Article November 26, 1955 Issue

AWAKE FROM THE DREAM

MARION POWELL GOODNER

In many places in her writings Mary Baker Eddy refers to the dream nature of material existence. She also brings out the necessity of awakening from the dream sense. On page 250 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she states, "A mortal may be weary or pained, enjoy or suffer, according to the dream he entertains in sleep," and farther on she writes on the same page: "Now I ask, Is there any more reality in the waking dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream? There cannot be, since whatever appears to be a mortal man is a mortal dream." Awakening from this mortal dream, one discerns the truth regarding man as a child of God, his spiritual nature, his purity, and his dominion.

Jesus taught (John 6:63), "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Much too often we seem to reverse this teaching of the Master and think of materiality, of the things of the flesh to such an extent that they seem real to the exclusion of spiritual facts. Problems of human relationship assume proportions that would shut out, if they could, the Father from His own creation and make a world of discord and distress.

In Christian Science one learns that this is the dream sense and that the very opposite of it is true. Turning again to Science and Health, we read (pp. 349, 350): "In Christian Science, substance is understood to be Spirit, while the opponents of Christian Science believe substance to be matter. They think of matter as something and almost the only thing, and of the things which pertain to Spirit as next to nothing, or as very far removed from daily experience. Christian Science takes exactly the opposite view." Mrs. Eddy's words make us realize the importance of denying material sense testimony and of accepting instead the testimony of Spirit. When inharmony of any kind yields to the spiritual fact and the normal joyous aspect of activity or relationship takes its place, we know we are awakening to spiritual reality.

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