Editorial August 15, 1914 Issue

"Awake thou"

John B. Willis

The primary and most pressing need of the average man is this: that he resist the temptation to mental torpidity; and this is the appeal of Christian Science. In the spirit of the word of the Lord, saying, "Awake thou," it counsels him to be alert, to think actively, honestly, purely, consistently; to think of God, and God's man, his spiritual endowment and resources, of life's obligations, problems, opportunities, and high destiny. This is the Christ-way, the ascending path, and we are to follow it. The emphasis of much religious teaching has been laid upon a trusting, uninquiring faith, which is defined in the phrase "Only believe." It is a faith which is content that others should solve one's problems, define his privileges, do his thinking, and it need not surprise us, therefore, that the Christian world is full of the spiritually inactive and superstitiously dependent.

Christian Science takes its stand for the present possibility of proving the truth of St. John's great declaration, "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true." It teaches that effective faith in itself is highly intelligent, even when possessed by the humblest; that it quickens, stimulates, impels, and ennobles thought; that it is given to demonstrating its propositions, and that while it is the gift of God, it can become the possession of only him who wills to be wideawake, who is not disturbed or discouraged by the difficulties which right endeavor may come upon, and who has no other thought than to work out his life-problems.

There is a saying that if one wants to escape trouble he should elect to be born an oyster, and this may serve to remind us of the inescapable fact that the higher the order of human existence, the larger the range of inquiry, the more pressing the problems of thought, and the more abundant the possibilities both of pain and of pleasure. A dull sense is satisfied with a small arena of activities and demands correspondingly few explanations. It takes the majority of things for granted, and has no relish for philosophizing; and the insistence that we rise from this state of mental sleepiness is expressed by Mrs. Eddy when she says, "It is essential to understand, instead of believe, what relates most nearly to the happiness of being," since only "the understanding of Truth gives full faith in Truth" (Science and Health, p. 285). This understanding, it is manifest, can be gained only through that intuition which postulates a high degree of mental alertness, or that process of reasoning which, if inductive, involves the acquisition and classification of all the facts on which a legitimate generalization may be based; or, if deductive, that regard for true premise and logical conclusion which is the very sinew of continuous right thought.

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