Most of us instinctively object to being deceived. And very rightly. It's worth, then, putting to ourselves the question, Am I being deceived more than I realize?

Basic deceptions, according to Christian Science, are these: that there is no ultimate reality or truth, no God; that man is physical, personal, and mortal; that the universe is composed of matter atoms and contains man. From such deceptions come all our troubles.

But our hands needn't be tied. The teaching and practice of Christian Science cut us loose. This Science shows that God is immortal Truth and that all creation is the infinite expression of Truth —and these metaphysical facts enable us to control deceptions, to become (and remain) undeceived.

To cultivate spiritual alertness we need regular reminders that divine Mind's idea, man, is never deceived nor a deceiver. He lives in brilliantly radiant Mind, not in a world of illusions, mirages, or distortions. The more such spiritual truths pervade our outlook, the less likely are we to be taken in by matter's synthetic imitations or inversions of God's spiritual creation. In practical terms, we're healthier, more competent, more helpful to others, better healers.

Mortal thought is a supposed consciousness existing apart from God. It is self-deceived, believing its own notions and observations. Unquestioningly it assumes that the physical world and man are actual. Mortal thought claims to be the reasoning apparatus of mortal man. But neither mortal thought nor mortal man is real. "If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing," Paul pointed out in his letter to the Christians in Galatia, "he deceiveth himself." ^{Gal. 6:3;}

Mary Baker Eddy perceived and demonstrated the absolute allness and omnipotence of God, immortal Truth. She knew that in reality no deceptions of sin, mortality, suffering, could arise and attach themselves to man. She analyzed and exposed the illusion of man and being and reality in matter. She writes succinctly, "Whatever simulates power and Truth in matter, does this as a lie declaring itself, that mortals' faith in matter may have the effect of power; but when the whole fabrication is found to be a lie, away goes all its supposed power and prestige." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 334:}

A prime value of the Bible is that it records men's spiritual awakening from material deception, the awakening of individuals to more perception of the fact that the entire fabric of mortal existence is a lie, and that power and presence belong only to God. High points in this awakening are Moses' insight into the egoistic nature of Deity (see Ex. 3:14, 15) and Christ Jesus' realization, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." ^{John 8:12:} Jesus knew that he walked in and with the light of Truth, undeceived by the darkness and shadows of mortal sense. He saw through the deceptions of leprosy, lack, destructive weather—a whole range of human woes.

Let's consider a circumstance in which the deflating of deception can make a vast difference to us. Suppose we're very agitated about the state of society. Maybe we feel government is getting worse and pollution becoming quite out of hand. From a spiritually unenlightened viewpoint such concern may be profoundly worrying. But if we really want to help society, and if we hope to live with less anxiety, we need to unpack and throw out the basic deceptions that seem to be operating. And we must realize truths based on the omnipotence of divine government, and the purity of man as God's idea.

Such realization may take patience. Resolutions to social problems may be progressive rather than immediate. But only spiritually scientific paths lead to permanent solutions. Weeding out deceptions from our thought, we find that spiritual realities are less and less obscured. And the more clear they are to us, the more practical.

Speaking of the nature and results of delusion, Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and induced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple rule that the greater controls the lesser." ^{Science and Health, p. 121.}

As natural science progresses, deficient or erroneous theories come to be controlled by—replaced by—more comprehensive and coherent theories. Through understanding the Christ Science we can here and always demonstrate that the true controls and eliminates the untrue, the spiritual fact subordinates the material mistake, the divine law overrules the mortal law—and that Truth outlaws disease. The reason is that Truth is right now omnipotent and error is right now impotent.

According to Christian Science, nothing is more sure than the allness and presence of God, and nothing is more powerless, more invalid, than the deceptions of mortal sense. Knowing this controls and annihilates deceptions.

Geoffrey J. Barratt