Article May 31, 1975 Issue

Removing the Dark Glasses

TERRELL L. HOLLIDAY

A number of years ago I attended a Christian Science lecture given in a movie theater. Upon entering the auditorium I was confronted with darkness so nearly total that I began to grope forward uncertainly, remarking the while to my companion that whoever was running things had the lights turned too low. Only then did I instinctively reach up to remove my sunglasses! I was spared further groping and "whoever was running things" was spared further blame for the darkness.

The demand upon students of Christian Science, when confronted by mankind's problems, is for increasing evidence of the present reality of the one Mind, God, and the nothingness of an isolated, finite mind and darkened sense of things that by calling itself "us" would cause us to grope ineffectively among these problems. Until our dominion over this spurious sense of self is proved by demonstration of its nothingness, we need to be alert to understand the falsity of its claims. We need to detect its method of so disguising its presence as to cause us to identify our problems incorrectly and hence fail to solve them.

In order to ensure the safety of the Church of Christ, Scientist, and effectively reach humanity, Mrs. Eddy was obliged to unmask directly, as animal magnetism, the lie of a finite consciousness separate from God. The effect of belief in this lie—calling itself "us"— is the admission into thought of suggestions of mortal discord. Too often we ignore entirely the source of these suggestions, belief in the reality of matter, and focus instead on their external manifestations as the cause of our predicament.

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