Article November 19, 1979 Issue

Discovering the real earth

ERNEST H. LYONS, JR.

As the idea of God, man lives in the divine Mind. But man to human apprehension dwells on the planet earth, dependent on foods growing on its surface, on its minerals and other resources, and on its atmosphere for his breath. This dependence imposes apparently inexorable limitations of space, time, resources, and potential. Humanity has reached out to free itself in some measure, through the moon landings and interplanetary explorations, and through astronomers' observations, which penetrate deep into space.

The Psalmist probed still deeper—probed into realism—when he wrote: "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."^{Ps. 90:1, 2;} And John adds, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit."^{I John 4:13;} Existence, spiritually perceived, is actually an incorporeal state of being, held within the divine consciousness.

Because true being is the reflection of infinite Mind, God, we must lift our concepts of earth from matter to Spirit. Instead of standing on "solid" matter, we are actually supported by forces—not the electromagnetic, gravitational, and nuclear forces of physics, but the divine forces of Mind. As Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification."^{Science and Health, p. 124;}