There are many people in the world today known as displaced persons who through war have lost home and country and are seeking new ones where they may start life afresh and find freedom from tyranny and want. Even in lands of freedom and plenty there are many people who are looking for a better place in which to live and work.

Is it possible to lift oneself above discordant conditions into a more harmonious place, and does our thinking affect our position? The wise man of old answered these questions for all time when he said (Prov. 15:24), "The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath." The student of Christian Science sees the wisdom of these words, for he is learning that he must lift his thoughts above the material sense of existence, which tells him that he has been separated from God and has therefore known discord, lack, evil, into the true, spiritual sense of being. He knows that since God is infinite divine Mind, man, God's idea, really lives, moves, and has his being in infinite, omnipresent Mind. This is the only place where man can be, the only place where he ever has been or ever will be. The man of God's creating is an individual spiritual consciousness, the reflection of infinite divine Mind. Therefore man is always in a place of safety, of abundance, a place where all God's children dwell together in harmony.

Since it is a law of metaphysics that thoughts externalize themselves, the Christian Scientist early learns to accept and hold to the truth of man's spiritual existence as the reflection of God. One is always where his thinking is. If it is in accord with Love and harmony, he cannot be bound to a place where there is friction. He simply cannot know irritation, because Love is not annoyed or disturbed. If he understands and maintains that substance is infinite Spirit, always manifested in a wealth of spiritual ideas, he will not express lack, strain, or worry. If he acknowledges and is grateful for the good gifts which have already come to him from "the Father of lights," he will find himself continually satisfied. He will never be tempted to entertain a sense of lack or an unsatisfied longing.

Knowing that man dwells in the omnipresence of Love, one can never succumb to fear. Love's tenderness fills the real man's consciousness at all times, and there can be no fear in Love. Since God is Mind, man's at-one-ment with God must also include his at-one-ment with infinite understanding, even the spontaneous awareness of all that he needs to know.

The knowledge that man dwells in divine Mind protects from injury, infection, or disease. The understanding of this truth was sufficient to heal a little girl when to mortal sense she was unable to walk and showed other symptoms of an epidemic prevalent at the time. It was clearly seen that God's innocent, sweet, and pure idea could never be paralyzed; that it could not be infected with germs or disease; that as God's perfect reflection she was normal, free, harmonious in action, which is the birthright of all God's children. It required steadfast, persistent work in Christian Science to eliminate all fear, but the healing was soon complete, in proof that God's law of life, wholeness, and strength is always operating, keeping His children in perfect health.

The understanding of the oneness and allness of Mind and of man's spiritual existence and consequent safety is greatly needed today. It is the only real protection against the false processes of mortal mind, claiming to operate as law and to express themselves in beliefs of contagion and epidemic. This understanding will also protect one from mental malpractice, the belief that one can be injured by the false thoughts of others. Understanding our true selfhood as man, who at all times dwells in the one Mind, we can reject as utterly spurious the assertion that hypnotism, suggestion, will power, or evil domination is capable of harming us.

Self-righteousness, pride, intolerance, and the kindred traits of mortal mind evoke no fear in the alert student of Christian Science. Is not our work to know that thoughts of condemnation, malice, hate, and domination cannot influence one who knows himself as God's child? No more can fear, sickness, or death be accepted as real by the one who knows that since God, Spirit, is Life, man's life is not in matter; nor is it at the mercy of matter.

In the measure that the student maintains this position, based on Truth, he is defending himself in the most practical way against malpractice, or evil influence. Our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, tells us in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 234, 235), "Evil thoughts, lusts, and malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen, from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence."

The prophet Isaiah has voiced God's promise to all (Isa. 32:18), "My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places."