Christian Science reveals God as the perfect, infinite Mind and man as the perfect image or reflection of this Mind. But from the way most of us see man, he seems to be both material and spiritual, embodying life and death, sickness and health, good motives and bad motives, love and hate, and so on. Mary Baker Eddy explains this human dualism in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures on page 466. The immortal, limitless, intelligent qualities in the human consciousness are true, but the mortal, limited, and nonintelligent qualities are false. And she says, "Moreover, Truth is real, and error is unreal. This last statement contains the point you will most reluctantly admit, although first and last it is the most important to understand."

As one comes to understand this point, the conditions he encounters in his daily life can be seen as seemingly combined presentations of the divine Mind, which is Truth, and of mortal mind, which is error. A problem is an opportunity to understand better the reality of spiritual Truth and the unreality of mortal error. The mortal, limited, unintelligent elements of any situation are actually unreal. As their unreality becomes apparent, they disappear. We say a healing has taken place. And the individual has moved a step closer to the total realization of perfect Mind and man. "The scientific statement of being,"

which amplifies this "most important" point and provides the complete solution to the problem of human dualism, is given on page 468 of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health. It begins, "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." If mere repetition of this statement could enable us to separate error from ourselves, we would have but to memorize and repeat it whenever the occasion arose, and we would have a healing. But there is a moral requirement to be met if we are to understand what the statement says and employ its power.

me,"

In her answer to the question "What are the demands of the Science of Soul?" Mrs. Eddy refers to the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before "1 and to the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 992 Her explanation of these basic demands includes this: "Science reveals Spirit, Soul, as not in the body, and God as not in man but as reflected by man." And, "This is a leading point in the Science of Soul, that Principle is not in its idea.” 3

Much of the reluctance we may be experiencing in seeing the reality of the truth and the unreality of the error in a human problem comes from a failure to recognize the importance of this "leading point." En

ticed by the belief that life has evolved from matter and that once men appeared on earth they proceeded to evolve themselves, we may think that the human being can find liberation through the theory that moral standards were made by men because men wanted them, and that therefore when men want new standards it is their privilege to make new ones. This theory denies the self-existence of God, or Principle. It insists that only that which men do of themselves is their guide to right conduct.

But the human being can be liberated only by freeing him from the belief that life, truth, intelligence, or substance are in matter. And this freedom comes through acknowledging God's self-existence and recognizing that both oneself and one's neighbor are ideas reflecting the one God, one Mind, divine Principle, Love. Obedience to the moral law-including the law that provides for sex within a marriage but not outside of it—is a way of acknowledging the truth of God and man, Principle and its idea. It is also a way of showing that we understand the unreality of the error that either self or neighbor could be subject to conditions other than those found in divine Principle.

The demands of loving God and our neighbor include more than lip service. How moral are we, really? Are we defending forms of human behavior because we don't like things to change, or are we working vigorously to exemplify in all our behavior the love for humanity that Christ Jesus lived and taught? How concerned

are we about ghettos-the way their existence violates the law of loving one's neighbor? Are we really facing the moral implications of compulsory military service? Are we complacent about business practices that violate the law pertaining to coveting a neighbor's property? While we support marriage laws, do we ignore the plight of those who feel that these laws have bound them to situations that seem impractical to the point of being inhumane?

If having one God and loving one's neighbor as one loves himself are related, as Jesus implied they are, then it is immoral to teach Christian Science and not teach the necessity of understanding the needs and the viewpoints of men, women, and children in the community and in today's world. It is immoral to be a member of a Church of Christ, Scientist, and not be active in searching out new ways to find and feed those hungry for truth in the community. It is immoral to use Christian Science to gain one's own comfortable human position and to overlook the needs of the rest of mankind.

As we meet the moral demands, our reluctance to admit the truth of what is true and the nothingness of what is false begins to yield. Then we can see "the scientific statement of being" as the powerful solution to human problems that it really is and use it as the solution for our own problems and for those of the rest of mankind.

