Article February 18, 1950 Issue

NO LEAST ERROR IN BEING

JAY HOLMES

A Bookkeeper knows that if his books do not balance he must carefully go back over his work and find the error, and correct both it and all the subsequent computations. The size of the error has no bearing on the necessity for making the correction, for the account is out of balance if there is a discrepancy of even a penny. If he should find the error and erase it, but fail to put the correct figure in its place, or if he replaced one erroneous figure with another erroneous figure, he would not balance his books.

This line of reasoning was very helpful to a student of Christian Science who had struggled for years with a recurring illness which did not seem to yield to Christian Science treatment. Finally the realization came that she needed to be willing to retrace her steps and detect even the most insignificant erroneous thought and replace it with the spiritual fact; then to consciously maintain this truth until there was no temptation to revert to a habitually incorrect way of thinking. With this illumination came the willingness to go over her work again and again, replacing dishonesty with honesty, coldness with love, limitation with expansiveness, tight-fistedness with open-handedness, until gradually the self-imposed obstruction lifted and she found herself restored; and there has been no recurrence of this illness in her experience.

One citation in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy was particularly helpful during this period of growth. It is found on page 495: "When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

"O DREAMER, LEAVE THY DREAMS ..."