0.0 – Science & Health by Mary Baker Eddy Chapter 10 – Section 2 of 3 – Science of Being – 1910 Edition

The phrase, Science of being, is always spelt with a capital S for Science because it is God's Science, and with a little b for being, because, you might say, it is our being. (The textbook always reserves the capitalized letter for God and the uncapitalized for man as the activity of God.) If Science is the truth of our being and all comes from God, this is the Science of our being God's Being. God's Being is our very  being.
This is a long chapter full of beautiful details of how the divine comes with Christ power to illuminate, and to transform, and to redeem all the details of our human sense of being. It finishes with thirty-two numbered sections, called "the platform." Mrs Eddy introduces this by saying, "When the following platform is understood and the letter and the spirit bear witness, the infallibility of divine metaphysics will be demonstrated" (330:8). The word platform is derived from two words, plat and form, and plat is an interweaving. So the platform offers  us interwoven spiritual precepts about the nature of God, the nature of Christ, the nature of the human, and the resolving of the problem of evil. This therefore must be something on which we can safely stand. 
~ DISSOLVING BARRIERS, The Healing Work of Christian Science by John L. MorganSHOW ALL

  	    When the following platform is understood and the
 9	letter and the spirit bear witness, the infallibility of divine
  	metaphysics will be demonstrated. 
  	    I.  God is infinite, the only Life, substance, Spirit, or
12	Soul, the only intelligence of the universe, including man. 
  	Eye hath neither seen God nor His image and	The deific
  	likeness. Neither God nor the perfect man	supremacy 
15	can be discerned by the material senses. The individ-
  	uality of Spirit, or the infinite, is unknown, and thus a
  	knowledge of it is left either to human conjecture or to the
18	revelation of divine Science. 
  	    II.  God is what the Scriptures declare Him to be, — 
  	Life, Truth, Love. Spirit is divine Principle, and divine
21	Principle is Love, and Love is Mind, and	The deific
  	Mind is not both good and bad, for God is	definitions 
  	Mind; therefore there is in reality one Mind only, be-
24	cause there is one God. 
  	    III.  The notion that both evil and good are real is a
  	delusion of material sense, which  Science annihilates. 
27	Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. 	Evil
  	As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie,	obsolete 
  	nothing claiming to be something, — for lust, dishonesty,
30	selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery,
  	murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all
  	the etceteras that word includes.   

      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              331

 1	    IV.  God is divine Life, and Life is no more confined
  	to the forms which reflect it than substance is in its
 3	shadow. If life were in mortal man or mate-	Life the
  	rial things, it would be subject to their limi-	creator 
  	tations and would end in death. Life is Mind, the creator
 6	reflected in His creations. If He dwelt within what He
  	creates, God would not be reflected but absorbed, and the
  	Science of being would be forever lost through a mortal
 9	sense, which falsely testifies to a beginning and an
  	end. 
  	    V.  The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From
12	this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence
  	except the divine Mind and His ideas. The	Allness of
  	Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit. 	Spirit 
15	Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no
  	discord; all is Life, and there is no death. Everything
  	in God's universe expresses Him. 
18	    VI.  God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Prin-
  	ciple, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and
  	there is no other self-existence. He is all-	The universal
21	inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real	cause 
  	and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and
  	it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and in-
24	dividuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all
  	is Spirit and spiritual. 
  	    VII.  Life, Truth, and Love constitute the triune Person
27	called God, — that is, the triply divine Principle, Love. 
  	They represent a trinity in unity, three in	Divine
  	one, — the same in essence, though multi-	trinity 
30	form in office:  God the Father-Mother; Christ the spirit-
  	ual idea of sonship; divine Science or the Holy Comforter. 
  	These three express in divine Science the threefold, essen-
 
