Article December 13, 1969 Issue

Unlimited Opportunity

Alan A. Aylwin

Christian Science refutes the fatalistic saying, "Opportunity knocks but once." It reveals man to be much more than a fallible mortal governed by blind belief. This Science shows the real man to be spiritual, the infinite expression of God, boundless Being, and therefore unlimited in his reflection of good. It was some glimpse of man's birthright of endless opportunity that caused the Psalmist to exclaim in gratitude, "O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!...Thou madest him [man] to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet."^{Ps. 8:1, 6:}

One is increasingly aware of man's dominion over all the earth as he studies the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings. This prayerful work makes him conscious of his unity with divine Mind and more willing to obey divine guidance when God speaks to him within the depths of his thought. If at some point one has failed to listen and obey, he need not give up in discouragement, for God is infinite Love, omnipresent Mind, and He is ever at hand and available. One can always mentally arise, brush off the dust of self-will and inertia, and go on. Mrs. Eddy writes encouragingly, "Tireless Being, patient of man's procrastination, affords him fresh opportunities every hour."^{Christian Healing, p. 19;}

Christian Science teaches that material conditions and experiences are really mental phenomena, the subjective states of human thinking, and therefore controllable as thought is uplifted and enlightened through scientific spiritual education. In other words, human existence is a counterfeit sense of reality that can be brought into subjection and harmonized as one gains a higher sense of his coexistence, or oneness, with the omnipotent Ego, divine Mind. The real man lives in God, knows and acts only as He directs, and is therefore always at the point of right unfoldment and opportunity. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear."^{Science and Health, p. 506;}

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