The way to correct errors or solve problems is with truth. Regardless of what trying circumstances we may face, no matter how tangled the threads seem to be, there are basic, clarifying, spiritual truths we can begin applying at once.

And an inevitably successful way of finding them is through the Bible, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and through her other writings. These books give us essential truths which assure that we win with Truth, and overcome error. No matter what the trouble is, it's rooted in the belief that there is an opposite to the one divine Mind. "The basic error is mortal mind," ^{Science and Health, p. 405;} Science and Health tells us.

The body, business, relationships, may seem to suffer from varied errors. Some aspects of a sickness may be fever, loss of appetite, aches. In the case of business, shortage of capital and of labor, and a depressed market, perhaps. While each of these elements can be dealt with specifically through Christian Science treatment, the result will be determined by the degree to which prayer relies on the basic truth of the omnipotence and goodness of Truth and Love, and the unreality of anything else.

In working out any problem, let's quickly get it straight that there is only one kind of real being: the spiritual and good. Confusion and agonizing indecision come from believing in two levels of existence—a spiritual plus a mortal and material. Mrs. Eddy makes the actual situation quite plain: "There are not two realities of being, two opposite states of existence. One should appear real to us, and the other unreal, or we lose the Science of being. Standing in no basic Truth, we make 'the worse appear the better reason,' and the unreal masquerades as the real, in our thought." ^{Unity of Good, p. 49;}

When the truths we are acknowledging have their roots in basic Truth—in the oneness and allness of God and man's unity with God—we are always confident that Truth will win. Whatever the trouble that faces us, we can be sure it's not beyond the scope of our spiritual realization of relevant truths. Why? Because, regardless of error's form, it's a mental argument claiming activity in our own thought—the unreal masquerading as the real in our own consciousness—and we can take full charge of our own thought.

The outstanding scientific Christian of all time was Christ Jesus. One of the great values of the Bible is that his standpoint is made so evident. We read there how Jesus dealt with error. How did he? From the standpoint of basic Truth. He wasn't fooled or distracted by the evidence of illness and sin. He always knew what he was, and where he was—the Son of God, existing in the infinitude of Spirit. He knew the actual perfection of all people. He knew and proved that the essence of error was a lie, nontruth.

Jesus exposed the nothingness of mortal sense, the sense that there is a kind of existence other than the spiritual. Addressing, in effect, this false sense and confronting it with its nonexistence, he said: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." ^{John 8:44;}

Finding it hard to work out some difficulty through Christian Science, we can ask ourselves this candid question and give a frank answer: Am I wholeheartedly allying myself with the basic truth of being, or am I taking a semi-absolute stand, and thinking of the problem as somehow real and needing to be vanquished by Truth? If we would win with Truth, then we must accept the unequivocal demands of Christian Science. We can't afford to toy with claims of two realities, or of two kinds of man, the spiritual and a mortal.

The way to win with Truth is to start with Truth, to stay with Truth, to acknowledge Truth, and to realize we are the very expression of Truth forever. To the extent we do this, then the outcome of any apparent struggle is decided. Truth will win because Truth never battled with error, and Truth has never been less than absolutely All.

Whether we first heard of Christian Science just today or have been studying and applying it for many years, the promise is extended to us equally: as we acknowledge the allness and irresistibility of divine Truth, we will triumph over whatever is bad and limited in our life. Why? Because, in Mrs. Eddy's words: "Mind governs all. That we exist in God, perfect, there is no doubt, for the conceptions of Life, Truth, and Love must be perfect; and with that basic truth we conquer sickness, sin, and death." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 6.}

Geoffrey J. Barratt