Article July 9, 1984 Issue

Retirement from and to

KATHRYN B. SCHULTZ

Retirement can sometimes suggest that satisfying activity will no longer be a part of our lives. But deprivation of this kind is only part of the Adam myth. God's law includes no provision for discord or lack. Regardless of the revisions that mortality, mortal mind, or error of any sort would attempt to superimpose on God established harmony, the spiritual fact is unaffected. God, good, continues to be All-in-all always.

Personal sense's misrepresentation of endless harmony can be corrected as we recognize our spiritual individuality. This is individuality that never changes, because it is established by God, whose work is complete and not in need of modification or adjustment. God's creation is teeming with satisfying and essential activity for each of His ideas. Man as God's cherished child remains forever intact. We can know we are "cared for, watched over, beloved and protected."^{ Christian Science Hymnal, No. 278.}

Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health, "Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe."^{ Science and Health, pp. 465-466.} The implication or threat of possible separation from good, therefore, is invalid. Unity can never become disunity. No matter how stubbornly mortality would insist otherwise, man is always at one with the Father. Man's identity is intact. Our need is to live in accordance with God's law of harmony and the Golden Rule.