Specific Metaphor

Mary Baker Eddy gives us some hints of the type of metaphor one should be looking for. These are found in the paintings that illustrate her poem, in Christ and Christmas. For example, in the painting Seeking and Finding we see a clock in the background with the hands at 12:05. The verse of Revelation 12:05 introduces the man child of the woman closed with the sun, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, but who was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

A similar metaphor can be found in another painting where we find another clock in the background of the painting, which in this case points to 05:05.

In this case, Revelation 5:5 tells us: "Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, has revealed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof."

In both cases, the verse pointed to in metaphor, relates directly to the scene of the painting to which it belongs.

The problem with metaphor is that it is open to all sorts of interpretations. The metaphoric image of the man child who was caught up unto God is an example. It could be a reference to Mary Baker Eddy's structure for scientific and spiritual development, which has its roots in the spiritual and scientific development of humanity. It is indeed a 'man' child, and so, while Mary Baker Eddy worked with it extensively and had outlined it extensively, she gave it back to God, she left it undefined.

Such interpretations are highly subjective, but there are other types of metaphor in Christ and Christmas that are far more direct and totally specific to the structure for scientific and spiritual development that Mary Baker Eddy was working with. In the last painting, called The Way, we see a cross and a crown united by a beam of light.

The cross is surrounded by nine birds. Here we have a metaphor that includes one of the vital aspects of relating the Glossary of the textbook to the matrix foursquare, since 9x16=144. The dimension accords with the Apostle John's description of the city foursquare in Revelation 21. 

The metaphoric reference to the 9x16 dimension is also verified once more in the crown.