Article October 29, 2007 Issue

PRAYING FROM THE PLATFORM

BY MICHELLE NANOUCHE

The doors to our tramcar opened in the heart of Rome. In the seconds that I glanced out the window, my husband had exited onto the platform. The doors quickly closed, leaving me inside. When the train finally reached the next stop, one woman who observed my alarm gently encouraged me in English, "Follow the tracks back to the platform, and you will find your way." Sure enough, as I jogged along those tracks, which were level with the street, there was my husband, coming to meet me from the other direction. One more funny adventure on our trip to Italy!

"Follow the tracks back to the platform, and you will find your way." I've realized the wisdom that reunited us on a tram platform has an even broader application in Christian Science. The word platform usually refers to some type of standing surface used to support things, to give them stability or visibility. In a political context, a platform is a body of ideas that support and form the basis for a particular ideology. In Science and Health (pp. 330-340) Mary Baker Eddy has provided a metaphysical platform—a solid basis or springboard for healers.