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She may have realized that all too soon, preciously little would be happening in Christian Science on a static platform, so that the great movements of thought that once sprang from a tremendous discovery were in danger of being lost. Evidently, she had understood that the introduction of the concept of the Key of David, itself, had to come by way of a discovery. Even she, herself, at the height of her attainment, saw herself constantly standing at the edge of the unknown, ready to gain a still clearer and wider vision of reality. She writes about it, and this statement is not dated, nor has it ever been revoked: "Today, though rejoicing in some progress, she still finds herself a willing disciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of Christ."*(Science and Health ix:16)
The remaining part of this chapter deals with some of the major fundamental concepts that Mary Baker Eddy has documented under the name of Christian Science. These concepts cannot be understood correctly from a material basis, but from a spiritual basis they make sense and are important to be understood before we can begin the exploration of the deeper realm of divine Science.
What is man?
Mary Baker Eddy presents to the world what may well be the most revolutionary concept of man that has ever been developed. While orthodox theology perceives man as a material being, interwoven with an immortal soul, Mary Baker Eddy presents man as a compound divine idea of infinite Spirit, whose being is wholly spiritual. She never defines man as a material being, nor does she define man as a corporeal spiritual being. In Science, man is recognized as entirely spiritual and incorporeal. She writes: "Man is idea, the image of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; the generic term for all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious identity of being as found in Science, in which man is the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal; that which has has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker."*(Science and Health 475:13) At first glance, this definition appears to belittle man, as having no life nor intelligence of his own. Ah, but look at what honor it bestows on man! Christian Science attributes to man all that belongs to his Maker: absolute intelligence, immaculate perfection, illimitable life, purity in love, harmony in being, dominion and power!
Still, the definition evades the open question of what to do with the material body. What is one to think of one's body? Mary Baker Eddy writes, emphatically: "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit."*(Science and Health 475:6) None-the-less, the material structure, called a body, is something we must deal with. The very essence of Christ healing reflects itself in that body, and that body is evidently material - all corporeal aspects are material. The Bible even exclaims, "In my flesh shall I see God."*(Job 19:26)
Mary Baker Eddy explains the apparent contradiction between what she recognizes as the absolute reality about man, a reality which is wholly spiritual, and the corporeal image of man in which people recognize themselves, which itself is wholly physical. She explains the contradiction with another revolutionary concept. She recognizes that all material or physical corporeal phenomena are fundamentally erroneous. She regards them as mistaken perceptions, subjective images of a material and mortal mind - images that we live with until a clearer spiritual understanding has replaced the last vestiges of mortal perception.
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Stories about
War
from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche
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