The constant fluctuation of human affairs between periods of unstable calm and eruptive turbulence points to the failure of materiality and its temporal attractions to bring true satisfaction to mankind. Whether the picture is one of international unrest or simply of variable human relationships, it is apparent that lasting satisfaction and permanent happiness find their source and perpetuity elsewhere than in mortal existence.

The following two quotations are most significant and helpful in the consideration of true satisfaction. The first is from the Bible. The Psalmist, declaring the ability of the children of men to place unfaltering trust in God, concludes (Ps. 36:8), "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures."

The second is a cogent statement by Mary Baker Eddy, in which she indicates the real origin and nature of satisfaction. She says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 60, 61): "Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real enjoyment."

Some years ago, through pondering and contemplating these two statements, a young Christian Scientist demonstrated true satisfaction in the realm of friendship. Although he attended a college in his home town, he did not make many friends. As a result, he began to feel dissatisfied and alone and became irritable and cross with members of his family.

One day, while studying Science and Health, he came upon the statement by Mrs. Eddy already quoted. Instantly the words, "abundantly satisfied," came to his thought. Taking his Bible Concordance, he located the citation from the Psalms, and then, armed with these two messages of truth, he set out to displace the darkness of erroneous, negative thinking with the positive, spiritual light of Mind.

That afternoon and evening the student spent in quiet prayer, declaring man's inseparable oneness with God, the source and substance of all happiness, completeness, and serenity. He saw that a realization of the absolute truth contained in Mrs. Eddy's statement would bring about a logical unfoldment in his experience of the right ideas of abundant bliss and satisfied living, as indicated in the passage from Psalms. Not humanly outlining any more, he continued on his way a much happier and expectant individual. His contacts with others in the weeks that followed became entirely pleasant and rewarding, and soon a beautiful and lasting friendship unfolded in a natural, normal way.

"Abundantly satisfied"! How each one longs for this state of wellbeing. Christian Science makes it clear that divine satisfaction is not gained through the indulgence of the corporeal senses—false appetites—for real happiness is the inevitable outcome of a consistent, unswerving reliance on the spiritual realities of Mind, which is devoid of matter. In the face of material attractions, the earnest Christian Scientist stands radically for purity. He does not rationalize error by way of excusing it. And, above all, he does not condemn or criticize another who has not yet demonstrated his freedom from certain enslaving beliefs.

Deep compassion, chastity, holy love, and joy-filled obedience are qualities which one needs in order to unsee the claim of a carnal mind sending forth its river of false pleasures—pride, covetousness, sensuality, intoxication, infidelity. Such errors stem from the spurious assumption that there are millions of little mortal minds, fragmentary, personalized egos—each searching and struggling for its own limited concepts of what constitutes true happiness and satisfaction. In the Science of being, there is only one Ego, one Mind. Mind's idea, man, is forever identified with Mind and with all that Mind sends forth. There is no division or deficiency in this Mind. Mind is the infinite All-in-all. Thus Mind's idea is eternally satisfied.

Faced with the necessity of feeding a vast multitude which had been with the Master for three days, the disciples asked Christ Jesus (Mark 8:4), "From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?" And the Master then gave to the ages that remarkable proof of divine Love's infinite ability to satisfy the human need.

Do we, as did the disciples, sometimes doubt God's ability to satisfy His children abundantly? Do we at times ignorantly turn to ineffective, material modes for the satisfaction which only an understanding of Truth can confer? In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy says (p. 135): "There is to-day danger of repeating the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel and asking: 'Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?' What cannot God do?"

Christian Science teaches that God is Soul, Mind, the source of all good; therefore, the goodness of Mind, manifest in health, holiness, and divine satisfaction, is forever omnipresent and available to all. From Mind emanates an infinitude of sustaining spiritual attributes, a veritable "river of . . . pleasures," of divinely satisfying ideas. Peace, love, joy, comfort, supply, friendship—all the qualities which contribute to one's happiness and unselfish satisfaction—find their origin in God. As the changeless reflection of Soul, man possesses a rich and unlimited inheritance of goodness. He does not lack. He does not want for anything. He is "abundantly satisfied" with the fullness of his Mind-constituted being and with Love's glorious, ample provisions for all.

In her Dedicatory Sermon for the original edifice of The Mother Church our revered Leader writes (Pulpit and Press, p. 3): "The river of His pleasures is a tributary of divine Love, whose living waters have their source in God, and flow into everlasting Life. We drink of this river when all human desires are quenched, satisfied with what is pleasing to the divine Mind."