Article September 28, 1918 Issue

Exactness

ETTA KINKEAD

A helpful lesson came to a student of Christian Science while teaching a little child to read. The tendency seemed to be to read words into the sentence which were not there, and the teacher was endeavoring to develop accuracy, stating each time to the child that unless one read the exact words he was not really reading. At this particular time the child was trying to read a sentence with which she was thoroughly familiar, and yet extra words crept in, when suddenly she was told that real Mind always sees every idea perfect—and the victory was won. The student pondered on this incident and saw that the sentence printed in the book conveyed perfectly the thought of the author; that it made not the slightest difference to the author or the idea conveyed how the child was reading it,—the original idea was not changed by any incorrect reading; it always remained just as it was thought and printed. It was also clear that as the child really knew the words, there was nothing to keep her from reading the sentence correctly; that the instant she grasped the perfect idea conveyed, she would read the entire sentence perfectly. This metaphysical line of reasoning was then taken into the realm of creation. It was seen that each idea or thought of God is perfect, that the divine Mind always knows each one of His ideas exactly as He conceives it. Each idea or thought of God is sent forth for a particular purpose, and God knows the exact relation of all His ideas and the work each is commissioned to do. The student saw that man is "the conscious identity of being" (Science and Health, p. 475).

It became clear that just as the incorrect reading of the child did not change the sentence or the thought it conveyed, so mortal mind's wrong thinking and believing could not change nor touch God's ideas. Just as the words had their proper relationship in the sentence and each its part in conveying the complete and perfect thought, so man has his exact, established relationship in Mind and his individual work—the reflection of the pure and perfect ideas of God. Just as each word in the sentence continually expressed its author's intent, and no misreading by the child could change it, so man as God's idea is eternally His reflection, regardless of the false beliefs of mortal mind.

The student of Christian Science knows that every statement in Science and Health is true because based upon Principle, and because each one has been proved either in his own experience or in the experience of others. He knows that through the study of Mrs. Eddy's works in connection with the Bible he is instructed in spiritual laws. When error claims an imperfection to be true, he knows that by realizing and declaring the truth thus learned, and denying the reality of the error, the latter is seen as an illusion, and when thus seen it loses even its seeming power; thus any problem confronting a Christian Science student is solved by the persistent and patient work of realizing and declaring the spiritual fact or truth, which always reverses the material seeming.

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