Editorial December 11, 1909 Issue

THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Annie M. Knott

One of the doctrines of physical science which seems to find support in natural history is that which declares for the survival of the fittest, and which is often taken to mean the survival of the strongest. Even the stoutest defenders of this theory are ready to admit that it is a merciless law, whether it be applied to animals or men, but they contend that it represents a stern necessity in that it tends to the elimination of the physically and mentally imperfect. It is not necessary to enquire whether this theory is supported by facts, so far as physical existence is concerned, but that it does represent the operation of law in the mental realm there can be no question. What is more, it is easily seen that when rightly understood it represents the operation of a law which is both merciful and just, in that it works toward the entire elimination from human consciousness of all that does not represent God, infinite Mind.

In the Christian Science text-book we are told that "the foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man's origin" (Science and Health, p. 262). This points to the fact that in the spiritual creation there is no element of evil, nothing which can result in discord, hence nothing which must be eliminated, or which deserves to perish. This, however, cannot be said of the mortal belief of existence in which good and evil seem to coexist and the evil actually to predominate. It is therefore self-evident that one of these opposites must sooner or later disappear, as they are mutually antagonistic. Paul says that the flesh and the Spirit "are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." If one of these must go, which should it be? Unfortunately mankind has too long believed that materiality, or "the flesh," is essential to our existence, here at least, and that it is a part of the divine creation, a belief which Christian Science holds to be a mistake. Paul insisted that the fleshly man must be "put off," in order that the spiritual man of God's creating might be understood and realized by humanity as the real man. This man is by no means the product of asceticism, or the resultant of the struggles of the carnal mind to attain to goodness; rather does he express the ceaseless activity of divine Mind which ever impels man and the universe toward perfection.

When spiritual law is understood and its operation recognized in human consciousness, the survival of the fittest in the one spiritually awakened becomes an assured fact. That which does not express the divine Mind never is real to spiritual sense, and the sooner it disappears the better for all concerned. Thus does disease vanish, and sin as well, at the touch of divine Truth, for they are no part of man's being, though it has long been believed that they are; in fact it has been very generally held that a certain amount of evil and a large percentage of materiality give force to character, but Mrs. Eddy points out the absurdity of such an assumption, when she reminds us that "through spiritual ascendency our Lord and Master healed the sick, raised the dead, and commanded even the winds and waves to obey him" (Ibid., p. 67).

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