Article February 7, 1925 Issue

Cultivating Spiritual Abilities

JOHN ASHCROFT

The experience of a student of Christian Science is at times not unlike that of a wayfarer pursuing his journey through a valley enshrouded in the mists of early morning. The traveler knows that the hills are present on each side, though he cannot see them; and he sees the road opening before him little by little as he trudges patiently onward. He knows that the mist can offer no real hindrance to his progress, that he will ultimately emerge from it; and if, perchance, he be delayed, and night overtake him on his journey, he is certain that should he but reach some crest of the road the mist will be less opaque,—for the mists of earth ever cling closely to the ground,—and then he will be able to look up and see, though it be but faintly, the tranquil and unchanging stars.

If the wayfarer had the spiritual understanding and vision of the Way-shower he is following, his sense of existence and of progress would be divested of all material accompaniment and impediment; he would be ever conscious of eternal realities. But while he patiently and persistently seeks to acquire the consciousness of the possession of these desirable and indispensable spiritual abilities, the pilgrim may pursue happily his onward way sustained and strengthened by the confidence that he will ultimately leave behind him all that obscures his vision of the Christ.

The ability to hear and see spiritually is susceptible of unlimited cultivation and development. There will always be something more to hear, something more to see, in the infinite realm of Spirit, divine Mind. "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye," of which the wise man wrote that "the Lord hath made even both of them," are still attainable; and the attainment and use of this spiritual equipment still merits and receives the commendation bestowed by the great Teacher on its possessors in his day, when he said, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear." It was not the perfection of physical sense, however, which the Master commended; it was rather the perception and understanding of the spiritual truths he was unfolding which merited and received his benediction. It is as true to-day as in the days of the church at Corinth that the material senses neither see nor hear "the things which God hath prepared for them that love him;" but it is also as true to-day as of old that God does reveal these unseen realities "by his Spirit," to those who, through the teachings of Christian Science, are discovering how to cultivate and apply spiritual sense. What ardent student of this Science has not found himself at times catching clearer glimpses of divine ideas, hearing more of divine harmony, experiencing here and now some of the fruitage of his intelligent love of God?

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