Article August 19, 1944 Issue

The Value of Simplicity in Practice

LEONARD T. CARNEY

The notion is sometimes held, mistakenly, that whatever is profound is likewise involved and complex, while that which is simple and easy to comprehend is shallow. Quite the contrary is the case.

Simple truths are healing truths, profound enough to express divine Principle, clear enough to reach the troubled thought. Humanity is reaching out hungrily, not for spiced intellectual tidbits, but for the humble, unadorned fare which satisfies the heart, silences fear, banishes pain, heals body and mind. The wordy fare of the early priestcraft choked the partaker, while the simple, spiritual food in Jesus' parables and teaching satisfied the hungry. Christian Science again spreads a "table in the wilderness" and bids all come and freely share. All Christian Scientists have the rare opportunity at this epochal period to present Truth so directly, simply, and winningly that "he that runs may read." Thus again does the Messiah come to earth; the healing message is made available to the receptive one in language which he can understand.

A well-known writer says, "Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject—the actual enemy of the unknown." As time goes on, the mental work of Christian Scientists should approach the simplicity which characterized the thought and statements of their Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, whose mode of expression forsook the shoals of scholasticism for the warm, tender depths of divine mercy and love.

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