The word bifurcate came up in conversation the other night. It means, roughly, to split or divide something into two parts. The word fascinated me, and I thought about it, as I often do with new words, in regard to Christian Science. Right away it struck me that there are not two concepts of man—one a corporeal being and one that God knows—there is only spiritual man. In other words, there is a unity between God and man. Man is never separated from God.

There are not two powers, Spirit and matter, combining to make man. There is in reality only one God, omnipotent; one Mind, the Creator. Error, another name for mortal mind as opposed to the divine Mind, has no creator. And where the five senses would try to tell us what is real, Science reverses their evidence. Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “The belief that man has existence or mind separate from God is a dying error. This error Jesus met with divine Science and proved its nothingness” (p. 42).

The Apostle Paul wrote about our spiritual unity with God as His reflection: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39). The only division man has is to divide Truth from error, and the only separation we have is from error. We’re never separated from God. Like the hymn says:

And this goes for any situation that needs healing.

Years ago when our children were small, we had two very worn cars. My husband took the less reliable one to work, and I used the other for driving the children to school and running errands. But one day when my husband had an important appointment and had to rush off in the morning, he took the better car—and when I went to use the other, it would not start. The children were looking forward to the day we had planned, and I didn’t want to disappoint them.

I had always turned to God when confronted with challenges, so I began to pray with Mrs. Eddy’s hymn “ ‘Feed My Sheep’ ” (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 304). I was singing the words “I will listen for Thy voice” as I lifted the hood of the car. As I looked around, I noticed something was leaking—the water pump. Then this statement from Science and Health came to me: “If Mind is the only actor, how can mechanism be automatic?” (p. 399).

At that moment, I had such a sure understanding of what that statement meant that I knew what to do. Divine Mind knows all, sees all, and is All. There can never be any other power than God. I am not a mechanic, but I went forward and removed the lid of the water pump. Seeing that it looked much like a Mason jar lid—which I use for canning fruit—I turned the rubber seal over, screwed the lid back on, and started the car. It worked perfectly and stayed that way for months. I was not surprised. It was as natural as closing a jar of jam. And I never forgot that feeling of completeness and assurance that God, divine Love, is ever present and can provide a solution for anything. We are at one with Him.

A day or two after fixing my car, I was able to help a woman in a parking lot start her car after she had accidentally flooded the engine. I wondered again how I was able to do it, since I had not had any training along this line. But we can always affirm our oneness with God, knowing that our spiritual identity reflects only Him, and this understanding enables us to do whatever we need at the moment.

In our unity with God, we can only be perfect, as God is perfect. We cannot be fooled into believing we are anything but an idea of God, Spirit. As human thought is spiritualized, matter ceases to speak and becomes silent. And we become aware of the divine presence. Then healing takes place.

There’s never any spiritual bifurcation: The love of God, our Father and Mother, can never be split apart from His creation.