God is the one and only reality, described as infinite, eternal, incorporeal, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. As Eddy put it, "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." God is Love itself -- infinitely wise, just, tender, and compassionate. Also, God is no more male than female.
Humanity: The Bible describes humanity as the "image" and "likeness" of God. To Eddy, each person is the perfect image or reflection or expression of God. Yet to Eddy, there is only one, single consciousness -- the consciousness of God, which is reflected in all creation. As Eddy explained, "The sun sends forth light, but not suns; so God reflects himself, or Mind, but does not subdivide Mind, or good, into minds, good and evil."
Evil and all its manifestations, including fear, suffering, sin, discord, and death, are illusions -- like night dreams. Eddy said, "We lose the high signification of omnipotence, when after admitting that God, or good, is omnipresent and has all power, we still believe that there is another power, named evil." In fact, to Eddy, the whole material world is illusion. "The starting point of divine Science," said Eddy, "is that God, Spirit, is All-in-all...." If God or Spirit is all that exists, Eddy explained, matter must be unreal.
Christian
These non-dualistic principles, familiar to those who have studied certain Eastern traditions, blend seamlessly with Mary Baker Eddy's focus on the life and works of Jesus. According to Eddy, Jesus could heal the sick and defy material "laws" because he understood the true nature of God and humanity:
Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.
Moreover, Eddy took at face value Jesus' statement that "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also...." Eddy's Christian Science is the practice of Christian healing. She urged people to follow Jesus both in word and in deed.
Finally, the healing prayer taught by Eddy is not a plea to a changeable, semi-human God who may or may not grant favors. Instead, it's a shift of perspective from illusion to reality -- from a false belief in duality, discord, and despair to an accurate perception of the harmony, wholeness, and Oneness of all things.
This, Eddy taught, is how Jesus healed. She therefore instructed those who wished to follow in his footsteps to engage in a constant practice of study, prayer, and purification of thought. The result is healing, which can be as swift and effortless as it was in Jesus' day:
To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science.
"Spirit is the Ego which never dreams, but understands all things; which never errs, and is ever conscious; which never believes, but knows; which is never born and never dies. Spiritual man is the likeness of this Ego. Man is not God, but like a ray of light which comes from the sun, man, the outcome of God, reflects God." M.B. Eddy
Basic Teachings
Mary Baker Eddy's teachings are unusual in that they are both "non-dualistic" and deeply Christian.
Western faith traditions, including Christianity, are generally dualistic. They focus on contrast and conflict between good and evil; spirit and flesh; and God and His errant creation, humanity.
Instead, Eddy taught that:
Non-Dualistic
infinite possibility today
