To do nothing is not a real vacation. All too often people are tempted to think that if they could be inactive for a season they would be happy. Indolence, however, is never satisfactory. Since laziness is not rest, it is bound to prove irksome. Even the seeking of some secluded spot may not result in the finding of genuine peace and freedom. Mere human solitude is, at the best, but counterfeit of that being alone with God which the real man always experiences. If mortal diversions tend to divert attention from true spiritual Life and its activity, they are not worth while. The constant change sought by worldly restlessness is a poor makeshift. As Mrs. Eddy says in Article XVII, Section 1, of the Manual, "Amusement or idleness is weariness. Truth and Love rest the weary and heavy laden."

By understanding the complete presence of the divine Mind, however, one is able to rejoice in any circumstances. Righteous joy is simply the daily knowing of how Truth operates. Isaiah tells us, "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." So, whether one be in the city or at the seashore, in the factory or among the mountains, one must first of all consider the glad wisdom that is sure. Right and orderly activity of Mind, quite apart from any belief in matter, alone can ever satisfy. The infinitely harmonious variety of the divine Life is the true vacation, simply because it demonstrates that the one Mind is full of good now even while the supposition of mortal mind, with all its seeming distresses and turmoils, is actually vacant. As the emptiness of the so-called mortal mind gives way to the entirety of divine intelligence manifest, it is proved that the true vacation is continuous. In spite of any seeming, the one infinite Mind produces and sustains true activity. This is the experience of good.

In connection with the common belief that one depends in part on personal friends for a pleasant time, it is interesting to study what Mrs. Eddy says on page 266 of Science and Health: "Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank? Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love. When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth." Compare that passage with two sentences on page 346: "Disbelief in error destroys error, and leads to the discernment of Truth. There are no vacuums." Really to vacate mortal mind with all its illusions is to be wholly occupied with the divine Mind and what it knows. This is the only true happiness, and it depends upon no merely personal sense of things. Existence in the divine consciousness is by no means a blank; instead it is alert with all real good. Even where a seeming void would present itself, there intelligence knows the thorough sufficiency of spiritual action.

Right activity, indeed, is all that can make any experience worth while. Whether this activity be called work or anything else, it must be intelligent in order to be really pleasant. The conscious realization that Principle alone is causing anything actual is genuine satisfaction. Understanding Principle, one is sure to be happy in whatever one may be doing. This is what overcomes any sense of drudgery or mere mortal routine; for Principle is infinite and manifests itself as boundless spiritual variety. The quiet assurance forever of true existence does not require any material accompaniment. In fact, it must be altogether separate from any supposition of materiality. In proportion as doing is found in Mind and not as any material sense of things, is it proved enjoyable. Divine intellingence is constantly refreshing in its vigorous manifestation. As Isaiah declares, "This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing." What Peter called "the times of refreshing" do come solely "from the presence of the Lord," from the spiritually ever present consciousness of right activity.

A satisfactory vacation, then, must always be a time of right doing. It can never be mere indulgence in materiality. Regardless of any seeming pleasantness of matter in the past, now is the time to prove that alertness in accord with Principle is the only joy. This awakeness is limited to no human concept of awakeness. It unfolds in just the right way throughout all experience for the one who is determined to enjoy living in Mind. Its right time is eternal, for no earthly season can suffice to circumscribe it. Its place is Spirit, the one source of good, instead of any material spot. Health, strength, action, all this belongs to the real man here and now and endlessly. Knowing this, one must rejoice in the constant opportunity for all the vacation there truly can be—the turning away from mortal limitations to the infinity of immortal Life. Thus Christian Science takes nothing away from any one, but replaces the human seeming with the true idea.

Gustavus S. Paine.