“How do you See the World?” a new interactive experience at the Christian Science Plaza in Boston (see below), offers visitors a fresh view of the world. It can be as simple—and profound—as recognizing that we can participate in humanity’s progress through our own thoughts and actions. 

Wanting to make a difference for humankind is more than a positive outlook on the world. It’s the result of the spiritual impulse in human consciousness called the Christ. Listen to the exhibits’ stories of people helping their neighbors, and you’ll see the Christ working today in the hearts and minds of people around the globe. This forever divine influence is the godliness that was in Christ Jesus, whose healing mission was to remove the sins and sorrows of the world.

Jesus presented Christ by living what he identified as the two greatest commandments: to love God above all else and to love our neighbor as ourselves (see Mark 12:28–31). We, too, have a moment-by-moment opportunity to respond to Christ in us. Every time love, unselfishness, justice, or goodness overcomes a problem or calms a conflict, we understand better what Jesus knew—that God, good, embraces and governs us and our neighbors. 

Jesus’ world, like ours, had problems that needed solutions. What made the Savior’s prayers so powerful was his understanding of man’s—everyone’s—spiritual nature as the perfect likeness of God. Rather than thinking of God as remote or uncaring, Jesus prayed with the understanding of God’s nearness and of our inseparability from God, divine Life and Love. He saw possibilities for humanity’s progress where others saw dead ends—sickness, corruption, death—and he healed people, proving the power of God, infinite Spirit. 

Christian Science defines Spirit as the one all-knowing, all-acting, and all-loving God, who creates all real existence. The universe of Spirit includes our own individuality as Spirit’s perfect and whole expression. 

Even if our view of life is that we are buried under mountains of personal and global problems, we can find answers, and aid others in doing so, through understanding our spiritual relation to God, which leads to loving others. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, says, “To love one’s neighbor as one’s self, is a divine idea; but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood through the physical senses” (p. 88). Loving our neighbors as God loves us and them lifts off the matter-based thinking that would keep us from seeing God’s work already present—the purely spiritual individuality under God’s direction and care.

Our prayer that turns to God as the one and only Life, our creator, stimulates love and makes us problem solvers. As we see the world with an understanding of God’s creation, we are helping others see it too. And the effect of divine light in human consciousness is healing.

For example, a Christian Scientist who served as an Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations found that an uplifted spiritual viewpoint made her work more effective. She said, “In one conflict situation, I talked to two leaders of armed groups that were harassing their people, displacing their population, and not letting humanitarian convoys through.” She prayed to see these individuals as God’s spiritual likeness, willing to listen for God’s leading. “Then we had a dialogue,” she said, “and at the end they let the convoys pass.” A comment they made to her showed a change of heart: “We also have responsibility for our people, so we should not displace them” (2020 Annual Meeting, “Our duty to God, to our Leader, and to mankind,” The Christian Science Journal, September 2020).

Recognizing the divine activity of Christ in our own thoughts and seeing it at work in others opens the door to solutions. When we begin with the purely spiritual nature of man, we get an increasingly better view of humanity, and we hear the heavenly instruction that guides us to our own opportunities to bless the world.

Susan Stark, Managing Editor