INTERVIEWER: There is a provocative comment on time in the book "Anxiety, a Condition of Modern Man." The writer, Jean Gebser, says: "The terrible phrase, 'I have no time,' is spoken far too often. How frightened those who speak these words would be should they realize that time is also life. Without realizing it they may mean by this sentence. 'I have no life. (Publisher, Dell Publishing Co., Inc., New York. N. Y. © 1962. by Editions Alpha. S. A., Geneva, Switzerland.)

Now everyone might not agree with that. But whatever time means to us, a great many people would like to have more of it. So what can we do when there just isn't enough time?

SPEAKER: Well. I don't agree that time is life. But there certainly are things that can be done when there just doesn't seem to be enough time. Perhaps a good starting point is to remember that everyone has exactly the same amount of what is called time. We all have the same twenty-four-hour day.

The answer to your question, then, is to make better use of time, to literally conquer its demands through a better understanding of God and His ever-present control of the universe. We find many examples of this in the Bible. To accept lack of time as a condition of modern living, make excuses about it or perhaps even take pride in it doesn't accomplish anything; it is self-defeating. That is why it is so wonderful to realize that the Bible gives the practical answer to every human need, including the need for dominion over time.

INTERVIEWER: Does this mean making time stand still, as the sun is said to have stood still on one occasion in the Bible?

SPEAKER: No. What I mean by "dominion over time is gaining release from the limitations and the tyranny of time, together with all the anxiety that goes with it. To the Christian Scientist, the important thing is not whether Joshua literally made the sun stand still; it is the fact that something very wonderful took place. There was adequate time to accomplish what needed to be done, and this was evidence of God's presence. Joshua's experience illustrates the deeply comforting spiritual truth that no matter how urgent the demands made upon us by turning to God, divine Mind, we can experience the immediate effect of His guidance in terms of fulfilling what needs to be done.

INTERVIEWER: Increased speed has cut down time too—the time needed to travel between London and New "York, for example. Time is now recognized as being relative. Is that what you're getting at?

SPEAKER: No, I'm speaking of removing the limitations of time through divine power as the Master, Christ Jesus, did in his healing of the sick and his feeding of the multitude. It was his recognition of the immediacy of divine power that enabled him to be instantly at the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee when he needed to be there.

This present availability of divine power is indicated in Jesus' words when he said (John 4:35), "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."

Jesus was using the field as an illustration. Wasn't he trying to get the disciples to see that it is not necessary to accept the age-old human concept of the limitations of time? In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 584): "The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God's day and there shall be no night there.'"

INTERVIEWER: The unfolding of good—that certainly is a different view of time.

SPEAKER: It may seem different to many, but it is actually the natural, normal, correct view of time when we understand that God is constantly unfolding to man the boundless energy of divine Life, the inspiration of infinite Spirit, the intelligence, prudence, and acumen of divine Mind. As the Bible states, man is God's likeness: he is totally spiritual and therefore always at one with inexhaustible good, which God unfolds. The understanding of the basic facts of God and man gives us a fresh outlook on our ability to conquer the demands of time.

An instance of this is the experience of a research engineer in California. When this took place, he was supervising a laboratory for a firm which produced gyroscopes and inertial guidance systems for missiles and manned aircraft. The company purchased an expensive instrument, a microhardness tester. But when a number of engineers tried to put the machine into operation it wouldn't work. There was an urgent need for the instrument, and this man was asked to attempt to calibrate its complex optical system.

Lack of both time and specific technical background made the assignment a highly challenging one. But as a Christian Scientist he knew that the Bible shows there is no time element or limitation in the good that God unfolds. So he turned to God for help, knowing that he could experience the presence of divine Mind, which meets the human need. As he worked on the project, he was led to take step after step until he came to a point where he found that an algebraic equation he had to solve contained two interrelated unknowns: that is one of the values would have to be known before the equation could be solved for the other. The situation looked impossible, but he didn't accept this. Instead, he tried more earnestly to experience, to recognize, the presence of divine Mind; to more consciously let good unfold through right ideas that come from God.

As he pondered these truths, he realized that a number was being impressed upon his consciousness. It was not just an ordinary number, it was a whole number plus a decimal fraction complete to the fourth decimal place. He felt sure that this was one of the unknowns in the equation, and it proved to be so. With the solution of the equation, the calibration of the instrument was quickly completed. The instrument was put into operation and has worked well ever since. Now, the significance of this is that the immediacy of God's help experienced by this man is available to all.

INTERVIEWER: Conquering time, then, is not simply making better use of time?

SPEAKER: Not simply that. It is important to be more efficient in the use of time; but mere human planning is not the answer. We need to recognize and avail ourselves of intuition and intelligence that have their source in God as that research engineer proved. Decisiveness and spontaneity—all ingredients of thought needed to overcome lack of time—are man's to express here and now. Whether we are rushed businessmen or a student facing midterms or a housewife with never-ending ironing, we can begin right now to prove this ourselves. I might sum it up by saying that we need to stop fearing or thinking lack of time and let good unfold day by day. We need to listen for and be receptive of divine ideas. To the extent that we consciously let God express Himself through us right ideas do unfold from the one Mind. God in practical ways, and then we really measure "time according to the good that is unfolded."