PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEWS July 23, 1979 Issue

Quelling the stress of scarcity

In recent weeks, gasoline lines in the United States have once again been the scene of some disorders and sporadic violence. Irrational behavior is triggered by the belief that man has a selfish, mortal mentality subject to manipulation by the stress of circumstances.

Because this would appear to be the case, violent situations—like the fight for fuel—are forceful reminders of the need to acknowledge God's total control of man. God alone is cause. God alone is Mind—man's Mind, man's source, man's motivator. This is the spiritual fact. Human circumstances can't change it. Instead, circumstances, when touched by the Christly action of intelligent prayer—prayer that discerns and affirms God's authority over man and man's actual nature—will conform more nearly to spiritual fact.

Because man isn't a mortal squeezed in a supposed vise of restricted good, he is not exposed to the pressures of violence. God, Spirit, is man's supplier and controller. Mrs. Eddy tells us emphatically: "No mortal mind has the might or right or wisdom to create or to destroy. All is under the control of the one Mind, even God."^{Science and Health, p. 544;} Man reflects continually the fathomless goodness of this controlling Mind. Such truths are applicable to the whole range of troubles associated with the fuel shortage, including the conflict and bitterness that were prompted by the truckers' strike in the United States.