There is no Matter
From Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy
Click here to play the audio as you read:
Page 31
1 "GOD is a Spirit" (or, more accurately translated,
"God is Spirit"), declares the Scripture (John iv.
3 24), "and they that worship Him must worship Him in
spirit and in truth."
If God is Spirit, and God is All, surely there can be no
6 matter; for the divine All must be Spirit.
The tendency of Christianity is to spiritualize thought
and action. The demonstrations of Jesus annulled the
9 claims of matter, and overruled laws material as emphati-
cally as they annihilated sin.
According to Christian Science, the first idolatrous claim
12 of sin is, that matter exists; the second, that matter is
substance; the third, that matter has intelligence; and
the fourth, that matter, being so endowed, produces life
15 and death.
Hence my conscientious position, in the denial of matter,
rests on the fact that matter usurps the authority of God,
18 Spirit; and the nature and character of matter, the anti-
pode of Spirit, include all that denies and defies Spirit, in
quantity or quality.
21 This subject can be enlarged. It can be shown, in
detail, that evil does not obtain in Spirit, God; and that
God, or good, is Spirit alone; whereas, evil does, accord-
Page 32
1 ing to belief, obtain in matter; and that evil is a false
claim, — false to God, false to Truth and Life. Hence
3 the claim of matter usurps the prerogative of God, saying,
"I am a creator. God made me, and I make man and
the material universe."
6 Spirit is the only creator, and man, including the uni-
verse, is His spiritual concept. By matter is commonly
meant mind, — not the highest Mind, but a false form of
9 mind. This so-called mind and matter cannot be sep-
arated in origin and action.
What is this mind? It is not the Mind of Spirit; for
12 spiritualization of thought destroys all sense of matter as
substance, Life, or intelligence, and enthrones God in
the eternal qualities of His being.
15 This lower, misnamed mind is a false claim, a sup-
positional mind, which I prefer to call mortal mind. True
Mind is immortal. This mortal mind declares itself ma-
18 terial, in sin, sickness, and death, virtually saying, "I am
the opposite of Spirit, of holiness, harmony, and Life."
To this declaration Christian Science responds, even
21 as did our Master: "You were a murderer from the begin-
ning. The truth abode not in you. You are a liar, and
the father of it." Here it appears that a liar was in the
24 neuter gender, — neither masculine nor feminine. Hence
it was not man (the image of God) who lied, but the false
claim to personality, which I call mortal mind; a claim
27 which Christian Science uncovers, in order to demonstrate
the falsity of the claim.
Page 33
1 There are lesser arguments which prove matter to be
identical with mortal mind, and this mind a lie.
3 The physical senses (matter really having no sense)
give the only pretended testimony there can be as to the
existence of a substance called matter. Now these senses,
6 being material, can only testify from their own evidence,
and concerning themselves; yet we have it on divine
authority: "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is
9 not true." (John v. 31.)
In other words: matter testifies of itself, "I am matter;"
but unless matter is mind, it cannot talk or testify; and
12 if it is mind, it is certainly not the Mind of Christ, not
the Mind that is identical with Truth.
Brain, thus assuming to testify, is only matter within
15 the skull, and is believed to be mind only through error
and delusion. Examine that form of matter called brains,
and you find no mind therein. Hence the logical sequence,
18 that there is in reality neither matter nor mortal mind,
but that the self-testimony of the physical senses is
false.
21 Examine these witnesses for error, or falsity, and
observe the foundations of their testimony, and you will
find them divided in evidence, mocking the Scripture
24 (Matthew xviii. 16), "In the mouth of two or three wit-
nesses every word may be established."
Sight. Mortal mind declares that matter sees through
27 the organizations of matter, or that mind sees by means
Page 34
1 of matter. Disorganize the so-called material structure,
and then mortal mind says, "I cannot see;" and declares
3 that matter is the master of mind, and that non-intelligence
governs. Mortal mind admits that it sees only material
images, pictured on the eye’s retina.
6 What then is the line of the syllogism? It must be this:
That matter is not seen; that mortal mind cannot see
without matter; and therefore that the whole function
9 of material sight is an illusion, a lie.
Here comes in the summary of the whole matter, where-
with we started: that God is All, and God is Spirit; there-
12 fore there is nothing but Spirit; and consequently there
is no matter.
Touch. Take another train of reasoning. Mortal mind
15 says that matter cannot feel matter; yet put your finger
on a burning coal, and the nerves, material nerves, do
feel matter.
18 Again I ask: What evidence does mortal mind afford
that matter is substantial, is hot or cold? Take away
mortal mind, and matter could not feel what it calls sub–
21 stance. Take away matter, and mortal mind could not
cognize its own so-called substance, and this so-called
mind would have no identity. Nothing would remain to
24 be seen or felt.
What is substance? What is the reality of God and the
universe? Immortal Mind is the real substance, — Spirit,
27 Life, Truth, and Love.
Page 35
1 Taste. Mortal mind says, "I taste; and this is sweet,
this is sour." Let mortal mind change, and say that sour
3 is sweet, and so it would be. If every mortal mind believed
sweet to be sour, it would be so; for the qualities of matter
are but qualities of mortal mind. Change the mind, and
6 the quality changes. Destroy the belief, and the quality
disappears.
The so-called material senses are found, upon examina-
9 tion, to be mortally mental, instead of material. Reduced
to its proper denomination, matter is mortal mind; yet,
strictly speaking, there is no mortal mind, for Mind is
12 immortal, and is not matter, but Spirit.
Force. What is gravitation? Mortal mind says gravi-
tation is a material power, or force. I ask, Which was
15 first, matter or power? That which was first was God,
immortal Mind, the Parent of all. But God is Truth,
and the forces of Truth are moral and spiritual, not physi-
18 cal. They are not the merciless forces of matter. What
then are the so-called forces of matter? They are the
phenomena of mortal mind, and matter and mortal
21 mind are one; and this one is a misstatement of Mind,
God.
A molecule, as matter, is not formed by Spirit; for
24 Spirit is spiritual consciousness alone. Hence this spiritual
consciousness can form nothing unlike itself, Spirit, and
Spirit is the only creator. The material atom is an out-
27 lined falsity of consciousness, which can gather additional
Page 36
1 evidence of consciousness and life only as it adds lie to lie.
This process it names material attraction, and endows
3 with the double capacity of creator and creation.
From the beginning this lie was the false witness against
the fact that Spirit is All, beside which there is no other
6 existence. The use of a lie is that it unwittingly confirms
Truth, when handled by Christian Science, which reverses
false testimony and gains a knowledge of God from op-
9 posite facts, or phenomena.
This whole subject is met and solved by Christian
Science according to Scripture. Thus we see that Spirit
12 is Truth and eternal reality; that matter is the opposite
of Spirit, — referred to in the New Testament as the flesh
at war with Spirit; hence, that matter is erroneous, tran-
15 sitory, unreal.
A further proof of this is the demonstration, according
to Christian Science, that by the reduction and the rejec-
18 tion of the claims of matter (instead of acquiescence
therein) man is improved physically, mentally, morally,
spiritually.
21 To deny the existence or reality of matter, and yet
admit the reality of moral evil, sin, or to say that the
divine Mind is conscious of evil, yet is not conscious of
24 matter, is erroneous. This error stultifies the logic of
divine Science, and must interfere with its practical
demonstration.
