Article April 13, 1968 Issue

Our Present Immortality

HELEN VEATCH SUTHERLAND

After the earnest student of Christian Science becomes convinced through reason and revelation of the eternality of life, he finds it necessary to adjust his thinking concerning his daily activities. The old belief that tomorrow can govern his experience, bringing either good or evil into it, must be cast out, and with it the fear of a cessation of good. This comes through a realization of God's allness and goodness, which gives one power and authority to deny evil and to meet and overcome the world's temptations.

As one recognizes this power and uses it, it increases, and he better comprehends Paul's statement in his letter to the Romans, "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." ^{Rom. 8:6;} This spiritual-mindedness, manifested in a present consciousness of man's immortality as God's idea, follows the command of the Master, Christ Jesus, who said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is heaven is perfect." ^{Matt. 5:48;}

The realization that man is immortal and has always existed as an idea in divine Mind comes gradually to everyone seeking to learn how to work out his salvation. Mrs. Eddy discerned the spiritual fact that acknowledgment of man's divine origin, inseparable from his Maker, brings to light one's immortal status. She writes: "Immortality, exempt from age or decay, has a glory of its own,—the radiance of Soul. Immortal men and women are models of spiritual sense, drawn by perfect Mind and reflecting those higher conceptions of loveliness which transcend all material sense." ^{Science and Health, p. 247;} The uplifting of human understanding dispels the darkness of ignorance, brings enlightenment to the individual and thus frees him from the enslaving beliefs of the carnal mind.