Editorial January 10, 1925 Issue

Realization

Albert F. Gilmore

The student of Christian Science awakens to the paramount necessity of making spiritual truth real to himself. He soon learns that to believe is not enough; Truth must occupy his thought, constitute his consciousness, to the exclusion of mere belief. Therefore he strives for a degree of realization which admits of no questioning. Truth is established as fact only as a result of understanding. It is in view of this necessity that Mrs. Eddy so frequently admonishes her students of the need for rising to the plane of realization. No lesser state of conviction will suffice; and by realization, that is, by making God's presence a fact to one's self to the degree that excludes all else, one gains the Mind of Christ.

Realization that God is infinite, hence ever present good, is necessary in order to exclude belief in a presence other than the divine. In contrasting the real man and the counterfeit on page 409 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says, "This mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man and seek the true model." How important, then, becomes the mental state which constitutes realization!

The student of mathematics accepts as real the facts gathered from his study. He is convinced they are true; he is conscious of their truthfulness, and he utilizes the knowledge so gained in correctly solving problems. Likewise, a Christian Scientist accepts spiritual truth, which becomes his consciousness, and he proves its reality. This proof is established through realization, that is, through Truth becoming real to him. There is a wide difference between mere belief and realization. A prolific cause for lack of demonstration by Christian Scientists, it seems, is the failure to transform belief into the degree of understanding which constitutes realization.

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