Article February 7, 1920 Issue

Humanity stumbles along, grumbling at the weather,...

The Christian Science Monitor

Humanity stumbles along, grumbling at the weather, studying the sky and the barometer for some prospect of improvement, never dreaming that there is any connection between the condition of the atmosphere and the condition of human thought, that the purification of the human thought, or what Paul calls "the carnal mind," would result in a clearer atmosphere, with a lessening of the extremes of heat and cold. But Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, saw this great truth and dared to express it, when she wrote in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 374): "Above the fogs of sense and storms of passion, Christian Science and its art will rise triumphant; ignorance, envy, and hatred—earth's harmless thunder—pluck not their heavenborn wings. Angels, with overtures, hold charge over both, and announce their Principle and idea." And in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 106) she says: "Human mentality, expressed in disease, sin, and death, in tempest and in flood, the divine Mind calms and limits with a word."

Many students of Christian Science have had the experience of the weather seeming to reflect their own state of thought; or have found that a true prayer, the realization of the presence and power of God, has changed adverse conditions, dispelling a fog, or stilling a storm. So, if all men realized that the heaviness and darkness of which they complain are but results of their own confused and dismal thoughts, they would learn to control these thoughts with spiritual understanding, to lift them to God, divine Principle, and would find themselves living in a clearer, cleaner world. In the chapter on Genesis in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy shows how sin and sorrow appear in the second account of creation after "there went up a mist from the earth." It was after this that Adam was made from the dust of the ground, from the same earth that produced the mist; later he falls into a deep sleep and dreams of the creation of a woman, of their temptation, sin, and consequent suffering; but there is no account of his ever waking from the dream. Yet throughout the Bible rings the call to "Awake"! "Shake thyself from the dust"! and even death itself, "the last enemy that shall be destroyed," is often spoken of as a sleep.

There is nothing about dust or mist or sleep in the spiritual account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis. Instead there is an increasing sense of light, life, and activity. Man is made in the image and likeness of God, Spirit, and given dominion over all the earth. Jesus expressed this dominion by walking on the water and stilling the storm, and yet mortals have so little understood man's divine right, that they have thought they were at the mercy of the elements, of every change of weather, and so have lived in constant fear. Before they can control outward effects, however, they must gain some inward control over "the fogs of sense and storms of passion;" they must rise above the appeals of the senses and their confusing and contradictory evidence, into a clearer perception of spiritual demands, and learn to quell the storms of anger and passion in their own hearts. As they do this they will attain a freedom and calm that will be noticeable by those with whom they come in contact, that will affect difficult and trying circumstances and conditions, and this sense of harmony will surely grow and increase till the whole earth feels the power and dominion of good.

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