      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              332

 1	tial nature of the infinite. They also indicate the divine
  	Principle of scientific being, the intelligent relation of God
 3	to man and the universe. 
  	    VIII.  Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which in-
  	dicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation. 
 6	As the apostle expressed it in words which he	Father-
  	quoted with approbation from a classic poet:	Mother 
  	"For we are also His offspring." 
 9	    IX.  Jesus was born of Mary. Christ is the true idea
  	voicing good, the divine message from God to men speak-
  	ing to the human consciousness. The Christ	The Son
12	is incorporeal, spiritual, — yea, the divine	of God 
  	image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses;
  	the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and
15	casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. As
  	Paul says: "There is one God, and one mediator between
  	God and men, the man Christ Jesus." The corporeal
18	man Jesus was human. 
  	    X.  Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ
  	is the divine idea of God — the Holy Ghost,	Holy Ghost
21	or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle,	or Comforter 
  	Love, and leading into all truth. 
  	    XI.  Jesus was the son of a virgin. He was appointed
24	to speak God's word and to appear to mortals in such
  	a form of humanity as they could understand	Christ
  	as well as perceive. Mary's conception of	Jesus 
27	him was spiritual, for only purity could reflect Truth
  	and Love, which were plainly incarnate in the good and
  	pure Christ Jesus. He expressed the highest type of
30	divinity, which a fleshly form could express in that age. 
  	Into the real and ideal man the fleshly element cannot
  	enter. Thus it is that Christ illustrates the coincidence,
  
      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              333

1	or spiritual agreement, between God and man in His
  	image. 
 3	    XII.  The word Christ is not properly a synonym for
  	Jesus, though it is commonly so used. Jesus was a human
  	name, which belonged to him in common with	Messiah
 6	other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical	or Christ 
  	with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On
  	the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine
 9	title of Jesus. Christ expresses God's spiritual, eternal
  	nature. The name is synonymous with Messiah, and al-
  	ludes to the spirituality which is taught, illustrated, and
12	demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the
  	embodiment. The proper name of our Master in the
  	Greek was Jesus the Christ; but Christ Jesus better sig-
15	nifies the Godlike. 
  	    XIII.  The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the
  	first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is
18	without beginning of years or end of days. 	The divine
  	Throughout all generations both before and	Principle
  	after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spirit-	and idea 
21	ual idea, — the reflection of God, — has come with some
  	measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive
  	Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets
24	caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which
  	baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of
  	Love. The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and
27	ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God. 
  	Jesus referred to this unity of his spiritual identity thus:
  	"Before Abraham was, I am;" "I and my Father are
30	one;" "My Father is greater than I." The one Spirit
  	includes all identities. 
  	    XIV.  By these sayings Jesus meant, not that the hu-
 
      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              334

 1	man Jesus was or is eternal, but that the divine idea or
  	Christ was and is so and therefore antedated Abraham;
 3	not that the corporeal Jesus was one with the	Spiritual
  	Father, but that the spiritual idea, Christ,	oneness 
  	dwells forever in the bosom of the Father, God, from
 6	which it illumines heaven and earth; not that the Father
  	is greater than Spirit, which is God, but greater, infinitely
  	greater, than the fleshly Jesus, whose earthly career was
 9	brief. 
  	    XV.  The invisible Christ was imperceptible to the
  	so-called personal senses, whereas Jesus appeared as a
12	bodily existence. This dual personality of the	The Son's
  	unseen and the seen, the spiritual and mate-	duality 
  	rial, the eternal Christ and the corporeal Jesus manifest
15	in flesh, continued until the Master's ascension, when
  	the human, material concept, or Jesus, disappeared,
  	while the spiritual self, or Christ, continues to exist in
18	the eternal order of divine Science, taking away the sins
  	of the world, as the Christ has always done, even before
  	the human Jesus was incarnate to mortal eyes. 
21	    XVI.  This was "the Lamb slain from the foundation
  	of the world," — slain, that is, according to the testi-
  	mony of the corporeal senses, but undying in	Eternity of
24	the deific Mind. The Revelator represents the	the Christ 
  	Son of man as saying (Revelation i. 17, 18): "I am the
  	first and the last:  I am he that liveth, and was dead
27	[not understood]; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
  	[Science has explained me]." This is a mystical state-
  	ment of the eternity of the Christ, and is also a reference
30	to the human sense of Jesus crucified. 
  	    XVII.  Spirit being God, there is but one Spirit, for
  	there can be but one infinite and therefore one God. 
 

