Article January 24, 1976 Issue

Is Existence Just a Dream?

ROBERT W. JEFFERY

Some people scoff at Christian Science as being impractical because they believe it teaches that existence is just a dream. This may repel those who love life and don't want to give up the good they're experiencing. When they investigate, however, they find that this unique and far-advanced but strictly practical religion accepts the words of Christ Jesus "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly"^{John 10:10;} as applying to our present state of existence. Students of this Science are proving this in some measure in every walk of life.

Christian Science does teach that mortal existence is a dream, but this doesn't mean we have to wait for some future time to experience reality. Nor does it mean we aren't really "here" or don't have present identity or purpose. We really are "here"; we really do have a purpose; the joy we experience, the beauty we are aware of, are really "here."

If there seems to be a contradiction in what has been said, perhaps the difficulty comes from not having thought carefully enough about what good, joy, beauty, actually are. We can perhaps surmount this hurdle by examining some of the things we enjoy. Take tennis, for example: many people think it's fun (and so do I). But what makes it fun? Well, I think it's fun to get a well-placed, fast serve over the net; and even more fun to return such serve to a remote corner of my opponent's court. The fun comes, it seems to me, from the accuracy, the adroitness, strength, and control manifested; in other words from the sense of accomplishment and the demonstration of dominion.

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