Article August 23, 1941 Issue

Finding Spiritual Peace in the Midst of War

GERALDINE TEMPERLEY

In these troubled days when, in many countries, the virus of war seems to have penetrated every fiber of daily existence and altered the course of millions of lives, are we Christian Scientists actually conscious of the fact that war is not real? Even if we know the truth about the unreality of war, there seem to be such familiar phrases as, "After all, there is a war on," or, "What can one expect in wartime?" which creep into our conversations. These denote the unconscious acceptance of a mesmeric world belief.

Actually there is no war on, in the realm of Spirit, the only true realm, where our life and being are "hid with Christ in God." And if our true life is lived with Christ in the spiritual realm, then our expectations of good, as students of Christian Science, should not be straitened or diminished by a belief which remains and operates only in the material world. For this reason, we must learn that such a belief can never affect the actual or the real.

But how, one may ask, can we see the unreality of war when its results and repercussions seem to affect every detail of our existence; when its relentless methods are altering the very face of the globe; when we are daily faced by its evidences of death and destruction; when we are pursued by news of its activity, day and night, by word of mouth, radio, newspapers, cinemas, and so forth?

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