Editorial June 30, 1980 Issue

Hungry?—for what?

BEULAH M. ROEGGE

"We are what we eat" is a phrase being bandied about today. It seems banal indeed when we consider the hunger and malnutrition in the world and the number of starving people who, by this line of reasoning, would have practically no identity. Presumably one could rephrase the statement as an observation that we are always ingesting and what we ingest becomes what we are. But when we translate that from a physical to a metaphysical standpoint, we recognize that what we are as human beings depends to a great extent on what spiritual nourishment we receive. Then we may decide that the world is more seriously malnourished spiritually than physically, and even that there may be a connection between the two.

A spiritually starved mortal isn't even a reasonable facsimile of man. Man—the image of God—is never separated from the Love that provides nourishment. He is never in a state of want. He is always full and fulfilled, for his substance is the reflection of all that God is. Mary Baker Eddy encourages her church members to think and act from the basis of always being at one with all good: "Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing."^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 165;}

To be able to maintain the scientific response of imparting, a human being must be nourished spiritually. Few of us rebel at the need to take two or three meals a day, and most agree that starting the day with food is important. How different would be our world if equal attention were given to spiritual refueling. The quality of our lives and of what we impart to each other would be enhanced a thousandfold.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

BIBLE NOTES Pullout Section