In my early adolescence, I became curious about death. In high school, that turned into wanting to know more about God, who—through some Christian Scientist friends—I learned was infinite Life.  

At first, it was my friends’ way of living that attracted me to Christian Science. They seemed to meet every adverse and hateful situation with kindness and thoughtful positivity. Over time, as they shared more and more about metaphysical healing, I felt led to begin studying Christian Science, a decision I continue to be grateful for.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, explains in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that Christ Jesus’ resurrection from death served to raise others “into the perception of infinite possibilities” (p. 34). I reasoned that these possibilities come from a deeper understanding of God as infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love, and that our growth in life comes from asking questions about the allness of God and striving to live in accord with what we learn of Him. Science and Health also tells us that “to understand God is the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire” (p. 3).

I challenged myself to regain my initial enthusiasm for Christian Science and to do a deep study of Science and Health.

A few years back, I challenged myself to regain my initial curiosity about and enthusiasm for Christian Science and to do a deep study of Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science. The thought that came to me was to focus on the word infinite. 

Instead of just rereading the textbook, which I had done many, many times over the years, I decided to write it out using pen and paper. This process of copying out Science and Health in my own hand became a very deep and personal experience. I was seeing and connecting with Mrs. Eddy’s words in a new way. It was also comical at times, as I sometimes found that in previous readings, I had mentally omitted or substituted words that sounded or looked similar but had different meanings. Writing out the actual words gave me new ways to look at the spiritual truths I was reading. 

My breakthrough moment in trying to define infinite came from something I heard in a podcast. The speaker was describing the difference between a million and a billion in terms listeners could easily understand. He broke it down into measurements of time: a million seconds is roughly 11 and a half days, and a billion seconds is a little over 31 and a half years. (And for the curious, I later found out a trillion seconds is more than 31,500 years.) 

The gap between a million seconds and a billion seconds took me by surprise, and I said to myself, “Wow, what about the gap between infinite Mind, God, and the false belief that there’s any intelligence in a finite, physical brain?”

As I was sharing my discovery with my wife, I added, “If I tried to count to a billion, it would likely take me close to 32 years.” She replied, “But it would take you only a moment to conceive of a billion.” In other words, the complete idea of a billion was already in thought without needing to count out the number.

This brought back a fond memory: a healing of allergies, which was my first healing through the practice of Christian Science. The healing had occurred when I was reading Science and Health and came to the following idea: “Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,—neither in nor of matter,—and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love” (p. 14). It had taken just a single moment of understanding God as the only Life and the only intelligence governing my life for me to be freed from those allergies for good.

Days after my newfound thoughts on infinity, I was cooking our favorite Italian dish, a recipe that required adding ingredients to very hot olive oil. I had made this countless times, but this time, when I lifted the splatter screen from the pan to add the tomatoes, the mixture exploded, covering my face with hot oil and tomatoes. 

My immediate reaction—embarrassingly—was to swear. But on the heels of that, I recalled these two passages from Science and Health: “A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my explanations, badly wounded her finger. She seemed not to notice it. On being questioned about it she answered ingenuously, ‘There is no sensation in matter.’ Bounding off with laughing eyes, she presently added, ‘Mamma, my finger is not a bit sore’ ” (p. 237). And, “ . . . you consult your brain in order to remember what has hurt you, when your remedy lies in forgetting the whole thing; for matter has no sensation of its own, and the human mind is all that can produce pain” (pp. 165–166).

The first passage came to thought because it had been included in that week’s Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly, and I had just copied the latter statement from Science and Health. Both came to me as more of a feeling than a recital of words, all within a space of time that words cannot define.

Feeling no pain, I laughed at my swearing, wiped the tomatoes and grease off my face, and continued cooking. I served up dinner, which my wife and I enjoyed, and we watched a movie. In the middle of the movie, I had to quell a mental suggestion that the healing wasn’t complete and that I might later suffer bad effects from the incident. I recalled this statement from Science and Health: “Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony” (p. 424).

It had taken only a single moment of understanding God as the only intelligence governing my life for me to be healed.

To me, that meant that because there is no Mind but God, there never was a time nor a place where an accident could happen. I quit engaging in the belief of having my own matter-based mind and focused on the eternal fact that divine Mind, our Father-Mother God, is wholly good and enables me to know Him as omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and supreme—now and everywhere, eternally. I was freed from fear and never experienced any bad effects from the splattered oil.

I was initially a little reluctant to share any of this, as I haven’t finished copying out Science and Health, nor have I come close to concluding my study of the infinite. But that all seemed foolish when I reasoned, “You are studying infinity. When do you think that’ll end? Go ahead and share!”