Editorial November 14, 1953 Issue

RESTFUL ACTIVITY

Helen Wood Bauman

One gives up any conclusion that a state of rest implies inertia when he learns that some of the meanings of the word rest are "refresh" and "renew." All three words imply action, and their meaning is a boon to busy people, who need to find that true rest comes from purposeful spiritual activity, rather than from static repose.

Because God is the divine Principle of action, as Christian Science reveals, all real activity begins with Him; and only in reflecting, or participating, in this activity is true rest to be found. Mary Baker Eddy explains spiritual rest in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she says (p. 519): "God rests in action. Imparting has not impoverished, can never impoverish, the divine Mind. No exhaustion follows the action of this Mind, according to the apprehension of divine Science." And then our Leader shows the practical application of these absolute truths by continuing with these words: "The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work."

An active creator could not produce an inert creation. The silent, ceaseless spinning of worlds illustrates the exhaustless energy derived from divine Mind. God's image, the real man, acts ceaselessly in obedience to Mind's mandate of eternal rest. To identify oneself as the spiritual idea of Mind, rather than the fleshly mortal that one seems to be, with its fluctuating strength and its demand for periods of inaction, is to enlarge one's capacity for constructive work. Not that this eliminates the human need for normal sleep. In our present stage of thought normal sleep is often the effect of scientific demonstration, for God does not demand of us more than we are ready to prove. It is the abnormal demand for repose that is to be avoided, the idleness which shows that the animal elements in human consciousness are pervading and even dominating thought.

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