Article July 21, 1917 ISSUE

Experience

NINA SEYMOUR KEAY

The knowledge that all is Mind, and that matter is but a false picture in the so-called human mind, brings the question of experience into a very different light. Experience as we were accustomed to regard it meant a succession of emotions, actions, and events, governed, if at all, by some force or influence outside of our personal control or knowledge. In the light of Christian Science experience is a question of human consciousness solely, and since our consciousness means our thinking, it is governed largely by our own voluntary choice. Therefore, instead of regarding our experiences as influencing our thinking, we learn that primarily our thinking influences our experience in every detail.

It may be objected that we get in our experience events which we have not consciously shaped in thought, but this is explained by the fact that a considerable part of our thinking is mechanical and follows automatically and undetected the lines of habit or memory, or succumbs equally undetected to mental pictures of evil suggested by the experiences, words, or thoughts of others. We walk, eat, and do many such things which we know to be directly controlled by thought, and yet at the time we are not conscious of any specific thinking in connection with these acts. In the same way we accept and act upon countless habits of thought which produce woeful results, often to our great surprise. Christ Jesus gave a much needed warning when he said, "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."

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