UPFRONT January 28, 2008 Issue

Following your spiritual compass

INGRID PESCHKE, MANAGING EDITOR

Daily, there are pressures to conform — what to wear, what to eat, who to be, how to think. The world holds its broad net in front of us, and it's easy to be caught up in a tangle of confusing options, not all of which are good. The Sentinel editors wanted to tackle this dilemma and offer a satisfying spiritual perspective in this week's issue. We asked ourselves what it means to conform to a spiritual model and mold a life to God's will.

The model Christ Jesus lived and taught is a good starting point. He outlined a life dedicated to healing, where one's inner compass is automatically attuned to following divine direction. Jesus' disciples knew well what it meant to leave the world behind. And yet, even they felt the pull of returning to their old profession after their Master's crucifixion. The world defined them as simple fishermen, yet the Christ called on them to be healers. And they discovered they couldn't escape this calling. As hard as they tried, their old nets never filled. When they again met Jesus on the shore after their long night of fishing: "... they changed their methods, turned away from material things, and cast their net on the right side" (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 35).

This week's contributors, each seeking to live this Science of the Christ, explain how such a life leads to profound physical healing, defines careers, and transforms decision-making. Often these decisions are far from the mainstream, far from what even our most trusted friends would advise. But does following a divine path mean we lose ourselves in the process? Perhaps Mary Baker Eddy answered this best when she wrote, "This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace" (Science and Health, p. 265). Now, who doesn't want that!

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