Editorial March 7, 1953 Issue

FINDING SATISFACTION

Helen Wood Bauman

"All men shall be satisfied when they 'awake in His likeness,' and they never should be until then." Thus Mary Baker Eddy defines true satisfaction in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 358). Christian Science accepts the Scriptural record of man as made in God's likeness (Gen. 1:26, 27). The following record of creation in the second chapter of Genesis, in which man is described as a mortal, who looks to matter for origin and self-gratification and who quickly degenerates, Christian Science explains as an allegorical presentation of a false sense of existence. In this allegory "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," the fruit of which is "pleasant to the eyes" (Gen. 3:6), represents the carnal quest for satisfaction in matter, a quest which is never fulfilled because genuine satisfaction can never be found there.

Christian Science reveals true life as actually spiritual, and it exposes the deceptive nature of all mortal existence, showing it to be a state of belief rather than of understanding, or reality. Only in belief does matter seem to provide the fleeting sensations of pleasure sought by carnal appetites. The confirmed alcoholic or the chain smoker, with his insistent repetitious demand for physical sensation, represents the futility of attempting to find satisfaction where it can never be found. On the other hand, the individual who finds true stimulation in spiritual unfoldment and understanding rests in an abiding peace of mind. No will-o'-the-wisp of material deception lures him from true satisfaction in Spirit. He knows the touch of Spirit, and his contentment is continuous.

A recent medical survey in one country links thirteen thousand cases of a serious degenerative disease with excessive use of cigarettes, an association that cannot be lightly regarded by the smoker. The degenerative effect of the drug on the so-called human mind is here implied to be externalized on the body, and human mind and body are inseparable. One cannot subject his mind to degenerative effects without subjecting his body to the same influence. While Christian Science accepts divine Mind as the only cause, it does not disregard the claims of animal magnetism, or the suppositional action of mortal mind, to produce evil effects through mesmeric control. It destroys these claims on the basis that God is the only Mind, therefore the only attraction, the only source of sensation and satisfaction. On page 10 of "Christian Science versus Pantheism" Mrs. Eddy speaks of the healing of intemperance and the use of tobacco through Christian Science, and she says: "All this is accomplished by the grace of God,—the effect of God understood. A higher manhood is manifest, and never lost, in that individual who finds the highest joy,—therefore no pleasure in loathsome habits or in sin, and no necessity for disease and death."

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