Article November 3, 1934 Issue

Peck Open Your Shells!

O. LOUIS SAAL

To those of us who spent at least a part of our childhood on a farm, there was, perhaps, no more interesting occurrence than the hatching of baby chicks. After the announcement that the first chicks of a brood had made their appearance there was much childish expectancy and inquisitiveness concerning the remainder of the hatch, and if after some hours there still remained whole eggs in the nest, we were allowed to make gentle examination of these. How eagerly we held them to our ears and listened for the first "peep" that would indicate there was a chick within; and if we heard a persistent "peck, Peck," we knew that all was well, and felt that here was a case where we could count our chick before it was hatched. Among other things we learned that the final emergence, or liberation of the chick, depended to a great extent upon its own efforts in pecking a hole in the shell. Sometimes our mother found it advisable to help some courageous, struggling little fellow by breaking a particularly hard and resisting shell. Then came much rejoicing over the new arrival; and we used to think that the chick must be glad about its emergence too.

How like the chick within its shell is the so-called mortal man bound by his seeming material selfhood, limitations, and the lack of support from those things which he has considered substantial! How often does his narrow and confused outlook seem to hedge him about with a shell of ignorance and hopelessness! Mortal mind binds mankind with the shackles of superstition and fear induced by the belief that man and the universe are material, and that matter can be the instrumentality of Life and be endowed with intelligence and sensation. Only as mankind breaks through the encrusting shell of ignorance that darkens the chambers of thought can it gain the sense of freedom and dominion.

When Mary Baker Eddy discovered that "God is All-in-all" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 113), there was revealed to mankind the certainty of perfect spiritual life entirely outside erroneous material existence. As a result of her discovery and subsequent study and application of the rules of this new-old truth, our Leader was able to prove the power of Spirit; prove that matter is not a creative force, and that mankind can be freed from the bondage of sin, disease, and death. In Science and Health (p. 552) we are told: "Mortals must emerge from this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward and upward."

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