“Thou shalt recognize thyself as God’s spiritual child only” — Mary Baker Eddy (Mis. p. 26)
...thou shalt recognize thyself as God’s spiritual child only, and the true man and true woman, the all-harmonious 'male and female,' as of spiritual origin, God’s reflection, — thus as children of one common Parent, — wherein and whereby Father, Mother, and child are the divine Principle and divine idea, even the divine 'Us' — one in good, and good in One.
With this recognition man could never separate himself from good, God; and he would necessarily entertain habitual love for his fellow-man. Only by admitting evil as a reality, and entering into a state of evil thoughts, can we in belief separate one man’s interests from those of the whole human family, or thus attempt to separate Life from God. This is the mistake that causes much that must be repented of and overcome. Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, page 18
It took a while for me to understand that God is my loving Father-Mother, and even longer to feel that I could possibly have a rightful place in His creation, but now I can see that all of us are His children the moment we tire of what material living has for us.
That mistaken view of ourselves is the mortal, brought on by the claim of animal magnetism, or the belief we are separate from God. With that false sense of our origin, we begin to accept human knowledge and its beliefs of heredity, lack, chance, mortality, etc., while personal sense creates divisions and hierarchies between every “mortal” in the form of family, nationality, race, food preferences, etc. It is essentially a fictional character we have been mesmerized to believe we are, existing inside of a mythological counterfeit of God's creation, and that is why “A wicked mortal is not the idea of God.” (S&H, p. 289)
A child of God is the truth of who we are, and is the standpoint where we must demonstrate from. (see S&H, p. 322:3-7) One definition of Principle which I have found very helpful is “divine origin.” Mrs. Eddy wrote “Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe.” (S&H, pgs. 465-466) There is no separation between our divine origin and our true self, nor between any one of us and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.