ILLUSIONS
Mrs . Eddy says that "mortal mind sees what it believes" (Science and Health, p. 86). Hegel declares that "true progress consists in the removal of illusions." A sense of fear means perversion. It has been the custom of mortal mind to hold distorted images of being. This mind has filled the world with false concepts of Deity and demanded their worship. It has formed in thought erroneous pictures, and then objectified the general mentality, so that even thinkers of each succeeding age have shared the error. The common illusion has seemed reality until Truth has stripped off its disguise. In this respect no age has seemed to learn much from the experience of former ages. Each one thinks that the past cherished falsehood, while the present is filled with light. Each one blindly hugs its own pet illusion and persecutes the revelator who disturbs its dream with the awakening truth.
When Christian Science challenged the mortal contradiction of the ages by boldly declaring that all which seems opposed to the action of infinite Mind is not true, but mortal illusion, it was scorned by the dominant forces whose thinking had been coerced by established systems. The more free and spiritual method, even the vision of God as absolute causation and His manifestation in the spiritual idea, casting out the false sense which claims that evil has real being in the realm of infinite good, is hinted in history and established by sound reason. The thread of illusion that runs through human experience is readily admitted. For thousands of years men believed that the sun circled the earth each twenty-four hours. It seemed so till the science of astronomy corrected it, and persecution was the lot of denial. Galileo, under the rack, was compelled to recant "the abominable heresy that the earth moves." Sport was made of Columbus for believing there was land on the other side of the globe, and people asked, "How could men walk with their heads hanging down?" Emerson says, "We live in illusion."
Confusion, doubt, and the mists of limitation which darken human experience, so border on the normal action that the mortal man touched with doubt is compelled to ask, Am I awake? Is there a sure line of demarcation between the real and the apparent? Are things what they seem? What is the influence that presses on mentality? Is it mesmeric, or real? The rationalism of history has been engaged in a sharp conflict to separate truth from illusion. Often the craft of men has been involved. Entrenched interests have held to the illusion, while the flaming sword of truth has led the deliverance. In the childhood of the human race, childish thought was objectified in wondrous forms. The gods and demigods, which were creations of mortal thought, appeared in forms of men. Their actions were as questionable as the minds that formed them, but until a more rational awakening came there was no one heretical enough to deny their reality. Strong and good men shared the common delusion.
In the "dark ages" the thought of evil became a nightmare. Devils were legion; they walked and talked and devised ill. Men saw them face to face and were never free. Luther's diary abounds with weird tales of his experience with the arch-enemy: he hears him in the corridor at night, and holds conversation with him. The illusion was well-nigh universal. The ghost lore of our fathers would fill libraries. A common fear of the unknown was portrayed. We say we have outgrown these hideous fables, but they once seemed as real as men. The thought of ages was objectified. Has this mortal law ceased to operate? Is there no common error of thought extending into out time that makes illusion seem real?
The reign of devils and specters passed before an advancing thought of the divine character. Faith fixed itself in the eternal goodness. It was insisted that divine Love never made a world thus filled with horror; then hell and Satan began to vanish from human belief and the world was brighter. Truth demands an extension of this logic until all evil is excluded. Can sin, sickness, and death be harmonized with all-creative Love and power? Spirit is absolute; Spirit alone endures, and the enduring is real. To this basic truth of being "every knee shall bow." Matter, as such, is not real; it is but the externalization of mortal sense. If one looks through blue glass, all objects seem blue; through material sense they appear material; but as thought becomes spiritualized, Spirit is seen to be the author and life of all, unfolding and sustaining creation from Himself in His image; then objects appear as they are, spiritual and complete.
The scientific perception of reality is marked by Mrs. Eddy's statement that "divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replace the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas" (Science and Health, p. 123). Within the infinite good, evil has no place A general material thought objectifies a corrupted creation, but the higher outlook, the spiritual penetration, unfolds to man's knowledge the truth of being, God and His creation, spiritual and perfect.
For the sure basis of reality, we are not left to conjecture,—the ever-coming Christ is revelation; Spirit penetrates the mist of matter. The Master appealed to proof,—"The works ... that I do, bear witness of me," "The works that I do shall he do also." The need continues; the rule is ours, even the supremacy of Spirit. The healing work is in every hamlet. All who will may see and know. Mrs. Eddy again says, "Demonstration is Immanuel, or God with us." Under spiritual progress, "what to material sense seems substance, becomes nothingness, as the sense-dream vanishes and reality appears" (Science and Health, pp. 34, 312).
