea, he may be said to be the objective state of divine Mind; and it is thus that one should identify himself and all the creatures of God's making.

The terms objective and subjective appear several times in our Leader's statement of Christian Science, and their meaning is clarified by a dictionary, which quotes this explanation of them by Sir W. Hamilton, a Scottish metaphysician: "In the philosophy of the mind, subjective denotes what is to be referred to the thinking subject, the ego; objective, what belongs to the object of thought, the nonego." One is apt to accept the ordinary usage of the word objective as describing something existing independently of mind, or perhaps as meaning the tendency to view events and phenomena in a detached or unprejudiced way. But in their philosophical meaning, and as our Leader uses them, object and objective refer to the thing thought, as distinguished from the ego, or the thinking subject. Without this understanding one loses the full impact of Mrs. Eddy's statements which refer to the object of Love, Spirit, and also of her explanation of matter as being the objective state of mortal mind as well as its subjective state.

In its pretense of being actual mentality, suppositional mortal mind claims to ape the spiritual facts of being. As a counterfeit ego, mortal mind is the thinking subject, which produces its conception, matter, as its own subjective state. In other words, matter is mortal mind's thought, ever in mortal mind and never external to the consciousness beholding it. Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings," when speaking of her discovery (p. 24), "I learned that mortal thought evolves a subjective state which it names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit."

But since mortal mind's phenomena are its conceptions, or objects of thought, they may also be termed the objective states of mortal mind; and Mrs. Eddy speaks of matter thus in several places in her writings. One such passage is found on page 34 of "Retrospection and Introspection" where she writes, "The mortal body being but the objective state of mortal mind, this mind must be renovated to improve the body." In the first citation quoted the emphasis is placed upon the counterfeit ego, the thinking subject; in the second citation it is placed upon the object of thought.

Mortal mind is renovated as one clings to the fact that divine Love is the only Mind and that its objects, or ideas, are spiritually perfect, characterized by such qualities as consciousness, goodness, purity, and wisdom. Exchanging the objects of mortal mind for the objects of Love, one finds himself and his environment improving. He is less influenced by the tyranny of human beliefs and more evidently controlled by divine Principle, Love.

The spiritual perfection of all identities rests upon the enduring fact that they are not self-existent beings, capable of wandering in self-directed paths of thought, but are Love's manifestations—its objects—completely under the control of the Mind whose knowing gives them being. Every realization of a spiritual fact corrects the material concept which counterfeits that fact; and as we progress in the demonstration of divine Science this correction will continue until matter finally disappears. The counterfeit subject and its objects will be proved nonexistent, while Love and its objects will be demonstrated as the only reality.

This is the purpose of Christian Science: to increase the spiritual understanding of individuals until their false sense of life in matter yields to the true sense of life in Spirit and their real existence as Love's own subjective state is fully proved. During this transformation one will find his character progressively purified. He will not be content to rest complacently, satisfied with the thought that he is a good and comfortable and God-blessed human being. Truth will not permit him to stagnate in such a conditional sense of self, but will, by its very presence and integrity, rouse him to press on to the full demonstration of his conscious spiritual identity as Love knows it and preserves it.

Christ Jesus was tireless in proving that he was divine Love's "manifestation, or object," its immutable and immortal reflection, replete with all the good that Love bestows upon its idea. He knew the Christ, his true selfhood, to be one with God, never outside of Love, but eternally embraced in it. And he included all men in the spiritual transformation he prayed for when he petitioned (John 17:21, 23): "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. ... I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one."

Helen Wood Bauman