Article February 19, 1979 Issue

Toning mental muscles

ROBERT L. T. HOLCOMB

A basic teaching of Christian Science is that man, the active expression of God, is not material. He is not a chemically constituted mass animated by electromagnetic impulses. Man has form to his identity, but not as matter. We can conceive of this spiritual identity as having strength, beauty, and purpose. It moves and functions in accordance with the ever-active Principle of being, God.

A wise New Testament writer advises exercise in godliness: "Bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."I Tim. 4:8; Though Bible references to running and winning the prize and bringing the body under subjection in training indicate a familiarity with the habits of athletes, there is always a clear perception that the really important discipline is that involved in exercising spiritual qualities. These qualities constitute the genuine spiritual selfhood of each one of us. Individual man ceaselessly expresses love, joy, intelligence. As we see this, we discover new facets of our nature as individual reflections of the infinite Mind, Soul.

What a far cry spiritual identity is from the physical body we see materially! Mrs. Eddy was one of the most profoundly original thinkers of all time. In her book Science and Health she writes, "Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient material form, man has a sensationless body; and God, the Soul of man and of all existence, being perpetual in His own individuality, harmony, and immortality, imparts and perpetuates these qualities in man,—through Mind, not matter."Science and Health, p. 280;