A Student of Christian Science was beset by a physical difficulty which caused her a great deal of pain. She went to a Christian Science practitioner, and through consecrated prayer the pain was stilled. Upon awakening the next morning she felt the pain again, and before she realized it she had voiced an exclamation of dismay. Then at once the thought came to her clearly and powerfully, "I didn't say that," and immediately the pain disappeared.

What had happened? In an instant a great flood of truth had entered her consciousness. She had realized that since man is the expression, manifestation, or image and likeness of God, she could not express evil. The evil was but an imaginary, negative phase of an illusory mental condition, which is classified in Christian Science as mortal mind. What had happened may be further explained in the words of Mary Baker Eddy in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 210): "What is termed matter, being unintelligent, cannot say, 'I suffer, I die, I am sick, or I am well.' It is the so-called mortal mind which voices this and appears to itself to make good its claim. To mortal sense, sin and suffering are real, but immortal sense includes no evil nor pestilence."

It is interesting to note that mortal mind "appears to itself" to have existence in fact. How comforting to realize that this appearance of reality is not man, nor any part of his experience! In fact, it is really nothing at all. We, as the sons of God, have no connection with it.

Explaining in much the same way the attempt of mortal mind to substitute itself for man by its flimsy, flashy, false pretension to reality, Jesus said (Matt. 7:22, 23): "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

When mortal mind presents itself to us, we can always say, "I never knew you." Why? Because all that man ever knows, God knows. God never knows mortality or iniquity, and consequently man, His reflection, never knows them. God, Mind, constantly provides His children with the needed ideas so that man may have continuity of existence.

Since nothing but good is provided for him, man has no consciousness of anything of an opposite nature. When evil thought seems to be present, mortal mind "appears to itself to make good its claim," but nothing of an evil nature is really going on. Right where it seems to be, are God, good— the infinite, all-knowing, intelligent, and immortal Mind—and man, His reflection. The salvation of mankind is in knowing this fact.

Sometimes when other phases of belief in mortal mind have been conquered, there remain elements of self-condemnation, criticism, and fear, because the nothingness of the history of mortal mind has not been clearly discerned. When the belief in evil itself has been exposed as unreal in the light of the allness of good, the mental trailers, which sometimes appear as self-condemnation, fear, and criticism, can be readily dealt with as unnecessary and nonexistent. Then when mortal mind says, "I have or am going to have trouble," we shall find ourselves able to answer, "I didn't say that."

Spirit is the only Mind. It is conscious only of spiritual ideas or qualities. These ideas or qualities are expressed in individual man and things. They have no taint of physicality or mortality. It is the substantiality of spiritual sense which gives man stability, continuity, health, joy, and peace. If there were any trace of mortal or material sense in man, his sense of harmony would be invaded. This is impossible, since the Science of being is based on God's changeless law, maintaining man's perpetual, spiritual goodness, which never has been and never will be disturbed.

Let us think of ourselves as never having in reality departed from good. The recognition of this spiritual truth will bring healing to us and will destroy our belief in and fear of past mistakes. When mortal mind claims to have voiced error through us, we can always say with confidence based on truth, "I didn't say that."

We need not fear an inability to find the truth of spiritual being. Infinite Mind is omnipresent. Consider the fact that the multiplication table is ever present, regardless of time or place, and that no matter how much there is of it, all of it is available everywhere all the time. We can also learn to realize that infinite Mind is everywhere present and is available to us all the time because of its infinity. Our real selfhood never expressed anything but spiritual good. As Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 469), "We bury the sense of infinitude, when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a place in this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all space is filled with God."