In classical mythology there is a story about a man named Tantalus, who for his sins was condemned by the gods to perpetual hunger and thirst. Although he was placed in the middle of a lake, and the water was up to his chin and although the finest fruits hung before his eyes, both water and fruit always receded when in his yearning he tried to partake of them.

Have not many of us at some time felt akin to this mythical mortal when, to human sense, our own aspirations and desires have been cruelly thwarted by a power seemingly beyond our control? How fortunate, indeed, are those who have learned through Christian Science to see frustration and unfulfillment for what they really are—myths of mortality, which have no part in the life of man, the beloved child of God, immortal Mind!

Mrs. Eddy makes this point clear on page 531 of Science and Health. Here she writes, "The mythologic theory of material life at no point resembles the scientifically Christian record of man as created by Mind in the image and likeness of God and having dominion over all the earth." When we learn to reject the "mythologic theory of material life" as having no influence on us and claim our dominion as the reflection of God, no power on earth can prevent us from experiencing good.

God's holy purpose for His child is described in the Bible as the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God. Mrs. Eddy defines "Kingdom of Heaven" in Science and Health as "the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme" (p. 590).

This definition is correlative with the words of Jesus, who gave a startling response to the Pharisees when they pressed him to prophesy the coming of God's kingdom. He said (Luke 17:20, 21), "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

Within each one of us is the ability to show forth the reign of God already going on—to show forth the power of Truth, the order of Principle, the intelligence of Mind, the gentleness of Love, the affluence and beauty of Soul, the perfect substance of Spirit. The will of God for His children is the expression of this good.

The government of God, divine Principle, operates to maintain this perfect will. His law is operating continually, and because He is omnipotence and omnipresence, there is no contrary force which can obstruct, retard, or halt the beneficent action of this law. God's law is the law of fulfillment.

A young woman once proved this when her desire to attend college seemed thwarted by insufficient funds. The desire itself seemed a right one and the choice of a college, God-directed. Because her need for funds was great, she applied for financial aid at the same time that she applied for admission, then prayerfully and eagerly awaited news regarding both.

After many weeks, the news came: she had been accepted as a student, but was named an alternate for the requested aid. Her disappointment was keen, for without the aid college seemed impossible; but she refused to yield to discouragement. Then one day a letter came announcing that she had been designated as the recipient of a special, unsolicited fund to help her obtain her education.

Grateful though she was, this offer was too small to meet her full need, and for a while she was tempted to think of herself as being in the position of Tantalus: with good almost within her grasp but eluding her. During these moments of discouragement, however, the words from a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal came to her, and she sang them as she went about taking the necessary steps to prepare for college (No. 374):

Her acceptance of the truth of these words was rewarded several weeks later. An alternate scholarship became available and was added to the other fund. Thus when she entered college in the fall, her need had been met abundantly beyond any human planning. This evidence of divine Love's care proved to be only the beginning of the unfoldment of good in her academic experience.

Neither the sinful mortal, his eternal torture, nor the vengeful gods in the story of Tantalus ever existed outside the myth itself. Thanks to Christian Science, which reveals the inseparability of man from his loving Father-Mother God, we need never be deluded into accepting the myth which says that man is a mortal, subject to frustration, lack, or other discords.

Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 339), "As the mythology of pagan Rome has yielded to a more spiritual idea of Deity, so will our material theories yield to spiritual ideas, until the finite gives place to the infinite, sickness to health, sin to holiness, and God's kingdom comes 'in earth, as it is in heaven.'"

The bright hope of heaven, harmony, is not something dangling just beyond our reach. It is within the grasp of the present understanding of each one of us, for good is the very essence of man's being, as the image of God, and fulfillment comes with the recognition and acceptance of this spiritual fact.

This ever-present good is demonstrable now in the individual experience of each of us when peace, health, supply, right activity, companionship, home are understood in Science as included in the completeness and perfection of man, the compound idea of infinite God, good.

To all those striving to see the fulfillment of a right desire, Jesus has given this gentle benediction (Matt. 5:6): "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."