Decisions in many areas of daily life demand careful weighing. What do I do, high-school pupils may wonder, after graduation? Others want to know what direction to take if they should lose their job. The human mind's answers to these questions might be confusing or even contradictory. There may be a alternation between positive and negative impressions. At one moment we are full of joy, and shortly thereafter concerns and hesitations cloud our view. At times the prospect of being able to have a better future may seem very dim. In my own experience in a job-related situation, as I became aware of this wavering back and forth I put an end to the fruitless process of weighing pros and cons merely from the material viewpoint, and started to pray.

In prayer I realized very quickly that God, ever-active Mind, does not see us in situations that appear unclear, pressure-filled, or perhaps even threatening. Divine Mind already and forever sees us where we belong. Weighing a host of arguments may sometimes seem to make a great deal of sense, but is not to be equated with listening trustingly for divine guidance. As a rule, the human way of looking at things like new job opportunities does not lead very far, because it goes by opinions, notions, claims, which can turn out to be very unreliable. Thus our decisionmaking may turn into a guessing game with no guarantee of a right path for us.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, frequently faced challenges that had no parallel, no precedent in her experience. But her absolute trust in Mind's guidance always showed her the way to a victory over them. She writes in Science and Health, "Mind alone possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension" (p. 488).

When we turn in prayer away from a self-oriented way of looking at things (a typical question may be, "Will I be able to do the work?"), we too gain confidence in the faculties of infinite, divine intelligence. In this way, a possibly timid question turns into an affirmation: Yes. Since Mind possesses all faculties, I reflect these faculties. And since reflection is based not on any measure of personal will but on man's unity with God, the expression of wisdom and intelligence is natural and uninterrupted.

Man's unity with God is the basis for all right activity. Unconditionally acknowledging the spiritual fact that God expresses in man His perfection, power, and wisdom leads to a new and better way of looking at future prospects. Spiritual man—in other words, your own true identity—possesses all necessary faculties through reflecting God. Divine Mind does not have to undertake a process of reasoning in order to be able to perceive and comprehend what it needs to know. Mind knows all, and is at all times fully conscious of each and every one of its ideas.

Spiritual perception rests on the allness of Mind, which is also infinite Soul. Such perception is an eternal faculty of God that belongs to man and cannot be separated from him. When we abandon the material way of viewing things and yield in prayer to the divine consciousness, we can—in a completely natural manner—give up human opinions with all their limitations and doubts. We then see that our true being is governed by divine Principle, Love, and we gain the freedom to make decisions without anxiety, without wavering. We discover that these spiritually directed decisions always prove to be appropriate over the long term as well.

Christ Jesus showed us the way to have this dominion when he declared, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). It is God's truth that liberates us and that exposes any timid hesitation and indecision as the outcome of a mistaken, mortal way of looking at things. Because God, who is divine Truth itself, communicates all that we need to know in order to make appropriate decisions, we should concern ourselves more with the facts that Truth conveys to us than with the doubting questions that simply are not grounded in Truth, in Mind.

We strengthen our spiritual perception—we place it on a more solid, firm, reliable footing—when we use every opportunity to nurture this faculty. The more steadfastly we hold to the true concept of God and man in our daily lives, the easier it is for us to recognize—even in times of challenge—what is good and right. Correct views of the facts of being are indestructible and substantial. They can neither be lost nor remain concealed. As we listen only for that which is divine in origin, we discover that God supplies us in every situation with all we need to accomplish a task.

We have the divinely vested authority to reject firmly every presumption of mortal mind, and this includes all doubts of one's own worth. Such erroneous presumptions can be corrected swiftly because it is our right to identify only with the good, the true, and the eternal. Our growing understanding of the perfection of being is accompanied by right actions and decisions. Our willingness to walk humbly with Mind and Truth along the path unfolding before us will lead to very concrete insights.

Even if the future still seems unclear to us, spiritual perception gives us confidence and encouragement to take each appropriate step. Christian Science teaches that truth and error never combine. Wisdom and doubt no more coexist than do health and disease. Wisdom and health are perceived spiritually; they are indestructible and eternal. Doubt and disease are delusions and are without true power or substance.

Spiritual growth is a very natural accompaniment of this scientific perception. We increasingly see that lack, fear, and so forth are unnatural and do not belong to the reality of our being. The power of Truth, which wipes out these errors, cannot be arrested, because the nature of this healing power is to express itself constantly and universally. So as we exercise our spiritual perception we will find promising, grand opportunities that confirm what we already know of man's God-given abilities. We will discover the new and the good, and unimagined possibilities will come to light. Doubts will vanish because we understand that they do not belong to us, and we will experience in confidence and joy, in humility and readiness, the truth of Mrs. Eddy's words "Spiritual perception brings out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in deed and in truth" (Science and Health, p. 203).

Michael A. Seek
Associate Editor for Der Herold der Christlichen Wissenschaft

PSALMS

I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. ... As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

Psalms 17:6, 15