IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON November 15, 2010 Issue

READY FOR A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE?

KATHLEEN COLLINS

A LINE from this week's Bible Lesson, titled "Soul and Body," launched me on a journey into space! Science and Health states: "Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system" (p. 122, citation 4). Remember Ptolemy? He's the astronomer/mathematician from the second century a.d. whose geocentric model claimed that the sun, planets, and all space revolved around the earth. That view seems ancient to us today, but it actually took centuries of sacrifice and scientific research to establish the truth of a heliocentric (sun-centered) solar system.

How does this bit of astronomy relate to Soul and body? According to the "mistaken theories" of our day, humanity is educated to place the body at the center of life with health, sight, well-being revolving around it. We may often feel defined, even trapped by our bodies. But that's all backward! As Science and Health puts it: "As astronomy reverses the human perception of the movement of the solar system, so Christian Science reverses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes body tributary to Mind" (p. 119, cit. 5).

My mental journey to space was further propelled by an IMAX film I saw recently about the Hubble telescope orbiting 353 miles above Earth. It included awesome images of the universe. Our little planet is hardly a pinpoint in its vastness, and yet, photos of Earth from space are stunningly beautiful. Earth's beauty comes from reflecting the light of the sun. Many scientists are certain that there must be other life-supporting planets among the billions of galaxies, but so far, Earth is the only one known. We may sometimes think of ourselves as only a "pinpoint" among the billions of people on Earth. But like the earth, we also find our beauty and uniqueness by reflecting light—for us, it's the light of Soul. Science and Health tells us, "Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love" (p. 477, cit. 6).