Who has not asked himself at some time: What am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of all my planning, and what is gained by all my strivings? These questions come whether our lot has fallen in pleasant paths which include everything humanly desirable, or in paths that seem to hold only a limited amount of the good things of this world. These questions come because of the reaching out of the human to the divine, the unsatisfied human longing for something beyond the power of material things or accomplishments to happify.

Christ Jesus knew with certainty the answer to these questions. He knew himself to be the Son of God, the off-spring of Spirit, Mind. He recognized his mission to be in fulfillment of Isaiah's words, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound."

At one time, after healing divers diseases and casting out devils from those who sought his help, he said, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent." And later on, when Pilate asked him, "Art thou a king then?" Jesus replied, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."

Many noble characters, both before and after the advent of Jesus, glimpsed the answer to these questions relating to human experience. On page 200 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes, "Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind." Moses was able to do this when he had been shown what his mission was to be, and had been prepared by God to fulfill it. We are told that after he had fled from Egypt and found refuge with the priest of Midian, "Moses was content to dwell with the man," and he kept the flock in the desert and on the mountain of Horeb. He too must have questioned within himself at times during those lonely hours, Why am I here and what am I accomplishing? And a desire for greater usefulness must have been born in him. Then, having done well what had come to him to do, and having answered, "Here am I," when God called to him from the burning bush, he was appointed to lead the children of Israel out of captivity.

When the two great signs which proved the mental nature of all human experience and the power of Mind to improve and correct them were given to him, Moses was prepared for his great work of advancing a whole nation to "the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter," and of illustrating "the grand human capacities of being." Thus is each one spiritually called and equipped to do the work which it is his to do.

Joseph might have asked, "Why?" when through no fault on his part he was cast by his brothers into the pit, sold into Egypt, and there, as a result of his adherence to good, cast into prison. But because of Joseph's loyalty to his highest sense of right, his master "saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand." Finally, when he was able to help his brother, he said: "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.... So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God."

In our own day Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, could say after a lifetime of consecration to good and years of research into the spiritual facts of being (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 165), "Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing."

It is helpful to consider what is this truth which we are able to impart with such good results. Briefly, it is what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, which includes what is known as the Lord's Prayer. It is what he meant when he spoke of love for God and neighbor as the two great commandments, and what he meant in his frequent references to "my Father, and your Father" and to "my God, and your God."

It is what was given to Moses in the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." It is what is expressed in his words in Deuteronomy, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." It is what Mrs. Eddy stated in the Christian Science textbook (p. 468), "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." This oneness and allness means just that—one and all. Not all and a part of something else, but all. Is not the imparting and demonstration of this truth employment enough to satisfy all craving for the accomplishment of things worth while?

What can we learn from the contemplation of the lives of those mentioned above, and of other pioneers, that will help us to answer the questions of human experience and to solve its problems? Undoubtedly, they had questionings and longings such as we have. One perceives that their happiness and success were the result of work—work for God and for others, an unfaltering desire that He might be glorified and those who trust in Him blessed.

Sooner or later we too must see what is our purpose in life, and gain contentment in seeking the things of Spirit. This will not rob us of any legitimate satisfaction and success, but will quiet the dissatisfaction that results from undirected, selfish efforts. As we keep the need of true witnessing always before us, desires will become unselfed, motives purified, and ambition spiritualized. We can then meet every temptation to believe that life is unsatisfying and purposeless with the joyful, confident declaration that so long as there is an error undestroyed, a disease unhealed, a human problem unsolved, there is a necessary work for us, a need for our consecration, and a place in which we can be truly useful. That place may be in the quiet of the home, where daily prayer for the universe and humanity mingles with faithful performance of duties for family and neighbor; it may be in various church activities, in field, office, or in the professions. But of one thing we can be sure. If our motive and desire are to glorify God and to bless humanity, our work will be God-directed, satisfying, and fruitful.

The results? A joy and peace that material ambitions and aims can neither give nor take away; a joy that alone satisfies, when material occupations and possessions cease to satisfy; a joy and a peace that are the fruits of the overcoming of sin and disease and of the truth proved victorious over error; a joy based on the satisfaction of real activity, opportunity, and accomplishment of which we can never be deprived, for spiritual activity is our "rock of salvation" and our "reason for existing."