Article April 17, 1971 Issue

The Identity Breakthrough

ELIZABETH GLASS BARLOW

Some time ago a large advertisement in a newspaper dramatically demanded my attention. It pictured what looked like a solid stone wall. But as though to contradict its apparent solidity, a pointed instrument, somewhat like an arrow, had pierced its way from one side of the wall and was coming out on the other side. Underneath the picture in bold letters were spelled out the words: "An idea can go through anything."

Yes, a right idea can go through anything. It is not bound by material limits or walled in by geographical outlines. It is free to be present in any place at any time without effort. It knows no obstructions.

Then my thought turned to man, who, we discover in Christian Science, exists as idea, not as the solid corporeality he seems to be. His true and fundamental selfhood is composed of ideas, emanating from the one Mind, who is God. He is not an empty vessel waiting to be filled up with spiritual ideas. The ideas constitute his being. The textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, describes him in this way: "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas."^{Science and Health, p. 475;}