Article March 20, 1926 Issue

"Clearer skies"

MARGUERITE CALDWELL SWANTEES

Every now and then there is recorded in the world's history some terrible calamity. To mortal sense floods, cyclones, and earthquakes make their appearance in various parts of the earth, and human belief declares there is little if any protection or escape from them. The earnest thinker, desiring to help his fellow-men, naturally wonders what is wrong, and yearns to do his share toward the elimination of the woes of the human race. In Christian Science he finds the answer to all his queries and the remedy for suffering humanity. In "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 265) our revered Leader says, "The atmosphere of the human mind, when cleansed of self and permeated with divine Love, will reflect this purified subjective state in clearer skies, less thunderbolts, tornadoes, and extremes of heat and cold." Here is more than a hint as to the cause of many untoward conditions and the cure thereof.

Each individual, then, has the grave responsibility so to cleanse his own consciousness of self and allow it to be "permeated with divine Love" that he will do his share toward overcoming the catastrophes of mortal existence. Christian Science teaches mankind how to do this on the basis of the allness of God, good, or Spirit, and the consequent nothingness, the unreality, of evil or matter. The reason for all the suffering in the world is the universal belief in the reality and power of evil or matter. A tornado is an example of the seeming fury of so-called mortal mind, unrestrained by spiritual understanding. Jesus, who presented to us the ideal man possessing this understanding, could say to the tempest, "Peace, be still." Jesus also said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." Is it too much to expect that as we grow in faith, or as Christian Science is more universally understood, we too shall accomplish these results? The Bible is teeming with accounts of the triumph of Spirit over matter or the spiritual sense of existence over the material. It is as we gain this true sense of being that we put off the false sense, with its accompanying sorrows.

In the Manual of The Mother Church, in Article VIII, Section 6, entitled "Alertness to Duty," we read, "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." Every member of The Mother Church, in carrying out his duty to mankind, has a wonderful mission to fulfill in the world. Each one has his work to do in the Father's vineyard, namely, to cultivate his own spirituality, to clear out the weeds of self—envy, hatred, resentment, greed; for thus he is helping to clear the atmosphere for his brother-man, and is blessing humanity in general.

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