The period of human experience often referred to as "advanced" can be, for everyone, a period of increasing joy and unfoldment. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love." ^{Science and Health, p. 66;} This promises progress, and God's will is that there should be progress. In fact, the law of God carries with it a demand for fulfillment.

We can increasingly demonstrate successive years to be years of advancement, not of stagnation; of activity, not of decrepitude; of increasing interest and usefulness, not of boredom and dependence. In short, we can expect to experience the Bible promise, "Thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning." ^{Job 11:17;}

Mankind generally have been seeking what is new, forward-looking, but this is believed to come mainly through material ways and means. When Nicodemus came to the Master, Christ Jesus, he was surprised when he was told that he must be born again. He knew of but one kind of birth, and that was material. But Jesus explained that what was needed was a spiritual rebirth. ^{See John 3:1-13;}

To be born again is to come into a sense of newness. It is to put off the beliefs of living in and by matter and to emerge into a new concept of life that reflects God and is wholly spiritual. As we think of successive years, we need not think of them as declining. We can think of them as advancing, as manifesting a renewal of all that is lovely and good.

Seeing ourselves as spiritual will help bring about such an uplifted view. This means a right-about-face toward the light, that spiritual light which reveals what God is and what our relationship to Him is. And all this change of attitude awakens the desire to follow divine leadings.

We might well ask ourselves why we don't do more of this scientific realizing. It seems at times that we take the line of least resistance. We tend to be apathetic. We do not always begin soon enough to learn, and to instill into thought, the fact that successive years can continue to be advancing years. We do not nullify quickly enough every mortal argument which avers that declining years are unavoidable.

In Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy are several pages constituting an explanation of how successive years can be made advancing years (see pp. 244-248). This progress can be achieved by anyone who is experiencing so-called age beliefs. Instead of increasing as the years go by, such beliefs can actually be reversed, and the vigor, freshness, and aliveness that are one's rightful, divine inheritance can be manifested. Mrs. Eddy writes, in the passage mentioned, "Immortal Mind feeds the body with supernal freshness and fairness, supplying it with beautiful images of thought and destroying the woes of sense which each day brings to a nearer tomb." ^{Science and Health, p. 248;}

As one awakes to the erroneous beliefs of age that he is allowing himself to indulge in, he will find it helpful to realize that these are not in line with progress and there is definitely something he can do about them. For instance, he can start by studying the pages referred to and taking note of some special point in them to hold to during the day.

One can begin to see that there is no law of decrepitude, and that he can gain dominion over the illusion that there is such a law. There is no beginning or end to the infinitude of God or to God's offspring. To accept this truth is to begin to demonstrate freedom from injustices and limitations of old age. To believe otherwise is to embrace a misconception, an illusion.

One can see that if he did not measure and limit what is good he could maintain his pristine activity and ability. One can gain the conviction that God sees man as ever perfect and that years can only bring more good, more wisdom, more opportunities to prove man's at-one-ment with the Father. Years cannot bring ugliness, decrepitude, limitation, without one's consent. By being righteously determined to withhold consent, one opens the way for progress.

By keeping perfect models in thought and refusing to let the world's concepts of imperfection, limitation, and decadence operate in our thinking, we can demonstrate untold good. It is well to make a radical mental turnabout to look in the right direction, toward Spirit, not toward matter. The body will change as the perfect model of God's creating becomes more apparent. This is to be worked out by putting into practice—not just by theorizing about— the rules of Science.

The author of a booklet entitled "Your Middle Years" brings out that gerontologists have now proved that mental deterioration is by no means inevitable. Experiments have shown that functions such as reasoning, accuracy, logic, judgment, actually increase with those who have kept on using their faculties and refused to let them deteriorate through disuse. He compares the capacity to express these qualities with a railroad track. He writes, "You know how the track shines and glistens when the trains run frequently. You know how it rusts when the trains stop running." ^{Your Middle Years by Howard Whitman, p. 37;}

Perhaps we need a challenging new word or definition for retirement. What a blessing for humanity when retirement ceases to mean a time for inactivity, for letting down! Instead, it can be a time for even greater mental activity, for utilizing with even greater vigor the spiritual qualities of Mind.

As we do this, we will nullify the insidious, devilish suggestion, which seems to come with added years, to study less, to think that by now we know it all and can skip over many a statement. Christian Science is constantly unfolding deeper, richer meanings to the student, truths that may never have come to thought before, and these truths open the fountains of healing and regeneration.

We need to increase our awareness of good, to think more deeply, and not just to sit with folded hands, so to speak, and wonder what to do next. The need is to get busy mentally, and then useful activity will follow. We need to watch that we do not give our consent to decreased activity. As we progress along this line, we will demonstrate increased acumen, more joy, and enriched daily experiences.

It is for us to decide how well we can do this. Let us watch these decisions, and the successive years will be filled with new interests, new accomplishments, new mental processes whereby our prayers for the progress and betterment of the world, for our churches, and for all mankind will be more fruitful. And we will demonstrate Mrs. Eddy's statement, "Each successive period of progress is a period more humane and spiritual." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 26.}