After Christ Jesus had been betrayed, tried, crucified, and had risen from the tomb, he met some of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. Not recognizing him, they asked him if he had heard what had happened. They related how "certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive." ^{Luke 24:22, 23;}

Jesus was not happy with their limited view of these events. He rebuked them. "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." ^{v. 27 ;} Eventually their eyes were opened, and Jesus went on to complete victory, proving the powerlessness of the forces that had attempted to destroy him.

Events that seem to shape our own lives often seem to leave a mark. Perhaps we may think the mark cannot be erased because it is impossible to relive the past. But the truth Christ Jesus lived and taught was and is timeless. The events he reviewed for his disciples were not mere physical events but divine indications of the ever-presence of God and of the constant expression of God's love for man appearing in the language of human events as prophetic signs. These signs were now clearly readable by those who would understand. Similarly, when something has happened in our lives that affects us now, we can view the past events through an understanding of the timeless ever-presence of divine Truth, of God. And we can see in the events the indications of what we believe of Life—a belief that must eventually yield to divine understanding.

In her biographical sketch in Retrospection and Introspection, Mary Baker Eddy recounts some unpleasant incidents. After telling of one particularly sad experience she writes, "The heavenly intent of earth's shadows is to chasten the affections, to rebuke human consciousness and turn it gladly from a material, false sense of life and happiness, to spiritual joy and true estimate of being." ^{Ret., p. 21;} And farther on she comments, "The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged." ^{p. 22 .}

Some years ago I suffered an accident as a result of the carelessness of another person. I was in great pain, and it appeared that a finger had been badly injured. My immediate reaction was one of fury, for the other man immediately deserted the scene. As I found a moment to pray for myself, I suddenly saw that the accident was the result of my anger. But how, since I had not become angry until after the accident occurred? Then it became clear that the anger had not resulted from this man's actions, but it was a quality of thought that seemed to be part of my own present thought of myself. The incident had merely brought it to the surface.

My study of Christian Science had taught me that anger is part of the false belief that man is a material being, whereas man is really God's divine idea. God is Love, and an idea of Love includes no such belief as materiality or anger. It also includes no possibility of accident. Immediately I felt a sense of compassion for this individual, and the pain stopped. I looked at my finger, and there was not a trace of the injury.

What I had done was to examine the events that had occurred, see what in those events represented my true identity as Love's idea and what represented the false belief of man as mortal and material. The power of infinite Mind enabled me to do this in spite of the seeming pain, and the same power enabled me to revise my concept of the human events. I could then expunge from my consciousness the material sense of these events. The result was healing.

When one writes a story or an article, it is usually necessary to revise it a number of times. In the process of revision every worthless word is eliminated, but whatever says clearly what the author means to say is preserved or amplified. So it is in viewing our human history, whether we are thinking of events over a long period or of an incident that has just taken place. The human thought we entertain of ourselves through these events may need much revision. But the material belief we see in our thought of ourselves is false; therefore it must be expunged to give us a true estimate of what we are.

We are never helpless victims of the past. No matter what condition we find ourselves in as a result of past events, we can revise our human history and expunge the material record. We can examine in the light of Love's ever-presence what seems to have happened and gain from what we have found the lessons we need. We can use the power of divine Mind to lift ourselves above the belief of being a mortal whose present is shaped by past material events. And as we recognize the timeless qualities of God expressed in all of history, we can see our timeless identity. This identity includes no material events, therefore no past. It is a perfect idea existing now in the divine Mind.

Carl J. Welz