Mary Baker Eddy , the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, saw that a really correct understanding of words and their definition reveals shades of spiritual meaning which the average person perhaps may not perceive. Earnest Christian Scientists should therefore be continuous users of the dictionary, because one often discovers that he does not know the full and correct meaning of words even in common usage.

On page 349 of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes: "The chief difficulty in conveying the teachings of divine Science accurately to human thought lies in this, that like all other languages, English is inadequate to the expression of spiritual conceptions and propositions, because one is obliged to use material terms in dealing with spiritual ideas. The elucidation of Christian Science lies in its spiritual sense, and this sense must be gained by its disciples in order to grasp the meaning of this Science.Out of this condition grew the prophecy concerning the Christian apostles, 'They shall speak with new tongues.' Speaking of the things of Spirit while dwelling on a material plane, material terms must be generally employed. Mortal thought does not at once catch the higher meaning, and can do so only as thought is educated up to spiritual apprehension."

As students, we need better to understand the definition of the word "know" and to utilize it in oral statement and practice. In Science, knowing is not an intellectual process. It has nothing to do with the brain. True knowing is something far more important than thinking, which is generally associated with the activity of material thought. The best authorities define the word "know" as follows: "to perceive directly; to apprehend as true; to perceive with understanding and conviction; to be convinced of the truth." The word "know" is used not only to describe the act of being conscious, or knowing, but also to describe a mental awareness of a fact, as, "I know that God is All-in-all."

True knowing as we understand it in Christian Science is the very activity of Mind itself—the all-knowing, the all-wise—omniscience revealing itself. Divine Mind, being one and all-inclusive, includes within itself all knowledge. As the prophet Habakkuk so beautifully declares (2:14), "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Would not this indicate that all that means the earth, heaven, and man is the infinite expression of the all-knowing Mind?

God's omniscience is not a theory. It is a primal, divine fact of being. Divine Mind is the origin and source of all knowledge. We read (Prov. 2:6), "Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." God, the only Ego, can know only Himself, and His selfhood is expressed as thought. He therefore expresses, evidences, and manifests only His own glorious and perfect being. Mind is continuously knowing its own selfhood. Infinity can never know or express finity. Man, the expression of Mind's being, is logically evidenced as idea or thought. Defining man, Mrs. Eddy writes in her textbook (p. 591): "Man. The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind."

One's true being is revealed in Mind's knowing. Divine knowing and the appearing of God's spiritual ideas constitute being. The active unfoldment or reflection of Mind is man. Spiritual sense knows no other sense than itself because Spirit is Mind, spontaneously unfolding its ideas and bringing to light the forever fact that being is perfect in expression now and always.

One of the most quoted statements from the Bible and one which appears on the walls of many of our churches is the declaration of Christ Jesus (John 8:32), "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." However, it is clear that one gains a greater appreciation of what the Master sought to convey if he refers to the preceding verse, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed." Jesus' statement implies that the ability to really know, to be convinced of the truth, is contingent on one's constant realization and maintenance of divine ideas. Man as reflection expresses the active knowing of Truth. The same idea is implied in the declaration of Jesus (John 17:3), "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent"—not a human, personal knowing about God, about Truth, or about Life, but a spiritual perception that true knowing is the activity and unfoldment of those ideas that in themselves are the expression of Truth and Life, uninterrupted and eternal.

Divine knowing or understanding is the appearing through unfoldment of man's spiritual individuality. Truth knows, perceives truly and with finality, the perfection of its own ideas. The study of Christian Science leads one to understand the value of amplifying and broadening one's spiritually scientific vocabulary. It leads one to define and use as many words as possible that will correctly and adequately describe spiritual concepts. A limited vocabulary would necessarily limit one's metaphysical expression of Christian Science. The more fully one appreciates the words used by our Leader to describe man, the broader should be his demonstrable understanding of that fundamental subject.

In Mrs. Eddy's writings there are many words which with varying shades of meaning may be properly used when referring to man: image, likeness, idea, expression, unfoldment, emanation, revelation, mode, witness, evidence, creation, and manifestation. For example, various dictionaries define manifestation as that which shows forth, reveals, and evidences; and certainly man is the revelation, the evidence, the showing forth, of God; he is the full manifestation of Mind.

Richard J. Davis