Editorial June 20, 1953 Issue

CONTENTMENT IN TRUTH

Helen Wood Bauman

Paul knew the joy of spiritual contentment. He wrote to Timothy, "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (I Tim. 6:6); and to the Philippians he said, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" (Phil. 4:11). Paul's vigorous missionary life was proof that his contentment was not with material conditions or with spiritual ignorance, but with the truths that were revealed to him through the Christ.

The Christian Scientist understands how to be contented wherever he is, and he bases his contentment on the knowledge that God is good, is All; that man is God's idea, inseparable from Him; and that the mortal sense of life is unreal. The Christian Scientist is not contented with evil in any form, or with limitation, and he works diligently to prove the unreality of all that would oppose the allness of Spirit. But through his consciousness of divine reality he maintains a deep and abiding sense of satisfaction, even in the midst of seeming struggles. On page 3 of "Pulpit and Press" Mary Baker Eddy writes. "'Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures,'" and she goes on to explain, "We drink of this river when all human desires are quenched, satisfied with what is pleasing to the divine Mind."

One's success in the demonstration of Christian Science lies in one's ability to attain peace of mind through contentment with spiritual truth. Too often material desires, friction with circumstances and individuals, and even discontent with one's own seeming mortal self occupy thought; and a willful determination to change human circumstances to suit one's personal fancy obscures the facts of Science. But as long as friction and restlessness are indulged, there is little possibility of demonstrating spiritual facts.

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