Article July 3, 1948 Issue

THE ECONOMY OF SPIRIT

RUTH CONKLIN GEGGIE

In the Church Manual Mary Baker Eddy admonishes the church members to conduct their affairs with wisdom, economy, and brotherly love (Art. XXIV, Sect. 5). What is this economy to which she refers? Certainly, a true economy must be spiritual, therefore practical in the highest sense. It must proceed from God, divine Principle; otherwise it would not be related to divine Science. Proceeding from God, it cannot carry with it any taint of materiality, that is, any material thinking or process. It must be unerring, universal, and always available.

Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, said (John 4:35): "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." In this statement Jesus sought to rouse his disciples from the apathy in their human concept of action. Human action is limited and postpones all realization; it believes in processes, times, and personal achievements through a personal mind, whereas the Master endeavored to show that the harvest, or realization of good, is attained only as the spiritual nature of existence is understood. He knew that there is but one cause of existence, God, and that this cause and its manifestation, man and the universe, are entirely good now.

Humanly conceived, economy refers to a thrifty management of household, state, or church affairs, or to the production and distribution of material wealth. It also refers to the saving of time, money, or other resources. Thus a certain action or a certain individual is described as economical or uneconomical. Human economy has become a world-wide problem that grows more involved each year. In its name new ideologies present themselves as solutions, coming and going like the fashions of the seasons.

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