SOME years ago the writer was standing in an orange grove on the east coast of Florida, enjoying the fragrance and beauty of the blossoming trees. Presently a curious humped-up object, which seemed to be going through various contortions, attracted attention, as it clung to one of the orange leaves. As she drew nearer to notice more carefully what was taking place, an interesting transformation and development was observed. Securely fastened to the leaf, with very minute but firmly clinging claws, was the dull brown shell of a beetle, nearly emptied now of a brilliant green creature which was slowly, and with cautious effort, struggling out of the enveloping dinginess through a tiny slit in the top. When it was finally free and stood on the leaf stretching itself, a little in advance of its former abode, a frail thread alone kept the two together; and while this held, there seemed to be a vestige of movement in the brown shell also, but as this thread suddenly snapped, action was manifested only in the newborn creature and the former covering remained but a dry and discarded husk. This old shell, still clinging to the orange leaf, was kept among a collection of curios for several years, until it finally crumbled to dust.

The incident faded from thought until recently when, in studying "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, the writer found on page 552 a certain sentence which brought back the picture. Referring to the emergence of mortals from the "notion of material life as all-in-all," Mrs. Eddy writes, "They must peck open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward and upward." Instantly thought reverted to the transformation of the beetle and its symbolic indication of development and progress. The growth of the new insect was taking place within the old; and when it had grown sufficiently to be ready for a larger expression, it naturally and imperatively came forth, because the enveloping shell could no longer hold it.

In those days nothing was known to the writer of Christian Science, and very little of the Bible teachings. Only an innate desire existed to know the seemingly unknowable, to understand actual cause and effect, and to solve the mysteries of human experience. This cry for freedom from restrictive material beliefs, a freedom which can be gained only through a realization of God's ever-presence throughout His perfect spiritual universe, is inborn in the so-called children of men. The human heart fundamentally longs for God; and frequently, when surrounded by conditions which would seek to limit and hinder one's eager advancement toward the truth of being and its fuller expression, there comes a sense of wanting to burst forth into a fuller, freer atmosphere, where Spirit may be seen as master and body as servant.

In the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians, Paul has much to say on the subject of discarding outworn shells. The whole chapter is inspirationally clear, and shows how absolutely essential to growth is the abandonment of the old. An unconditional surrender of false concepts must take place. The crux of all this is found in the thirty-sixth verse: "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." In the simple planting of a seed, the seed must give itself up before there can be growth and development. The seed is wholly lost sight of in order that fruition may result. Faith that perfection can be produced is the unconscious urge toward fulfillment. Thus, however obscure and dulled it may sometimes seem, the longing to break through human limitations and gain the ideal exists in everyone. The desire to attain is the foundation of attainment, and on page 326 of Science and Health is the assurance that "nothing but wrong intention can hinder your advancement."

Then, in order to build a better structure through which one may express the highest good one knows, there should be a firm recognition of the power of God, which is constantly at work throughout His creation, accomplishing His high purpose and recognizing no obstacles. There must be absolute obedience to His unchanging law, the law of ever active, universal good; a complete surrender of the mortal sense of self, an acknowledgment of the one Mind as the source of all true thought and manifestation; an unfailing evidence of courteous, loving compassion as the expression of the one eternal Love, which makes no comparisons but sees only the man of Love's creating, the image and likeness of God. In this metamorphosis it is undeniable that one is not "unclothed, but clothed upon," that the actual Godlikeness may be revealed. To see this likeness everywhere in place of the seeming shadows is the vision of the Christ, which faithfully beholds that which God Himself sees—all things good. The old husk, with its hates and spites, sins and diseases, fears and sufferings, is gradually forsaken and forgotten; and when, through consecrated effort to discard it entirely in order to be quickened, the last weakening thread that would hold one bound to any sense of good in matter, or belief in evil, is finally and permanently broken, the earlier manifestation crumbles into dust. Then comes the revelation of that which has been there all the time, steadfastly awaiting recognition, for Truth alone is permanent and never yields. It has never been aware of the existence of anything unlike itself, but only of perfect God expressed through perfect man and perfect universe. Thus do we enter into the kingdom of God, "In earth, as it is in heaven."

In Science and Health (p. 261) Mrs. Eddy points out the way of escape from all that would defraud mankind of its birthright: "Detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning of God, or good, and the nature of the immutable and immortal." And she adds, "Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight."