Have you ever wondered why you exist, whether you have a purpose, or if you’re just an accident of biology, carried along on the winds of chance? I have. One summer day when I was about seven years old, I suddenly became acutely aware of myself as a conscious being and asked God, Why does there have to be a “me”?  

The Bible tells us that God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26) and “Ye are my witnesses . . . and my servant whom I have chosen” (Isaiah 43:10). This being what, who, and how we really are, we need to know who and what God is if we would understand who and what we are as His witnesses, His likeness.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, was a lifelong, devoted student of the Bible, and she found in the Bible seven synonyms (some mentioned directly and others implied) that define God’s nature and our nature as His likeness: Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, and Principle. These terms are capitalized throughout her writings as names for God. This expanded understanding of God leads to the healing of all types of problems and ills resulting from fear, sin, or ignorance of the nature of God and man.