Editorial July 16, 1984 Issue

The desire for holiness

WILLIAM E. MOODY

There's a yearning, deep down in the heart, for something more substantial than the glitter and glamour the world has to offer. Probably most of us have felt this at some point in our lives—perhaps even often. But have we identified what the yearning is and what it would really mean to us if that yearning were satisfied?

Could it be that we are truly longing for holiness—the pure goodness and spiritual exultation that come from feeling close to God? In the midst of human experience, where even the fulfillment of cherished goals does not always seem as satisfying as it should be and where existence is sometimes fraught with the most grievous of circumstances, there remains a fundamental spirituality at the core of each individual's being that will not be left forever unrecognized. And no matter how we have been deluded (or deluged) by suggestions and supposed evidence that life is material, limited, futile, or mortal, our spiritual sense continues to persuade us that there is something grander than mortality. The grandeur is in the holiness and peace of finding our life in God, at one with divine Spirit—here and now. The beauty of holiness is available to us at this moment; it need not be postponed to life hereafter.

Once we have recognized that the yearning in our hearts is actually a yearning to be close to God, we have taken an important step forward. For as Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health, "We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness ...."^{Science and Health, p. 11.}