Article October 24, 1970 Issue

No Lost Domain

HAMILTON KILLEN, JR.

Must we, at the end of a deeply satisfying period in our lives, suffer nostalgia or dejection as our everyday life suddenly appears ordinary, even bleak? This happens to the hero of the French novel The Wanderer. As a schoolboy, Augustin Meaulnes accidentally stumbles on a mysterious domain that seems to offer him perfect happiness. In later years, he continually seeks this lost domain, forever discontented, needlessly complicating his own life and that of others. "Am I condemned to follow any trace, no matter how obscure, of my lost adventure?" ^{Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain–Fournier, Paris, Emile–Paul, 1913, p. 294 ;} he sadly wonders. His quest ultimately brings him no fulfillment whatever.

The study of Christian Science shows that we, unlike Meaulnes, need never pay a penalty for an innocent joy. A happy experience may sometimes seem to be followed by an unhappy longing for its recapture. But this nostalgia is really just a penalty in disguise. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "Let us remember that the eternal law of right, though it can never annul the law which makes sin its own executioner, exempts man from all penalties but those due for wrong–doing."^{Science and Health, p. 385;} God, divine Love, does not ordain a dreary letdown after a period of good. As we learn better to understand God, we prove this.

As an exchange teacher, I once spent a perfect year in a northern European country. I loved my work, my new friends, the still lakes, and the birch forests, I enjoyed playing ice hockey, exploring the city by foot, shopping in the open-air markets. It was a wonderful experience !

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