Article May 13, 1967 Issue

Truth Dispels the Mist of Error

HARRIET C. ROBERTS

Anyone who has done much boating is sure to have encountered fog. When fog drifts in, it completely obscures every trace of land, along with any identifying buoy. Suddenly one feels lost, cut off from all that is solid and real. An illusion of distortion accompanies the fog, and other boats loom up larger than they really are. If the fog lifts enough so that one can see an outline of land, the familiar landscape is almost unrecognizable.

But fog never changes anything; and when the sun comes out, the fog simply vanishes, revealing each landmark and buoy in its accustomed place, untouched by the temporary obscuration. I have been caught in fog many times while out on the water, and I have derived helpful metaphysical lessons from these experiences. I have realized how much the fog is like the false claim of mortal existence.

In the second chapter of Genesis there is a verse which describes a mist, which is not unlike the action of fog. The verse states, "There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground."^{Gen. 2:6;} And then comes the account of the counterfeit, material creation in which man is described as formed from the dust of the ground.