Cycles seem to be everywhere. There are the seasons of the year; there are the phases of the moon, the tides, etc. Perhaps the most familiar cycle for all mankind is the day: dawn, then morning, rising to noon before declining into evening and night. And many consider the material life cycle to be a similar bell curve—with an ascending period followed by a descending one.

The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, warns, “The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age.” She goes on to reject the concept of a material life cycle, declaring that manhood—the true nature of all of us—is being’s “eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 246). 

No gaining maturity, no decline from a peak, no descent into night—only an eternal noon. In fact, she would have us remove time from even “the thought of Life,” since Life dwells only in eternity (Science and Health, p. 468).