Article August 26, 1916 Issue

Correct Solutions

NINA F. WINN

NOT only the young student of Christian Science but the older as well often labors under the impression that he has failed to demonstrate the truth in some particular problem because that which he wanted to bring to pass failed to manifest itself. This tendency of the human mind to decide what is best for it is often spoken of in Christian Science as outlining, and is something we should guard against most carefully. The unwisdom of it is clearly stated by Paul when he says, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," because, as Mrs. Eddy writes, "in league with material sense, mortals take limited views of all things" (Science and Health, p. 255). Through a lapse of time we may, however, come to see and know that that which to material sense we considered a failure was a demonstration, and we then clearly recognize how we were protected by Love. Such, at least, has been the experience of the writer.

The problem of knowing when a result is a "demonstration" seems difficult only because mortal mind is so certain of the things that are good for one, whereas the truth is that it knows nothing about the things prepared for them that love God. This whole matter was made so clear by an experience in the schoolroom that I repeat it in the hope that it may bring a little light to others.

A seventh-grade class was working in percentage, and one morning when a certain problem was called for every one in the class raised his hand to indicate that he had obtained the right answer; but later on in the recitation, when the pupils were asked to explain the problem, not one of the boys and girls in the class could give the right explanation. Upon a careful study of the problem, the teacher discovered that the numbers were in such relation to each other that when worked wrongly they still gave the answer in the back of the book. The answer obtained by the class was not the correct solution to the problem, and it seemed almost impossible to get the pupils to see their error because of the apparent correctness of the answer. They had failed to apply the basic rule of mathematics, which was the only reason for the problem being given to them, and there was not seemingly the willingness to go back and seek an understanding of it, although the unwisdom of depending on the answers and constantly referring to them had been pointed out repeatedly by the teacher.

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