/Question/. - Do the five corporeal senses constitute
488:15 man?
/Answer/. - Christian Science sustains with immortal
proof the impossibility of any material sense, and defines
488:18 these so-called senses as /mortal beliefs/, the
testimony of which cannot be true either of
man or of his Maker. The corporeal senses can take no
488:21 cognizance of spiritual reality and immortality. Nerves
have no more sensation, apart from what belief be-
stows upon them, than the fibres of a plant. Mind alone
488:24 possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension.
Therefore mental endowments are not at the mercy of
organization and decomposition, - otherwise the very
488:27 worms could unfashion man. If it were possible for the
real senses of man to be injured, Soul could reproduce
them in all their perfection; but they cannot be dis-
488:30 turbed nor destroyed, since they exist in immortal Mind,
not in matter.
Possibilities of Life
489:1 The less mind there is manifested in matter the better.
When the unthinking lobster loses its claw, the claw grows
489:3 again. If the Science of Life were understood,
it would be found that the senses of Mind are
never lost and that matter has no sensation. Then the
489:6 human limb would be replaced as readily as the lobster's
claw, - not with an artificial limb, but with the genuine
one. Any hypothesis which supposes life to be in matter
489:9 is an educated belief. In infancy this belief is not equal
to guiding the hand to the mouth; and as consciousness
develops, this belief goes out, - yields to the reality of
489:12 everlasting Life.
Decalogue disregarded
Corporeal sense defrauds and lies; it breaks all the
commands of the Mosaic Decalogue to meet its own de-
489:15 mands. How then can this sense be the God-
given channel to man of divine blessings or
understanding? How can man, reflecting God, be de-
489:18 pendent on material means for knowing, hearing, seeing?
Who dares to say that the senses of man can be at one time
the medium for sinning against God, at another the me-
489:21 dium for obeying God? An affirmative reply would con-
tradict the Scripture, for the same fountain sendeth not
forth sweet waters and bitter.
Organic construction valueless
489:24 The corporeal senses are the only source of evil or
error. Christian Science shows them to be false, be-
cause matter has no sensation, and no organic
489:27 construction can give it hearing and sight nor
make it the medium of Mind. Outside the
material sense of things, all is harmony. A wrong sense
489:30 of God, man, and creation is /non-sense/, want of sense.
Mortal belief would have the material senses sometimes
good and sometimes bad. It assures mortals that there
490:1 is real pleasure in sin; but the grand truths of Christian
Science dispute this error.
Will-power an animal propensity
490:3 Will-power is but a product of belief, and this belief
commits depredations on harmony. Human will is an
animal propensity, not a faculty of Soul.
490:6 Hence it cannot govern man aright. Chris-
tian Science reveals Truth and Love as the
motive-powers of man. Will - blind, stubborn, and head-
490:9 long - cooperates with appetite and passion. From this
cooperation arises its evil. From this also comes its pow-
erlessness, since all power belongs to God, good.
Theories helpless