“I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation.” (Dan. 2:16.)
To the fives senses, Daniel was taken captive in a land filled with strange gods and occultists honoring them. But through persistent, devoted striving, Daniel overcame his circumstances — praying fervently toward Jerusalem 3 times a day. Mrs. Eddy’s Key to the Scriptures defines Jerusalem as “Home, heaven.” (589:12.)
By such commitment and devotion, Daniel was able to throw off his identity as a “captive”. Putting off “the old man” (Eph. 3:23, Col.3:9), Daniel became one with the one Mind that is God.
And so the real captives in Babylon were its own citizens, most especially the king’s magicians and occultists, while Daniel established himself as a citizen of heaven (harmony); Jerusalem (called “New Jerusalem” in the Book of Revelation), his true home.
“This material sinful personality, which we misname man, is what St. Paul terms ‘the old man and his deeds,’ to be ‘put off.'” (No and Yes, 27:20.)
Mrs. Eddy stresses that this “old man” does not exist in the Mind of God, therefore does not exist at all, and that it’s a lie to identify any man, woman, or child as sinful, sickly, or mortal: “Therefore it required the divinity of our Master to perceive the real man, and to cast out the unreal or counterfeit. It caused St. Paul to write, — ‘Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.’” (Christian Science vs. Pantheism 10:30, emphasis added.)