Instant revitalization from using a particular brand of soap when one showers after a hard day at the office or on the tennis courts! That was the kind of message relayed in a recent television commercial and in many others like it. Such claims seem laughable and harmless until one considers that they stem from the basic false belief that man is physical and governed by so-called physical laws; that man's health and strength are directly dependent on matter, including personal habits of diet, exercise, physical refreshment, and rest.

How greatly this sense of man differs from what the Bible tells us. In John we read: "God is a Spirit" and "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." ^{John 4:24; 1:3.} And we read in II Samuel, "God is my strength and power." ^{II Sam. 22:33.}

Since God is Spirit, Spirit must be man's very substance and Life, the source of his health and strength. An understanding of God, who is divine Truth, Life, and Love, and steadfast obedience to Him make possible the realization and demonstration of these transforming spiritual facts. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength. Submission to error superinduces loss of power." ^{Science and Health, p. 183.} All can prove the practical, day-to-day healing power of Truth, which heals by freeing us from enslaving misconceptions.

For example, I had become enslaved by the belief that I needed a prescribed amount of daily exercise to keep in condition to participate in my choice of sports. At one time I exercised up to two hours a day just to stay in shape. When I would drop the exercise program for a week or two, often I would feel tired or tense. I was held captive by the very regimen that was supposed to make me feel better. I thoroughly enjoyed racquetball, bicycling, skiing, and backpacking but found my depth of involvement in each one limited by the physical shape I believed I was in at the time.

Upon returning to the study and practice of Christian Science after a ten-year lapse, I began to learn how I could find greater freedom from physical limitation. An increased understanding of the wholly spiritual nature of man came through an experience in which I severely twisted my ankle while running down some stairs. Immediately the Bible words "God is my strength" came to thought. It was a part of that week's Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly. Leaning on that truth, I completed the descent of the remaining ten flights.

As I recognized that there are no accidents in God's kingdom, that as the reflection of God, Spirit, I had never left His kingdom, and that the physical senses can never show us our true condition, I was able to go about my business, without interruption, over the next few days. Besides the immediate need to deal with what still appeared to be a serious injury, there was also a need to handle fear—fear that I wouldn't be able to participate in three mountain climbs I had planned for a few months later.

Once again I had to address the false argument that certain physical "laws" must not be violated if one is to enjoy an active life. Science and Health states: "Anatomy declares man to be structural. Physiology continues this explanation, measuring human strength by bones and sinews, and human life by material law. Man is spiritual, individual, and eternal; material structure is mortal." ^{Ibid., p. 173.} The yearning to gain a higher understanding of man's being, or identity, as the reflection of Spirit is natural. Conversely it is unnatural to accept finite, limited theories about man's substance, strength, and health.

In I Timothy we read, "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.} A clear, scientific understanding of this verse can come only through a fundamental change of thought—from belief in physical cause and effect to the understanding of God, good, as the only real cause, including perfect effect. As I armed myself with these truths and really accepted them, the ankle injury quickly healed. Later that summer I did the three mountain climbs on consecutive weekends. Although I was free from any aftereffects of the ankle injury, other challenges came.

During the first climb, a forty-two-mile, two-and-a-half-day trip, a feeling of great fatigue was healed by spiritually perceiving the following verse from Isaiah: "They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." ^{Isa. 40:31.}

On the second climb, what appeared to be a serious knee problem was quickly solved when I asked a Christian Science practitioner to help me through prayer. My own prayer focused on deepening my understanding of my real substance. It was not to be found in bones, joints, muscles, and the like. Clearly the physical picture was illusory and so readily yielded to the truth.

Four days later the last climb was completed in perfect harmony. I felt such freedom and joy on this one—a climb to fourteen thousand feet over rock and glaciers—that I was even able to help another climber on the return trip. A firm stand for the spiritual nature of strength had freed me from supposititious physical laws. Such a stand does not always seem easy. Science and Health states, "It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion."^{Science and Health, p. 97.}

In Christian Science, the Science that Christ Jesus taught and lived, all can learn that man, being spiritual, is not subject to physical limitations, sickness, and sin—or to belief in them. These are not created by God and thus have no foundation, authority, identity, power, reality. Gloriously Jesus declared, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." ^{John 8:32.} This is a powerful, provable fact. True knowledge releases us from oppressive, false theories. No one can be held in bondage by belief in physicality and physical limitations, when he understands that these are not to be found in God's kingdom, the only real realm.

All can rejoice that because we're actually made in Spirit's image and likeness, we are able to prove this wonderful truth, prove that life, health, and strength are spiritual, in no way dependent upon matter. As people gain an ever clearer understanding of the true nature of man as the likeness of divine Truth and Love, and strive to live the truth, they can increasingly demonstrate the freedom and strength that are God's eternal gift to each of His children.