Adventure which has always interested the youthful thought is not beyond the reach of the average young person. The voyage of living is a glorious adventure, and the home port towards which we are bound may be called dominion. Our quest involves the discovery of our true characteristics and the confirmation of our true identity. Our care in selecting reliable charts and our skill in using them ensure the safety of our expedition and the realization of our quest. Because the revealed truth of the Bible, as explained by Christian Science, is provable here and now, it affords young people a reliable compass by which to steer their mental craft away from the conflicting thought-currents of the present day.

The innumerable thoughts which are continually being presented to one's consciousness are either rejected or translated into words and deeds. Thought based upon material, human theory is unreliable because it identifies conduct and experience with the unreal. In contrast, Christian Science reveals the realm of reality to be the realm of spiritual right thinking. Advancing from the changeless perfection and allness of God, Mind, thought arrives at the unstainable perfection of God's image, the true man or true selfhood. As the discovery is made that true selfhood is Godlike, and therefore expresses spiritual qualities and aspirations, one's conduct and experience become identified with limitless good. The realm of reality thus offers a vast opportunity for exploration little dreamed of by those who think in terms of the trivial, the commonplace, the petty, the material.

The alert helmsman consults his compass and steers his ship away from unsafe seas. Knowing that human vagaries do not equip him with a knowledge of Life, the young Scientist will also apply his knowledge of Truth to detect the counterfeit in human contacts. Guided by Christian Science, he cannot be misled into accepting sensual indulgence as broad-minded; pseudodaring as courage; familiarity as friendship; coarseness as candor; mere popularity as genuine respect, or spectacular wrongdoing as heroic. The recognition of the naturalness of good leads us to the Christ, and identifies true selfhood as the heir to Godlike qualities which we have admired and longed to make our own.

One of the common temptations which confront young people is the popular belief that spirituality is old-fashioned and impractical in a modern world. "Mid-Victorian" and "prewar" are epithets naively applied to morality. The glitter and supposed mental superiority of willful wrongdoing are removed, however, when we realize that one's poverty of thought is thereby exposed. Profanity, for instance, ceases to be expressive when we realize that it not only is an open confession of unlovely thinking, but also discloses ignorance of good taste. Snobbishness loses its attraction when it appears in its true light. Drinking and smoking may seem to have emancipated youth from erstwhile conventions, but they are really nothing but senseless yielding to material suggestion or propaganda. The social prestige of these habits vanishes when one awakens to the distinction between servility and dominion. For poise of character and social refinement, one need only identify thought with spiritual ideals. Real living is too sublime to be lost sight of in sensuous indulgences.

Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 183), "Truth never made error necessary, nor devised a law to perpetuate error." Should we be confronted by a social situation wherein superficiality, imitation, and smugness prevail; a business problem dominated by unbridled ambition, craftiness, and greed; or an intellectual outlook where competition, mental elbowing, and snobbery seem to hold sway, there is no occasion to become mesmerized by the apparent situation. No matter how extreme a problem may seem, there is always a means of escape, and we shall see it when we refuse to accept evil as a necessity. Applied Christian Science lifts thought and experience above discouragement, limitation, and misdirected effort, and thereby removes every obstacle to our progress. Thus we advance into a more harmonious experience of usefulness and freedom even into the joy of a more abundant life.

Our first aim should not be to get a living but to learn how to live. Through this Science we learn that, since evil is powerless, there is really nothing to swerve us from this aim. The true man, true spiritual selfhood, is held in his orbit of perfection and dominion by Principle. Our Leader reminds us, in Science and Health (p. 102), that "there is but one real attraction, that of Spirit. The pointing of the needle to the pole symbolizes this all-embracing power or the attraction of God, divine Mind." Our response to this changeless attraction of Soul appears in evidence of our aspiration for the refined, the good, and the true. Thus, through obedience to God's perfect law of liberty, the law of right thinking, we learn that alertness, purity, companionship, harmony, and success are not the lost chord of life; rather are they the grand symphony of life. Christian Science reveals this fact. Instead of diminishing the joy of living, it actually unfolds the art and Science of Life

We do not have to go to distant seas in search of an adventure. Daily to steer our mental craft clear of the apparent chaotic sea of evil to the calm harbor of dominion sometimes requires more skillful navigating than to guide a ship through the ice floes of the frozen North. It is a real and glorious adventure. Every individual possesses the capability and privilege of penetrating the material mist which seems to obscure the spiritually real, the habitation of one's own grand, free, perfect selfhood. Conformity to divine Principle may seem to make the demands of the venture exacting. Progress shows the material baubles, denial of which may seem to occasion disappointment, to be dreams of a false sense of self. But with the exchange of the false sense of self for the true comes the grand realization that we "more than conquerors through him that loved us." The adventure is inviting and the quest is grand.