All that really exists

Typically, people look to the physical senses to assess their condition, good or bad. After all, if matter is the basis of existence, it makes complete sense to address problems such as illness, lack, and injury physically.

Let’s consider, however, whether there is more to existence than meets the eye. Throughout Earth’s history, humanity has been greatly benefited by notable individuals who questioned what people commonly believed. One such deep thinker was Mary Baker Eddy, a follower of Christ Jesus and the discoverer of Christian Science. In her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” she states, “All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal” (p. 151).

This doesn’t suggest that we’re physical beings possessing some intermittent mental and spiritual aspects. It omits matter entirely from the equation underlying life.

This is a radical way of describing the basic foundation of the universe. Divine Mind isn’t something that came into being as a result of a big bang or other physical phenomenon. This Mind, God, is entirely spiritual and eternal. It’s the ageless, matterless Principle underlying all true existence.

Divine Mind doesn’t produce physicality; Mind produces ideas. That includes each of us, in our true nature, as Christian Science teaches. As the creation of Mind, or God’s spiritual offspring, we reflect God, proving Mind’s presence. Matter is the counterfeit of God’s creation. Christ Jesus, whose healing works demonstrated the supremacy of Spirit rather than matter, said, “The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10).

This timeless observation applies to us today, too. We have a God-given capability to prove that the divine Mind’s perfection, abilities, and pure goodness are what constitute existence, and that nothing can stop us from expressing God to the fullest.

Some years ago, when I was in college, I was doing a backflip at a party when I landed on a slippery spot on the floor. My feet went out from under me and my face hit the floor. It was clear that my nose was broken.

Rather than seeing myself as a material machine, I considered the situation from a spiritual perspective. Since the harmonious, eternal divine Mind is the source of existence, no physical surface can affect or alter our true being. It would have to disrupt the harmony of Mind before it could change the harmony Mind expresses in us. God, Spirit, being infinite and good, this is impossible. There is no material aspect to God, who is perpetually expressing His purity and peace in us. As God’s loved, spiritual ideas, we mirror Mind’s wholeness and goodness.

This fresh perspective was a result of Christ, Truth, working in my thoughts, and I felt a growing confidence as a result. The reality of perfect Mind – and of everyone as this Mind’s perfect, invulnerable idea – made significantly more sense to me.

This glimpse of how all things, as a result of the allness of Mind, are permanently whole, spiritual, and good healed me. By the next day there was no discoloration, no pain, no evidence of any accident.

It’s worth it to look beyond what the physical senses convey and explore the spiritual makeup of existence. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else,” explains the Bible (Isaiah 45:22). That doesn’t leave us out, though. We exist perfectly as what Mind is doing, what Mind is expressing. It’s beautiful how gaining even a slight awareness of this heals and restores.