Article May 20, 1950 Issue

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

CHARLES KENDRICK MILLER

A Study of the nature of acknowledgment reveals the important part it plays in our human affairs. Acknowledgment is like an open door in consciousness. When the prodigal son, who had separated from his father's household, became weary of hunger and want and decided to return home, he was duly rewarded.

Suggestions of error may come in many forms. One suggestion tells us that we are not looking well; an advertisement says that we need certain vitamins to sustain us; a newspaper columnist writes that war is inevitable; and so on. How much of this testimony do we acknowledge as true?

To acknowledge, according to the dictionary, is "to own or admit (a person or thing) to have existence. To receive as a fact; admit or accept." Is this not what we are doing most of our waking moments? Something is being presented to the consciousness of every individual, either audibly or silently through the physical senses, and until we have some reason to question the validity of this testimony, we accept it as true. The testimony of physical sense, of sight, hearing, et cetera, is rejected where it has been found to be unreliable, and in Christian Science we find a spiritual standard of perfection whereby imperfection may be challenged when it appears.

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