WITH ALL THE INK and airtime given to praise and criticism of bestselling author Thomas Friedman's 2005 book The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century—attention well deserved—you might wonder whether religion has much to offer toward understanding the nature of consciousness and human connectedness. Briefly, Friedman argues that advances in digital technology, coupled with the forces of globalization, have so "flattened" our world that John Donne's famous line "No man is an Island" has moved from truism to gospel truth.

With all due respect, we say, "Nice baby step." Now, let's move on to the real frontier: the one infinite, divine consciousness in which time and distance are nothing but fictional limits.

Agreed, a flatter world offers positive developments, including a more idea-based and decentralized global economy (albeit with such side-effect negatives as compromised privacy and cultural uniformity). But even the significant social gains from Digital Age connectedness pale in comparison with the more universal benefits that will accrue as humanity grasps the implications of this proposition: "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468). When Mary Baker Eddy first posed this still radical idea 132 years ago, the forces of materialistic religion, science, and medicine countered with a collective "You must be kidding!"—although often in much stronger language.

Many who first accepted that statement as true were a humble sort of people, the intellectual "babes" that Christ Jesus was referring to when he asked, "Have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" (Matt. 21:16). They knew the author of Science and Health had seen something right and powerful, because by accepting God as infinite Mind, and themselves as this Mind's manifestation, they consistently found healing and character transformation.

When we, through a pure heart, see something of God's realness and infinitude, wholeness of body and mind results. But even as wonderful as such outcomes are, the consciousness frontier holds far more promise for humanity's well-being than has been realized thus far. For example, how would the world of healthcare look if it were generally accepted that because the divine Mind exists everywhere, and is all-knowing, health is never out of reach? That health is not personal and variable, but an attribute of the invariable Mind?

An ancient Hebrew poet put it this way: "O Lord ... You know my thoughts even when I'm far away. ... I can never getaway from your presence!" (Ps. 139:1, 2, 7, New Living Translation). And as a student of the lawfulness behind those words, Mary Baker Eddy logically concluded, "Science can heal the sick, who are absent from their healers, as well as those present, since space is no obstacle to Mind" (Science and Health, p. 179).

Consider these Mind-over-space scenarios:

• A soldier overseas faces a life-threatening situation and sends out a prayer for help. At the same moment, the soldier's mother, asleep on the other side of the world, wakes up suddenly aware of a need to pray. The soldier, and everyone around him, escapes harm.

• An army officer's valued assistant is sick and near death. The officer leaves his quarters to find a man who has become known for his ability to heal serious illness with a prayerful command of a few words. They meet on the road and exchange a few words. The officer returns to find his assistant up and well.

• A reporter for a major newspaper suffers from an alarming growth on his throat. While unable to talk, he's still aggressively pursuing an interview with a controversial religious leader, who respectfully declines his request. Although angry at first, when the reporter hangs up the phone, he finds that his throat is healed and he's able to talk normally.

The last example condenses an account of events that took place in 1907, published most recently in the book Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer by Yvonne von Fettweis and Robert Warneck (pp. 283-284). In the second case we're paraphrasing Christ Jesus' healing of the Roman centurion's servant (Matt. 8). And our first case describes experiences we've published many times over the years, in which someone was suddenly impelled to pray for a distant loved one, who, unbeknownst to them, was in a desperate situation (see, for example, "God is my refuge," Patricia Kadick, Sentinel, November 1, p. 10).

Divine intelligence is unconfined by space or time, and no quicker or better healer exists for the world. And beyond just the healing of physical ills, we can consider peacemaking, economic equalization, and the improved treatment of women and children, as prime fields for mental and spiritual labor. The peace of the infinite Mind is here to bless all humanity.

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