Editorial March 3, 1934 Issue

Why Worry?

W. Stuart Booth

Among the many troublesome and tantalizing tendencies of the carnal mind, all of which are exposed and expelled by Christian Science, is that of worrying. The antecedent of worry is the educated belief that evil is real and powerful; its essence, distrust of God; and its associates fear, selfishness, and irritability—an altogether unattractive and unwholesome assortment. And yet spiritually unenlightened men and women reach out for and entertain anxious thoughts about themselves and others until worrying sometimes becomes a habit.

That this tendency of mortal mind is not a product of modern times is indicated by these words of Christ Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount: "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" Several modern translations show that this advice of our Master was against having "anxious" thought about the body, food, and raiment. After indicating that the growth and beauty of the lilies evidence the operation of God's law, Jesus voiced this marvelous directive counsel: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Christian Science is enabling an ever increasing host of men, women, and children to seek "first the kingdom of God," that is, to strive consistently to have their thoughts governed by God, divine Mind and Love. Students of Christian Science realize that worry is both foolish and futile, whereas trust in God is ever satisfying and safe. For they are finding that "all these things"—health and happiness, peace and providence—are added unto them as they seek first the kingdom or government of God, good, in their thinking and living.

Many physicians have found and stated that worry has had much to do with the illness of certain of their patients, and they have urged these patients to cease worrying. But, because they lack the understanding of God's healing law, the physicians are unable to give to patients a thoroughly dependable rule by means of which anxious thoughts may be displaced and precluded. Experience shows that to gain true peace and confidence something more is required than the exercise of human will, the repetition of formulas, stoicism, or mere bravado, for none of these touch the root of fear and worry. Nothing other than divine power can free the human mind from the fears and discords of its own imagining.

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