Editorial March 13, 1937 Issue

Commanding the Situation

Duncan Sinclair

"You command the situation," writes Mrs. Eddy, "if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 403). An arresting sentence, that; one which causes us to pause and think! What is the situation to which she refers? The word "situation," as it is here employed, pertains to every untoward condition which may present itself to human consciousness—sickness, sin, accident, lack, human will power, or any other form of inharmony.

Do Mrs. Eddy's words quoted above then mean that every inharmonious condition is capable of correction by the understanding that it is "not the truth of being," or, in other words, that it is unreal? They do. If we believe that inharmony is real; if we believe that a material or mortal sense of existence is real, we are deceived—we are believing that to be true which is false, utterly opposed to reality or Truth. But if we understand inharmony or a material or mortal sense of existence to be false, we can reject the suggestion, and thus command the situation.

But someone who does not understand the teaching of Christian Science may say: That is unbelievable. Do not I sometimes experience sickness? Do not I often see evil active in human lives? Am I not aware of the fact that accidents sometimes befall people? Are there not many who suffer from poverty or lack? Are not sorrow and unhappiness the lot of many? To all of which Christian Science replies: Sickness, sin, accident, poverty, sorrow may seem actual, real, or true to material sense, but they do not belong to real being, they are not of God; therefore they are unreal.

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Now, not Later
March 13, 1937
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