Article May 16, 1908 Issue

LEGITIMATE OPTIMISM

ROLF R. NEWMAN.

During the recent financial flurry, which has come to be called "the little panic of 1907," the business world has been asking itself the question, How far is it right to be optimistic in the face of business depression, when we know that fundamentally things are on a sound basis? Some have chosen to take one view of the matter and some another, and it has been extremely interesting in this connection to read the optimistic observations of a newspaper writer who contributes a regular weekly review of financial matters to one of the New York papers. He has constantly recognized that fear, without a basis in fact, was the cause of the trouble, and before things had taken the decided turn for the better which they now have, he said, "The moment the country assumes a natural, normal mentality, that moment relief will show." Again, he said, "They who base views and expectations upon what is disclosed right at hand, ignoring all but day-by-day developments, are cheerless." Commenting on the fact that conditions are now better, and that really the facts in the case have been that business is and has been, through it all, on a sound basis, and that the panic was due to fear and sentiment, he says, "That fact must ultimately prevail is inevitable, but there are long periods when it is ignored—and through such a period has Wall Street been stumbling."

Another writer, in a recent number of The Engineering Magazine, says, "The present trouble is due to a state of mind which mental courage and common sense would be certain to dispel." These quotations are but a few of many of a similar nature that have appeared in the public press; and this expression of the thought that any particular trouble is of mental origin is significant to Christian Scientists, who are striving to convince the world that all trouble comes from wrong thinking, and that the one way to permanent "good times" is through a realization of the facts about God and the universe as taught by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. Among the "Selected Articles" in a recent issue of the Sentinel was one in which it was stated that a well-known clergyman had received an anonymous letter from a man who "knew all about finances," and whose endurance had been overtaxed by having to listen to a sermon on the recent panic by a minister who knew nothing whatever about the subject. To prevent such sermons it was suggested that a universal form of service, similar to that used in Christian Science churches, be adopted.

In thinking of this solution of the difficulty, I contrasted in my own mind what I had received from our recent Lesson-Sermon on "Substance," with the probably visionary platitudes which were so unsatisfactory to the practical man of affairs. In the Christian Science Lesson-Sermons we are given fundamental truths and taught their application to our daily lives. One quotation from Science and Health (p. 124) illustrates this point: "The elements and functions of the physical body and of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes its beliefs." St. John says, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us." It is generally recognized that all business is based on confidence, but as a rule this confidence is placed in the sincerity and integrity of mankind. Christian Science takes us a step forward and proves that, with our confidence and trust intelligently placed in God, the promises for good which fill the Bible become practical truths—applicable to-day.

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