We read in the Bible the command, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." ^{Eph. 5:14;} Throughout the Scriptures materiality is likened to the sleep of death, for it is a false sense deadened to Truth.

Through the study of Christian Science we learn that material existence is a dream without foundation, validity, substance, or reality. Material illusions, resulting from the belief of mind in matter, constitute this dream. Mortal thought must be brought into conformity with the teachings of Science in order that the student may fully understand the unreal nature of material existence and overcome the dream.

Beginning with the sixth verse of the second chapter of Genesis we read an allegory which tells of the mist that went up from the ground and of man formed from dust. Later in the chapter we read of the deep sleep that fell upon Adam, during which woman was supposedly produced. Earthly mist and hypnotic dream-state combine in a counterfeit creation. But the first chapter of Genesis, the true record of creation, establishes the fact that creation is spiritual, complete, and wholly good. God is the only creator, and His creation is all-inclusive. Spirit's omnipotence and omnipresence preclude the possibility of any material creation. No awakening is needed for spiritual man, for he is ever aware of his true identity as the child of his Father-Mother God.

When he awakens from a night-dream, one recognizes its unreality instantly. The day-dream should also be seen as unreal and be as readily relinquished. Through spiritualization of thought, one awakens from the mortal dream, progressing step by step into the understanding of true being. And as he goes forward in the study and application of Science, one sees more clearly the dreamlike nature of material existence and wins a higher understanding, for growth demands greater demonstrations.

Disease, with its attendant suffering, is a dream-picture of carnal mind suggestions objectified on the body. The deceptive argument that man is mortal and subject to errors of sense must be mastered through Christ, Truth. God is the only Mind. His thoughts alone constitute man. When understood, these spiritual facts nullify false suggestions and destroy their manifestations.

Mrs. Eddy writes: "If sickness is real, it belongs to immortality; if true, it is a part of Truth. Would you attempt with drugs, or without, to destroy a quality or condition of Truth? But if sickness and sin are illusions, the awakening from this mortal dream, or illusion, will bring us into health, holiness, and immortality. This awakening is the forever coming of Christ, the advanced appearing of Truth, which casts out error and heals the sick." ^{Science and Health, p. 230;}

There is no healing power in matter, nor is there any matter to be healed. The only benefit accruing from the use of drugs stems from belief in their beneficial effects. The use of drugs produces a temporary, soporific sense of ease in matter, which is of no permanent value and does nothing to help spiritualize thought. Every healing in Christian Science regenerates and purifies the individual healed and proportionately awakens him from the dream to the realization of spiritual being.

In helping another to awaken from the dream of disease, one must clearly understand himself that there is in reality no disease to be healed; there is only a false sense to be destroyed through the understanding of Truth. One must know that disease of every type is not a physical condition but a mental illusion and has no intelligence or reality. If one's thought is clear in regard to this fact, the patient will more readily respond to Truth's healing efficacy.

When she was serving as Reader in a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, a Christian Scientist dreamed one night that she was thousands of miles away from her home and trying desperately to get home in time for the evening service. In the dream no transportation was available. All night she walked over hills, crossed rivers, and trod almost impassable roads while declaring that she had dominion over time and space. How relieved she was when she awakened to find it was only a dream!

The fact that the Scientist had never left her home in this foolish dream furnished an excellent illustration of the illusive nature of disease. One can reassure those seeking healing in Christian Science that they have never left their Father's home—the consciousness of love and harmony; that they have never wandered in the maze of suppositional dream-beliefs; that they have always dwelt safely in Mind, God, where disease is unknown. All who clearly discern these spiritual facts can experience healing, for healing is consonant with spiritual illumination. When he is struggling to make a demonstration—to reach the place of harmony—one needs to realize that harmony is an established fact.

God, Mind, is ever active. Man, God's full and perfect representative, does not cease to express the perfect, harmonious action of Mind. Christ Jesus saw this so clearly that he raised Lazarus from the dead—from the dream of death—through the understanding of Life in God. The authority exercised by the Master is ours in proportion to the overcoming of all dream-illusions of evil.

When it is active in human consciousness, the ever-present Christ rouses the warring elements of the carnal mind and prepares them for their own destruction. This activity produces an upheaval that shakes strong beliefs from their false foundation; and this process awakens one from the dream of materiality, dispels sense-illusions, and brings release from mental and physical bondage. As one perceives that God's creation is good and perfect and realizes that human concepts are false, he proves these facts by demonstration, and his heritage of harmony and peace is established in thought.

The Christly understanding that destroys the dream of material existence, with its concomitant ills, is the divine blessing of Christian Science. In these words Mrs. Eddy describes the final and complete awakening from the dark night of materiality to the morning light of spiritual reality: "When we wake to the truth of being, all disease, pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, sin, death, will be unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease." ^{pp. 218, 219.}