“What is man that thou art mindful of him ? […] and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands” (Psalms 8:4-6)
The Bible declares, « In him we live, and move, and have our being […] for we are also his offspring » (Acts 17 :28). Christian Science explains that as spiritual divine idea, man is surrounded by the divine atmosphere – Spirit, Love, Life. God alone inspires man, gouverns man’s thought, and movement. God is the only source of man’s actions. Man expresses God’s Self, the intelligence, the capacity, all the qualities of the divine Mind.
Man ‘is the compound ideas of God, incluging all right ideas…” (Science and Health, p. 475). Man is the expression of God’s selfhood. Man has no other identity.
But in the contrary, to accept into our thinking God’s ever-presence breaks away limited concepts, rules out material impositions and laws. «I commend the Icelandic translation: “He created man in the image and likeness of Mind, in the image and likeness of Mind created He him,” writes Mary Baker Eddy. And she continues, “To my sense, we have not seen all of man; he is more than personal sense can cognize who is the image and likeness of the infinite. […] man’s perfect model should be held in mind, whereby to improve his present condition ; that his contemplation regarding himself should turn away from inharmony, sickness, and sin, to that which is the image of his Maker. » (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 97).
Indeed, where from originate intelligence, wisdom, love, mercy – all the infinite qualities man expresses ? Spiritual origins only determine their source. The man of God’s creating, spiritual, immortal, perfect, is beyond of the illusion of life in matter. Great verities of being are seized as we read through this fact in Christian Science textbook by Mary Baker Eddy:
« I am Spirit. Man, whose senses are spiritual, is my likeness. He reflects the infinite understanding, for I am Infinity. The beauty of holiness, the perfectionof being, imperishable glory, — all are Mine, for I am Truth. I give immortality to man, for I am God. I incude and impart all bliss, for I am Love. I give life, without beginning and without end, for I am Life. I am supreme and give all, for I am Mind. I am the substance of all, I AM THAT I AM. » (Science and Health, p.252 :32-8).
