Symbol and Substance

BARBARA KOBLER ROSSITER

Smashed! Burned! Stolen! Suddenly a cherished possession is gone, and we are dismayed by our feeling of helplessness, a jarring lack of control over our experience. But even as we sweep up the fragments or report the loss, we can ask quietly, "What is God knowing?"

The cherished object existed—and still exists—for us as a mental picture; it illustrates in part our present sense of usefulness, beauty, or harmony. These qualities—what God is knowing—remain in Mind. They stay with us. What started as a disturbing incident becomes a demand to view ourselves and what we are accustomed to calling our possessions more spiritually.

We calm thought as we insist that the needed spiritual facts can be understood. They are neither vague nor abstract. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy gives this comforting assurance: "Thought will finally be understood and seen in all form, substance, and color, but without material accompaniments."^{Science and Health, p. 310;}

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