Some prisons have bars and walls; others, keeping mankind in bondage, are poverty, hatred, drug addiction, and many other conditions seemingly beyond control, such as chronic illness.

A person, Christian Science teaches, can be freed from any kind of prison. This freedom has to be earned through an honest application of spiritual Truth. Christ Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." ^{John 8:32;} How, we may ask, can Truth, which is spiritual, be applied to our human experience? The answer lies in understanding the nature of Truth.

Truth is a synonym for God. It implies everything upright, just, merciful. Truth necessarily includes nothing unlike God. God is one God. He is All-in-all. He has created everything and has done it perfectly, exactly. "God saw every thing that he had made," we read in Genesis, "and, behold, it was very good." ^{Gen. 1:31;} Mrs. Eddy emphasizes the allness of God in the statement: "There is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God." ^{Science and Health, p. 228:} God, our creator, the loving Father of all, never made a prison. In a universe completely good where can a place or state of confinement or restraint emanate from? No kind of prison can exist in the real, spiritual universe. And as certainly as there are no prisons, there can be no prisoners.

As an understanding of Truth is gained by humanity, the true nature of man must be revealed. This is the free man made in God's likeness, who is always as perfect and as truthful as the creator. The real man, we can see, is the flawless expression of Truth.

The first and most important step, therefore, in being released from some prison is to understand Truth and man's indissoluble relationship to Truth. Understanding this, one sees God's man as complete, not needing to be punished or corrected, never tied down to poverty or hatred. He sees a perfect creation.

In some degree everyone can express God in strength, love, intelligence, and other qualities. In the degree to which a person expresses the true, Godlike nature of man, he is freed from the limitations of mortality. More and more, as an understanding of Truth is achieved, the pure goodness of the Father is demonstrated. This goodness cleanses and frees human thought.

Freedom involves placing ourselves under the always-existent divine law. This necessitates earnestly desiring to reflect all God's truthful qualities right now, right where we are. In this way we bring into our human experience the purity of Truth. We bring to bear on our daily lives God's completeness, His perfection. We spiritualize our thought. Spiritualized thought is truthful thought, free to experience the joy and bounty of infinite divine consciousness. This kind of freedom is true mental freedom.

Achieving mental freedom, true understanding and demonstration of a perfect creator and a perfect creation, is it possible to remain in a prison of any kind? Certainly not! How can a prisoner in jail find his release through Christian Science? There have been many instances of this. The inmate can begin by sincerely repenting of any crimes he has committed and by striving persistently to correct defects in his character. He can pray to know that he is spiritual and spiritual man is the exact expression of the perfect Father. Such an expression can manifest only the perfect qualities of Truth.

Seeing himself as a perfect expression of Truth, he can know he must reflect the unerring activity of Truth, and nothing else. He can realize he is literally incapable of being held in captivity. The so-called captive sees that instead of identifying himself with evil causes and evil effects, he can reach out to the divine cause. This cause does not sin and therefore cannot be subject to unhappy results. The same is true of man, the effect of the only cause, divine Principle, Love.

After this understanding is reached, if the individual still remains a captive, he can trustingly hold to Mrs. Eddy's statement: "If the evil is over in the repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the individual, you can remove this disorder as God's law is fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime." ^{ibid., p. 404;}

Thus, the person behind cell bars sees himself as disassociated from the mortal reasons for being in jail. He knows he cannot return to those circumstances, for he is governed by Truth. He can see his perfect relationship to God so clearly he can honestly say he doesn't care if prison bars are in front of him. He knows man to be free from every evil way, and therefore he can be free. God governs, and this fact is more important to him than anything else. The outward manifestation of this attitude is certain to be freedom. However slow the actual release may be, it certainly must come to pass.

No prison of any kind can hold you when you persevere in maintaining a spiritual level of thought. Your Godlike goodness and harmony must shine through, and you must be released.

A release from any kind of prison, when achieved wholly through spiritual understanding, is permanent. Discarded and outgrown experiences can no more follow us than discarded ballast can follow a rising balloon.

"Like the archpriests of yore," Mrs. Eddy writes, "man is free 'to enter into the holiest,'—the realm of God." ^{ibid., p. 481.}