Spiritual reflection
479:27 We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects
no light. So evil should be denied identity or power,
because it has none of the divine hues. Paul
479:30 says: "For the invisible things of Him, from
the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under-
stood by the things that are made." (Romans i. 20.)
480:1 When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-
ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where
480:3 the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is
not, evil becomes nothing, - the opposite of the some-
thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then
480:6 there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a trace
of heavenly tints.
Harmony from Spirit
Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-
480:9 tion in matter, whereas matter is devoid of sensation.
Consciousness, as well as action, is governed
by Mind, - is in God, the origin and gov-
480:12 ernor of all that Science reveals. Material sense has
its realm apart from Science in the unreal. Harmonious
action proceeds from Spirit, God. inharmony has no
480:15 Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes man
to be in matter. Inharmony would make matter the
cause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus
480:18 attempting to separate Mind from God.
Evil non-existent
Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,
or good, never made man capable of sin. It is the oppo-
480:21 site of good - that is, evil - which seems to
make men capable of wrong-doing. Hence,
evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis. Evil is a
480:24 false belief. God is not its author. The supposititious
parent of evil is a lie.
Vapor and nothingness
The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him
480:27 [the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything,
made that was made." This is the eternal
verity of divine Science. If sin, sickness,
480:30 death were understood as nothingness, they would dis-
appear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would
vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the
481:1 other. How important, then, to choose good as the
reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing
481:3 else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and
boundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is
481:6 free "to enter into the holiest," - the realm of God.
The fruit forbidden
Material sense never helps mortals to understand
Spirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man com-
481:9 prehends and loves Deity. The various con-
tradictions of the Science of Mind by the ma-
terial senses do not change the unseen Truth, which re-
481:12 mains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge,
against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony of
error, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death,
481:15 and good and evil to be capable of commingling. This
is the significance of the Scripture concerning this "tree
of the knowledge of good and evil," - this growth of
481:18 material belief, of which it is said: "In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Human hypotheses
first assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and
481:21 then assume the necessity of these evils because of their
admitted actuality. These human verdicts are the pro-
curers of all discord.