Article September 19, 1959 Issue

KNOWING OUR REAL SELFHOOD

MARIAN CAMPBELL

The conviction that man's real selfhood is spiritual is based on the Scriptural teaching that God, Spirit, is man's only true origin. In the first chapter of Genesis it is stated that God made man in His image and likeness. That this is man's permanent estate is made clear in these words (Eccl. 3: 14): "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it."

Man's spiritual individuality as the expression of God remains intact throughout eternity. We learn in Christian Science that the material sense of life, with its fears, diseases, and sins, is but a counterfeit of the spiritual. This counterfeit will be put off in the measure that we accept the true concept of man as our genuine selfhood and claim as the identity of ourselves and others only that which expresses the divine nature.

In "Miscellaneous Writings" by Mary Baker Eddy, man's sublimity is stated in this way (p. 187): "The self-existent, perfect, and eternal are God; and man is their reflection and glory." In reality our present and eternal status is to reflect and express the divine nature, and even a glimpse of this fact encourages us to put forth a wholehearted effort to eliminate from consciousness all materialistic beliefs and to express our true selfhood by glorifying God in all that we say and do and think.

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