Sometimes people say cynically that they have absolutely no illusions. What they usually mean is that experience has taught them to have no hopes or trusts, in general or in other persons or developments, because they have been disappointed by someone or something. So they trust only in themselves.

But what are illusions really? We usually think of them as unreal, deceptive, or misleading appearances—a mirage, for example. Now, since an illusion is something false or unreal, it is definitely best to avoid having one! But there is more to getting rid of such misconceptions than may at first be apparent. For one thing, we need to develop an intelligent way to determine what is really going on and what is not.

Christ Jesus was a man of no illusions. He knew the goodness of God as reality, and in his words and works he refuted whatever denied God's love for His creation. The Master cleansed the sinners, healed the sick, raised the dead, and gave the final proof of his power over "the last enemy" through his own resurrection.

But Jesus' refusal to believe in evil's power or reality doesn't mean that its illusions didn't present themselves to him as temptations or suggestions. We read in the fourth chapter of Matthew that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, of whom, on another occasion, he said:" ... there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." ^{John 8:44.} So, the devil, the supposed personification of evil—all evil—is defined by Jesus both as evil and as the origin of evil, that is, of evil effects of all kinds. But his statement indicates that in reality evil, as both cause and effect, is a lie. In other words, it is something unreal—an illusion.

Why could Jesus say of the devil that he was a liar and the cause only of lies? Because he knew that his Father and ours— God, good—is the only creator. Having pronounced all His creation "very good," ^{See Gen. 1:31.} God could not have created evil, the suppositional cause of all misery and sorrow, hatred and fear, sin, sickness, and death. By calling evil a lie, he gave all who want to follow him the key to overcoming evil in themselves and others. A lie that is not believed has no power to impose on those who see through it. Then we can perceive evil as an illusion—as something that really is nothing.

Christ Jesus gave another clue to his power over the evil one, the devil, whom he spoke of as "the prince of this world." He said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." ^{John 14:30.} As he had shown in the wilderness, evil found no response in his consciousness; its temptations and suggestions always glanced off his impervious spiritual armor. They were lost on him. To illustrate this we might use as an example an ordinary match, which if misused could create an uncontrollable fire and perhaps huge damage. But it can do no harm if it does not find a striking surface to ignite against. "The prince of this world"—evil in any disguise—may come against us. But just as the match can start no dangerous fires unless it finds a suitable striking surface, so evil is disarmed as it finds no response in our consciousness and no consent to its malicious intent.

Mrs. Eddy, exploring the Science underlying Christ Jesus' teachings, writes in Science and Health: "Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more harm than one's belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen, from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence." ^{Science and Health, pp. 234-235.}

The man that God, Spirit, created in His own image ^{See Gen. 1:26, 27 .} has, as His spiritual reflection, the virtue and truth, the intelligence and love, God has bestowed on him. He knows no evil, no sin, sickness, or death. As we begin to identify ourselves in thought and in deed with this perfect idea, spiritual man, we will increasingly recognize that virtue and truth in ourselves. As goodness fills our thoughts and aims, it excludes evil, or false beliefs. These beliefs can find no "unsuspected lodgment" as they are seen for what they are—illusions.

Mrs. Eddy saw the immense usefulness of the term illusion to illustrate what seems to be but isn't. In one message to her Church, for instance, she asks: "Do Christian Scientists believe that evil exists? We answer, Yes and No! Yes, inasmuch as we do know that evil, as a false claim, false entity, and utter falsity, does exist in thought; and No, as something that enjoys, suffers, or is real. ... We regard evil as a lie, an illusion, therefore as unreal as a mirage that misleads the traveller on his way home." ^{Message to The Mother Church for 1901, p. 14.}

So there is no real reason for—and when we begin to understand that fact, no excuse for—being taken in by evil of any kind. On the contrary, our duty as Christians is to see all evil as an illusion, always based on the false testimony of the material senses. The way to fight evil in the first place is not to believe it for a single moment—neither to use it nor to fear it. Virtue, love, and truth will help us recognize evil, keeping it from our mental doorsteps or sweeping it out of our consciousness if it has managed to enter. Seeing evil always as an illusion, or false belief, will help us overcome the fear of it. Such fear is always based on ignorance of the real situation, and as we awake through Christ, Truth, we see evil as illusion and overcome it.

Being without illusions is a state of consciousness we can begin to experience now. Not as misanthropes (haters of mankind) but as philanthropists (lovers of humanity) and Christian healers, we should gratefully say of ourselves that we have no illusions. And we should pray to grow in the demonstration of this fact in order to benefit mankind.