When we are confronted with discords, we can turn our thought to the contemplation of man's real origin as the child of God, which Christian Science teaches. We can hold to the understanding that man is the image and likeness of the divine Mind, God, infinite good. As the Bible puts it: "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth." And further on, "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." ^{Gen. 1:26, 31.}

From beginning to end, the Bible—and especially the gospel accounts of Christ Jesus' healing work—shows us how to find freedom from the ills and woes originating in earthbound thinking. The abundant healings recorded in the Bible illustrate the freedom that can be gained from every type of ill or misfortune. For present-day evidence of this, one has only to look in the testimony section of this magazine at the verified testimonies of gratitude for healing and delivery from human ills. There is nothing that God cannot do.

The Christian Scientist does not, however, practice mind control or thought manipulation. Rather, he yields to divine Mind as the only Mind, affirming the absoluteness of God's might and presence. He endeavors to behold what God has made, and to realize that there can be but one kind of man—the man created precisely in God's likeness. "Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of creation," ^{Science and Health, p. 93.} writes Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. As we pray, we come to understand that God is indeed in control, and we need not be apprehensive about the false claims of earthbound thinking.

To reason correctly in Christian Science it is fundamental to realize that God made all and made it good. God did not make evil, hence as our understanding of God grows, evil disappears because it has no actual source or reality. As we read in Science and Health, "To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is." ^{Ibid., p. 275.}

Evil's only claim to existence is as a false image in the so-called mortal, or carnal, mind. Mortal mind sees its own images and names them sickness, sin, lack, hatred, and so forth. We destroy these false images by seeing them for what they are—nothing—and beholding in their place the truth of God's allness. As we see God as Love, infinite good, and hold thought to spiritual reality—as well as live a higher Christliness in our lives—the law of God, of Love, operates in our consciousness to dispel all that is unreal and show clearly all that is real. The result is healing.

In order to see the oneness and allness of Mind, God, and man as His perfect expression, we need to separate the false mortal concepts from our thought and retain only the Godlike qualities of our true being. Expressing these attributes brings a fuller realization of our true oneness with God as His reflection, and a recognition of God as Love that operates as a law to remove and destroy everything unlike Love.

If a discordant condition arises, it should be a signal to examine our thinking and draw into accord immediately with the pure healing Christ, Truth, which counteracts all error. We can realize that God's presence is the only fact; nothing else is true.

There is no need to muddle through life, bounced about and buffeted by the world's mistaken concepts. We cannot be outside God's protection at any time. The right ideas that protect us are always included in God, divine Mind—and always reflected by man. When pure spiritual sense touches thought, we cease looking to matter for answers, for we know that good is triumphant.