Article July 30, 1932 Issue

Whither Bound?

A. TOM YOUNGS

A student of Christian Science one day stood looking out from a window which overlooks a small river. He noticed that the surface of the water was somewhat ruffled by an easterly wind, giving the river the appearance of flowing westward. Familiar, however, with the district, he knew that this river was actually flowing eastward, and therefore that the appearance of the water's surface was illusory, being only the superficial effect of an east wind.

The student pondered this seemingly unimportant incident and found much help from the lesson learned. He had been passing through a period when it had seemed as if adverse winds were blowing strongly against the course of his life. The material sense of "wind" Mary Baker Eddy defines in part as "destruction; anger; mortal passions" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 597). He had felt that he was being driven backwards by forces beyond his control. Now, however, he had reached that mental state indicated by the words of the Psalmist, "Be still, and know that I am God." And through this incident there came the assurance that in spite of the winds of "destruction; anger; mortal passions," his life was definitely flowing on towards its desired spiritual goal. If events seemed to point otherwise, this was just as illusory as was the superficial view of the river.

A stranger in the locality might have been unable rightly to judge the direction of the water's flow. The testimony of the physical senses might have misled him. In order to ascertain the facts concerning the river, it would have been necessary for him to consult a map of the district, and thus obtain scientific or exact knowledge of its geographical position and course.

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