Desire and Fulfillment

Violet Ker Seymer

On page 9 of her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 Mrs. Eddy writes, "Strong desires bias human judgment and misguide action, else they uplift them." Christian Science lifts desire above illusion and human disillusionment into the mental realm of realization and fulfillment.

The Psalmist discerned the nature of God's will when he wrote, "Thou desirest truth in the inward parts." God's desire is law to His likeness; and since every law of divine Mind is resistless, and in perpetual operation, all that is really taking place is the perpetual fulfillment of God's purposes.

What, then, of the perverted desires of mortals, often carried headlong into discordant action? How may we rid ourselves of them? By knowing that they are illusory, unrelated to divine law or intelligence, and that they can therefore accomplish no good thing, even temporarily. Christian Science instills that love of divine Principle whereby we become genuinely willing to part with every false desire even as we would honorably part with a false coin and not attempt to pass it off as a true one. As we unconditionally surrender the false coins of material fear and material faith, and reach out, empty-handed, to the God of love, we for the first time grasp the spiritual treasures of health, righteousness, and peace.

Mrs. Eddy pertinently writes, "Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 1). Willingness to have one's desires molded and exalted involves giving up self-will and any debasing inclinations. This will not be regarded as a strenuous or distasteful task when the scientific fact is grasped that every desire awakened in us by divine influence is already at the point of fulfillment in spiritual man. In the consciousness of the Father-Mother God there is no thought of failure. Spiritual man is now expressing the health, holiness, and joy inherent in divine Mind, for man is Mind's own self-expression. Divine Love unfolds in its likeness everlasting life and perfect being. In human experience it may therefore be proved that every God-inspired desire is linked to the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniaction of divine Mind.

"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." The Master's words, "when ye pray," are significant. True desire is the very opposite of selfish, material desire: it is devout, spiritual, emanating from and leading to perfect Mind. Jesus further required one who prays to believe himself receptive to the answer to his prayer. This in turn involves silencing the arguments of the carnal mind to the effect that we are nonreceptive, unworthy, spiritually dull, or beset with doubt and indecision. Having arrived at the righteous motive in connection with our desires, and being watchful and obedient, the means for carrying them into effect will be made plain to us by the one Mind. There is no opacity in God's likeness, nor any resistance to the divine will, for man, knowing only good, is spiritually receptive. His consciousness is permeated with gratitude for God's blessings, which he is ceaselessly and perfectly manifesting.

Through Christian Science the mountains of sin, unbelief, and fear are being removed through faith and spiritual understanding, because, in the light of real being, error is seen as a phantom without power to hold its ground, since it has no ground to hold in the consciousness of infinite good. The Christian Scientist sets himself to realize that in reality he is in a perpetual state of right perception and receptivity, and that the faith, fidelity, and pure spirituality he so earnestly desires are already his in the sight of God. As God's child he is now free from the false sense of suffering, fear, cowardice, lust, or dishonesty. He is now blessed with the true health, righteousness, and peace eternally emanating from divine Mind. In Truth there is neither unbelief nor false belief; and no wrong desire can have any real existence or influence since there is no evil mind to prompt or perpetuate it. These absolute facts alone can compass the redemption of mankind.

The Christian Scientist may not be immune from temptation, but he is equipped to withstand it. Should evil desires attempt to attach themselves to him, he rises to see their lifelessness, lawlessness, and inability to turn him from the one spiritual attraction to which, as God's likeness, he is whole-heartedly responsive. Between God and His beloved image there is no barrier of time, space, or process, nor is there any need of afflictive experiences; for that which is born of God is everlastingly perfect and needs no regeneration. Spiritual man knows only the perpetual fulfillment of the divine purpose.

Violet Ker Seymer

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