Article June 23, 1917 Issue

The Circle

JESSIE B. RICHMOND

In God's great school which we call the universe, or nature, there are countless objects forever teaching those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, the wondrous lore of wisdom, Truth and Love. To the Wisemen, our Leader tells us on page 121 of Science and Health, "earth and heaven were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart." Again, on page 326 we read, "All nature teaches God's love to man."

Preeminent among these natural objects, which in Christian Science are seen as ideas in divine Mind, are the flowers. Their beauty of color, their form and fragrance, are a constant joy to us. Noting their refinement, their variety, their grace, delicacy, and beauty, we do not wonder that Jesus pointed his hearers to the lilies of the field, bidding them consider how they grew, and that our Leader is said to have answered a question about dress with the counsel to dress as gayly as the flowers and be as modest. The structure of the flowers, while of extraordinary variation, tends ever to the circular in shape. Most flowers are round, with a clearly defined center. Think, for example, of the wild or the cultivated rose, the dahlia, clematis, primrose, lily, daisy. In each the beauty of form consists largely of a perfect circle, indicated in many cases rather than plainly presented.

A circle, the dictionary tells us, is a plane figure comprehended by a single curved line called its circumference, every part of which is equally distant from a point within it called the center. A circle further means a ring, a round body, an orb or sphere. "He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth" was the prophet's way of making clear to the Israelitish seekers for Truth the magnitude and all embracing nature of Elohim, the great "I am." Readers of Mrs. Eddy's writings will be familiar with her use of the circle or sphere as a type of real being, symbolizing infinity without beginning or end, while the straight line with beginning and end is the type of finity. The circle illustrates the nature of self-existent good; the straight line, that of a temporary and limited material sense. The circle means immortality, the straight line mortality.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

The Circle

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access