      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              335


 1	There are neither spirits many nor gods many. There
  	is no evil in Spirit, because God is Spirit. The theory,
 3	that Spirit is distinct from matter but must	Infinite
  	pass through it, or into it, to be individualized,	Spirit 
  	would reduce God to dependency on matter, and establish
 6	a basis for pantheism. 
  	    XVIII.  Spirit, God, has created all in and of Him-
  	self. Spirit never created matter. There is nothing in
 9	Spirit out of which matter could be made,	The only
  	for, as the Bible declares, without the Logos,	substance 
  	the Aeon or Word of God, "was not anything made
12	that was made." Spirit is the only substance, the in-
  	visible and indivisible infinite God. Things spiritual and
  	eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal
15	are insubstantial. 
  	    XIX.  Soul and Spirit being one, God and Soul are
  	one, and this one never included in a limited mind or a
18	limited body. Spirit is eternal, divine. Noth-	Soul and
  	ing but Spirit, Soul, can evolve Life, for Spirit	Spirit one 
  	is more than all else. Because Soul is immortal, it does
21	not exist in mortality. Soul must be incorporeal to be
  	Spirit, for Spirit is not finite. Only by losing the false
  	sense of Soul can we gain the eternal unfolding of Life as
24	immortality brought to light. 
  	    XX.  Mind is the divine Principle, Love, and can pro-
  	duce nothing unlike the eternal Father-Mother, God. 
27	Reality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable,	The one
  	immortal, divine, eternal. Nothing unspirit-	divine Mind 
  	ual can be real, harmonious, or eternal. Sin, sickness,
30	and mortality are the suppositional antipodes of Spirit,
  	and must be contradictions of reality. 
  	    XXI.  The Ego is deathless and limitless, for limits
 
      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              336

 1	would imply and impose ignorance. Mind is the I AM,
  	or infinity. Mind never enters the finite. Intelligence
 3	never passes into non-intelligence, or matter. 	The divine
  	Good never enters into evil, the unlimited into	Ego 
  	the limited, the eternal into the temporal, nor the im-
 6	mortal into mortality. The divine Ego, or individuality,
  	is reflected in all spiritual individuality from the infini-
  	tesimal to the infinite. 
 9	    XXII.  Immortal man was and is God's image or idea,
  	even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immor-
  	tal man is coexistent and coeternal with that	The real
12	Mind. He has been forever in the eternal	manhood 
  	Mind, God; but infinite Mind can never be in man, but
  	is reflected by man. The spiritual man's consciousness
15	and individuality are reflections of God. They are the
  	emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love. Im-
  	mortal man is not and never was material, but always
18	spiritual and eternal. 
  	    XXIII.  God is indivisible. A portion of God could
  	not enter man; neither could God's fulness be reflected
21	by a single man, else God would be manifestly	Indivisibility
  	finite, lose the deific character, and become	of the infinite 
  	less than God. Allness is the measure of the infinite, and
24	nothing less can express God. 
  	    XXIV.  God, the divine Principle of man, and man in
  	God's likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal. 
27	The Science of being furnishes the rule of per-	God the
  	fection, and brings immortality to light. God	parent Mind 
  	and man are not the same, but in the order of divine Sci-
30	ence, God and man coexist and are eternal. God is the
  	parent Mind, and man is God's spiritual offspring. 
  	    XXV.  God is individual and personal in a scientific
 
      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              337

 1	sense, but not in any anthropomorphic sense. Therefore
  	man, reflecting God, cannot lose his individuality; but as
 3	material sensation, or a soul in the body, blind	Man reflects
  	mortals do lose sight of spiritual individuality. 	the perfect
  	Material personality is not realism; it is not	God 
 6	the reflection or likeness of Spirit, the perfect God. Sen-
  	sualism is not bliss, but bondage. For true happiness,
  	man must harmonize with his Principle, divine Love; the
 9	Son must be in accord with the Father, in conformity with
  	Christ. According to divine Science, man is in a degree
  	as perfect as the Mind that forms him. The truth of be-
12	ing makes man harmonious and immortal, while error is
  	mortal and discordant. 
  	    XXVI.  Christian Science demonstrates that none but
15	the pure in heart can see God, as the gospel	Purity the
  	teaches. In proportion to his purity is man	path to
  	perfect; and perfection is the order of celestial	perfection 
18	being which demonstrates Life in Christ, Life's spiritual
  	ideal. 
  	    XXVII.  The true idea of man, as the reflection of the
21	invisible God, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses
  	as is man's infinite Principle. The visible uni-	True idea
  	verse and material man are the poor counter-	of man 
24	feits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal
  	things (verities) are God's thoughts as they exist in the
  	spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the
27	thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the oppo-
  	site of the real or the spiritual and eternal. 
  	    XXVIII.  Subject sickness, sin, and death to the rule
30	of health and holiness in Christian Science,	Truth
  	and you ascertain that this Science is demon-	demonstrated 
  	strably true, for it heals the sick and sinning as no
 
