Editorial September 22, 1956 Issue

THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE

Helen Wood Bauman

Experience is indispensable to spiritual progress, for experience alone tests one's understanding of reality. Mary Baker Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 293), "Experience weighs in the scales of God the sense and power of Truth against the opposite claims of error." In the light of this statement the Christian Scientist should be willing to face human experience courageously, with full faith in the power of Truth to outweigh error. To evade assuming the responsibility of overcoming error is to put off the opportunity to grow in the understanding of God's power. It is often pointed out that David did not dread his encounter with Goliath but ran toward the boastful enemy of the Israelites.

One can always be certain that he is supported by the all-powerful Father when his motives are pure and his desire is to prove that God's will is the governing law of the universe. David's assurance lay in the fact that Goliath was powerless because he had "defied the armies of the living God" (I Sam. 17:36). Any evil circumstance is defying the fact of God's allness and is consequently devoid of authority or ability to persist. It was David's previous experience in the overcoming of a lion and a bear that made him fearless in facing the Philistine; and we shall find that each victory over error in our individual experience gives us the courage to face up to the demands of Christian Science.

Students of Science sometimes put off the opportunity of proving God's allness and man's spiritual likeness to God—fundamental truths which Christian Science reveals—when they are asked for help by those with problems. These hesitant students are reluctant to apply the facts of being which they admit have power to heal. They say that they have had little, if any, experience in the healing work. But when are they to begin? While it is wisdom not to rush into the handling of problems one is not equipped spiritually to deal with, it is wisdom also to accept eagerly those cases in which aggressive evil is not so pronounced in its activity. However, one should not forget that the most virulent types of sickness are healed by the beginner who possesses the freshness of inspiration that comes with the new wonder of Truth's unfoldments. It is the easier way to place responsibility on another. But is Science to remain a mere theory to us?

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