Article January 25, 1982 Issue

Unfence those worthy options!

SARAH CHAPMAN EASTMAN

One year seven white Chinese geese spent the summer in our large backyard. They waddled happily about nibbling grasses or napped together in the cool shade of a tall willow. A single electrified wire eight to ten inches off the ground was all that kept them restricted. They had quickly learned not to touch the wire. After several weeks we decided to save electricity and experiment with the power off. The geese stayed within the pen. Ignorant that the wire was now powerless, the birds were confined solely by mistaken belief!

As I observed the scene, I couldn't help comparing humanity to those geese. Too often we let mistaken beliefs fence us in. A limited sense of our ability may keep us from reaching some deeply cherished but perhaps far-distant goal. Too often we let the belief that we lack courage, initiative, intelligence, or talent put up walls around us.

Frequently time seems to form our "pen." If only we could stretch it, we think, we could accomplish more and greater things. And what about the barriers erected by shortage of funds, ill health, old age? In every case, the boundary has no real power; only our belief that it has power causes us to feel limitation. As Mrs. Eddy writes, "Sooner or later we shall learn that the fetters of man's finite capacity are forged by the illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter instead of in Spirit."^{Science and Health, p. 223.}