Visiting one day in a steel mill, the writer asked to see how the billets were conveyed through the giant furnaces in operation there. Upon being permitted to look inside one, he exclaimed, "I see nothing but a great white glare!" The attendant replied: "Many years of experience at these furnaces have accustomed my eyes to the high concentration of light in them, and upon looking inside, I can see every detail clearly. Moreover, without the use of instruments, I can tell within a few degrees the temperature of each billet. My job is never to let one start for the rolls unless it is right."

Here was food for thought! The eyes of the trained operator had clear vision, but mine were blinded by the same conditions through which he saw without impairment. Instantly there came to mind Jesus' words as recorded by Matthew: "This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear."

The Master was addressing his disciples. He referred to their spiritual discernment, made possible through the spiritual instruction they were receiving at his hands. And this surpassing ability to see and to hear he called "blessed." Vitally is this Christlike quality needed in the world today! And with rejoicing we observe that this blessing of divine Love may be had by all through spiritual understanding in Christian Science! This Science, as revealed by Mary Baker Eddy in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," awakens the heart "waxed gross," opens the spiritual perception, and heals all manner of sin, sickness, disease, and inharmony.

The secret of its success is spiritual training. Like the operator of the steel mill furnace, the student must become used to seeing through the glare of human experiences based upon materialism, and learn to accept and understand the power of God, good, as capable of handling every situation. Through practice, the Christian Scientist succeeds in seeing through, or unseeing, sickness and sin by beholding only the real man of God's creating, whether the belief obtains in his own thought or that of another. The sense of evil, like the glare in the furnace, is in reality insubstantial. It is not there to the experienced practitioner, who, seeing through or beyond the arguments of pain, weakness, delinquency, inability, or disability, recognizes the true status of man, thus bringing health and harmony into human consciousness in place of their glaring opposites.

Does this not make it clear that the error, or evil, of mortal thinking is not of God—that it has no demonstrable premises or truth? It is but the belief of the absence of Truth—the result of material education—mesmeric illusion. Evil is not real, but may be compared to a mirage, discernible but not there. It is not taking place. It seems to appear only because of a lack of understanding of that which is going on in Truth. Evil is simply the failure of mortal mind to comprehend the demonstrable facts of perfect being. God and His idea, man. Appearing only as the effect of ignorance, evil is the enemy to be overcome through consecration and obedience to the factual government of divine Principle, God. The teachings of Christian Science provide the spiritual foundation of these facts in accordance with the words and works of the great Way-shower, who said to those disciples who doubted the spiritual evidence they saw, "Having eyes, see ye not?"

Jesus said to the blind man, "Receive thy sight." and he did so. This is what Christian Science is saying to you and me today. Are we really willing to accept the blessing? Do we honestly desire spiritual sight or understanding above all else? If so, we shall gladly give up the attractions, glamour, and veneer of the mortal, material plan and, with vision clear, glimpse the perfection of God's creation, spiritual, harmonious, without flaw or blemish.

Mrs. Eddy, following in the steps of the Master with surpassing spiritual insight, has pointed out the way; that is, she has told us how Jesus did his unparalleled works, and, like him, admonishes us to go and do likewise. In Science and Health (pp. 476, 477) she writes: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."

It is to be noted that Jesus beheld the perfect man not in matter, but "in Science"—the Science of Mind. This Mind, God, is intelligence—man's intelligence—usable here and now in any situation, no matter how discouraging, dangerous, or threatening. The statement also contains the basis for obedience to the Golden Rule. An important point to consider in connection with this remarkable statement is that the learner must turn the searchlight of his thought inward to discern that he, as well as his neighbor, is this "perfect man." He must see himself as the likeness of God, Mind.

To know that, in reality, God is man's Mind, that we think rightly because God's thoughts are forever emanating from Him and passing to His idea, man, is to put into practice the power by which to overcome every mortal limitation. Jesus used this power to think and act rightly and taught his method to his disciples. He also demonstrated it before their eyes. He walked on the water, fed the multitudes, raised the dead, healed countless mortals of physical impairment, including blindness, deafness, and dumbness, and he made it clear that his comprehension, his perspicacity, was not obscured by matter or its conditions and circumstances. The Master saw spiritually. Matter, to him, did not exist, for his thought was a perfect transparency for Truth. This accounts for his resurrection and ascension. How clearly he saw and declared himself to be the Son of God!

If I were to say to you that six times six is thirty-seven, you would see through the error instantly, not because you accepted or understood the mistake, but, rather, by reason of your knowledge of the fact that six times six is thirty-six. Thus, for you the error simply disappears; it does not exist, and no argument, no counsel, no laborious thought-taking on your part is required to establish the mathematical fact. The result or effect is governed by a provable rule, and you know it. This is tantamount to unseeing the error. So it is with one who sees clearly the law of God which is operating as and through Christian Science, accepts it, and is grateful for it.

The spiritual fact is that man is God's perfect offspring or idea now, and the opposite error is not accepted by the Christian Scientist; it is seen through as nothing, and the God-crowned sequence in the Scientist's experience is the healing of the sick, the redemption of the sinful, and the raising of the mentally dead. Indeed, in this understanding, the adamant of all error is seen to dissolve, and Mind, God, is beheld as All-in-all.

This God-inspired Science says to you and me: Let no material consideration prevent you from devoting your whole thought to the acquiring of this spiritual understanding, for without it no love is true, no life is real, no peace is permanent, no happiness is constant, no success is possible, no victory is sure. Awake therefore to your spiritual heritage and see the man of God's creating, for you are that man.