In one of his essays Emerson tells of a naturalist who knew far better than his farmer neighbors what could be found in the woods on their farms. "Sometimes," wrote Emerson, "he brought them ostentatious gifts of flowers, fruits or rare shrubs they would gladly have paid a price for, and did not tell them he gathered them in their own woods."

Similarly, many people are unaware of valuable possessions in the realm of divine consciousness which need only to be recognized in order to be utilized. Speaking of the spiritual consciousness possible for everyone, Christ Jesus declared (Luke 17:21), "The kingdom of God is within you." By his words and works he clearly showed that health, abundance, joy, and success are available to all who seek them in Spirit, God, rather than in matter or the flesh. Both in precept and in parable the Master taught that the real, spiritual man possesses, by reflection, all the qualities of divine Mind, including wisdom, love, purity, and perfection.

The farmers Emerson refers to were unaware that they already had such prized possessions on their land as were presented to them by the naturalist; they had not fully acquainted themselves with the riches of their woods. Christian Science enables everyone who studies and applies its teachings to acquaint himself with the abundant good which man possesses as the image, or expression, of divine Love, Truth, and Life. This Science reveals that man already has available to him, in his true being as Mind's idea, all the resources of Mind. Our happiness, therefore, does not really depend on others or on a mere change in circumstances, such as more satisfying employment or added wealth.

I was stricken for years with a serious complication of diseases, and I sought health through the ministrations of many different doctors of medicine and surgery, but without avail. I finally took up the study of Christian Science and was healed. Freedom came through my realization that health had not really been lost, but was a spiritual possession which I had been unacquainted with. I saw that health was not a physical condition, but a state of divine Mind, which I possessed as an individual expression of Mind.

As I realized that my true selfhood was the reflection of infinite Mind, my human occupation became increasingly satisfying and successful, with changes in employment in keeping with a progressive use of my talents. None of these changes were the result of other persons' influence. Each advance was clearly a God-directed outcome of my recognition of man's dominion as a son of God, heir to all of the Father's possessions.

Greater happiness, more congenial companionship, and a better and higher sense of home were mine as I sought them through obedience to the leadings of Mind, divine Principle. Achievement of these desired goals was sometimes slow, sometimes amazingly quick, in proportion to my steadfastness in applying Christian Science in daily life. I found that to know good, is to have it.

After quoting Jesus' assuring statement of spiritual fact, "The kingdom of God is within you," Mary Baker Eddy gives this advice (Pulpit and Press, p. 3): "Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love." And she adds, "If you maintain this position, who or what can cause you to sin or suffer?"

Mortals think they possess a physical body, and then they think and act as if this body possesses them. They permit what they call the physical body to tell them how they feel, whether they are well or sick, strong or weak, inspired or dull. Christian Science shows that mortal mind and body are one, and this one a supposititious opposite of the one divine Mind, or Love, whose perfect, all-harmonious qualities are embodied in its idea, the real man.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says (p. 393): "Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good."

Whatever is not good—limitation, inferiority, impurity, discord, and the like—is not from God, and therefore is not the heritage of man as God's child. In the book of Job we read (22:21), "Acquaint now thyself with him [God], and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee."

A Christian Science practitioner is in one respect somewhat like Emerson's naturalist. The practitioner knows that in reality his patients already possess the good they seem to need. His understanding of spiritual reality, of the actual kingdom of God, results in healing and peace. And soon the patients themselves, through their own study and practice of Christian Science, are able to understand how richly they possess the bounties of God's great goodness, which man reflects. They see that all good gifts are from God.

To all of us Mrs. Eddy declares (Science and Health, p. 576): "This kingdom of God 'is within you,'—is within reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his understanding of God."