Article September 4, 1954 Issue

THE SPIRITUAL IDEAL IS THE REAL

FRANK CLAYTON DARLING

The world today is putting much emphasis on various types of ideals, and in many areas it is desperately seeking to attain them. Throughout the history of mankind and its attempt to improve itself there has always been the wide gulf between that which is believed to be ideal and that which is believed to be real, and this conflict continues in the minds of men today. It is refreshing to analyze these concepts in the light of Christian Science.

The word ideal is seen to be allied to the word idea. When the truth of Christian Science is accepted that all ideas emanate from God, divine Mind, and that these ideas, like their creator, are perfect, harmonious, and supreme, then it is seen that God's ideas are also His ideals. And they comprise the very nature of His creation. Man, home, government, business, and all right ideas, therefore, exist at the standpoint which is always ideal and perfect.

The word real implies that which is veritable, tangible, and comprehensible. When examined in the light of divine Science, it is seen that that only is veritable which is of Truth, the All-in-all; that only is tangible which is of Soul, Spirit, the only substance; and that only is comprehensible which is of Mind, the only intelligence. The real is therefore included in a recognition by spiritual understanding of the things of God, His ideas, or ideals. As Mary Baker Eddy states in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 279), "Ideas are tangible and real to immortal consciousness, and they have the advantage of being eternal."

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