It was almost dinner time in my cohousing community. My son was visiting from another state. Even though it was a cold evening, some of us were planning to eat at a table on the patio, so I decided to go to my condo for a coat. Not seeing the outstretched leg of one of our members, who was kneeling on the ground to check the propane heater, I tripped over his foot. As I fell to the ground, I scraped my head on a sharp concrete edge.

One of my neighbors cried out, “Omigod!” and I replied, “Don’t say that!” as I got up. My son accompanied me to my condo, which was a few steps away. I assured him that I was fine and just wanted to check my head and leg in case there was any blood. There wasn’t, and my neighbors were surprised and delighted to see that I was fine. 

My son commented that there had been other times over the years when he’d seen me fall and immediately bounce back. During this experience, all I could think of was that I was “unfallen, upright, pure, and free.” That phrase is part of this statement from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brainology to learn how much of a man he is” (p. 171).