RADIO PROGRAM No. 381 - Approaching Business Problems Through Prayer

SPEAKER: Friends, we'd like to discuss how prayer can bring a right answer in difficult business problems. Our guest is a man who has had a good deal of experience in dealing with complex business situations. He's William Alton, of New York City, and he's going to tell you one of his experiences.

MR. ALTON: For a long time I was in a type of financing and development corporation. We were constantly either buying into or managing and operating different kinds of enterprises—sometimes in Europe, sometimes in Africa or South America—everything from hogs to petroleum.

When I first started in business, I was filled with fear when each new demand arose. To add to my difficulties, I'd had a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude because I wanted to convince people that I was really sure of myself, which of course wasn't the case at all. As the demands and responsibilities grew, I knew something had to be done.

That's when I decided to examine what Christian Science has to offer a businessman. I'd known of this religion for some time, but I'd never seriously studied it. So I began a daily study of the Bible in conjunction with the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. I also went to see a Christian Science practitioner to learn more about the prayer of spiritual understanding.

Little by little I began to understand God as the one infinite Mind. I also glimpsed something of the real nature of man as spiritual, the image and likeness of God. I found that in reality man can never be without the ability to solve any problem, no matter how difficult it might be. He's forever under the government and direction of God. perfect Mind, divine Principle. As I learned to turn to God and to keep my thoughts in harmony with the divine Mind, I found the skill, the ability, the answers, I needed.

If I wasn't certain what to do in a situation, I would pray for light or guidance. Sometimes the steps to be taken would unfold one by one. If the way still wasn't clear and I was obliged to proceed, I would act in accord with what seemed nearest right. If it was a wrong course or a wrong decision, the feeling would always come that I'd made a mistake, and then I'd retrace my steps and make the right decision.

I recall one time when I seemed completely at a loss as to how to proceed. We were called in as consultants to help negotiate a rather large transaction. It involved the purchase of a foreign corporation. I'd never even seen the property, and I had just two days in which to come up with a plan acceptable to both the potential buyer and the seller.

Actually we had surprisingly little information—only what the sales had been for a period of years and a list of the equipment and the value of the properties. But there were no figures on operating costs.

This all landed in my lap on a Friday. The plan was due on Monday, and I had to go up to Boston over the weekend. All these discouraging prospects were going through my head as I settled down for the four-hour train trip.

But then I realized that here again was an opportunity to approach a business matter through prayer, in the manner Christian Science teaches. So I turned away from the problem, the confusion, and the pressure. I dwelt on the perfection of God, divine Mind, and the completeness of His creation, in which there are no unsolved problems. I acknowledged that infinite Mind must already include all intelligence. Gradually I began to get a sense of peace in the understanding of man's true relationship to God. I knew that man, the image and likeness of God, expresses the completeness and harmony of his Maker and that if I claimed with sufficient understanding my spiritual identity as God's likeness, inseparable from divine Mind, this would remove the confusion, and I'd be able to see the right answer.

As the train rolled along, the whole pattern began to emerge. That weekend I was able to write down all the potential terms. When I got back to New York on Monday, I had a plan for the whole transaction.

The plan was discussed at a meeting of the two groups, but there was a deadlock. It looked as if they could never get together. For forty-five minutes, while the others were talking, I just sat there acknowledging to myself the all-power and ever-presence of God, realizing that actually there were not many conflicting minds but only one Mind, governing all harmoniously. I didn't feel they had to accept my particular plan, but I was sure there was a right answer before which the difficulty would disappear just like river ice melting in the spring sun. The ice breaks up and begins to flow downstream. That's what happened at this conference. Objections melted away, and within fifteen or twenty minutes. I'd say, 95 per cent of the terms were agreed to.

On the basis of the plan I'd provided, the sale went through, and it proved to be very beneficial to all concerned. I think it's quite rare in a transaction as involved as this to arrive at a plan both sides can agree on in such a short time. And we all felt a friendliness and warmth that always go along when you work something out that blesses everybody.

But the point I really want to bring out is that this wasn't just an isolated experience. It illustrates an approach, a way of being in business and solving problems through an understanding of God.

SPEAKER: Thank you for such an interesting account, Mr. Alton.

Friends, our guest's explanation was very complete; in fact, I think there's only one more point to cover. Just why does this approach work? Well, the primary need in a business problem is to correct human thinking. Actually business is largely an outward expression of the thought of those engaged in it; and if the outlook is anxious, selfish, or limited, the business will reflect such wrong thinking. And the most careful study of a balance sheet or the services of the most skilled efficiency expert won't eliminate the root of the trouble.

The remedy lies in the sincere, thorough correction of thought, which comes through the prayer of spiritual understanding, through learning to know God as eternal Mind, the source of all intelligence and ability, and man as the likeness of God. The one Mind constantly imparts right ideas, pure Godlike qualities, and this means that all the intelligence and wisdom we could possibly need are always present. Actually these divine qualities already belong to man, for in reality man expresses the divine nature. The understanding of this brings to light whatever we need in order to solve our problems—intuition, poise, clarity of thought, unerring wisdom and judgment.

Such a prayerful approach uplifts thought to relinquish fearful, material thinking for the abundant good God always supplies. As the Psalmist says, "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."

To approach problems in this way is to come into accord with the laws of God, with His all-power and goodness. As Mrs. Eddy explains in Science and Health (p. 128 ): "The term Science, properly understood, refers only to the laws of God and to His government of the universe, inclusive of man. From this it follows that business men and cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance and mental powers, enlarges their perception of character, gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary capacity."