Editorial January 3, 1942 Issue

Progress

George Shaw Cook

The advancement of mankind toward better conditions has often been delayed by unwillingness to adopt that which would mean progress along right lines. The tendency of the human mind to resist improvement is illustrated by the fact that about one hundred years ago a public school board in the state of Ohio declined the use of a school building for a meeting called to discuss the building of a railroad across the state, on the ground that it was absurd to consider the possibility of a train moving at the rate of fifteen miles per hour! Today trains are traversing the state at a rate of speed four or five times that regarded by the school trustees in question as absurd.

At one time it was believed that a heavier than air machine could not remain aloft for a sufficient time to make navigation of the air practical. Now, airplanes remain at high altitudes for long periods and proceed at rates of speed which previously would have been considered incredible. This has been made possible because human ingenuity and invention have broken down resistance to progress. On page 195 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy says, "Observation, invention, study, and original thought are expansive and should promote the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal."

It is possible that the proposal to publish the Christian Science Sentinel in the form in which it appears in this issue may meet resistance in the thought of some who have felt the old form was good enough, and should be retained. It is gratifying, however, to note that many Christian Scientists in the Field have expressed themselves as being pleased with the contemplated change. They feel that the change is in the line of progress, and so it would appear to be.

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