Article December 20, 1969 Issue

Freedom from Financial Burdens

BARBARA-JEAN STINSON

Yes, there is a way to be free of chronic financial burdens. Thoreau's classic statement "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation"^{ Walden, Chapter 1;} need not seem true of our financial affairs.

An individual's longing to support his family comfortably and to lift financial burdens for others is a desire motivated and governed by Love, or God. However, if one's financial situation is not being corrected, though he is truly endeavoring to live the life of reflected Love, he needs to examine the problem more specifically. Is he accepting the mistaken belief that man is a mortal burdened with responsibility for taking care of unceasing demands?

If so, even though the individual is conscientious about paying his debts, honest in striving to live within his means, and economical and wise in making his purchases, the basic error has not been eliminated and will continue to press its claims. The temptation to find some material circumstance to blame the situation on—the high cost of living, rising taxes, a fixed pension, or the needs of a growing family—must be rendered impotent by Christian Science. The root of the problem is either ignorance of man's true nature as the reflection of God, Mind, or failure to demonstrate that nature adequately. If we are ever to be free, it is vital that we learn to identify man as the embodiment of right ideas instead of a harassed mortal needing more and more matter to sustain him.

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