Article July 26, 2010 Issue

My spiritual shape-up

BY ADAM SCHERR

IT SEEMS WE LIVE in a world of "thin," or "want to be thin." Of "in shape," or "trying to get (or stay) in shape."

Interestingly enough, when I looked up the word shape in the dictionary, there were two very different meanings. The first was "an assumed appearance." When we look in the "mirror, mirror on the wall," another way of expressing this first definition is really "mortal/material image." The second definition (the one I like) is "proper form; orderly arrangement." Or as I like to put it, "immortal image." The reflection of God. If I go by this spiritual model as my barometer of whether I'm fit or not, I'm really in good shape.

Through Christian Science, I'm learning that what we see in a mirror is actually a reflection of thought. If I cast my mental net to the right side, divine Love's side, the mirror is much nicer than if my thought lingers on the other side. God gives us dominion over every living thing, fish in the sea, fowl in the air, and, yes, even how we think about what we see in the mirror. In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy writes, "We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things" (p. 129).

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