Article February 3, 1934 Issue

Environment Is Opportunity

LILLIAN M. MC CULLOUGH

God's universe is spiritual, perfect, immortal; and in this realm of reality where man lives, moves, and has his being, there is no wrong environment. To so-called human sense, however, the facts of spiritual existence are assimilated only by degrees, and in the journey Spiritward the individual may sometimes find himself in seemingly inharmonious surroundings. He may not be directly responsible for the inharmony manifested, but if he is a student of Christian Science he sooner or later realizes that he is responsible for his part in working toward the successful solution of the problem; that he is responsible for his thoughts about the environment as it claims to trouble him. His mental attitude determines whether or not the discordant condition shall seem real to him, for, as is said of a man in Proverbs, "as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." The student of Christian Science knows that where discord seems apparent, he can through his realization of the truth of being prove harmony to be present.

The individual whose consciousness has been touched by Truth is learning more each day about God and about man's spiritual origin and nature. His thought, therefore, continually seeks a higher level, and he is no longer contented, even temporarily, to accept as real a sense of wrong environment. Indeed, the yearning for spiritual growth is oftentimes so deep and sincere that if inharmony seems to be manifested one may need to watch his thinking carefully, lest he be found indulging in thoughts of self-pity, or holding resentment against certain individuals whom mortal sense would have him hold responsible for an untoward situation. It is often at this point that error, posing as an angel of light, may whisper that in order to progress in Science he must make an immediate change of location. The alert student, however, is not misled by and does not long entertain this suggestion, for he knows that progress in the understanding of Christian Science is not gained by fleeing from the task at hand, since by so doing he would lose for the time being the opportunity to heal the situation by reflecting the Christ, Truth.

The battle ground between Truth and error is in individual human consciousness, and progress is gained as this fact is recognized and the problem is approached from the standpoint of its wholly mental nature. The period of its working out need not be long or the effort laborious when one begins the work with gratitude for the opportunity to prove the truths learned in Christian Science and remembers our Leader's encouraging statement on page 118 of "Miscellaneous Writings," "Be of good cheer; the warfare with one's self is grand."

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