Editorial February 12, 1979 Issue

What's real and what's not

Nathan A. Talbot

Piecing together bits of hearsay, people largely unacquainted with Christian Science sometimes draw mistaken—even humorous—conclusions. I once overheard these remarks from two people who were puzzled: "But what would a Christian Scientist think if he lost a toe—would he think he still had it?" "Well, I guess not," was the reply. "He never thought he had it in the first place!"

A common misunderstanding of Mrs. Eddy's teachings has to do with the question of what is real and what is unreal. Christian Scientists are sometimes perceived as people who don't believe disease or evil is real—or even that matter exists. But such a blanket classification fails to adequately describe what a Scientist believes on this subject. As a matter of fact, he has no doubt that sickness is very real—it is unquestionably a fact—to the material senses. The Scientist is asking a much larger question than whether sickness is real. He is asking if the material senses themselves are authentic—whether they are an accurate means by which reality can be gauged. Within the realm of those senses, evil of all sorts is obviously evident. Mrs. Eddy writes: "Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal,—that is, to the frightened, false sense of the patient. Sickness is more than fancy; it is solid conviction."^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 460;}

Every popular yardstick for measuring the presence and substance of evil would support and confirm its existence. Divine Science doesn't ignore the apparent presence of evil but does ask some probing questions. For instance, what of the Christian conviction that God is infinite—that He is Almighty? It takes spiritual stamina to stand behind that truth and carry it to a logical conclusion. If God, who is good, is actually ever present, then where is evil? Evil exists in the realm of mortal perception. But are mortal perceptions valid—are they substantial or bona fide—if God is ever present, infinite, immortal? Evil is real to an ignorant state of thought. A scene is real to a dreamer. Black can seem white to someone hypnotized. The meaning of the term "real" appears to become relative. The fact is, however, that God is Spirit, and all that expresses Him—His infinite universe, including man—is spiritual and is final, the only reality.

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