Article May 8, 1954 Issue

TRUE DESIRE

ALVINA E. ECKER

Are we sometimes in the predicament indicated by a conversation between two young women? One said, "I don't know what I want." Her companion answered, "I sometimes think I know what I want but after I get it I find it isn't what I want after all." Do not such states of thinking show a lack of understanding regarding desire? Not to know what one has. Through the study of the Bible and the teachings of Christian Science one learns what man really possesses as the son of God. Here God is found to be wholly good in nature, and man is seen as having this good by reflection. The desire for good is right desire, a desire that must inevitably be fulfilled by God, good.

In the Bible we find this statement (James 4:3): "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." When the answer to our desire is not forthcoming, we may need to question the nature of the desire. Is it finite in character? Is it a longing for self-glorification or self-indulgence? Such a desire has its origin in mortal mind, and its apparent fulfillment is apt to be disappointing and lacking in satisfaction.

The story is told of a man who tried to borrow a sum of money from his friend and when asked why he wanted the money said he wished to buy coal.

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