Article October 11, 1952 Issue

RIGHT THOUGHTS

RALPH W. CESSNA

Mankind has too long believed that both good and evil are derived from or at least dependent upon matter. Thus when good seems to be absent, when lack, illness, and unhappiness appear, it is presumed that the remedy may be found in obtaining, removing, or changing matter or material conditions. The belief that material things bring satisfaction, that health depends on the organization of matter, and that a healthy human body is the source of a peaceful and joyous state of mind—this false theory is happily exposed in Christian Science. It is found that right material conditions appear to human sense as the effect or result of spiritual and right thoughts, not partially but wholly. When thought is more nearly in accord with divine Mind, the human experience is good. If the thinking is bad, the general human conditions will also be bad. The nearer the spiritual fact, as revealed to human consciousness through an understanding of God and His perfect creation, the more nearly right will be the human experience. Spiritual or right knowing is the reflection of God.

On the quotation page of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, quotes an important and significant line by William Shakespeare: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." And on page 261 of this book she writes, "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts."

The practical effect of a clearer consciousness of God's allness and goodness is the appearance of health instead of sickness, abundance instead of lack, joy instead of sorrow. The precise form or nature of this appearance is not important. In fact, to outline the exact manner in which a human desire for happiness must be satisfied is to admit matter to be the source of good, and thus to deny the very premise upon which the only real remedy is based.

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