Sometimes people ask children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Similarly, interviewers sometimes ask adults, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
What would happen if, instead of thinking about what we hope to be in the future, we regularly asked ourselves, “What am I being right now?”
Christ Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This isn’t a call for human perfectionism but an invitation to be conscious of our own and others’ true, wonderful, now being that is purely and completely good, free, and always accessible because it has its source in God.
God declared to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Knowledge of this all-powerful and ever-present God was to be the foundation for the Israelites’ liberation from enslavement in Egypt; and God’s magnificent declaration, “I AM THAT I AM,” with its underlying promise to the children of Israel and all humanity to be with us forever, has been translated into hundreds of languages and inspired millions of people since.
Mary Baker Eddy deeply pondered the Bible’s teachings about God and God’s creation. She particularly studied Jesus’ healing works. After many years of this study, she had an experience that led to her discovery of Christian Science: Following a serious accident from which she was not expected to recover, Mrs. Eddy called for her Bible. As she read, she caught a glimpse of her true, spiritual being in God, Spirit, and was healed.
She devoted the rest of her life to understanding and demonstrating what she learned about God and our inseparability from our divine Father-Mother, and sharing this with the world. The Christian Science textbook she authored, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” has been read by countless people around the world, transforming their lives.
There is also a magnificent statement of God’s being and ours in Science and Health. It answers the question “What is the scientific statement of being?” It says, “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual” (p. 468).
Understanding God’s being and our own as God’s children is essential to Christian Science healing. Mrs. Eddy also offers several Bible-sourced names or synonyms for God, including Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love. Every quality of our being flows from the one, infinite God, good. These qualities become easier to identify in the light of these synonyms.
Several years ago, after waking up in the morning, I would feel very dizzy when I first tried to sit up. As I got out of bed and started walking, I would feel physically unbalanced to the point of worrying that I would fall. This led to a morning routine of sitting up in bed until my head cleared, and then lightly brushing my hand against the wall as I walked, ready to catch myself if needed.
After several days of this, I realized I had formed a habit of mentally checking my body as soon as I woke up to see how everything was feeling and then wondering what would happen when I got up. At this point, I resolved that before thinking about anything else in the morning, I would do a spiritual checkup. God is Love – check. Life is God – check. Spirit, Truth, and not a physical body is the God of my life – check.
I also expanded my understanding of “the scientific statement of being,” affirming, for instance, that all is infinite Life and its infinite manifestation of health, vigor, progress, growth, and freshness, for Life is All-in-all. This rules out apathy, limitation, and disease. All is infinite Truth and its infinite manifestation of holiness and clarity. This rules out disorientation and instability. All is infinite Spirit and its infinite manifestation of energy, substance, enthusiasm, and vigor. That rules out decline, listlessness, and materialism.
I did this with every synonym, and qualities related to each, until fears about my body were silenced. Then I would get out of bed, unfazed by whatever physical symptoms I was experiencing. The problem soon disappeared and has never returned. Years later, I remain free and confidently, vigorously active.
Our Father-Mother is forever expressing love, health, purity, and peace in us. Acknowledging and yielding to the magnificence of both God’s declaration “I am that I am” and “the scientific statement of being” results in inspiration and freedom – in healing.
Adapted from an article published in the Aug. 18, 2025, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
