Article January 9, 1954 Issue

THE POWER OF UNDERSTANDING

NATALIE G. FORCE

The arts and sciences provide many illustrations of the fact that the understanding of fundamental laws opens up new worlds of thought. To illustrate, let us suppose that you have heard a symphony which sounded to you like a jumble of sound, sometimes beautiful, sometimes harsh and discordant. Many people have found the composer's work inspiring and wholly beautiful, you might think, so you try to understand it. You study the laws of harmony and composition and test them out measure by measure on simpler works; and eventually you listen again to the symphony. You do not immediately understand it all, but you do find that it is built on a definite design and that the dissonances are not mere raucous sounds, but, like the consonances, are governed by intelligible fundamentals that are essential to the balance and completeness of the whole.

The highest human expression of beauty is but a symbol and foreshadowing of the perfection of God's creation, the spiritual universe and man in His likeness. Christian Science is teaching men that, contrary to the evidence presented by the physical senses, this universe is the present fact, and that through the cultivation of spiritual knowledge and adherence to divine law harmonious being can be understood and demonstrated. As Mary Baker Eddy states in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 505): "Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind,—Life, Truth, and Love,— and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science."

Just as indicated in the opening illustration of this article, one might become conscious of the desire to understand music through seeing the enjoyment of musicians, so too one who is beset by the discords and vacuity of the mortal sense of life may discover that Christian Science opens a realm of thought which he would like to attain. Then, like the would-be musician, he will go about the study of the rules and laws of Truth, applying his understanding to his present need.

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