Spirit is radical

What do we mean by the term "radical"? An extremist agitating to change a political system? In Christian Science the term is often thought of in an entirely different sense. One who realizes the spiritual facts of being and lives in strict accord with them might be called a radical.

Christ Jesus was the world's most radical thinker and teacher. Because he lived in the consciousness of Spirit always, he rejected any material explanation of existence. He was able instantly and unhesitatingly to cast out sin and disease and to raise the dead, illustrating the reign of divine Spirit.

Jesus abolished material laws of health, healing a woman bowed down for eighteen years. He showed that there are no legitimate laws limiting our capacities, that only the laws of Spirit govern man's life, the fruits of which are health and harmony.

He raised Lazarus after the latter had been four days in the tomb, an impossible feat according to the world's theories regarding life and death. Jesus' highly unorthodox standpoint was Spirit's supremacy, and thus he provoked great opposition from the materially-minded. Their persecution led to his crucifixion, but his subsequent resurrection and ascension stand as everlasting testimony to the revolutionary laws of Spirit.

Christian Science is radical in the way Jesus was. It reveals that Spirit not matter, is the only substance. We grasp this when we realize that because God, Spirit, created all, everything that truly exists must be spiritual. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, writes in the chapter "One Cause and Effect" in Miscellaneous Writings, "All must be Mind and Mind's ideas; since, according to natural science, God, Spirit, could not change its species and evolve matter."^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 23;}

There is only one creation, and that one is spiritual. This is a fundamental message of Christian Science. What could be more radical? All true substance is actually spiritual, although mortal thought calls creation material. The self-constituted restrictions and limitations of mortal thought are its beliefs, which to itself become law.

The word "radical" comes from the Latin radix meaning root. Mrs. Eddy explains Jesus' radical actions in this manner: "He laid the axe of Science at the root of material knowledge, that it might be ready to cut down the false doctrine of pantheism,—that God, or Life, is in or of matter."^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 27;}

"The false doctrine of pantheism" is generally accepted without question. The truth is that the universe and man are entirely spiritual and are maintained by unerring, unchangeable spiritual laws. This makes matter obsolete and exposes as a false notion the belief that man is a limited mortal. Man is idea, Spirit's reflection, the likeness, not the unlikeness, of his Maker.

As we grow in this awareness, Spirit makes strong demands on us. We have to learn to relinquish materiality and live consistently with our advancing spiritual vision. This requires a complete turnaround in our outlook on life—in our motives, actions, and goals. It means accepting God as our only guide and controller. No person, no matter how influential, no outward circumstance or physical condition, regardless of its severity, has the power to govern us. Not externals but our thoughts need changing.

The truth—radical and uncompromisingly separate from the worldly sense of life—must be established in our hearts. The way to accomplish this is shown to us by the Christ, the true idea of God, which is present with us always. Jesus, who so completely presented the Christ to mankind, confirmed this. For although he was on earth only a short while, he said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."^{Matt. 28:20;}

The ever-present Christ brings the light of understanding, purifying our consciousness. The Christ enables us to realize that the harmonious laws of Spirit, so radically opposed to the limited laws of matter that we have accepted, are our laws. They govern us. We only need to become aware of them.

As this light is thrown on the dark experience of human life, we see that they are not frightening realities but shadows—substanceless negations of the shining truth that all being is God's likeness, or reflection. We see there is nothing that can mar this image, and so the strident voice of error is silenced. When this occurs, the Christly view becomes our own, and problems are corrected.

The truth of existence dawns on us through deep prayer and study. It comes with the willingness to relinquish all false concepts of God and man. These include outgrown theological beliefs, medical theories, destructive criticism of our fellowman. As a consequence of our efforts, our consciousness becomes rooted in Christliness.

A Christian Scientist I know, formerly a medical nurse, was always searching for the underlying truth of existence. She was distressed by the suffering she saw while carrying on her duties.

A few years after her introduction to Christian Science she became ill. The condition was never medically diagnosed, but she became progressively weaker and found it increasingly difficult to continue her nursing work. One night she felt that she was lapsing into a coma and that she was dying. All through her illness she had prayed to know that God is ever present, but now she could do no more. Summoning all her strength and understanding, she cried out, "O God, if You are the God we learn of in Christian Science, let me know it!" Before her prayer was fully uttered, she had the clear conviction, "God is Life, God is Life."

This awareness changed her whole outlook. The radicalness of Spirit asserted itself in her consciousness, replacing fear with joy and peace. She knew she was healed. Through the Christ she had felt the presence and power of the divine One she had so earnestly sought. Her belief of herself as a dying mortal was reversed. She woke up to divine Truth and knew that her true nature couldn't die any more than God could, for the divine Life was her Life. She regained normal strength and afterward was in better health than ever before. This happened many years ago, and there has been no recurrence of the condition.

The divine nature revealed in Christian Science is healing and uplifting humanity. The redemptive effects of understanding and relying on God prove unmistakably the spiritual nature of man, forever rooted in divine reality. Mrs. Eddy declares unequivocally, "To infinite Spirit there is no matter,—all is Spirit, divine Principle and its idea."^{Science and Health, p. 475.}