CARL J. WELZ

1 Ex. 20:3; 2 Matt. 19:19; 3 Science and Health, p. 467.

A Home for All

News reports speak of a growing housing shortage that, unless something drastic is done to correct it, will reach astronomical proportions by the end of this decade. In other words, for thousands of families a decent home will remain just a dream unless some unforeseen breakthrough is achieved.

Like all responsible citizens, students of Christian Science are anxious to see this problem solved. Most of them may not be technically qualified to plan or build housing, but this does not leave them helpless. The working Christian Scientist is never a frustrated onlooker, because he knows that beyond and above the necessary financing, the blueprints, bricks and mortar, there is an important area of help where he is uniquely qualified. This is in the realm of scientific prayer, which he has proved to be potent in solving all manner of human problems.

Students of Christian Science accept without reservation the Biblical statement, "there is no power but of God."1 Because their present understanding of this fact has blessed them so richly in their individual lives, they are confident that it can be effective in a wider context if faithfully applied. They understand that God is divine Love, and that the persistent, affirmative recognition of His omnipotence and omnipresence can help measurably to bring the riches of His grace to all mankind. The same power that heals individual cases of lack can speed the day when everyone's

need is met.

Christian Science is teaching us that our one great need is to know God and the real spiritual man, His expression. As we develop in spiritual understanding, our thought expands, is enriched with right ideas. We gain a completeness, an inner buoyancy and joy, which expresses itself in better human conditions not only for our

selves but for all men everywhere. This consciousness is our real eternal home, the spiritual dwelling place of all God's ideas. It is what Paul speaks of as "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2

Speaking of this spiritual abode, this fact of life in God, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Immortal Mind is God, immortal good; in whom the Scripture saith 'we live, and move, and have our being.' This Mind, then, is not subject to growth, change, or diminution, but is the divine intelligence, or Principle, of all real being; holding man forever in the rhythmic round of unfolding bliss, as a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible good.

3

Although a Christian Scientist recognizes the human need for an adequate sense of home in his community and the world, he never prays for a house or a group of houses. He knows that God never bestows material objects or things, since, useful as they seem in human experience, they are unknown to pure Spirit, who recognizes nothing but the real universe of perfect spiritual ideas.

Christ Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.' The Scientist therefore is praying for a higher and still higher sense of his real life in the one Mind. He prays to know God better and to feel his unity with Him. He strives to enrich his thought with Godlike qualities such as wisdom, integrity, purity, and love. This spiritual work is his chief preoccupation, and it contributes meaningfully to mankind's progress.

As each Christian Scientist works to find his own real home in Mind, he is helping to leaven the entire mass of human thinking, thus making it receptive to the Godimparted ideas that solve human problems. Speaking of the limiting belief of material life and intelligence and how to correct it,

Mrs. Eddy writes, "The spiritual leaven of divine Science changes this false sense, giving better views of Life; saying, Man's Life is God; and when this shall appear, it shall be 'the substance of things hoped for." " 5

How important to know that everything real is made of the substance of Spirit, or Mind, the ever-active, all-powerful intelligence that fills immensity with the riches of its love! This loving Mind knows its ideas, supports them, and supplies their every need. All Mind's ideas are at home within

itself, surrounded by and constituted of good.

These facts apply to you and me and all men; and when affirmed with conviction, they can aid in silencing limitation. When the communications media tell of inertia of officials, of shortages of building materials and skilled labor, of a lack of adequate financing to build or purchase housing— or for that matter, of prices or rents far beyond the reach of many-then we

should take the time to rise up mentally and vigorously deny these limitations reality. We must see them as false suggestions and replace them in our own thought with Truth.

Christian Science shows us that all material objects and conditions are mortally mental phenomena, counterfeits of reality. Therefore they can be corrected and harmonized as human thought is enlightened and purified by scientific prayer. As a result a closer approximation of divine perfection appears, and humanity's needs

are met.

It is our privilege to play an important role in meeting these needs. Mrs. Eddy herself worked assiduously for the good of others. She has given us the spiritual tools, and it is our happy duty to utilize them unselfishly just as she did.

