While scholastic theology and physiology picture man as material, made of the dust of the ground, having, perhaps, an eternal soul, Christian Science accepts the inspired account of the Bible, where it is recorded that God (not the Lord God) made man in His own image and likeness. What man really is in Science is what we are eternally.

To distinguish the false concept of man from the true, the language of Christian Science makes use of words such as "in reality," "actually," "in Science," "in truth," and the like. We may assert that each one of us is actually the child of God, perfect, harmonious, spiritual, and eternal.

That which is actual or real is that which is incorporeal and spiritual. It is that which cannot be destroyed. It never had a beginning. It is exactly as it was when God "spake, and it was done" (Ps. 33:9).

There may sometimes be a tendency for the individual to think of himself as a sort of dual creature or perhaps as a physical being, with hope of becoming spiritual in some vague tomorrow. But in Science the man that we shall be is the selfsame man that we really are now. Although from a human standpoint we may be looking forward to the attainment of reality, the truth is that we can at this moment awaken to an understanding of our real being.

Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 335), "Reality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable, immortal, divine, eternal." From the material viewpoint, we may think of ourselves as the opposite of reality. Our lives may seem to be filled with materiality, inharmony, mortality, and limitation. But when one stops to think scientifically, he can see that the spiritual qualities mentioned by Mrs. Eddy can be found reflected, at least in some measure, in his own character. They constitute elements of his real selfhood. As one grows in spiritual understanding, these qualities become more and more pronounced in his life. His real selfhood thereby becomes more apparent. He finds that what he really is, is what he can demonstrate that he is now.

Each one of us has the ability to think of the perfection of God and man. Each can ponder truths which are flawless. One can, for example, affirm that whatever is true cannot be destroyed and that there is a law of Love, which is felt in the heart of every living creature. These truths and the quality of love constitute elements of one's true self, and they are present facts. They are revealed through spiritual sense, one's consciousness of God, through the capacity which one has to understand that which is good. That which spiritual sense perceives is man, God's immortal idea.

No human being can truthfully assert that his whole experience is inharmonious. In fact, inharmony is the exception. For many an individual harmony is usually evident a great deal of the time. His business life, his association with others, and his home life are concordant. But each one will admit that the state of harmony in daily life can be improved, and, in fact, he may see improvement going on steadily in his relationships with others.

Harmony is the genuine, the native quality of all of us. In reality, or actually, we say in Christian Science, we are harmonious. Man, God's child, reflects harmony. Included in harmony is health; so man reflects health. Both are spiritual qualities of God expressed by the real man and demonstrable by us as present now. As that realization is attained, our human body and environment improve. But it all must start from the basic truth that man is God's perfect, eternal idea now and forever.

Man is immutable. He does not vacillate, and many have demonstrated this truth in an improvement of their human experience. It is not proved that man is immutable until one understands that he is now and forever the spiritual image and likeness of God and not just a mortal seeking to improve materiality. In reality he is God's expression now.

One error with regard to man (an error which must eventually he completely destroyed, for it works against the understanding of what we really are) is that man is mortal. Man is not material, physical, mortal. He is not capable of sin, disease, and death. Man is changeless, sinless, endless; therefore one can demonstrate perfection in his experience. And to the degree that he understands perfection, he is illustrating his real selfhood, the real man. Man's selfhood is not distant from one's present realization and enjoyment.

Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 335), "Nothing unspiritual can be real, harmonious, or eternal." Then inharmony, sin, disease, and death are not real, for they are not spiritual; but their opposites can be manifested here and now through the correction of false beliefs and the magnification of good to our spiritual senses. Whatever we demonstrate that is good, worthy, or true gives evidence in our lives of the real man. The real man is our genuine selfhood, which loves good, lives good, and obeys God.

Jesus said (John 17:3), "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." And each one of us can do as Jesus says and thus prove that man is not mortal and material, but real, eternal, harmonious, spiritual, immortal.

John J. Selover