Progress and change. As I began to understand both of these from a spiritual standpoint, changes that brought improvement took place in my life. I have thought lately, "Can there be progress without change, and can there be change without progress?" The last ten years of my life indicate to me that when we are working earnestly in Christian Science, these two necessarily do go hand in hand and that they complement one another.

Prior to coming into Christian Science, I had little self-confidence and a scant understanding of my identity. I had difficulty seeing beyond immediate problems and had little hope for tangible progress. One of the ways this ignorance and this fear were evident was in my poor academic standing in high school. Of the eight hundred and sixty-four graduates in my class, I ranked eight hundred and thirty-second.

Then, as I began my early study of Christian Science, fears and limitations began dissipating. I was seeing God's law of progress in action. Two years after my learning of Science, I moved to Boston, Massachusetts. As a result of perceiving man's God-derived capacities, I found myself with the initiative and the ability to take advantage of the academic, religious, and cultural dynamics that city offers. One after another, the doors began to open.

At first I was somewhat embarrassed about my prior academic record and was apprehensive about advanced education. But I also had a strong and compelling desire for progress and change. So I began taking evening courses at a well-known university in conjunction with my full-time work at the Christian Science Center. This I did for one year, and to my surprise, I did well in my courses.

After due consideration, I resigned my job to go to college full time. Since I had such a poor high-school transcript and had taken only a few college courses, the university would accept me only on probationary status for the first semester. I was told that after that period my record would be reviewed. I did well that semester and was granted regular status.

For the next three years I attended school (including summer sessions), worked four to five evenings a week, purchased and managed a small apartment building, and at the same time helped take care of a family. In complete reversal of my prior high-school record, I graduated magna cum laude. This meant a lot to me. It was indisputable evidence that God's law of progress, along with my willingness to change, could turn around my life. It showed me that the suggestion and label of failure have no real power or dominion over man.

The progress I had made was a result of my spiritual growth during those early years of the study and application of Christian Science. During that time I read everything I could on Christian Science. I learned how to use the Concordance to Mrs. Eddy's writings, researching such subjects as God, Christ, understanding, education, progress, and Love. The spiritual inspiration I gained from this study, together with an increased sense of discipline, aided me greatly in doing my schoolwork.

Mrs. Eddy's book Science and Health initially kindled my desire for progress. This book, so well written, had many words I'd never seen or heard of. Whenever I read it, I had a dictionary at hand and would write down definitions of new words. And so after some months of study I had several pages of new word definitions. This initial foundational study contributed much toward demonstrating a higher degree of perception, discipline, and creativity than I had previously known.

Prior to my college years just described, I had Christian Science class instruction and also served in various activities as a local member of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. All of these steps were signs of change and progress. Before that time I had never been seriously involved in any type of religious, organizational, or committee work. It felt good to be of service where service was genuinely needed.

My healings of smoking and drinking (habits of eight years' standing), of taking medicine and illegal drugs, and of a compression fracture of the spine—all related in a 1977 issue of the Sentinel—have proved permanent.

There's a paragraph in Science and Health with the marginal heading "Practical Science," which lists some of the things this Science does for the sincere student. The last three sentences in particular have special relevance to the above-mentioned experiences. Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 128): "A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity." I find the verbs in these lines to be especially interesting, because they detail exactly what Christian Science does, and what it has done, to a certain degree, for me.

With increasing clarity I am understanding my real spiritual nature as man; and Science reveals that man is God's undistorted and exact reflection.

This academic experience and the lessons it has brought have increased my understanding of the fact that completeness, intelligence, health, prosperity, opportunity, and progress are God's will and law for all of us. We are in reality God's perfect spiritual idea, His image, expressing continual progress. This is demonstrable divine law.

GARY MORSE WALKER
San Diego, California