Thinking is undoubtedly the most important activity in human existence, for it determines one's circumstances and directs one's way. Thoughts happify or sadden, enrich or impoverish, according as they are human or divine. How necessary it is, therefore, to learn in Christian Science that true thoughts in their pristine nature come from God, the only Mind, and can therefore not be interfered with by the evidence of the material senses. True or spiritual thinking is not swayed hither and thither by gusts of sense-experience, steered by the temptations of sin or self-will, or overshadowed by finite reasoning and argument. In the divine unity of God and man, every manifestation expresses perfect Mind and joyously radiates the priceless thought-jewels of Mind's bestowing.

As the individual gains this sense of higher spiritual thinking, intelligence, aptitude, endowment, which had seemed to lie dormant, or hidden under the belief in inherited limitation and restriction, are seen to be within the range of present use. Then the fear of failure and the incapacities of human nature no longer seem paramount and insurmountable in daily experience, for it is being understood that divine faculties and attributes emanate eternally from God to man. Mind is expressed, and man is the expression of Mind.

Did one but know the vast wealth of ideas hidden to material sense, but ceaselessly flowing from God and available to all, one would gladly relinquish the earthly possessions of selfishness and sin which seem to hang like a mist over human consciousness, limiting mankind's perception of divinely reflected abilities. How one would seek for the treasure, discard the dross of a false material sense of existence, and find the golden chord of harmonious thought and being! How joyfully the released aspirations and desires of humanity would then find their eternal source and with renewed inspiration flow forth to bless the world!

Questioning from the human standpoint, how is one to gain access to the living stream of divine ideas flowing from God, divine Mind? There is much which seems to bar the way, for mankind's thinking is clouded by materiality, by self-indulgence and fear. The Christian Scientist soon discovers that there is a price to pay if he would ally his thinking with the Science of Mind; for he cannot consciously partake of the "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb," while content to drink of the impure streams of the fleshly or carnal mind.

Christ Jesus knew the source of true thought, and in his sojourn here he demonstrated man's unity with that divine source. It is evident, according to the Gospels, that he knew he was the Son of God and that all power was given unto him in heaven and on earth. He not only knew, but proved, this tremendous assertion in his daily life—in his healing works, in the overcoming of human temptation, and by his victory over the grave. His goal was nothing short of heaven. Mrs. Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 314), "Our Master gained the solution of being, demonstrating the existence of but one Mind without a second or equal."

In her work as Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy likewise recognized the fact that the real man is consciously at one with Mind; therefore floodtides of inspiration poured into her waiting thought as she used her revelation for the salvation of mankind. She never doubted that the necessary faithfulness, persistence, and God-given courage would be with her all the way, to sustain her in her sacred mission.

Day by day the Christian Scientist denies the call of materiality, of the many worldly claims on his time and thought. He endeavors to rise upward into a purer thought-realm, to merge all his thinking into uninterrupted recognition of the eternal unity of God and man divine Mind and its manifestation. When fear, limitation, and sin present themselves, he quickly turns to the contemplation of the unchanging Science of right thinking. He remembers that there is only one Mind, from which all true thought emanates, and that evil, therefore, has no cause, no believer to promote its claims, no mind to which it can attach itself. Thus he allies himself with the positive qualities of divine Mind. On page 189 of the textbook it is written: "The human mortal mind, by an inevitable perversion, makes all things start from the lowest instead of from the highest mortal thought. The reverse is the case with all the formations of the immortal divine Mind. They proceed from the divine source; and so, in tracing them, we constantly ascend in infinite being."

The Christian Scientist need have no fear that his fount of inspiration and ability will ever diminish. It is only when he allows the belief in a mind apart from God to predominate in his thinking that freshness, newness, and power seem to decrease and the way seems to him dark and difficult. From experience the student learns that boundless ideas, heavenly bestowals, are always coming to light, and that as he partakes of and uses these ideas, his thought is proportionately enriched and beautified, and a wider, deeper experience is thereby manifested.

What beauties and endless treasures of thought are held in safeguard in Mind's eternal storehouse! In the sanctity of prayer new light dawns daily on the faithful student. He asks the Father for greater understanding of purity and love, in order that the power of reflection may be demonstrated and the transparency of man's holiness as God's image attained. Our Leader writes (Science and Health, p. 323): "Through the wholesome chastisements of Love, we are helped onward in the march towards righteousness, peace, and purity, which are the landmarks of Science. Beholding the infinite tasks of truth, we pause,—wait on God. Then we push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured, and conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory."