Article May 22, 1920 Issue

The Danger of Deviation

CAMPBELL MAC CULLOCH

Not long since, the writer observed a passage in our textbook that seemed strangely unfamiliar, and some time was spent in contemplation of it. At first the argument appeared that the passage in question had merely been mentally set aside; that it was known perfectly well, but that the need for its use of late had not been apparent. A little honest analysis showed very quickly that this argument would not hold water, for the passage was of the utmost importance. The plain fact was that it had quietly dropped out of sight, submerging almost imperceptibly in the waters of material thinking, and so had become no longer a part of the daily work. Now quite obviously this was no mere accident, but on the contrary pointed most definitely and directly to a deliberate effort at obscuration. It was quite plainly the operation of "another law," or false belief of law of which Paul speaks in the seventh chapter of Romans, when he refers to his discovery of the contrary force that is operating in him against the law of his mind. It was also plain that something of this very sort must have been in Jesus' mind when he cautioned his followers that they should watch that they entered not into temptation.

Jesus' recognition of the human tendency to stray from the straight and narrow mental path was evidently due to his clear understanding that error stands for nullification at all times; that it is the contrary statement to the spiritual declaration of self-existence; that the operation of mortal mind is always destructive and never constructive; that it aims always at divergence and never convergence; in fact, that it is, in a single phrase, essentially an effort at the prevention of true accomplishment. A study of Jesus' teachings makes it clear that their burden was that described by Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" on page 186: "Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth. It is nothing, because it is the absence of something."

It became plain, then, that the attempt of mortal thinking was to blur the spiritual lines, and hence gradually to eliminate accuracy in every direction; and then came to mind an occurrence of some years previous, when a famous engineer engaged in constructing tunnels beneath the Hudson River at New York invited the writer to witness the operation known as "holing through" the first of these tunnels. It perhaps is necessary to explain that the work was being carried forward from opposite shores of the river at the same time, the object being to have the two borings meet accurately in the center, some hundred feet or so below the surface of the stream. A five-foot partition of the rock had been left separating the two borings as they had approached each other, and this was to be blown out by a charge of dynamite, giving continuous passage from one side to the other for the first time. The two borings must meet accurately, the engineer explained. The deviation of even a fraction of an inch at the beginning of the work would, if allowed to persist, throw the whole construction out of true, and, gradually increasing the angle of error, make it possible for the two borings to pass each other by instead of meeting, thus rendering the whole work futile.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

The Danger of Deviation

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access