Article October 17, 1908 Issue

SUPPLY THROUGH RIGHT THINKING

GENEVA MARY CLIPPINGER

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, in lifting mankind out of the bondage of belief in matter into the freedom of Mind, is overcoming that which has been one of humanity's most cruel taskmasters, namely, the belief in poverty. It is scientifically destroying poverty by revealing the fact that the only true substance is Mind, and that this substance is brought into demonstration through right ideas, through right thinking. This fact is clearly indicated in the 1st Psalm: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, . . . But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

Science shows to us that because man is the likeness of Mind, the real man always reflects right ideas, therefore he always possesses unlimited substance. It follows, then, that whatever causes the belief of lack of substance is some form of denial of the First Commandment, some argument which declares that there is more than one creator and that man is not the image of God—of Mind. But what can an argument do that is based upon a false assumption? It can do nothing more than deceive so long as it is believed in. It can never change an actual fact. Millions of mortals may be banded together to uphold the argument that there are two opposing powers, one good, the other evil; but such a union cannot produce the slightest effect upon the eternal fact that there is only one power, God, good. The whole world did at one time believe and argue that the earth was flat, but the argument had not the slightest effect upon the real fact of the earth's rotundity; it merely held men under a sense of deception for a while. Because the argument was not founded upon truth, it was inevitably destined, like every false argument, to be discovered as untrue and every vestige of its effects destroyed. It was knowledge of the truth about the earth which destroyed this argument, and it is knowledge of the truth that always has and always will destroy every false argument to which it is applied. The knowledge and assimilation of the truth that man reflects the one perfect Mind reverses and destroys the argument that any man of God's creation is limited in right ideas or in substance.

Those uninstructed in the Science of Mind may ask at this point, How can you prove that a man who has right ideas has substance? Is it not true that some brilliant and some very good men do not possess abundance? This shows that it is necessary to be clear as to the definition of what constitute right ideas. Christian Science affirms that the only right ideas are those which originate in the one Mind; in other words, God's ideas. An idea may always be judged as to its source by its effect. A right idea, or a God idea, always operates to produce a good effect; as, for instance, the reflection in an individual's consciousness of the idea that man as God's creation. is absolutely lovable, will cause the individual to see the real man, at least in a measure, and love him. On the contrary, any so-called idea, based upon the assumption of a human intellect,—a belief that the individual has a bright little mind of his own, quite apart from the one Mind, — is a belief harmful in its effect and apt to operate for deprivation. So, too, the individual who believes that he has any righteousness of his own which is not also common to every child of God, is not fostering a right idea but a mistaken belief. Such beliefs reveal themselves in many ways and cause a more or less conscious feeling of separation from other men, thereby limiting the individual's opportunity for service.

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