I think it is safe to say that nothing is more needed in the world than spiritual light. Why? Because all the evil in the world—all sinfulness, illness, discord, and mortality—is simply the manifestation of mental darkness in human consciousness. And spiritual light can displace that darkness. 

The good news is that spiritual light is here—it is the light of God, divine Truth and Love—and it is dawning on human consciousness. 

The Bible is a living record of this dawning. I say “living” record because the Bible is the story of the light of God moving human thought out of the darkness of mortal thinking into the light of spiritual reality. The spiritual message in the Bible is the living Word of God dawning on individual human consciousness with comfort, spiritual regeneration, and healing every day.

What’s made the Bible’s spiritual sense come alive for me is the Comforter—the divine Science Christ Jesus demonstrated—which Mary Baker Eddy discovered through her deep love for and study of the Scriptures, and which she recorded for humanity in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Take Science and Health’s exegesis of the two presentations of creation in the first two chapters of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The first chapter presents Light: God, the one infinite Spirit, is revealing what has always existed—man and the universe as His complete and continuing expression of Himself—spiritual, good, perfect, and eternal. The second chapter presents darkness: the Lord God, or a human concept of God, supposedly creating man and the universe out of matter, which is inherently discordant and mortal. The first account—infinite Spirit’s revelation—is true. The second account—blind belief’s conjecture—is false.

In the last chapter in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, a new heaven and a new earth are revealed, where there is no darkness. All is spiritual, harmonious, and eternal—the reflection of God, Spirit, which is Light. This represents the full salvation of humanity from the mortal, or false, concept of God and man.

Everything after the true and false accounts of creation in the first two chapters of the Bible in Genesis, and up until the last chapter in Revelation, shows the gradual appearing of spiritual light in human consciousness, and the spiritual regeneration, healing, and ultimate salvation this light brings to human experience—Christ Jesus being the highest representative of that light.

The practice of Christian Science healing is the practice of letting the spiritual light of the true account of creation in Genesis, chapter 1, dawn on individual human consciousness, displace the darkness of the false account, and thereby bring healing and regeneration to those who seek that light.

I’d like to share with you here just a few related insights from the first chapter of Genesis, and from Science and Health, that have brought, and continue to bring, the light of Truth and Love into my consciousness, life, and healing practice. 

In Genesis 1, verses 3–5, we read: “God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

The spiritual message in the Bible is the living Word of God dawning on individual human consciousness with comfort, spiritual regeneration, and healing every day.

I find it outstandingly instructive to realize that God is represented as dividing the light from the darkness; they do not exist together; all is light, spiritual Truth; there is no darkness of mortal, erroneous belief in that light. And note this: The “evening and the morning were the first day.” 

Throughout the figurative six days in the spiritual creation in Genesis, each day consists of evening followed by morning—with no night in between. A little research has shown me that the concept of day as beginning in the evening “may have its roots in times far back beyond the Bible, before stable civilization developed, when the earliest tribes were nomads of the desert. In the heat of the desert sun they kept in their tents. In the cool of the evening life could actively begin” (The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume One, p. 470). But the spiritual sense of Bible terms in the Glossary in Science and Health gives new meaning to day, evening, and morning—meaning that has nothing to do with time: 

“Day . The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love” (p. 584).

“Evening . Mistiness of mortal thought; weariness of mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest” (p. 586). 

“Morning . Light; symbol of Truth; revelation and progress” (p. 591). 

Christ Jesus said of himself, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), and of his followers, “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). And Science and Health says, “Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming the universe with light” (p. 266). So, man, “the idea of Spirit,” is the light God called “Day.”

Here is what I see in all this, and find helpful in practicing Christian Science healing: In proportion as individuals let the truth of man as God’s idea—“the spiritual idea of Truth and Love”—illumine their thought, and transform them, the “Day” of spiritual being comes to earth in regeneration and healing. As the evening and morning of God’s day appear in the form of “peace and rest” and “revelation and progress,” the “mistiness of mortal thought,” “weariness of mortal mind,” and “obscured views” disappear. 

As the light of spiritual Truth and Love continues to dawn on human consciousness, healing and regeneration will continue—until finally, full salvation from the night of mortality will come to all humanity. Each of us can add mightily toward this outcome each and every day through our individual practice of Christian Science. 

Barbara Vining