Article December 8, 1951 Issue

"CONCEPTION UNCONFINED"

[Of Special Interest to Young People]

E. OLIVE DAVIS

Have you ever listened to a conversation of young people which ran something like this: "What's the use of it all? Why make any effort to achieve a goal? What goal is there for us? At anytime we may be taken out of our classes, or our jobs, and sent to war. Even if we return safe and sound, it will be too late to get a good start in a career. Besides, society is completely dislocated today: corrupt politicians are running our country; dishonesty and graft are everywhere. There is no incentive to right living or right thinking." Thoughts like these are certainly a disturbing sign of the times and, if accepted and allowed to gain a foothold in consciousness, can be very disheartening.

But why should we admit them? Where do they come from? Surely not from the one Mind, which is the only creator of man and the universe. Not coming from the wholly good Mind, God, who loves and cares for His children, they must stem from that false concept of creation characterized by misty thinking. That mythological theory of creation admits both good and evil as real and believes in minds many. It carries along with it the corollary that one mortal mind may try to control another mortal mind, endeavoring to influence it to carry out the will of the more dominant, even as in the allegory Adam and Eve were persuaded to listen to the serpentine argument of disobedience. So, today, suggestions of lack of incentive, of aimlessness, of futility, represent the mist of mortal mind, which would try to separate one from the clear vision of his purpose in life and from the accomplishment of this purpose.

And what is one's purpose in life? Jesus stated it very simply as follows: "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth" (John 18:37). Is not this a purpose broad enough and satisfying enough to challenge the best efforts of any man or woman? To young people now in school or about to leave behind them those years of preparation for the world's work, the goal of bearing witness to the truth, as we have learned it in Christian Science, offers illimitable vistas for demonstration. What difference does it make where our activity places us? It may be in the armed forces, in an office, or in a home. The opportunity is always the same.

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