Article September 16, 1916 Issue

Error's Tenacity Broken

CECIL E. BENJAMIN

In the course of conversation one day between two students of Christian Science, the younger student, who was being helped by the other, said, "I do wish this error would leave me and let me go." The older replied by pointing out the necessity for the total reversal of the belief thus expressed, before thought could be brought into line with Truth and healing experienced. It was pointed out that if inharmony of any kind was manifest, the fact of the matter was that the one manifesting it was holding on to error, not that error was holding a person. "I do not want the error; I have let it go, but still it hangs on to me," was the retort.

The older student then pointed out that it was absolutely impossible for error to be manifest if it had actually been let go, and that it was by no means an uncommon thing for people to deceive themselves into the belief that they had relinquished some phase of error, not realizing that in some subtle way they were still attaching power to it in their thought and so in some degree regarding it as real instead of dismissing it as a powerless illusion. It was also shown that it was often this almost unconscious tendency of mortal mind which stood in the way of complete healing. "Oh, that reminds me of how we used to catch monkeys with a pumpkin," said the younger student, and both being South Africans the appropriateness of the analogy was immediately seen and admitted.

Now it often happens that a monkey is allured by finding a luscious looking pumpkin unguarded in a field. Being very partial to pumpkin seeds, he decides to investigate and finds a hole in the pumpkin sufficiently large to admit his open hand. He inserts it and grasps the enticing pips, thinking what enjoyment they will give him. He tries to raise his hand to his mouth in order to realize the consummation of his expected pleasure, but finds he cannot do so, and oh, how terrifying! here comes his deadly enemy in the form of a man with a gun. The situation is decidedly unpleasant, and he considers that it is high time to make his escape. But what dreadful thing is this? The pumpkin with wonderfully subtle intelligence and strength has fastened itself to him, or so it seems to him, and struggle as he will he cannot free himself. Poor monkey, the truth is that nothing holds him. If he only opened his hand and let go the seeds, his hand could easily be withdrawn and he would then be free; but as the hole in the pumpkin is too small to allow the extraction of his fist, particularly while it clasps the seeds, it is ignorance of this fact which is the total and only cause of his seeming imprisonment.

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