Waking from dreams

HOWEVER we view dreams, their contents are the stuff of a sleeping mentality, not an alert, intelligently reasoning thought. Actually, the fears that beset us during the waking hours are not more solid or actual than dreams, though they may seem to be. And it is possible to wake up from them through a correct view of man's nature as spiritual and Godlike. The Bible states, ``Beloved, now are we the sons of God.'' 1 Realizing this to be the truth of our being, despite appearances, leads us to freedom from fear, sickness, poverty, loneliness. It shows us that we're actually untouched by the ugliness of evil, because God is the only cause, the sole creator, and everything He creates is good. Spiritual healing, as practiced by Christ Jesus, is as practical today as it was thousands of years ago. Its practice in our time produces healings, from a mere splinter in a finger to supposedly incurable disease. Spiritual healing is an awakening in some degree from the dream-sense that life originates in and dies out of matter; that it is mortal and subject to discord rather than immortal and ideal. In the Christian Science textbook, Mary Baker Eddy2 writes, ``In both the waking and the sleeping dream, the dreamer thinks that his body is material and the suffering is in that body.'' 3 Through a deepened sense of God, Spirit, as the only real Life of man, we can find the way to wake up from the terrors that beset us. We can find peace every day by gaining a truer picture of man's individuality as spiritual, indestructible, unthreatened. We can be healed of discords associated with the dream of human history--birth-related problems, difficult childhood experiences, painful physical suffering, or marital abuse, to name just a few. As a child I suffered from recurring nightmares, to the point that I was genuinely afraid to go to sleep at night. My parents, who were Christian Scientists, prayed for me. As the spiritual truth about my identity as the calm, untroubled child of God became clearer through their prayers, I was freed from this excruciating fear. The Biblical promise ``When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet'' 4 was proved true. As an adult I have been faced with medically diagnosed incurable disease, a deteriorating marriage, the effects of an automobile accident in which my car was totally destroyed, as well as the daily challenges with which everyone must deal. To the degree that I have grasped the spiritual nature of man and the universe--an understanding gained from daily prayer and a serious study of the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy--I have been able to see these challenges in their true perspective as waking dreams, having no actual power to harm me, to destroy my joy, health, or progress. And each one has been healed. The door to this kind of freedom is open to all. Everyone has the right to wake up from the nightmare of evil, and everyone will, sooner or later, because each one is actually God's likeness. No fear is so great, no ill so severe, that it cannot be healed by the power of the Christ, eternal Truth. Jesus, who so fully embodied the Christ-power, showed this in his remarkable ministry, and we can fulfill his promise ``He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than the se shall he do; because I go unto my Father.'' 5 Man, as created by God (and His man is the true selfhood of you and me), is forever awake, conscious of his heritage of health, progress, and prosperity. And we can prove it as we acknowledge our role as the sons and daughters of God. As His offspring, we can't become dreamers. We aren't doomed to suffer nightmarish agonies of materiality. We can be expressive only of the divine consciousness. We all have opportunity each day to prove these truths. And there's no time like the present to begin! 1 I John 3:2. 2 The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 188. 4 Proverbs 3:24. 5 John 14:12.