Article October 28, 1972 Issue

Total Experience

RICHARD A. MATHER

Recently my wife and I entertained a young friend who expressed some views on life and religion that are not unusual among young people who are seeking satisfying life-styles. Although he had been raised in Christian Science, some of his recent experiences had caused him to feel that his religion was not inclusive enough. There were certain areas of life, he felt, that Christian Science just didn't seem to fit into.

"What I'm after," he explained, "is total experience. I want to squeeze the most I can out of every situation and savor it to the utmost. But this process is so physical, so sensual, that to accept the Christian Science teaching that there is no matter would be, for me, to lose the tangible beauty of life."

In our society today, many have found the experiences of human life to be more tangible—more "real" to them—than spiritual ideals. Religious and moral values, instead of being accepted on their merit, are weighed against what seem the urgent needs of our world, and are often rejected as impractical or irrelevant. Even many religious groups seem to have emphasized social and political activism at the expense of spiritual methods.

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