Article April 11, 1983 Issue

Destroying destructiveness

EVELYN M. S. DUCKETT

Have you ever tried to destroy an idea? Perhaps you've resisted an idea, rejected it, stormed at it, only to find at the end of the day that it was still there, quietly waiting for you to appreciate it. Rather like throwing something at a sunbeam on the wall and watching it continue to shine quite unharmed.

The value of things that can't be destroyed is made more apparent by the destructiveness now prevalent all over the world. Ideas come high in this category. But what sort of ideas are truly indestructible? Spiritual ideas. The spiritual facts of being. These are basic, enduring, unchanging. They have always been true and always will be true. And we recognize them through prayer, which arouses in us a deepening conviction of their truth, spiritualizing our thought and making the pointlessness of destructiveness apparent. Then rebellious and destructive feelings progressively disappear.

Here's one idea that won't go away: that ultimate force is spiritual, not material; intelligent, not mindless; constructive, not destructive—that it is, in short, the power of God, or Spirit. People have resisted this idea for centuries and tried to achieve dominance over others with every kind of destructive weapon they could invent—from bows and arrows to atom bombs. But the spiritual forces of justice, love, and divine understanding are still present, patiently waiting for people to recognize and utilize them. And this is what we need to pray for.

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