OUR escape from the enslavement of material sense is made possible by the fact that Truth leads all the way. though our feet are yet within the territory dominated by error.
There are many temporary experiences and conditions incident to the advance of both the individual and the communal life, which render most important service as stepping-stones, when to tarry with them would be to sacrifice all hope of higher attainment. The training of an artist calls for the doing of many specific things in a consciously mechanical way which is the very antipode of that spontaneous freedom characteristic of masterly expression. The successive vantages of his schooling are, however, no sooner gained than they are surrendered because outgrown; they would prove an intolerable fetter out of their order.
In like manner, many things which have a necessary place in human progress serve us only as we pass on to better things. Their value is not intrinsic, but relative, and like mile-stones they record our forward movement only as we leave them behind. "An improved belief is one step out of error" (Science and Health, p. 296). To look upon physical strength as a basis of life or health is a very great mistake, nevertheless, the present advantage and desirability of a sense of normal physical conditions was abundantly attested by Jesus' manifold works of healing. He certainly would not have conferred physical sight if it had not been a blessing, as compared with physical blindness,nor would he, had it not been in the line of spiritual betterment.
