Article December 3, 1984 Issue

Go back to the source

ELIZABETH BICE LUERSSEN

When I was a little girl I stepped across the Mississippi River. It wasn't all that difficult, for my parents had taken me to its source in Minnesota, where the mighty Mississippi begins as a tiny stream. My solution to crossing the river lay in going back to its material source, which was limited and finite. To find the spiritual solution to human problems one must also go back to the source. But in this case, the source is God, who is unlimited and infinite.

Hereditary shadows, for example, are dispelled in the dawning recognition that God is the only parent and creator, and that man is heir solely of His qualities and perfection. As the author of one of the psalms exclaimed, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage."^{Ps. 16:6.} In the face of arguments of inability or inadequacy, the scientific remedy is to understand and follow Mrs. Eddy's direction "You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this."^{Pulpit and Press, p. 4.} Unity with the divine source guarantees at-one-ment with the strength of Principle, the intelligence of Mind, the integrity of Truth, and all of the other wonderful spiritual qualities of our Father-Mother God.

Unity with the divine source is also the solution to lack and limitation, for God, Spirit, is the only substance and so the fountainhead of good. In his parable of the prodigal son, Christ Jesus brought out this lesson of supply in the words of the father in the story, who assured his elder son, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine."^{Luke 15:31.} All the joy, beauty, purity, and individuality of Soul; all the energy, vigor, activity, and eternality of Life; all that the Father, the origin and source of all, has is man's rightful heritage as His beloved son. As a hymn puts it, "When all material streams are dried, / Thy fullness is the same."^{Christian Science Hymnal, No. 224.} Material resources, being finite and fluctuating, are never infallible; but Spirit, being infinite and eternal, is man's inexhaustible source.