Enlightenment

Evelyn F. Heywood

Had the purpose of existence and the pursuit of learning been consistently devoted to the enlightening of the race, it may be presumed that a further stage would have been reached, by now, in its development. But the human mind, believing in both good and evil, has regarded enlightenment sometimes as a friend, but hardly less frequently as an enemy. To enhance and defend itself, to undermine and destroy its enemies, it has resorted to the darkness of lies, of ignorance, of deceit. Yet the primary command of the creator was, "Let there be light," to which the recorder adds with brief, stupendous finality, "And there was light." Many centuries later, Christ Jesus told his followers that not only he, but they also were the light of the world. Thus did he identify all men with God's law of light. The purpose of Jesus, as it must be the purpose of his followers, was the world's enlightenment.

The Revelator understood the all-importance of light in the history of mankind; he beheld "one like unto the Son of man" in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Radiantly clear, indeed, in its completeness must have been that vision to him. He concludes with these words: "And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." Later, he consummated his picture of Spirit's creation with that of "a woman clothed with the sun." Of this vision Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 561): "The spiritual idea is clad with the radiance of spiritual Truth, and matter is put under her feet. The light portrayed is really neither solar nor lunar, but spiritual Life, which is 'the light of men.'"

This "light of men," expressing the fatherhood and motherhood of God, is fitly described "as the sun shineth in his strength." In this consciousness of sevenfold light, the darkness of fear, of disease, of hatred, of destruction has no place. The works of darkness cannot operate where there is light. Lies, however subtle, however formidable, organized in conspiracy, sown in profusion, in reiteration, operating through mass mesmerism, cannot touch him who knows that the light of the world is not and never can be identified with anything but Truth. All that represents God is light, and that light is never absent. Christ, Truth, heals sickness and uncovers sin; it gives evidence of its divine authority over every false law; it refutes every lying testimony to the power of evil; it overcomes the darkness of death and the grave. And Jesus told his listeners that they were this light. The immortal nature of spiritual light does not dim its radiance for one and pour it forth for another. The light of the candlesticks is not quenched, is not even temporarily shaded; and "one like unto the Son of man" is "in the midst" of them.

This is the demand of the hour, to know that no claim of darkness, no combination however contradictory, no reversal or distortion of reality, no forebodings of penalty or revenge, can rob the world of light, can interfere with continual enlightenment. To believe that the deliberate or mistaken withholding of enlightenment from individuals and nations is inevitable, to be aroused to either fear or anger at all temporary despotism and the sad havoc wrought by it in the lives of its victims, is to abandon that alone which can and will destroy it. Only he who maintains his oneness with that which is, will penetrate and dissipate the darkness of evil. The great spiritual fact is that man is the eternal expression of light; this is his status, his mission, his destiny. Every hour, every moment, it is demanded of us that we see light where there seems to be darkness, truth where the lie of material sense claims to deceive — that we know man as he eternally is, "as the sun shineth in his strength."

Not much of light, not a great degree of truth, did Jesus see manifest in his disciples; nevertheless, he did not hesitate to assure them that they were the light of the world. In that faint glimmer of sincerity, of obedience, of fidelity, he saw the promise of their true selfhood. So must we do for ourselves, for each other. Thus assured of enlightenment, and our oneness with it, we shall seek with ever greater strength and confidence to approximate and maintain those models revealed to us in divine Science we shall claim for ourselves and for our fellow man also that "spiritual Life, which is 'the light of men' " (ibid., p. 561). In this way will Christian Scientists fulfill the inspired prophecy of our beloved Leader, whose confidence in the great destiny of her followers may be compared to that of Christ Jesus in his disciples. On page 276 of "Miscellaneous Writings," she writes: "In Christian Science the midnight hour will always be the bridal hour, until 'no night is there.' The wise will have their lamps aglow, and light will illumine the darkness."

Evelyn F. Heywood

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