RELATIONSHIPS March 12, 2007 Issue

CHECKMATING FEAR AND EMOTIONALISM

YVONNE RENOULT

AS I PULLED INTO THE DRIVE, my fascination with a radio interview kept me fastened to my seat. I'm not a chess fan, but was nevertheless captivated by the story about the chess world's new grandmaster. The spiritual parallels intrigued me.

Inventor Frederick Friedel told in the interview how his chess computer, nicknamed "Deep Fritz," beat the world chess champion (a human being) in a six-game match. What captivated me most was the advantage the chess computer gains through its inability to respond emotionally. Whereas discouragement may set in after a human opponent misses a round, a temporary negative outcome has no ill effect on Deep Fritz. Its focus is never broken, but unwavering and constant, as it sees 20 moves ahead beyond the current snag.

I saw a direct correlation to my own behavior. When I'm confronted with a difficulty, whether related to illness, job, or relationships, I, like Fritz's human opponent, can be lured into a detour of discouragement and despondency. Thanks to what Mary Baker Eddy discovered and wrote in Science and Health, however, I have found a way out of this dead end. "Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses," the book explains, "Science, still enthroned, is unfolding to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle,—is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and eternal" (p. 306). Here Science, with a capital S, refers to the laws of God, which enabled Jesus to heal and redeem people.