Do we mentally or audibly rehearse occurrences that have happened in the past, or that are going on at present, or that threaten to happen in the future? In other words, Do we ruminate? Ruminating is the animal function of mastication called chewing the cud. Usage has, however, given the word a more dignified figurative meaning, namely, to meditate, muse, or ponder.

Man, the real man, made in God's image and likeness, does not ponder evil, or error, because he knows it not. He is wholly spiritual, the reflection of his Maker, and is conscious only of what is genuine and good. In her definition of man in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy says, in part (p. 475): "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; the generic term for all that reflects God's image and likeness." She further says of man that he is "that which has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker."

So-called material man is a false concept of man, a concept which is given up as we gain the spiritual understanding of God and His creation in Christian Science. This understanding enables us to put off envy, fear, dishonesty, relinquish belief in material creation, dissipate mental darkness, and to express kindness, altertness, poise, and spiritual enlightenment.

Beginning on page 430 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy presents an allegory which illustrates the operation of the law of God, infinite Mind, and the supposed laws of matter. The author introduces the allegory with these statements: "A man is charged with having committed liver-complaint. The patient feels ill, ruminates, and the trial commences." The plea of Christian Science, however, obtains a verdict of "not guilty," for the charge of committing liver-complaint, and the defendant arises, healed.

In this and other instances when a mortal is confronted with charges of being an afflicted personality, the contributory ruminating process may be along one of these lines: "I am sick. The symptoms are the same as those given over the radio on program XYZ;" or, "I saw an advertisement of medicine recently which listed these very symptoms as indications of a serious disease." An argument that ensnares some otherwise alert Christian Scientists is, "This is a serious disease which could be met by Truth if I had sufficient understanding; but I fear I do not have the understanding."

These arguments are all claims of the carnal mind, and they can be mastered by the understanding that man is spiritual and perfect; he is not subject to disease because he unceasingly reflects divine light and intelligence.

Now suppose the person tempted with illness refuses to ruminate. This refusal should speedily put an end to the charge and forestall any trial. The claim of disease grows stronger when fed by rumination and disappears when one resolutely, because of his acceptance of the truth about man, refuses to accord disease any place, presence, or power. When tempted with disease, the alert Christian Scientist rises in God-given strength to resist and denounce the illusive claims of mortal mind regarding disease and joyously insists that the divine Mind is their master. His insistence on his right to freedom puts to rout the accuser, and the disease disappears.

Should lack of any of the many gifts of God to man, such as home, companionship, activity, and the like, appear in our experience, we should refuse to ruminate. Since God, good, is All and omnipresent, the apparent lack of good is a mistaken sense, a misconception of reality. Going over and over the lack accomplishes nothing; while acknowledgment of the truth of man's sonship with God and of the health and harmony incident thereto meets the human need. To understand that lack cannot possibly exist in the realm of the real is scientific and the effective remedy for limitation. It is well to denounce limitation and see its utter falsity. Man has, as the reflection of God, infinite resources, and our understanding of this scientific fact enables us to avail ourselves of the spiritual ideas that are always at hand to meet the human need.

Our world will advance more rapidly in the demonstration of peace and prosperity when all who understand the power of scientific right thinking refuse to ruminate over the condition in which the world appears to find itself and strive to realize the truth of God's ever-present, harmonious, universal government. Such realization will increasingly manifest His government in the affairs of men and nations.

Evil prophesying does not dignify our time. Mrs. Eddy recognized the error of predicting evil. In the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 1) she writes, "The members of this Church should daily watch and pray to be delivered from all evil, from prophesying, judging, condemning, counseling, influencing or being influenced erroneously." We should base all our predictions of things to come on the great fact that God is All and is good, and that His power is supreme. We should reject and denounce the claim of evil and refuse to accord it a semblance of power by rehearsing it.

When Christ Jesus said (Matt. 5:25), "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; least at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison," was he not admonishing us to recognize the claim of evil, but to refuse to be drawn into ruminating, or according reality to the unreal? The adversary can gain no ground in the consciousness of the one who instantly recognizes the claim of evil and refuses to dwell upon it.

Evil is unreal, without entity, and no amount of ruminating can aid us in seeing its unreality and in finding a way of overcoming it. The claim of evil to power is met by filling our consciousness so full of Truth and Love that evil disappears for lack of breathing space. Let us more and more ponder the fact of the allness of God, good, and the perfection of man and thus ensure our continued spiritual progress. Then we shall bring happiness, harmony, and peace into our experience and that of our fellow men.