When I was in high school, our science teacher explained that when certain solids are subjected to extreme pressures, they will begin to exhibit the properties of liquids. Later, when I became an oceanographer, I saw an example of this.

I had occasion to fasten a glass net float on a wire and lower it to an extreme depth. Before we sent it down, I noticed that it had a number of deep scratches and cracks. Although its watertight integrity seemed intact, I felt sure that the extreme pressure of the depths would crush it. Upon bringing it back to the surface, however, I was amazed to see the sphere perfect, without a vestige of its former scratched and cracked appearance. Then I recalled the illustration from my science teacher's class. Obviously the extreme pressure had caused the glass to flow together, and this erased the imperfections.

The remarkable change in the glass float reminded me of something I had read in Science and Health: "Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate" (p. 451). Never had this passage meant so much to me as it did while I held the apparently perfect glass float in my hand.

People are in some respects like that glass sphere. Christ, Truth, is speaking to human consciousness, communicating the truth of our spirituality even in a materialistic age. As we delve deeper into the study of man's relation to God and escape from the shallows of materiality, the irresistible "pressure" of Christ, Truth, will inevitably change our thinking, leading us from materialism to spirituality, and erasing the imperfections.

Then and there I began to let Truth, which permeates all space, force out limited thoughts about my true nature and about God. At first this seemed difficult, but gradually I realized that what I had to do was let Christ's irresistible pressure fill my consciousness. As I made this a part of my daily life, things began to change for the better.

For instance, a time came when I had to choose a partner for an enterprise that I was about to undertake. I had toiled over the human choices for months. Several candidates seemed to be just right. Something always came up, however, to derail the decision. One candidate, who at first didn't come close to what I had outlined, I mentally rejected. The time was drawing near when I would either have to make a selection or give up the project entirely.

To get a better idea about what to do, I got out the Bible and Science and Health and began to study them. Without dwelling on the human problem I had been struggling with, I tried to concentrate on what my relation to God really was. I also reviewed the passage I mentioned earlier, where the word pressure appears. As I studied it, I realized that the only pressure I could experience was this apostolic pressure. I rejected any idea of myself as a mortal of limited intelligence and resources having to make the choice.

By discarding the idea of a limited mind and a finite time factor, I felt released from the pressure and the personal responsibility. I reviewed the decisions from the basis of prayerful listening and waited for the Father to show me the way, as He had in the past. Invariably the answer had always been the correct one, and in each case my life had taken a turn for the better.

If the pressure of the ocean's depths could erase the imperfections from the glass fishing float, which one would think would resist reforming in this manner, the irresistible pressure of spirituality could certainly reform my thinking, which had seemed to be so rigid and intractable.

"We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things," explains Science and Health (p. 129). The glass float would not have experienced any alteration in its physical nature had it not reached a depth with the pressure necessary for this transformation. Similarly, it is the deep and consecrated search for the Christ-idea that results in a transformation of our thinking. With this new perspective in thought, it wasn't long before I was able to make a good choice. Interestingly enough, the partnership was formed with the candidate I mentioned whom I had previously rejected. It has functioned harmoniously for over ten years.

What I learned from this experience was that we don't have to struggle to find the Christ. It is always with us, restoring us and "re-forming" us. And when we yield our thought to this divine pressure, the scratches and wounds of our human problems are eliminated by Christ's spiritual solution.