Editorial January 21, 1980 Issue

Man's predictable future

NATHAN A. TALBOT

Yes, man's destiny is known. It is known to God and is inevitable because true identity is based on unchanging divine law. God's man is God's expression. Man is the constantly unfolding evidence of perfect Being. The eternal law of God holds man in an irreversible pattern of fresh goodness. There is no uncertainty, no chance, in God's creation. Man's perfection is fixed.

But we seem to live in a world of predictions. And a hard look is required to discover a few favorable ones. Of course, sometimes we need the spiritually discerning look ahead that recognizes the challenges and how to meet them. But the daily diet of most predictions is based on a corporeal outlook—far from being spiritually impelled. By the time we've glanced at the morning paper, gone through a day of contact with others, and maybe caught a bit of the evening news on TV, it's challenging not to wonder just a little about hope for our future; about where national economies are headed; about the possibility of famine, increased crime in some countries, whether there will be enough fuel to get through the winter.

This is exactly the kind of thinking, the fearful and mesmeric state of thought about life, that mortal mind would invite us to embrace! "Mortal mind" is a term that has been given unique meaning in Christian Science; it defines the nature of evil. In two words this name describes a whole erring reservoir of ignorance, spewing out its beliefs that Mind, God, is limited, finite; that Life is mortal, endangered. The impulse of this so-called mind would be to depreciate—even discredit—life, the life that comes from God.

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