Somebody once said, "War is hell." And now somebody else tells us war can be grand. The first one, William Tecumseh Sherman, was speaking of the war of guns and death. The other one, Mary Baker Eddy, was speaking of the war with oneself—that is, the war with one's false, material sense of self. To quote her in full: "Be of good cheer; the warfare with one's self is grand; it gives one plenty of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with you,—and obedience crowns persistent effort with everlasting victory." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 118.}

When you're in the middle of this warfaring, however, it doesn't always seem so grand, but more often hellish, with little to cheer about. Why? Well, for one thing, without realizing it, we may find ourselves fighting along with instead of against devilish suggestion.

As Saul of Tarsus did. Certainly he was an outstanding example of fighting a wrong war. In his untempered zeal to preserve temple tradition and act as defender of God against the "blasphemers," he set out to destroy the infant Christianity. He imprisoned its disciples and even stood by when one of them, Stephen, was stoned.

Then the Christ broke through in his consciousness, and he was made blind. Blinded by Love? No, awakened to his spiritual blindness. Three days later the scales of much material belief fell away. Having won a battle in his war against the mistaken sense of God as wrathful and avenging, he was soon ready to fight on the side of God, Love, Spirit—on the side of His Christ.

Isn't it reassuring to know that one of Christianity's most determined, energetic persecutors was able to make a complete turnabout and become one of Christianity's most fearless, far-reaching evangels? This same turning-about can come to us, should we be fighting the wrong war.

Many believe that the important struggle going on is the one between races and nations; the rich and the poor, the corrupt and the incorrupt; the conflicting elements of nature. In Science we learn that the basic warfare is between the spiritual and the material—and Mrs. Eddy calls it "suppositional warfare." "The suppositional warfare between truth and error," she explains in Science and Health, "is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love." ^{Science and Health, p. 288.}

The conflict in individual consciousness of the spiritual versus the worldly sense of being can be seen, then, as a microcosm of the world scene. Whatever is going on—whether it's terror in the Middle East or fear's terror in our consciousness; drought in Florida or spiritual barrenness; the Mediterranean fruit fly in California or contagious belief in thought; the immorality in the world or the adulteration of the Word of God—whatever the picture, it has to be dealt with in individual consciousness. And our consciousness of Truth can be proved effective—at least in a degree—on the wider scale as well as on the smaller.

The conflicts that come into individual experience are those that are common to the world. The enemy is the Adam-belief, or Pharisee-thought, versus the Christ-spirit. Jesus had to face it. For even he had to do battle—with unbelief, spiritual dullness, lies, intrigue, betrayal, not in himself but in others. Yet he didn't fail to reach out to all mankind in hope and love—leaving to us all his heritage of sure defense: "I and my Father are one." ^{John 10:30.}

It is this unity of God and man that makes the warfare with oneself grand. The enemy—belief in incurable disease, aging, discouragement, fear, a sense of hopelessness, poverty—causes only a mental conflict, and mortal belief is not a spiritual fact of being. The enemy is not outside our realm of consciousness where we can't get to it but within consciousness, and so subject to God's control.

As Christian Science teaches, unity with God means that no matter where we are or what seems to be going on humanly, we can never be in any place, situation, or condition that is not under God's direct, intelligent, and correcting care.

All healing in Christian Science is the natural unfoldment to human consciousness of the spiritual man God has already created. Spirit reveals what we need to know that will lift us above the belief that we are suffering mortals or mortals at all. As we express the humility of the Christ, we will be able to look devilish belief right in the eye and say with at least some of the force of Christ Jesus' mountain-moving faith: "You don't exist in me, as me, or for me!" "Like the great Exemplar," Science and Health states, "the healer should speak to disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to master the false evidences of the corporeal senses and to assert its claims over mortality and disease." ^{Science and Health, p. 395.} This doesn't mean that the medical or worldly sense of man, which would take us as its target, is always overcome quickly or easily by the true sense of self.

A war has to be fought! We can't retreat before the enemy, or lay down our arms when life becomes tormenting or time seems to be running out in our individual experience or in the world. This is when we need to redouble our efforts. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," ^{II Cor. 10:3-5.} Paul wrote.

In Christ there are no losing battles. Even though the warfare between spiritual fact and material illusion may seem to be raging in your experience, it is comforting to know this: the warfare may be with a false sense of yourself but it is never waged all by yourself. Remember the biblical assurance (one among many): "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude [the multitude of world beliefs?]; for the battle is not yours, but God's." Or, as The New English Bible says it, "The battle is in God's hands, not yours." ^{II Chron. 20: 15.}

A hymn adds to this Christly weaponry:

With such unselfed standing and beholding, the warfare with oneself can be—is—grand. For when we fight the good fight—the Christ-impelled fight—persistently, and when we subscribe to the truth that our defense is as strong and sure as our love for God, there is our victory!