Not too long ago, some friends and I were walking through a zoo in central Germany. Before the exit there was some information about the different animals. On the last board, the visitors were asked who they thought was the largest predator. Under the question was a large mirror in which we saw ourselves. To me, this suggested that man is the greatest predator in the world!

That evening I read the following in a newspaper: "Our society has degenerated into a society of greed. Most people only think of their own material welfare." The article concluded with this urgent demand: "We must manage to re-humanize society and restrain the citizens' greed."

Here was the image of the predator again, but is it true? Is man a beast of prey needing to be restrained? Do we have to believe this portrayal? Certainly, man, as created by God, is not a predator-like being.

In Genesis, we read: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ... And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Then follow the reports of God's creation of the firmament, the waters, the plants, and the animals. Finally, at the culmination, it says: "So God created man in his own image. ... And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (1:1, 3, 27, 31).

God is Spirit, infinite good, and man is His likeness. The culmination of creation—man—is spiritual, good, pure, and complete. While we may not always recognize it in ourselves or in others, this spiritual selfhood is our true identity, our real nature. Spirit is the only cause, and there can be only one effect, and this effect must correspond in quality to the original. As darkness cannot come from light, so matter cannot originate in Spirit, evil cannot spring from good, hate cannot be produced by love, death cannot be the outcome of Life. Real being is based on Principle, God, who is the true, legitimate, just Lawgiver. Man and the universe are governed and maintained by the divine laws of universal harmony. God is reflected by man in love, goodness, wisdom, and gentleness.

As the effect of God, man is not an independent, self-acting, self-creative being. God and man as Principle and idea, like cause and effect, are inseparable. Christ Jesus knew this fact. He claimed this status of man for himself, in the humble understanding that this was God's will and the truth of man's relation to his creator. Jesus lived and proved this unity with God in his healings, which were not miracles but the natural result of applying the spiritual laws of being. Referring to this unity, he said, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30).

Jesus healed through the power of Christ, the divine saving influence that is present today and always, and can be experienced by everyone. Through the Christ, the sick are being healed even now, sinners are being redeemed, and the world is making progress toward peace. Christian Science explains the laws behind these effects. It shows us the nature of God, Truth, in whose light we see and know man, not as a predator, but as the image of God, as spiritual, good, satisfied, loving, and wise. The true man is not a false accuser, a miserable sinner, or an eternal debtor and slave. Man is the free, blessed manifestation of God, nothing more and nothing less. He is "that which has not a single quality underived from Deity," as Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health (p. 475). This description of man is the correct one. It is in accord with divine law and is provable.

So what is the concept of man as a predator composed of? It consists of errors in thought. The predator has nothing to do with man but expresses the carnal mind's false sense of man. This error is not from God, the All-in-all; therefore it has no genuine cause. We can realize, then, that there is no basis for it to have effect or influence. In reality, error can't carry out anything. As Science and Health explains, speaking of error, "It is that which seemeth to be and is not" (p. 472).

God has created man immune from domineering, destructive, or greedy behavior. But we need to prove this fact in our own lives. As the manifestation of Mind, man reflects intelligence and spiritual understanding, which form an impenetrable armor against erroneous thinking.

There is really nothing in man that could react, or respond, to error. We tend to react because we mistakenly believe we are mortal beings instead of the spiritual man made by God. The conscious knowledge of God as infinite, all-encompassing Love makes our prayers strong and specific enough to defend ourselves from predatory beliefs or actions. A growing understanding of divine Love and man's oneness with Love progressively eliminates our belief in evil.

The unity of God and man, understood and practiced, recently brought about a very quick healing. It also helped me to understand better that neither our own thoughts nor those of others can prey on us. I had fallen and injured my foot. A friend helped me to a nearby Christian Science nursing facility, where I telephoned a Christian Science practitioner and asked for help through prayer. The practitioner said something to this effect: that man, my real being, had never for one moment been separated, or bent away, nor had he fallen from the divine Principle, Love.

I prayed with this idea, accepted it as the truth, and looked away from the outward appearance. A few moments later, I felt a great sense of joy and freedom within. I realized that what was hurting me was resentment toward someone, but that this was a false conception of man. I now recognized that man is innocent, not self-willed, dishonest, self-centered, and corrupt; nor is he fallen, betrayed, and hurt. I understood better the reality and unlimited power of Love and recognized the nothingness of evil's lies, telling of separation, breakage, fall, strife, disunity, hate, and revenge.

As my thinking was freed from these misconceptions, the bodily injury disappeared as well. I was able to stand up and was completely free of pain in only a few hours.

Science and Health says, "The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity" (p. 571). From this statement I gained the peace that enabled me to forgive and to forget—and to rejoice in the glorious, spiritual, complete being of man, who is not a predator but the image of God.