Article October 25, 2010 Issue

Inventive ideas and their divine source

BY TOM FELDMAN

OVER MANY YEARS OF WORK as a research engineer and from my study of Christian Science, I've learned that God's angel messages provide answers to solve many problems, including difficult technical problems. "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies," wrote Mary Baker Eddy in an article titled "Angels" (Miscellaneous Writings1883—1896, p. 307.) Such angel thoughts come to us when we are seeking answers, when we are really in search of a solution to a problem.

These angel messages have been inspirational in my work as an engineer, particularly when it comes to inventions. Part of the job of many engineers is to invent things—to make them better, more efficient, more durable, more cost-effective. Every invention—every thing—begins as an idea. Mrs. Eddy understood that good ideas are the basis of good things, when she wrote in Science and Health, "All things beautiful and harmless are ideas of Mind" (p. 280). In my career, angel messages have been the inspiration for many inventions, some of which have had sufficient market potential to justify patenting. Spiritual inspiration played a major role in one invention in particular: a new and easier way to carry a golf bag.

About 4 a.m. in April 1997, following a day when I had played on a difficult golf course, I was praying about the concern that fatigue had hurt my game. As I was prayerfully claiming my identity as God's image and likeness, and my freedom from fatigue, the idea suddenly came to me that there was a better way to carry a golf bag. The angel message came in this very practical form: "Add a hip belt to the golf bag, and this will take the weight off your shoulders and back." By the time I got up later that morning, the details of the invention were essentially complete in thought. This hip belt system invention was certainly an "inspiration of goodness," straight from the divine Mind, which would be a blessing to walking golfers. So, after conducting a patent search, I wrote the invention into a patent application, made drawings, and with the help of a patent attorney filed it in the US Patent Office later that year.