It has been said that people shouldn't let their stomachs become waist baskets. Simple enough to say. But sometimes even the strongest materially based efforts to discipline eating habits—well, those efforts fail. And even if a person "succeeds," he may feel that the constant struggle to keep from slipping into old patterns outweighs the value of the success.

We may need to reassess our entire approach. Maybe we're being called on to reach out in quite an original way. Prayer is entirely different from using various material remedies: pills, surgery, diet. But more than likely if you're faced with the challenge of overeating or overweight, and if you are a regular reader of the Sentinel, you already have been praying. Still, there are always fresh views for prayer, views that spark new insights into the nature of God and His flawless, spiritual idea, man. And it is the Christ, Truth, impelling a continuing development of inspired views that leads to a full solution for whatever besets us.

One new thrust might include a reexamination of what we hope to accomplish. The real issue is not so much what we are trying to lose; it's a question of what we really need to gain. Emphasizing a false sense of substance can contribute to pushing our lives—and our bodies—out of balance.

Perhaps one of our needs is for more faith. "But," you may wonder, "what does faith have to do with all those extra pounds? Do you mean I've got to have more faith that I'll lose some of them?" That's not the point; the point is that there's a direct relationship between one's state of thought and one's physical body. In order to understand this relationship, let's start with something the Bible tells us: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." ^{Heb. 11:1.} What are you hoping for? Better proportioned matter? Then you're not really dealing with substance. For a truly significant and lasting change to take place, we must come to grips with understanding what genuine substance is.

Physicality is not real substance; it is essentially a picture of thought. Matter is the visible effect of vacillating material mentality; it is not the outcome of concrete spirituality. We always make more headway when tackling a problem if we deal with thought rather than merely its effect. If we're going to pray for our state of thought, "faith" is a valuable starting point. What does that term imply? If we were to consider the original Hebrew word that underlies "faith" in the Old Testament, we'd discover it includes such concepts as trustworthiness, firmness, security, fidelity. And if we ponder the New Testament Greek usage, we may emphasize spiritual conviction, reliance on Christ, constancy. ^{See Strong's concordance .}

In very practical terms, it may seem quite a switch to begin thinking of spiritual conviction, for instance, instead of matter, as substantial. But that shift in consciousness must take place. Now look carefully at what such a change demands of us. Is there any flabbiness in our conviction that God, Spirit, provides the foundation for true spiritual identity? We can begin firming up and toning and strengthening our certainty that He is the basis of our being, that man is actually the very likeness of Spirit. We surely will find reward and satisfaction in this true understanding of ourselves.

Prayer might be described as a kind of exercise that shapes and molds our thought. Perhaps we'll discover the need for shedding trust or conviction in facets of materialism. Though prayer is not exhausting, it can require a great deal of us in persistence, stamina, spiritual determination (all deeply fulfilling).

Because the body does reflect thought, we find that it begins changing as we undergo a divine awakening to a more balanced and normal sense of substance. But we've got to be honest with ourselves in what we are hoping for. If faith—and all that it implies—is really the substance we hope for, then that substance will bring to our lives practical, meaningful evidence of symmetry, proper form, normal shape. Our progress in this direction rests on a love for God, on the recognition that the very source and essence of all true substance is Spirit and is beautiful; that man's real identity is spiritual; that matter is but the image of a limited, illusive mentality.

Mrs. Eddy was once asked how a person could be expected to disbelieve matter when carrying more than two hundred pounds of it around every day! She began her response: "By learning that matter is but manifest mortal mind. You entertain an adipose belief of yourself as substance; whereas, substance means more than matter: it is the glory and permanence of Spirit: it is that which is hoped for but unseen, that which the material senses cannot take in."

The real reason for reshaping and strengthening thought with the fresh basis provided by faith is to open consciousness to a clearer understanding of man's eternal spiritual identity. Mrs. Eddy describes this true goal in the latter part of her answer to the two-hundred-pound inquirer: "In Science, body is the servant of Mind, not its master: Mind is supreme. Science reverses the evidence of material sense with the spiritual sense that God, Spirit, is the only substance; and that man, His image and likeness, is spiritual, not material." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 47.}

There is a deep-rooted joy in temperance. But if intemperance—or any other factor—has contributed to excessive weight, we should never tack on the load of self-condemnation. Instead, the need is to throw off frustration and fear through the power of God.

As we grow in our love of Spirit, we find that reducing an adipose, an overweight, concept of ourselves is the natural outcome of an increasing faith, the substance of what we're truly hoping for. And this inevitably contributes to our demonstration of true being—man as God's spiritual idea.

NATHAN A. TALBOT