Article September 22, 1898 Issue

BELIEF AND UNDERSTANDING

BY E. M. B.

Many of my friends say, "I hear you have adopted the new belief in God." I answer, "No; I am developing the understanding of God, or Good." "Oh well," they reply, "it is the same thing, only a change in phraseology." Allow me to give you an illustration, and see then if you are of the same opinion.

Two gentlemen are sitting in a schoolroom; one a mathematician, the other ignorant of the principle governing numbers. The scholar remarks to his friend, "I am going to solve a problem in addition," and as he crosses the room to the blackboard, the other looks wonderingly to see the result. He sees a line of figures placed upon the board, and as the scholar runs his finger along the line, and places two figures below as the correct answer, he believes it to be correct, and has absolute faith that he can do likewise. Taking the chalk he also places figures in line on the board, but, ignorant of the mental process by which the correct answer is gained, he places indiscriminately any two figures below, in imitation of his friend, and then looks to him for approval, and is surprised when told that he has failed in the vital part of his work, that it has absolutely no value, as it is a blind belief, with no principle governing it. He must make the principle of numbers his own, in order to gain a correct result, and so demonstrate his understanding of the science, which never varies, never changes. So also in the Science of Being, we must absolutely separate the belief from understanding.

Believing that Life and Intelligence are in matter, and that mortal man is a creator, can never make it so, as he creates but the illusion of Life and Intelligence which ends in death and nothingness.

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