AS THE NUMBER of people sharing Planet Earth creeps up by the billions, the statistics involved can seem overwhelming. It took just 12 years for the global population to increase from five billion to six billion people, and future estimates put the world's population at ten billion within 30 years.

Fears associated with such large numbers are due to the concern that the resources required to sustain so many will run out. In "Overpopulation — The Population Explosion," (http://www. dieoff. org), authors Paul and Anne Ehrlich point out how overpopulation is often confused with population density. An area that isn't deemed densely populated — that is, where people are widely scattered — isn't seen as overpopulated, because people aren't squeezing into tight spaces together. That area could be just as overpopulated as a crowded city. "The key to understanding overpopulation," they explain, "is not population density but the numbers of people in an area relative to its resources and the capacity of the environment to sustain human activities..."

The Ehrlichs go on to say, "By this standard, the entire planet and virtually every nation is already vastly overpopulated. " And they are most concerned about developed areas such as the United States and Europe, which overuse not just their own resources but those other countries.

Recent headlines add to the current unease, with food riots in many countries and rising prices, as countries such as India and China compete with more established economies for petrol and mineral resources. The possible loss of Myanmar's rice crop this year, because of the recent cyclone, is another factor.

While concern is preferable to either ignoring the problem or being blase about it, such situations make a larger demand — namely, to look at life in spiritual terms. And when our concern is motivated by spiritual care for humanity's well-being, rather than a limited sense of self-concern for the welfare of just one's own family, community or country, it is at its most powerful. In Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, Mary Baker Eddy asked: "Who should care for everybody? It is enough, say they, to care for a few." She concluded, "Yet the good done, and the love that foresees more to do, stimulate philanthropy and are an ever-present reward" (p. 238).

Philanthropy can, of course, involve charitable donations or hands-on activism. Many individuals might be led to give funds or take direct action to address the challenges of population growth. The word philanthropy, however, comes from the Greek for "love for mankind," and such love can also involve a spiritual compassion that humbly gives prayerful attention to such challenges.

For instance, it is possible and helpful to challenge metaphysically, through prayer, the assumption that we need to feel overwhelmed by the thought of sharing our planet with large numbers of people. There are many Biblical precedents for not being impressed by huge quantities of people that threaten others with disaster and even doom.

The prophet Elisha, for example, woke in Dothan one morning to find "an host compassed the city both withhorses and chariots" (II Kings 6:15). Yet his inspired spiritual convictions not only saved himself and his servant but also ended war between Israel and Syria for a long time and in a very ingenious way.

When Christ Jesus felt compassionately compelled to feed thousands of people with only a small supply of food, his clear spiritual insight overshadowed the evidence of deficiency and brought to light sufficient provision for them all (see Matt. 14:15-21).

Instead of being caught up in the frightening statistics at hand and ahead, these individuals focused on the infinite presence and power of God, of good. In this spiritual infinitude of good, material quantities were relevant only as a measure of God's capacity to meet the need, proving that in the infinitude of Spirit there is always enough of whatever is required. By sincerely working out their own salvation through the Christ — the understanding of God's love for one and all — each of these people touched the lives of other individuals in need. Today we can do the same.

In the case of Jesus feeding thousands when just a few loaves and fishes were available, the Saviour was demonstrating the highest type of philanthropy possible for meeting human needs. He was showing his disciples (and us) the spiritual perception that sees, and proves, that there is an abundance present exactly where there seems to be a lack of what is required. To Jesus, it wasn't a question of how many people had to be fed but of how clearly he could bear witness to the true source of the food (or other resources) needed. The Saviour proved inexhaustible divine Principle to be the source of the needed provision — a source that is wholly spiritual and therefore limitless.

In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy pinned down the nature of the limitless, spiritual supply that Jesus proved. She wrote, "Divine Love alwayshas met and always will meet every human need." And she went on to explain that "the miracle of grace is no miracle to Love" (p. 494). The words "always will meet" in the first sentence hand like a beacon of promise over concerns about overpopulation. That phrase is based on the metaphysical fact, which guarantees that whenever a new need appears in God's creation, the provision required to meet it has already been prepared. And it echoes Jesus' proof that numbers are not the issue, but the fact of how incisively divine law can be prayerfully grasped and tangibly demonstrated through individual spiritual perception.

We can each strive to be a better perceiver of the ever-present provision Jesus proved. This is one way to play a part in bringing to light that sufficient resources are always at hand for humankind. It would be natural for this spiritual fact to be better and better recognized over the coming decades and centuries, to the extent that humanity's primary focus turns more and more toward spiritual growth. To the degree that humanity catches glimpses of the spiritual idea of supply that Jesus so thoroughly understood, boundless provisions that have always existed will be found forever sufficient, even if the realization of this ceaseless supply comes about in unexpected ways.

This recognition might help slow population growth. Or it might uncover practical solutions previously not perceived for meeting the needs of greater numbers, as happened with the so-called "Green Revolution" in the latter part of the last century.

I remember that as a new student of Christian Science, I once made a spiritually based decision to visit a friend, despite my not having money to get public transport home afterward. Just after I made this decision, I found a £1 coin lying on the sidewalk. It was enough to pay the needed return bus fare. At the time I considered this a very modest but, to me, deeply significant proof of divine Principle's ability to provide for an individual need.

Today, that single-pound coin might seem like a miniscule symbol of provision, at a time when billions of dollars seem to be needed annually to adequately feed the world's poorest citizens, let alone address the needs of future generations. Yet, according to the World Bank's estimation of what it means to be poor, only a single pound (approximately $2) is needed per person to make the daily difference between being in or out of extreme poverty in the poorer nations.

If God's love could provably — and practically — feed thousands under the watchful, heavenly gaze of Jesus, then surely the more modest prayerful efforts of all who are striving to follow in the Saviour's footsteps can support the daily provision for some family, somewhere in need, even where our charity donations might not reach. As we refuse to be blinded by the big numbers, and instead become more confident in infinite Love's ability to meet "every human need," individual by individual, we can expect to reduce and at some point even eliminate the fear that needed resources will run out. And we'll more readily perceive the infinite divine provision already at hand for everyone. CSS