Article May 9, 1908 Issue

WHAT IS PLEASURE?

MARY C. FRANCIS.

Just before I came into Christian Science, in February, 1907, the most acute form of pain inflicted on my suffering consciousness was that imposed by listening to music. The mental state I had reached when this could be true may be judged from the fact that all my life music had been my greatest pleasure, other planes of enjoyment being represented by the forms of art or literature expressive of the flowering of human thought.The events and conditions leading up to a state of mind bordering on chaos had continued for some time, and are too complex to be entered into here, but the effect of music was merely one detail of a mind ready to cry with Milton: "Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell. " One of the most acute experiences of my life was on a Sunday afternoon in the late season, when I went to a symphony concert at Carnegie Hall; the wailing of the violins sounded like the cries of lost souls, the pulsations of the harp filled me with sharp pain, and the blasts of the trumpets were like discordant shouts.

This anguished state of mind speedily manifested itself as an attack of illness, and then it was that I sought a Christian Science practitioner, realizing at last that no material remedy could minister to my tortured sense. His first words fell like gentle balm, as he assured me of God's protecting care. The illness quickly yielded to treatment, and nothing in the way of physical malady worth mentioning has crossed my path since. My pen refuses longer to remain silent, and I am impelled to lay this little tribute on the altar of a faith that has redeemed me, that has restored my pleasure in life, that has given me back my old joy in my work, that has lifted me up on a plane where consciousness is illuminated by understanding. All this, I gladly say, has come to me solely through Christian Science, and through my study of Science and Health and of the Bible.

For some time before coming into Christian Science I believed a current lie about Christian Scientists, to the effect that they had no sense of humor, could not appreciate a joke; and this weighed heavily with me. I had never had any use for a life without pleasure, and as I was also informed that they did not care for art or music, I could see in Christian Science only a barren intellectual waste, devoid of my dearest recreations. To-day all is changed. I know more than pleasure, I know joy and peace. Steadfast assurance has taken the place of agonized uncertainty, and the pleasure of analysis, the delight of understanding," the joy of logical coordination of cause and effect, the uplift of new and glorious ideas, — all these have made my life more than it ever was before. The curtain of material sense is slowly rising from the realm of art, music, painting, and statuary, and the science of beauty, heretofore dimly recognized, even in acknowledged masterpieces, reveals its glorious possibilities in lofty and unimagined creations. Is not this true pleasure?

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