Editorial November 19, 1921 Issue

"The desert a resting-place"

Gustavus S. Paine

The statement that Mind is the only place that really is may seem strange to some who are not familiar with the reasoning of Christian Science; but the fact itself is being recognized by many, including those who have been considering the theory of relativity. The ordinary concept of place or space as material is giving way before the recognition that this is at the best but a concept in a supposed mind, which Christian Science shows to be only illusory counterfeit of the one provably infinite Mind, entirely untouched by any mere supposition or hypothesis. In Christian Science it has long been understood that Mind, divine Mind, is real place, and that all of the true man's living and doing goes on in this one spiritual Mind. Immortal Mind is indeed immortal Spirit, which is the only power, vital and productive because it is the creator of spiritual idea, eternally unfolding spiritual action. The unfoldment or activity of Mind and its idea does not bring into existence more of good than is and always has been, but keeps it vital and unlimited, thus demonstrating the true fruition, the teeming effect of inexhaustible Principle.

Now a man who understands this is thankful because he is glad to find genuine living in Mind instead of in supposed matter. Active resting in the consciousness of good, knowing and proving Mind's energy and affluence,—this is the gratitude that is far more than words or emotions. Abundance, as understood in Christian Science, is the realization of infinite intelligence, both at work and at rest, for the veritable work and rest are synonymous as perpetual spiritual action. Unlimited intelligence always abounds, because, being omnipresent it is never absent. One who comprehends that man expresses all intelligence, all of the divine Mind, can say with Paul "I have all, and abound," and can experience the satisfaction which invariably attends this understanding of Immanuel, or God with us, infinite Mind ever with man.

With this understanding, one is able to see that in no place or circumstances can Life be unfruitful. Even a seeming desert of human conditions must be accepted as an opportunity for manifesting the richness of Principle. Though the belief that one lacks materiality that is ordinarily considered desirable is noe necessarily evidence that one has proved the presence of the one sufficing Spirit, yet a feeling that one's experience is barren should turn thought to the vastness of infinite Mind and its idea. The desert that must bud and blossom as the rose is not a waste place but a vast possibility, an opportunity for rejoicing that the divine Mind is the sole true place and is ever fully productive in that it is causative Life, the creator of man. In quiet thanksgiving, then, each seeker for the truth must go forward, glad for every glimpse of the spiritual idea, the Christ, or ever present Immanuel, which replaces the belief in earthly surroundings and human limitations with the quietness and assurance forever of divine Love.

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