The awe occasioned by the sudden contemplation of the vastness of star-strewn skies or the seemingly boundless vista from a mountaintop has made people echo the Psalmist's words "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" ^{Ps. 8:4.} Is man only a speck in this immensity?

When uninstructed by the truth the Bible teaches, the human mind belittles the abilities of man. It sees his life as corporeal—beginning in helpless infancy, then buffeted by the vagaries of materiality until it succumbs to deterioration and death. What distress such ignorance engenders! No wonder the question "What is man?" bursts out.

May it not be that the question is prompted also by an inner feeling that the beauty and order of nature must point toward some supreme intelligence, the understanding of which would solve the mystery of man's being? At any rate, when the answer to the question is longed for and prayerfully sought, God leads the seeker to His truth, revealed in the Bible.

"But I cannot understand the Bible; it's a closed book to me," someone may exclaim, ignorant that in this age there is a correlated book that can open one's thought to the inspiration of the Bible texts, just as the title indicates: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The author, Mary Baker Eddy, who was brought up in an atmosphere of orthodox religion by parents who were devoted Bible students, realized that there must be a divine Principle creating and governing the universe through spiritual law, although this Principle had remained hidden for almost two thousand years after its perfect demonstration by Christ Jesus. Her glimpse of the truth of being, which had enabled Jesus to perform physical healings that people have called miracles, gave her an all-absorbing desire to understand the workings of Principle. She tells us: "I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God, and that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration." ^{Science and Health, p. 109.}

The revelation that came to Mrs. Eddy made clear the twofold nature of Christ Jesus, and this, in turn, serves as a guide to us in understanding man and his purpose. Of Christ Jesus' nature she writes, "Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was endowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, without measure." She continues: "This accounts for his struggles in Gethsemane and on Calvary, and this enabled him to be the mediator, or way-shower, between God and men. Had his origin and birth been wholly apart from mortal usage, Jesus would not have been appreciable to mortal mind as 'the way.'" ^{Ibid., p. 30.}

The life and mission of Jesus, the Way-shower, illustrate for us the true nature of man. From early boyhood Jesus understood why he was here. On one occasion when Mary and Joseph had been searching for him, the boy Jesus asked them, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" ^{Luke 2:49.} Perhaps our own questioning of why we are here is prompted by the intuition that we too have a definite, if at present unseen, purpose. Once we accept that fact, we have taken an important step in finding our purpose.

As the four Gospels show, Jesus explained man's true being by demonstrating that the power of God produces and governs man and every right effect. The Bible tells us that people came to Jesus demanding, "If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly" and that he replied, "I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me." And the Master added, "I and my Father are one." ^{John 10:24, 25, 30.} Christians accept Christ Jesus' relationship to God but may question whether they themselves can really be one with God.

The oneness with God that Jesus stressed and demonstrated by no means separates the Master from us but expresses his—and our—true, spiritual status as the idea or child of God. St. John writes in his First Epistle, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." ^{I John 3:1.}

Science and Health describes God in terms that illustrate His allness: "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." ^{Science and Health, p. 465.} So we see that our Way-shower, the man Jesus, was in truth spiritual—hence one with Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love, as divine effect. Jesus gave us a glorious demonstration of man as the expression of Mind's infinite wisdom, as the reflection of Soul's perfect grace, as the manifestation of the divine Principle, Love. Jesus' demonstration of Christ as his very being explains his many-sided achievements during his marvelous three years' work on earth. And he declared that those who believed on him would do the same works. ^{See John 14:12 .}

The gospel accounts tell us of his meeting and totally overcoming the subtle temptations that would have destroyed his God-inspired mission at its inception. They also show how Jesus nullified the claims of disease and discord by recognizing the allness of God and by destroying sin, in this way revealing the forgiveness of God.

Jesus always kept his divine mission clearly before him. When John the Baptist sent to inquire whether Jesus was truly the Christ, the Master told the messengers to report on his healings—in other words, on his demonstration of man's spirituality and inseparability from God. They had seen for themselves how he had made the deaf to hear, the blind to see; how he had brought enlightenment to those seeking it. ^{See Luke 7:19–23 .} Jesus' religion was not only a sabbath observance but a continual overcoming of whatever evil presented itself in the daily round. His every moment was a prayer to do the will of God.

This yielding of the human will to the divine is the way in which we learn to follow Jesus wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Such a goal cannot be gained quickly; an hour-to-hour effort is needed to hold thought tuned to the divine Mind, to listen to God, for He does speak to us through spiritual sense.

How can we know what God would have us do? First, through a genuine longing to live in the way Jesus showed us. In the many decisions we have to make in the course of a day, both trivial and profound, we can ask ourselves, How would Jesus have acted? Would he have yielded to fear or indecision or anger? Surely not. The Master declared: "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge." ^{John 5:30.} It is clear that he did not think of himself as an independent, finite entity struggling to know what God would have him do. He knew that Spirit creates and governs man. Divine Mind's action is ever expressed through its own idea. And one who perceives this truth is divinely provided with the right response in any situation.

You could argue that a sudden predicament may demand immediate response from us, allowing no time for prayerful consideration. True. Yet if our thought is consciously based on divine Principle, no such emergency can catch us out. The Bible assures us that before we call, God will answer. ^{See Isa. 65:24 .}

In long years of seeking to obey the teachings of Christian Science in all that I do, two instances stand out to me. While in active service during the Second World War, on two separate occasions I had to make an immediate decision affecting the safety and success of those under my command. In neither case had I previously considered the action such a circumstance would require, nor had I humanly any conception of what the response should be. Both times it was as if I, as a third party, heard myself reply. Subsequent events proved the orders to have been the right ones.

We can and must follow our Way-shower in order to demonstrate God's power as he did. The immense achievements of Jesus' human life do not invalidate this demand. We must become aware of the glorious possibilities open to mankind, for we are not really lone, finite figures wandering aimlessly in time. Each of us is in truth essential to the grand design of God's spiritual creation, emanating from the eternal divine Principle, Love.

Every right ability the human being possesses is given for a purpose, which will be revealed as he listens in prayer for God's direction. The talents with which the Father has endowed us must not be buried in the earth of materiality. They should be employed for God's glory and for hastening the appearing of His kingdom in the hearts of humanity.

As the longing to follow the example of our Master is kept uppermost in thought, the reality of man made in God's image, after His likeness, does indeed dawn. We glimpse that man is—must be—spiritual, divine idea and that the physical body, previously thought to be man, is no more than a temporal symbol to be progressively outgrown through increasing understanding. We realize that, far from being nobodies without purpose, in truth we are and always have been children of God, endowed by Him with spiritual abilities and divine purpose.