Article November 9, 1946 Issue

Scientific Affirmation

IRMA H. STEWART

Affirming the divine facts of being, its continuity, joy, and abundance, and then allowing such facts to amplify themselves and thereby refute every suggestion unlike themselves, is a scientific procedure never failing the one willing to follow it. It is this spiritual awareness to which these words of Christ Jesus might be applied (John 5:17): "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

The first step in such right mental activity is to make certain that we are affirming only the spiritual, the scientific, and therefore the wholly impersonal fact regarding any situation, and not some longed-for human concept, however alluringly wishful thinking may have clothed it in the garments of desirability. This discrimination is of the utmost importance, because the power of an affirmation lies in its scientific accuracy and unadulterated purity.

To illustrate: we not infrequently hear Christian Scientists make such statements as, "I knew God would not let me make the wrong decision." While such an assertion has the effect of introducing a certain confidence or hopefulness, and implies reliance upon faith in a governing power, it may not reflect that divine "trustworthiness" which Mary Baker Eddy tells us, in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 15), "is the foundation of enlightened faith." Why? Because truly scientific affirmations—statements which by virtue of their oneness with spiritual reality are metaphysically accurate—do not include admissions of the possibility of error, nor do they advance a concept of man as liable to mistakes.

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