Article April 24, 1971 Issue

Are We Cleansing Our Environment?

RUTH T. KNIGHT

The efforts that are being made to correct pollution are commendable. However, the search for a lasting solution to the problem must take into account more than the conditions that meet the eye. Physical clean-up campaigns are not enough. Mankind's thinking must be changed in order to restore the natural ecology, beauty, and safety of our surroundings.

Christian Science teaches that a condition needing correction is actually a mental state rather than a physical one. Decay and pollution must first be embraced in human thought before they can be manifested in our surroundings. The ecology of a community or nation expresses the thinking of its inhabitants. Mrs. Eddy reminds us that "the atmosphere of mortal mind constitutes our mortal environment." ^{ Miscellaneous Writings, p. 86;}

The Bible tells us that God created all and called it very good. Then how could God, who is perfect Life and Love, create anything discordant that could constitute or be subject to environmental pollution? We answer that He could not, since He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil."^{ Hab. 1:13;} As human thought is changed from a material to a spiritual concept of creation, pollution is seen as unreal and powerless since it does not have its source in God. Its seeming reality exists only in false, material thinking.