Editorial March 16, 1974 Issue

Failure Is Not a Reality

Geoffrey J. Barratt

At some time most of us sag under a feeling of failure. We may seem to have failed in business, in academics, in marriage, as a parent or as a Christian Scientist. But failure for the man of God's creating is impossible. Man, eternal Mind's expression, lives only in the eternal now, at the apex of fulfillment. Failure is inextricably bound up with events in an apparent past.

Actually, failure is not a reality, because it is the illusory experience of a mortal, and mortals themselves are not realities. Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health asserts: "There is no such thing as mortality, nor are there properly any mortal beings, because being is immortal, like Deity,—or, rather, being and Deity are inseparable."^{ Science and Health, p. 554;} As we grasp this, we let go of a sense of failure. The essence of failure is to look at things wrongly now—that is, in a material and mortal light. Essential success is to look at things spiritually now. So we can at once set a course away from failure and toward success; and when we do, human lives reflect the success we spiritually achieve.

Apparent failure takes place within a world mapped out by personal perceptions, never occurring in the reality perceptible to spiritual sense. God is the only cause, the originator of all ideas and actions, and these never fail. The realization and demonstration of this constitutes authentic success. The Bible reinforces our conviction: "The Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."^{ Deut. 31:8;}

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