It is generally recognized that position is not necessarily a material location but may refer to a mental attitude, for one frequently hears the expression "my position" as referring to one's opinions in a given situation. And so it is only a continuation of this line of thought to declare that man's position is always spiritual, and that the right concept of man's relationship to the divine Mind brings present proofs that his position is permanent, useful, and satisfying.

As one holds to one's position in truth as the reflection of Mind, regardless of what seems to be going on in the realm of matter, one sees that God's plan for His spiritual universe is wise and beneficent, for He is infinite Mind, holding each idea in right relationship to every other idea and recognizing no conflicting power. Man is the perfect and complete expression of this Mind, and his work is the expression of God's good and perfect gifts. Man is not a struggling mortal making efforts to obtain things outside his own consciousness, but he includes, as reflection, the substance of all that good for which mortals hope and strive. Mary Baker Eddy has written in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 517, 518): "Man is not made to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not subjection. He is lord of the belief in earth and heaven,—himself subordinate alone to his Maker."

The real or spiritual universe is not affected by the conditions of the mortal sense of life any more than our personal human experience is affected by the vivid motion picture. We may, for the moment, enter into the experience of the characters on the screen and laugh and weep with them, but as we look away from the screen we realize that we have been identifying thought with an illusion.

So, too, mortals are deceived by the dream picture of life in matter until they learn in Christian Science of its unreality. Even then they may at times be content to tarry in the pleasant phases of the dream as if they were real. The alert student of Christian Science regards both the pleasant and the unpleasant phases of mortal existence as illusion. And he sees in them demands and opportunities to turn from these falsities, and to align his thinking and aims more closely with the unfolding purpose of the divine Mind.

Suppose, for example, one is confronted with the threatened loss of work to which he has, with much unselfish effort, devoted the best of his abilities. Just how can such a situation be met in Christian Science? In the first place, the Christian Scientist will lift his thought promptly and unreservedly to the realm of absolute truth, praying for the unselfed desire to let God's will be done. He will realize that there has never been any disruption of the divine economy, and that the ideas which man reflects in unlimited measure are always in demand. Looking away from human objectives, he will resist the temptation either to cling to a human position or to make misguided efforts to get another one. As he gains the clear conviction that God's will is altogether good and is "done in earth, as it is in heaven," he will find that the human experience, whether it be the protection of his present work or a change to another position, is under the law of progress.

One of error's claims for retarding such demonstrations is to involve us in a round of feverish human activity. While human footsteps are a seeming necessity at this stage of progress, let us always remember that every activity is the outcome of thought, and that right thinking in accord with Principle should precede every human footstep. Mrs. Eddy has written (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 93), "The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action."

It is clear that Jesus never permitted himself to act under the pressure of the anxieties of those about him. He was a faithful and considerate son, but his first concern was always to demonstrate his relationship to his heavenly Father. On one occasion, when his anxious family found him talking with the doctors instead of returning home in the company of fellow travelers, he asked (Luke 2:49), "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

It is encouraging as well as necessary to realize that our affairs are not inextricably bound to those of other mortals. Salvation in Christian Science is individual and can be wrought out on no other basis than the knowledge of man's relationship to Mind. To demonstrate the freedom of man's true individuality does not inculcate indifference to our human responsibilities, but enables us to fulfill them more lovingly and efficiently and to help lift the pressure of false thinking for all within the radius of our thought. And how much less real and formidable do the conditions of the dream picture seem as we consistently maintain our real position as ideas of divine Mind and patiently and joyously watch for Mind's unfoldment in our human affairs!