Article October 24, 1988 Issue

Are you accepting the echo or the original?

Spiritual alertness is vital if we're to know the difference between what is true and what is merely an echo.

Erica J. A. Haxworth

One of my earlier memories is of visiting an aunt who lived in a south coast town in England. There were two gardens in the vicinity for the use of those living in the square, and my sister and I would be taken there during afternoon walks to play. The two gardens were joined by a long tunnel that went beneath the road. It was great fun to whisper or shout a sentence at one end of the tunnel and listen for the echo. Childlike, we believed there must be someone at the other end.

Remembering these experiences and the imitative nature of echoes has helped me in understanding certain fundamental spiritual truths. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health, "The realities of being, its normal action, and the origin of all things are unseen to mortal sense; whereas the unreal and imitative movements of mortal belief, which would reverse the immortal modus and action, are styled the real."^{Science and Health, pp. 212–213.} The fact that God is omnipotent precludes the possibility of any reversal or opposition to His power. In Christian Science we find accurate, undeviating spiritual knowledge, which is practical and provable. When we strictly adhere to it, we can prove the might and irreversibility of Truth through demonstrating divine control. The only power that human belief can ever have is what we give it. If our love, for instance, is distorted by lust, this obscures our perception of God, the divine Love, which uplifts and regenerates. If we think excessively about our bodies or our health—fretting about what we eat, the exercise we take, and so on—this will hide from us the understanding of Life eternal and will supplant the consciousness of the reality of Spirit with thoughts of aging, fear, and worry.