      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              338

1	other system can. Christian Science, rightly under-
  	stood, leads to eternal harmony. It brings to light the
 3	only living and true God and man as made in His like-
  	ness; whereas the opposite belief — that man originates
  	in matter and has beginning and end, that he is both
 6	soul and body, both good and evil, both spiritual and
  	material — terminates in discord and mortality, in the
  	error which must be destroyed by Truth. The mortality
 9	of material man proves that error has been ingrafted
  	into the premises and conclusions of material and mortal
  	humanity. 
12	    XXIX.  The word Adam is from the Hebrew adamah,
  	signifying the red color of the ground, dust, nothingness. 
  	Divide the name Adam into two syllables,	Adam not
15	and it reads, a dam, or obstruction. This	ideal man 
  	suggests the thought of something fluid, of mortal mind
  	in solution. It further suggests the thought of that
18	"darkness . . . upon the face of the deep," when mat-
  	ter or dust was deemed the agent of Deity in creating
  	man, — when matter, as that which is accursed, stood
21	opposed to Spirit. Here a dam is not a mere play upon
  	words; it stands for obstruction, error, even the sup-
  	posed separation of man from God, and the obstacle
24	which the serpent, sin, would impose between man and
  	his creator. The dissection and definition of words,
  	aside from their metaphysical derivation, is not scien-
27	tific. Jehovah declared the ground was accursed; and
  	from this ground, or matter, sprang Adam, notwith-
  	standing God had blessed the earth "for man's sake." 
30	From this it follows that Adam was not the ideal man
  	for whom the earth was blessed. The ideal man was
  	revealed in due time, and was known as Christ Jesus.   

      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              339


 1	    XXX.  The destruction of sin is the divine method of
  	pardon. Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys
 3	error, and Love destroys hate. Being de-	Divine
  	stroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness. 	pardon 
  	Does not God's pardon, destroying any one sin, prophesy
 6	and involve the final destruction of all sin? 
  	    XXXI.  Since God is All, there is no room for His
  	unlikeness. God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it
 9	good. Therefore evil, being contrary to good,	Evil not
  	is unreal, and cannot be the product of God. 	produced
  	A sinner can receive no encouragement from the fact that	by God 
12	Science demonstrates the unreality of evil, for the sinner
  	would make a reality of sin, — would make that real
  	which is unreal, and thus heap up "wrath against the
15	day of wrath." He is joining in a conspiracy against
  	himself, — against his own awakening to the awful un-
  	reality by which he has been deceived. Only those, who
18	repent of sin and forsake the unreal, can fully understand
  	the unreality of evil. 
  	    XXXII.  As the mythology of pagan Rome has yielded
21	to a more spiritual idea of Deity, so will our material
  	theories yield to spiritual ideas, until the finite	Basis of
  	gives place to the infinite, sickness to health,	health and
24	sin to holiness, and God's kingdom comes "in	immortality 
  	earth, as it is in heaven." The basis of all health, sin-
  	lessness, and immortality is the great fact that God is
27	the only Mind; and this Mind must be not merely be-
  	lieved, but it must be understood. To get rid of sin
  	through Science, is to divest sin of any supposed mind
30	or reality, and never to admit that sin can have intelli-
  	gence or power, pain or pleasure. You conquer error by
  	denying its verity. Our various theories will never lose
 
      Science and Health – Science of Being                                              340

 1	their imaginary power for good or evil, until we lose our
  	faith in them and make life its own proof of harmony
 3	and God. SHOW ALL