Mrs. Eddy says: "Perfection is not expressed through imperfection. Spirit is not made manifest through matter, the antipode of Spirit" (Science and Health, p. 72). A consideration of the modus operandi in any and every case of true metaphysical healing will confirm this statement. So too if we trace the history of many of the discoveries in so-called physical science, we get an interesting parallel.

Every discovery in physical science overcomes in a degree a sense of limitation, and as a result the world records progress. An interesting and instructive fact to be gained from the histories of the world's greatest discoveries, is that the ideas which have led to the discoveries, have usually come from a very unexpected direction; they have dawned while the discoverer's thoughts were engaged upon quite different matters. For example, when Watt, watching a kettle of boiling water, perceived the idea of power as manifested through steam, he was not searching for a means to overcome the resistance of wind and waves; yet it was this very thing which made his discovery of such value to the world. Previously navigation had been hazardous, because the world's limited knowledge had made it dependent upon sails and wind for crossing the seas; but with Watt's discovery in quite a different field of thought the liberation came,—not through fighting and overcoming wind, but through the overcoming of ignorance of a so-called motive power which was already existent and at hand.

In a similar way we do not try in Christian Science healing to fight disease materially, but we seek in quite a different field for knowledge of a power which is ever present, at hand,—the knowledge of the truth about God and man. This knowledge makes us free from the limitations of belief in matter, with its effects of sin, disease, and death, so that they have no further power over us, and we are free to sail the seas of life untouched by the winds and waves of discord. One can well imagine that those who did not understand the newly found steam power would regard it with fear or superstition or prejudice, and would remain limited by their ignorance, subject to what they believed to be laws of winds and waves. Many of us were in a similar bondage until the light of spiritual understanding revealed the falsity of our fetters.

In the sixth chapter of St. John's gospel we are told how Jesus overcame a tempest of wind and waves through knowledge of a spiritual law,—very different from the so-called physical law which governs the action of steam. His higher knowledge of God and the universe, including man, placed him out of the reach of the limitations of wind and waves, and enabled him to walk on the sea, still the wind, and transport the ship to shore without delay. Christ Jesus said: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also," and therefore we may rejoice always that we can each hour learn more of Truth, of reality, of that which always has been true but of which we have been ignorant, and so escape from the bondage of discord of every kind. Mrs. Eddy says, "Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way" (Science and Health, p. 326).

We thus realize how truly loving a practitioner is when, instead of listening to a long account of suffering and symptoms, he gently turns our thoughts into quite different channels and seeks to unfold to us the truth about God and man, including the universe. At first the one seeking help may think the practitioner has lost sight of the difficulty in question, be it pain or poverty, and that therefore he is not being healed; but as the good news which the practitioner is able to unfold to the patient opens his hitherto blind eyes, so that he begins to look at everything from a fresh viewpoint, he finds that his former troubles vanish in the light of understanding, for they were but ghosts in the darkness of ignorance.

The wise man said, "Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it." When discord ceases to have any place in our consciousness, it ceases to exist for us and we learn what it means to be subject only to the law of harmony. We should never believe in the reality of aught that Truth destroys. The belief that discord exists is all there is of the discord—just a false belief. Our business is to turn from it and learn what is real,—perfect Love and perfect spiritual man. Paul asks, "Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?" We are masters of our own consciousness. All we need is with true humility to wait upon divine Love, that we may gain the understanding of reality; and God never fails us, nor does He bestow sparingly. We cannot depend upon another to do this for us.

When we gain the true idea we immediately act upon it, for it is part of us, and also for the reason that Truth is ever active. Because we understand that parallel lines do not meet, though the material senses tell us that they do, we act upon our understanding and build trains to fit rails which always run on parallel lines. In the same way we know that earth and sky do not meet on the horizon, and we act accordingly. These false suppositions of material sense do not enter our consciousness, and do not influence us in the slightest, because we have been delivered from them by knowledge of the truth. With the growing understanding of reality, of God and man, we are influenced less and less by material beliefs; they enter less into our calculations as we enter upon our inheritance and respond to the eternal law of Love and harmony.

In acquiring a knowledge of Truth we need to remember that there is no such thing as "near enough." There are degrees of evil, because evil has no principle; but God's ideas are altogether perfect under all circumstances, for they are of infinite Mind and we know them by their immediate fruits. There may be many mistakes about one truth, but none of them will help us in the slightest. "Near enough," however near, is of no avail. Thus in healing the sick who are in bondage to false beliefs, Christian Scientists do not strive to improve the material body, but to unfold that understanding of the facts of existence which will dispel spurious beliefs and replace them with what is true. In a similar way, death is overcome through the realization of life as eternal. Since the facts of life express absolute harmony, so also will the seeker for truth, as he acquires this knowledge; and this harmony will be manifested in every department of his life,—physical, mental, and moral.

We see how useless, nay, what a hindrance it is to outline in thought the material effects we are hoping to see manifested. Such material thought can never produce healing, and mean while there is waiting for us that truth about God and man which makes free. Let us never forget the Master's command: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."