"There is irony in all of human experience and no less in the solutions to the problem of disappointment. The deepest irony of all is to discover that one has been mourning losses that were never sustained, and yearning for a past that never existed, while ignoring one's own real capabilities for shaping the present." ^{"Management of Disappointment," Developing Executive Leaders, eds. Edward C. Bursk and Timothy B. Blodgett (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1971), p. 34 .} So Abraham Zaleznik concludes his psychologically oriented article "Management of Disappointment." What is the solution Christian Science offers to such ironies of human experience?

First we may need to acknowledge that real peace and lasting happiness cannot be found in a fleshly view of life. Only a scientific, practical understanding of God assures us of true satisfaction. Mrs. Eddy writes from her own experience before her discovery of Christian Science: "The trend of human life was too eventful to leave me undisturbed in the illusion that this so-called life could be a real and abiding rest. All things earthly must ultimately yield to the irony of fate, or else be merged into the one infinite Love." ^{Retrospection and Introspection, p. 23.}

The importance of living in the present, in the nowness of God's goodness, is made clear when we study Christ Jesus' teachings in the light of Mrs. Eddy's writings. God is eternal, and man is His eternal witness. Eternity is not measured by time, by past or future. Jesus said, "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." ^{John 4:35.} And Mrs. Eddy explains: "Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in proportion as the other is recognized." ^{Science and Health, p. 468.}

God's goodness is the present fact. It is not lost to the past or confined to the future. Jesus told us to "lift up" our eyes. Through prayer and study we can increase our understanding of God's present goodness as the only reality—and of man as representative of this fact.

As we come to know our true identity, we relinquish the limited, fearful sense of a mortal selfhood separated from God, functioning in a time world. Then we can rise above a nagging sense of disappointment, which must necessarily be related to the mistaken sense of oneself as a mortal.

As we increasingly perceive God to be the perfect Principle of everything real, we learn that, in reality, there is no loss of good, no past, no uncertain present, no fearsome, unknown future. Our true and only being is inseparable from Him now. We eternally function at the standpoint of God's knowledge of us—and He knows us as perfect.

The actual good we localize in yesterday never was material and mortal, doomed to disappear. It is immortal, ever present in the one Mind that is God, and it may be claimed today. As for the darkness of a material past—lost opportunities, unfair "breaks"—this is counterfeit history, because mortality in all its phases is never known to God or to the man He made.

The Bible tells of many who overcame potential failure and disappointment by turning radically to God in crises. For instance, after laboring to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, Moses was faced with the Red Sea, an obstruction that could have wiped out all his previous efforts. To the Israelites, who were already accepting defeat, Moses said: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." ^{Ex. 14:13, 14.} Such strong, understanding trust in God let the Israelites pass through the sea on dry land, and disappointment was turned into a remarkable victory.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus yielded to God's will rather than to discouragement, and the magnificent victory of the resurrection followed. On the bleak island of Patmos, at a time that could have been filled with disappointment and loneliness, John experienced the spiritual vision recorded in the book of Revelation.

We, too, can gain the spiritual perspective that enables us to overcome mortal mind's suggestions of separation from God's present goodness. The solution to disappointment and its supposed causes lies in turning to the nowness of God's presence, to a confident acknowledgment of our oneness with Him. We find a satisfying use of our God-given capabilities, which, in turn, enables us to see increasingly the present harvest of God's eternal goodness.