Editorial August 27, 1984 Issue

The greatness of calm

CAROLYN B. SWAN

Keeping one's "cool" under stress would seem a stern discipline if one didn't know the sublime naturalness of calm. The Bible offers this knowledge. It teaches that God creates man in His likeness; therefore everyone's true identity reflects the divine quietude.

Actually, there is nothing to disturb or disquiet God's all-harmonious creation. He neither causes nor coexists with evil, turbulence, or disease. God, the one and only creator, is purely good, and His creation is perfectly at peace. Because unprecarious calm is natural to God, divine Mind, Spirit, Truth, and Love, it is mandatory for His likeness, spiritual man—your true selfhood and mine.

We can awake to this heavenly calm by defending our thoughts from intrusive suggestions of a creator other than God or a creation apart from Him. In proportion as we understand that good alone is true, we can realize the holy presence of imperturbable calm. And as we consistently choose to remain undisturbed, we can experience the consistent healing effects noted by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. She writes, "Human mentality, expressed in disease, sin, and death, in tempest and in flood, the divine Mind calms and limits with a word."^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 106.}