CAN YOU PICTURE a world in which corruption doesn't exist? Where there's no cheating on tests or taxes? No lust for money or power? Could there be a world so just that the only courts needed are "the courts of the Lord"? Where, as a Bible poet wrote, we enter only to thank God for His enduring truth, for the impartial wealth of His love (see Ps. 116:19 and 100:4).

Clearly, that isn't the way many perceive the world. In a survey conducted by CNN/Opinion Research after the disclosure of what may be the worst ever investment fraud scheme, CNN reported that 74 percent of Americans believe that such "behavior is common among financial advisors and institutions" (David Goldman, "Americans think [Bernard] Madoff's behavior is common—poll," December 23, 2008).

Incidents such as France's Societe Generale trading fraud in 2008, along with financial and voting fraud in Europe's former communist states, point to the global reach of corruption. But in the US a skein of corrupt acts by elected officials, arcing from New York (a governor ousted in a prostitution scandal), to Illinois (a governor arrested for attempting to sell a senatorial appointment), to Alaska (a senator convicted on federal ethics charges), has painted a particularly unpretty picture.

Still, a corruption–free world is something much more than a moral fantasy. In the midst of a corrupt world in his day, the prophet Isaiah perceived the "peaceable kingdom"—a world without violence and competition for resources, with no predation or destructive impulses (see Isa. 11). And while exiled on the Aegean Sea island of Patmos, John the Revelator wrote of God showing him "a new heaven and a new earth"—the "new Jerusalem," free of death, sorrow, and pain (see Rev. 21).

Were these visions only idealized hopes for a distant victory over evil? Or predictions of a coming end–of–the–world dispensation? Or perhaps, encoded messages intended only for people of their own time? Or none of the above?

What if, instead, those two visions are windows to a fundamental truth—a world of spiritual integrity, which exists right where corruption appears to thrive, but goes largely undetected, and consequently, experienced only by degree? Commenting on John's revelation, Sentinel founder Mary Baker Eddy asked, "Have you ever pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?" In a passage indicating why people fail to perceive the divine wholeness, she continued: "Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true spiritual growth" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 91).

Corruption can't be blithely dismissed. It will take a struggle for awakening, character course–correction, and hard–won spiritual advancement before human thought fully aligns with the Bible's counsel: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (I Cor. 15:53).

Christian Science enables one to see and experience the world more as the ancient prophets discerned it. It offers means to "put off" the corruption model of life bound by the new/old condemnations of original sin and biological determinism. And the means to know God as universal Principle and sustaining Love, the Creator of a wholly good and spiritual creation.

It was just such spiritually enlightened vision that enabled Christ Jesus to save sinners. He freed people from darkened, distorted views of themselves, and in the process cured their physical deformities. A widely despised and probably corrupt tax collector named Zacchaeus experienced spontaneous moral remission—a restoration to his innate goodness and honesty—through his encounter with Christ (seeLuke 19). Jesus saw through the mental prison of corruption to the actual man or woman of God's making, and that vision brought healing.

The healing of the whole global community today begins in individual lives, with Christ–leavened views of selfhood and substance, with improved desires and step–by–step victories over corruption in all its forms. Indulging in corrupt thoughts or desires fosters ignorant or willful bad behavior. Even minor forms of corruption, such as the tendency to use crude language—what the Bible calls "corrupt communication" (Eph. 4:29)—point to states of thought that we can begin correcting as we tackle the more blatant signs of corruption.

Those who pray for the world can mentally support humanity's instinctive love of honesty and fairness. While the CNN poll we've quoted probably accurately reflects public reaction to corrupt behavior, we believe perceptions belie the underlying truth: that the vast majority of people are honest. That said, guarding against fraud will require greater vigilance.

Spiritual magnetism—the pull to grow spiritually, the impulsion to do the right thing in all circumstances—is immeasurably more powerful than the animal instinct to defraud and harm. We have a divine right not only to see the very "new earth" that the prophets saw, but also to see uncovered and corrected whatever falls short of creation's true nature.

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