Editorial May 10, 1993 Issue

Exams: we can be spiritually prepared

Richard C. Bergenheim

During my experience as a graduate student, exams were administered by the university in the Great Hall. Most undergraduates had been preparing for their tests for two or three years, and it was said that the results would largely determine their prospects in life. Those taking graduate exams, like myself, also needed to do well. When the doors opened, we picked up our exam booklets and found a place to sit. The atmosphere of anxiety and fear could be cut with the proverbial knife. There were even medical personnel standing along the walls to aid those who were overcome by the pressure.

I found the atmosphere of tension contagious, so before beginning the exam I took some time to pray. It was wonderful to realize that I could turn away from the oppressive atmosphere of fear and doubt to the ideas of Soul. I was quickly reminded of God's ever-presence and power. Mentally, I moved out of the Great Hall into what the book of Psalms describes as "the secret place of the most High." As I did this, the Great Hall was actually transformed for me into that secret place where I could commune with God. It became self-evident that God, ever-present Mind, must be everywhere. I also recalled that infinite good could contain no destructive or paralyzing thoughts. They were dissolved in this consciousness of Mind's ever-presence. Infinite good inspires and animates. Recognizing the truth of these facts, I gained the mental freedom necessary for taking the exam.

In her booklet No and Yes, Mary Baker Eddy gives us a deeper insight into the nature and advantage of a spiritual resort such as "the secret place," or consciousness of God, that David wrote about. "The real Christ," Mrs. Eddy affirms, "was unconscious of matter, of sin, disease, and death, and was conscious only of God, of good, of eternal Life, and harmony. Hence the human Jesus had a resort to his higher self and relation to the Father, and there could find rest from unreal trials in the conscious reality and royalty of his being,—holding the mortal as unreal, and the divine as real." Everyone has a resort to this higher sense of his or her perfect, spiritual identity and relationship to God and thus to the freedom from pressure—or any other ill—that it brings. Don't we all long at times for this rest from the storm, for the calm and assurance that Christ brings to all? This is part of the gift that Christian Science offers everyone.

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