Editorial February 23, 1981 Issue

Extending your attention span

NATHAN A. TALBOT

As important as spiritual reality is to many people, it may seem puzzling that few consecutive hours out of a day are ordinarily spent actually pondering the nature of God and man. Even when an individual has a desire to think deeply about Truth, there may be frequent distractions that carry him off in other directions—either mentally or physically.

Of course the Christian Scientist is likely to identify various interruptions as animal magnetism. This is a phrase that describes very specifically the nature of all evil, the supposed power that would pull us from Spirit toward matter. And certainly, whatever disrupts efforts to give full attention to God is a facet of animal magnetism.

But we shouldn't feel we are placed in endless combat with some sort of evil power—fighting to keep our thought on God. Instead, we can cultivate an uncontrived ability in praying over an extended period of time. Can you imagine settling down some evening and being so close to God that you prayed quite naturally and without interruption throughout the night? If we understood God and our relationship to Him as Christ Jesus did, we wouldn't find this unusual. Luke reminds us that Jesus "went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."^{Luke 6:12.}

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