Safety in Right Thinking

GRACE BANKS SAMMONS

A current magazine article, intended no doubt as an earnest protest against careless automobile driving, advances the belief that driving is always to be regarded as dangerous.

The Christian Scientist knows that this is not true. He knows that such a useful thing as an automobile can be used and enjoyed under divine protection, the protection of the divine Mind, through right thinking. He also knows that the only element of seeming danger is to be found in wrong thinking, evidenced in such phases of belief as aggressiveness, lawlessness, ignorance, fear, selfishness, haste, and so forth. The suppositional realm of false belief is the only place where accidents can seem to occur, for Mrs. Eddy states on page 424 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" that "accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind."

Therefore the Christian Scientist may claim an everincreasing degree of safety and peace under all circumstances as he becomes willing to express divine qualities of thought, such as discernment, alertness, intelligence, wisdom, and love. Intuition and judgment are always available to him through divine reflection. These qualities help to displace error and confusion in the experience of others as well as in his own experience. Right thinking expresses the divine Mind, in which there is no accident.

To believe that one's own right thought or action is not a sure protection from wrong thought or action on the part of others is to believe something which is not in accord with the facts. Christian Science and Christian healing are based on the allness and omnipotence of God, good. Therefore, the insidious suggestion that material circumstances can change or conceal this allness and omnipresence of good is to be seen and handled as an argument of the carnal mind, or unbelief. Its threats of impending disaster are blotted out through the realization that Love alone is omnipresence and omniaction, above any possible combination of material circumstances and conditions. Spiritual understanding is a state of divine reality, and is always cognizant of the law of harmony. Consequently, one who possesses it is self-governed and self-preserved, even under apparent circumstances of disaster or accident.

This was illustrated in the experience of a Christian Scientist who was riding in a public taxicab in a crowded section of a large city. It was during one of the rush hours of the day, and the streets were slippery because of rain. An instant before the driver noticed it, it became apparent that a collision with an approaching street car was imminent. But all fear gave way before a quiet, clear realization of the omnipresence of divine consciousness as the indestructible substance of all being. No word was spoken. The collision occurred, but without discordant result. No one was hurt, and the automobile was not scratched. Every so-called element of danger seemed present, but was proved to be unreal.

At the present time there appears to be more reckless driving than ever before on the highways. The mesmeric mental argument that safety can no longer be demonstrated may frequently present itself. But God is infinite divine Principle, and that which is infinite is, and always will be, the one real thing—the only thing—there is. By knowing this one can prove that he is not subject to some illusion such as lawlessness or intoxication.

The individual who understands this truth, and loves it, is consciously at one with divine law. Not only does he find himself protected, but his understanding is a definite help in correcting the mesmerism of lawlessness on the part of others. Eventually this understanding will have its part in the producing of better provisions in every direction, including all that seems humanly necessary for safer conditions of transportation. Meanwhile, students of Christian Science are proving through right thinking that "whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe."

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Seeking Higher Ground

December 14, 1935

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