"It seems like only a dream now"

        A friend of ours expressed this some years ago after a challenging time involving his young family.  Frank was (and still is) a student of Christian Science and had naturally relied on its teachings to see them through the situation.

        In my own experience, I've found many worthwhile reasons for studying Christian Science, the law of God.  Of special significance to me has been the help received in waking up from the waking dream of life in matter, separate from God.

        Our Master, Christ Jesus, came to liberate human consciousness from this mental and spiritual darkness, and to this end he exposed and proved the falsity of any material sense.  He urged the recognition of man's perfection as a child of God, and taught no other origin.  Christian Science is a precise statement of the same Christ-way, for there is no other means or mode of escape from the illusions of materiality.

        The teachings of Christian Science stand on the eternal reality of life in and of God alone--in divine, infinite Spirit--as demonstrated by Jesus, who taught that God is Spirit.  Therefore Christian Science draws the logical conclusion that the offspring of God, Spirit--in other words, man--is entirely spiritual; he always has been and always will be.

        The Science of Christianity elaborates on our true, spiritual nature.  It helps us understand that belief in life in matter is an error, a mistake, ignorance of what God made and sees as real and present.  This so-called existence has its being in the darkness and restrictions of mortal thought, in a supposed material consciousness apart from the one, infinite, divine Mind.

        Mary Baker Eddy points out in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:  "Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like the dream we have in sleep, in which every one recognizes his condition to be wholly a state of mind.  In both the waking and the sleeping dream, the dreamer thinks that his body is material and the suffering is in that body."  (p. 188)

        "Even so," someone might be thinking, "material existence is very pleasant for me right now.  Why would I want to wake up from it?"  Let's consider some of the reasons, although it isn't easy to detail what waking up to life in God does for us with so many blessings to choose from.

        There is the increased joy and vitality one experiences.  Better health, increased harmony in everyday relationships, and a greater sense of God's constant provision are also benefits of waking up from the waking dream. And a feeling of freedom that one has to experience for him or herself to fully appreciate.

        In Psalms we find this petition to God:  "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."  (Ps. 119:18)  The teachings of divine Science show us how to witness the fulfillment of this petition.  Here is just one of the many clear explanations to be found the book I mentioned above:  "For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence.  In reality there is  no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its unlikness, mortality."

        "Being is holiness, harmony, immortality.  It is already proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree, will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character.  This progress will finally destroy all error, and bring immortality to light."  (p. 492)

        The night dream vanishes when we wake up from it--not by doing anything to it.  In a similar way, the waking dream of mortal existence begins to dissipate as we wake up spiritually through the exercise of spiritual understanding, not by trying to change or rearrange the illusion.  So-called material life is mental and just as much an illusion as the night dream.  The need is always for more spiritual enlightenment, for the knowledge Jesus had of divine reality.

        Waking up from the waking dream of life in the flesh to man's uninterrupted, entirely spiritual existence brings solid benefits.  It has shown, and showing, to many individuals more of the infinite good they have always had as God's child.  It can do the same for you.