Article February 5, 1955 Issue

GAINING THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM

ELEANOR BRADLEY

"Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science interprets the Principle of heavenly harmony." These words of Mary Baker Eddy may be found on page 560 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Mrs. Eddy goes on to say, "The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man."

Many will agree that heaven is something which expresses harmony and peace—something which gives the joy and happiness that each longs for. Christian Science emphasizes that heaven is not a place reached by or after death, but that the kingdom of heaven is within, as Jesus taught. In other words, the kingdom of heaven is a state of consciousness and is attainable here and now. It is expressed in joy, peace, abundance, unity, goodness, health, wholeness, and perfection.

While it is not true that heaven is a locality gained after death, it is a fact that we can experience the kingdom of heaven only as we give up material thinking, which would bind us to the earthly way of life. This material thinking is manifested in such evils as false ambition, lust, hatred, hypocrisy, disunity with our fellow men, envy, criticism, discouragement, sin, sickness, and death. Error would tempt us to think of ourselves as mortals, wholly separate from God. While we are indulging in these forms of materiality, we cannot be conscious of the kingdom of heaven.

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