Editorial April 14, 1934 Issue

Exalted Thoughts

Duncan Sinclair

What a difference there is between material-mindedness and thought that is spiritually exalted! No one appreciates the difference better than the Christian Scientist who, with his understanding of spiritual values, is constantly seeking to increase his own spirituality. Thought that is material dwells on the pleasures and pains of the senses, and is that of the sensualist. On the other hand, thought that is spiritually exalted eschews the deceptive pleasures of the material senses, holds these senses in check, finds its happiness in the contemplation of spiritual things, and is pure, loving, and compassionate. Material-mindedness and spiritually exalted thought are antithetical the one to the other; they are as polar opposites.

Material-mindedness can never attain to genuine happiness. Its outlook is obscure, uncertain, hopeless. And to what depths of despair it can sink its victims! Picture the misery that follows indulgence in the use of intoxicating liquor, the ruin that may ensue, the crime that may result! What remorse of conscience, too, when the one who has been befooled awakens in the midst of the wreck his own conduct may have wrought! Well for him if the remorse kindles within him the desire for a purer and more unselfish life.

Spiritual-mindedness is the precursor of happiness and is discernible by its effects. Where it dwells there is spiritual joy, peace, and contentment; helpfulness and love; tenderness and sympathy for those in distress—a constant holding out of the helping hand. And there is that also which is known only to the exalted thought itself, an intense assurance of the goodness of God and an unshakable faith in His protecting love. Material-mindedness is blind to the bliss of real being; spiritual-mindedness is keenly cognizant of God and His universe, and rejoices in its understanding.

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