Article February 17, 1945 Issue

Dispelling the Mist

ARNOLD H. EXO

In the first chapter of Genesis and the first five verses of the second chapter, creation is shown to be the ever-unfolding of spiritual ideas. It is the natural result of God's mandate, "Let there be light;" in other words, Let the result of enlightened understanding be revealed. The first Biblical account of error or evil exposes its basic nature, mistiness or mystification, for we read (Gen. 2:6), "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." This statement signals the beginning of the second and false account of creation, wherein evil appears and attempts to make good the false claim that it is as real, and hence as God-given and God-known, as good. As long as this lie succeeds in maintaining its false identity, and in claiming to be as real as Truth, Life, and Love, it will bring forth its fruits of sin, disease, and death.

The second narrative is a record of falsehood. The false claim of evil, almost immediately after presenting itself, further entrenches itself by asserting that evil is coequal in every respect with good, being a part of the same tree of knowledge. Spiritual understanding alone can denounce this lie. Spiritual light alone can dispel darkness, purity denounce sin, health take the place of sickness, supply nullify lack, right action master overaction, inaction, or reaction, and peace heal wars.

In her illuminating discussion of the Biblical account of error, Mary Baker Eddy states in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 523): "Although presenting the exact opposite of Truth, the lie claims to be truth. The creations of matter arise from a mist or false claim, or from mystification, and not from the firmament, or understanding, which God erects between the true and false."

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