Editorial June 5, 1920 ISSUE

Going Forward

Gustavus S. Paine

What is real progress? In the very midst of a process of turning and overturning, it may seem hard to estimate the good that is unfolding. At many a point in the war, for instance, only those who truly understood the irresistible power of Principle were sure of what was rightly going on. And now, when the treaty of peace has been ratified by only a part of the nations and has not, of course, automatically solved all the difficulties of the world, it is even more necessary to consider with the utmost consecration what activity in accord with Principle is. Any seeming doubt as to this is, after all, merely a seeming. There is the truth here and now to depend on with perfect certainty. In the presence of this truth understood and demonstrated, any illusion of limitation or complexity is really nothing whatever. Indeed, nothingness never has succeeded in constituting itself something to be dealt with.

In order to see clearly one's progress in relying on Principle, one must first of all know the essence and nature of Principle as the source of all intelligent action. On page 2 of the Message for 1901 Mrs. Eddy says, "Absolute certainty in the practice of divine metaphysics constitutes its utility, since it has a divine and demonstrable Principle and rule—if some fall short of Truth, others will attain it, and these are they who will adhere to it." when one reasons surely and joyously that the divine Mind is the only possible source for genuine living, one has to that extent turned forever away from any belief that matter could be actual. Once a man catches even a glimpse of the all-inclusive reality of the divine Mind and idea, there is no going backward. That insight, being eternal, must endure through no matter what seeming trials. It is always available for practical use.

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