Editorial June 14, 1952 Issue

THE REAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF MAN

Robert Ellis Key

Christian Science might be termed the Science of true consciousness. Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 276), "Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness is cognizant only of the things of God." The true consciousness, which is "cognizant only of the things of God," is found in the harmony of true being. We cannot conceive of a heavenly state of consciousness which is imperfect or lacking in any element of health and holiness.

Is this consciousness remote from us? Certainly not. It is the consciousness to which Jesus referred when he said (Luke 17:21), "The kingdom of God is within you." How to attain this heavenly state of consciousness is the question. Our human sense of consciousness seems very limited and imperfect. As mortals we do our best to be good, and we succeed in a measure; but sometimes a trying or unusual circumstance arises, and if we are not watchful we find our thoughts confused by fear, sin, or self-pity. These are states of mind entirely unlike our heavenly consciousness and outside of it.

This indicates that in so-called mortal mind there seems to be something beneath the surface and practically unknown to us. Mrs. Eddy deals with this unseen and largely unknown state of mortal mind, not by a process of analysis, but by a process of elimination. In Science and Health she writes of it as latent belief (see p. 377) and as elementary, latent error (see p. 559); but in doing so she holds closely to a fundamental proposition of Christian Science, namely, that evil is unreal and that only good consciousness has presence, power, and reality. The student of Christian Science quickly discerns the necessity of asserting his dominion over latent error, and he does so by understanding the ever-presence of spiritual truth.

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