An emanation is that which flows out from a source. And it is as emanation that we should think of man, who is the spiritual outcome of God. The Psalmist glimpsed the great truth of man's relation to his source when he declared to God (Ps. 36:9), "With thee is the fountain of life."

Christian Science constantly stresses the fact that man is not a finite, mortal mind, but the spiritual idea of infinite, divine Mind, God. Mary Baker Eddy explains the subject in these words (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 256, 257): "Infinite Mind is the creator, and creation is the infinite image or idea emanating from this Mind."

Inspiration, invigoration, constant refreshment, and renewal come to the student of Christian Science who identifies himself as an emanation of Mind and sees the folly of accepting a frail, material body as a definition of himself. An emanation is in a constant state of activity; it issues freely from its source and expresses the character and substance of that source. And so it is with one's true identity; its spontaneity of action is due to its freedom from obstructive, inert elements. This identity, or consciousness, might be termed one's real, vital current, the "pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. 22:1).

Mortals sometimes seem to suffer from deformities, impurities, and inertia, stoppages and discords, because they do not rid themselves of obstructive mental elements, such as fears and sins, delusions and false educated beliefs. They believe themselves to be helpless victims of unpleasant physical conditions, but they are not. In fact, the mental states of mankind produce the disorders of mankind; and spiritualization of thought restores normal health because it restores right mental action.

Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, pp. 243, 244), "Inasmuch as God is good and the fount of all being, He does not produce moral or physical deformity; therefore such deformity is not real, but is illusion, the mirage of error."

The healings which Christ Jesus accomplished show that he understood the free-flowing, unobstructed manner in which man, individual consciousness, emanates from his divine source. For instance, Jesus said to the man with a withered hand (Matt. 12:13), "Stretch forth thine hand." The record continues, "And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other."

The Master restored lost faculties to those whose sight, speech, and hearing had been obstructed by some form of materialism. He brought to life those in whom the natural activity of consciousness had seemed to stop. Always, spontaneity of action resulted from his understanding of man's relation to God: emanation to source, stream to fount.

In the first chapter of Genesis is set forth the great theme of Truth, upon which the entire development of the Bible rests, namely the perfection of God and man and their relation as creator and image. In the second chapter is set forth a profound allegory, which teaches the falsity of the man of dust and the consequences of believing in falsity. The Adam-belief of man was proved to be delusion by Mary's son, who showed by his pure Christliness how mankind can be freed from the obstruction of sinful, corporeal sense and the limitations of matter.

In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy discusses the meaning of the name "Adam" and shows that the word, when divided into two syllables, suggests a dam, or obstruction. She says (p. 338), "Here a dam is not a mere play upon words; it stands for obstruction, error, even the supposed separation of man from God, and the obstacle which the serpent, sin, would impose between man and his creator."

Material sense is the obstruction which needs to be destroyed when mortal mind claims to produce blemishes and deformities on the bodies of men or frustrations in their lives and relationships. There is no obstructive Adam-dream in real being, no deep hypnotic sleep, in which man appears to be material and unrelated to the spontaneous, unobstructed consciousness which flows from Mind.

As Mind's emanation, man has no volition of his own, but manifests the will of his Maker. To demonstrate freedom from obstructions and inertia, one must realize that God alone produces and perpetuates His emanation and that nothing can prevent man's outflowing course from continuing in a state of constant activity.

Our lives will flow on more harmoniously and our bodies will operate with fewer and fewer obstructions as we grasp the truths of Christian Science and learn to express Christliness. Every quality of divinity will be understood as a component of real consciousness. Every right activity will be expressed as the vitality of the emanation which is man.

Spiritual man, uninhibited, actuated by good, energized by God, the fount of his being, is our ideal. Existing now and eternally as our only true selfhood, Mind's emanation awaits our recognition and our proof that we have a source and that there is no obstruction between that source and its living ideal.

Helen Wood Bauman