Article April 4, 1970 Issue

Retirement—Inactivity or Fulfillment?

ROBERT J. HILL

Retired people have the distinct advantage of being able to select their activity. But for those who are unselfishly and wisely motivated, as John Lubbock points out, "the advantage of leisure is mainly that [they] may have the power of choosing [their] own work; not certainly that it confers any privilege of idleness." The Pleasures of Life, Chap. 6; Freedom from a rigid routine can often make more time available for people to develop themselves spiritually and to use their abilities in helping mankind.

The retired person who is a student of Christian Science can look for increased ability and freedom from limitation because he has more time to carry out his desire to understand and commune with God and serve Him. Instead of accepting the hypnotic suggestion that he has less ability because of medical laws regarding age, he can deny the validity of these so-called laws because they have no divine origin. God knows nothing about retirement. Divine Mind, always conscious of complete and ever-active life, is not aware of anything less than fullness of being and doing.

Certainly the claim of mortal, material consciousness to control one's body is no more valid after retirement than before, but idle thought often makes room for negative beliefs. A medical doctor is quoted as saying that "an idle person looks himself over for evidence of decay. In so doing he invites that process..." U.S. News and World Report, Aug. 5, 1968, p.78;

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