ALAN A. AYLWIN

1 Rom. 13:1; 2II Cor. 5:1; 3 Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 82, 83; 4 Matt. 6:33; 5 Mis., p. 175.

Christ Jesus' prayers were the most authoritative and effective the world has ever known. He prayed constantly and confidently. He turned to his Father, God, for comfort, inspiration, and help, and proved undeniably that, as the Bible says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." 1

Today, prayer is likewise effective if it is is likewise effective if it is equally sincere, deeply spiritual, and scientific. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, the Master outlined the method in eight brief sentences that together are known as the Lord's Prayer. Accounts in the book of Acts indicate that they used prayer successfully in meeting the problems of their time. Now, centuries later, the Lord's Prayer is still effective in overcoming human problems when it is thoroughly

understood in its divine meaning and applied with wholehearted conviction.

The method of prayer given by the Master is essentially spiritual. When he outlined it in words, he warned the disciples not to assume that mere repetition of them would suffice to ensure communion with God. He said, "After this manner therefore pray ye,' fore pray ye," 2 indicating that the thoughts behind the words are what are important. The words must be understood and their meaning wholeheartedly recognized as truth here and now. The purpose of this prayer is to establish the consciousness that perfect spiritual being is present despite the contrary evidence of physical

haphazard. It is based on fixed divine Principle, so it operates eternally through spiritual law. On pages 16 and 17 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy gives the spiritual interpretation of each of the eight sentences, thereby revealing that this ancient prayer is as vital and applicable to current affairs as it ever was.

Its theme develops systematically from the basis of one God, the Father, divine Principle, to elevate human thought from material beliefs of sin and discord to the understanding that true being is wholly spiritual, pure, good, lacking nothing. Through this acknowledgment of the beauty and harmony of God's universe as the actual established facts of being the afflictive images of false material sense are eliminated from thought. Then, because human thought and experience are one, healing inevitably results, not only in thought but in outward conditions as well. The Lord's Prayer heals just as effectively today as it did years ago. If anyone feels he has cause to doubt this, it may be that greater effort is needed to understand its spiritual meaning more fully. Mere repetition of the words of the prayer and of its spiritual interpretation given in Science and Health is not enough. We need not only to speak the words but to think consistently in the manner of the spiritual truth they affirm.

Mrs. Eddy writes, "Wholly apart from this mortal dream, this illusion and delusion of sense, Christian Science comes to reveal man as God's image, His idea, coexistent with Him-God giving all and man having all that God gives. "3 In prayer we need to abandon all thought of the mortal scene and its materiality, lack, loss, and discord and adopt instead the understanding that God's kingdom of spiritual perfection is actually present. Human thought must be wholeheartedly and permanently subjugated to the spiritual revelation that God's kingdom, power, and glory are here now, that His will is the governing law, and that He has already provided an abundant supply of "daily bread"—spiritual

qualities and ideas to meet our every need.

The Christly method of prayer always has been, and still is, wholehearted acknowledgment of God's infinite goodness and the perfection of His universe. It is not a superstitious repetition of pious words. Nor is it a request for specific material gifts and human betterment. It is the realization as present truth of the facts that God is Spirit, His creation including man is wholly and exclusively spiritual, and He has impartially and universally provided all that is needed for the fulfillment of usefulness, joy, beauty, and continual development of spiritual power. It realizes that individual man, as well as the universe as a whole, is complete, intact. Not one of God's ideas can ever be fragmented or lose or lack any good and needful thing.

As we become conscious of these spiritual facts through prayer, the way opens to an enjoyment here and now of a more unlimited sense of good. But Mrs. Eddy warns that this communion with spiritual reality must be total-without any mental reservation. She writes in Science and Health, "Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick."*

When the facts set forth in the Lord's Prayer and its spiritual interpretation are thoroughly understood and conscientiously accepted into thought, they unfold the solution to all contemporary human problems. Such prayer should constantly be used in modern life. As Mrs. Eddy writes, "The Lord's Prayer, understood in its spiritual sense, and given its spiritual version, can never be repeated too often for the benefit of all who, having ears, hear and understand.” 5

NAOMI PRICE

1 Ps. 46:1; 2 Matt. 6:9; 3 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 5; 4 Science and Health, p. 16; 5 Christian Healing, pp. 15, 16.