While I was out for a walk, a dog ran up, barking right at my heels. I felt fear sweep over me. Then I looked down and immediately recognized the dog. He belonged to my neighbor's child and was not vicious. He just barked at everyone who walked by! The fear disappeared as quickly as it had come. Factual human reasoning—knowing what is true and why—had destroyed it.

But what about fear of death, pain, disability, failure, and other human miseries? Human reason tells us these are things to be feared. Here, too, consciousness of the facts dispels the fear. What facts? The spiritual facts.

One basic spiritual fact is found in the Bible, which tells us that God made man in His own image (see Gen. 1:26). As God's likeness, man is held in His care and is subject only to the divine law of good. God's man is spiritual, so he can't be subject to any other law, including the material "law" that says his life can be invaded by a vicious dog, a vicious disease, or a vicious human.

Fear is based on the assumption that there is an evil power—a power unlike God, good. It would argue that man is a mortal being who is subject to the dangers of material living, including sickness and other trouble. If we are not watchful, these fears may accumulate and appear as substantial as a brick wall, blocking our view of the future and stopping forward movement. Sometimes we see through the "wall" at once, as I did with the dog. But to root out fear for good, we must dig deep and understand why its threat is powerless. This is dismantling fear.

Each fear-inducing belief—such as age, accident, disease, or other threat—can be removed by the understanding of man's spiritual nature and his inseparability from God. In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Fear is the fountain of sickness, and you master fear and sin through divine Mind; hence it is through divine Mind that you overcome disease" (pp. 391–392).

Man can't be outside of God's law or His love. From this it follows that man has no real reason to fear. It is essential to let this be firmly established in consciousness so that when a frightening situation arises we immediately recall that we are in fact God's man, safe in His care. At these times, then, we can find comfort in the Psalmist's statement "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee" (Ps. 56:3).

The infinite possibilities of living up to this statement are shown in the life of Christ Jesus. His healing of various diseases, physical and mental, his ability to walk on the water and to raise himself and others from the dead, showed his understanding of God's power and love. We read in Luke about the time when Jairus requested Jesus to come to his house and heal his daughter. On the way, word came that his daughter was dead. Jesus said, "Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole" (8:50). When they arrived, Jesus put out the mourners and healed the child. What a clear example of the effect of facing discord fearlessly!

Each of us can follow the Master's example by learning to reject fear on a daily basis. Our close observation of the spiritual landscape teaches us what we need to know to do this, just as my close observation of the neighborhood taught me what I needed to know about the barking dog. One form this daily watching takes is study of the Bible and striving for a clearer understanding of its spiritual meaning through the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Gaining a clearer understanding of God as eternal Life, we'll see even the fear of death and the grief associated with it begin to diminish. As we gain a clearer understanding of God as Love, the fear that we can be sick, in pain, or separated from His care also begins to diminish. As we gain a clearer understanding of God as Mind, the fear that evil or matter controls or limits man diminishes and ultimately disappears.

Reasoning out the spiritual facts in this way lets Truth, God, change our consciousness from fear to peace. This change grows out of our heart-impelled yearning to know what is really true. The acknowledgment and living of these facts give us the confidence to resist and destroy fear. Both long-entrenched and sudden, intense fears yield to the understanding of God's loving and constant care for His creation.

The ever-presence of God, good, was the foundation of Jesus' healing work. The presence of Christ, Truth, which he taught healed then and still heals today. Jesus fearlessly proved the healing power of God, divine Principle, and he expected us to do so as well.

The Christ enables each one of us to recognize the spiritual facts, to adhere to them persistently in consciousness, and to let them bring healing in our lives. This spiritual consciousness frees us from fear by revealing man—the reality of your life and mine—to be complete, lacking nothing. An hour, a day, a year, or twenty years from now, God will still be with us, caring, loving, and providing us with all the courage and confidence we need.