Article April 9, 1979 Issue

The past—a "record of dreams"

HUGH MORLEY ADAMS

However authentic a novel may seem, the events as described never really took place. The same is true of the story of one's mortal past, as Christian Science shows. But there's an important difference: people know the novels they read are fictional, whereas they think the story of their material past is true—an inerasable sequence of events that has shaped them into what they are today.

Most people think of man as a mortal, a product of material circumstances. Originated by human parents and born into matter, this mortal is said to be conditioned by his heredity and environment—molded by genes and experience and education into a unique material personality. It is not surprising that those who accept this view of man regard the mortal as a major, irreversible factor in their present existence.

Christian Science presents a very different picture of man. Mrs. Eddy says: "In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being."^{Science and Health, p. 63;} Here she contrasts the spiritual, real man with the person presented by the material senses. As we accept spiritual man as our real identity, we see that the mortal with a material history supposed to be us is a fiction.