EXPERIENCE was once defined as "chiefly mistake," and in so far as earthly experience goes, this definition is apt to be exact; for through the correction of mistakes, humanity elects to learn its lessons. The starting-point of all true experience must necessarily be spiritual. Principle's divine prerogative is to point the way, and in so far as we follow this leading, experience is purified, mistakes are minimized. The sincerest desire to adhere to Principle in our life-course may for a time be frustrated by the intrusion of human opinion or mental suggestion, which parades its shallowness close to the sacred precincts of accepted truth, and thus it may deceive the superficial thinker.
To see clearly on any subject it is necessary that the mists of mesmerism be dispelled by persistent, methodical work; side issues should be waived, and the main point be held to. So may we hope to distinguish the voice of Truth from the suggestions of error. At first this appears to be difficult, but a sure reward is ours through faithful application to the task.
Like all that is divine, the chief characteristic of inspiration is continuity, and whenever this seems to be lacking in our lives, it is because our imperfect effort reaches but intermittently that altitude whence flows the stream of living truth. There is no cessation in the quantity or the quality of the inspiration, but wrong mental conditions will prevent our profiting from Truth's outpouring. Mental suggestion does not, like Truth, need to be diligently sought; it intrudes itself unceremoniously upon thought and tries to dominate it. Its tactics are irregular and spasmodic, and in order to justify itself, mental suggestion inculcates its erroneous propositions along the lines of thought most familiar to its victims and strives to still suspicion by calling that original which is only a counterfeit.
Many sincere and earnest students suffer temporary beclouding of their mentality through this effect and have been temporarily diverted from the one purpose. Through the garden of Gethsemane they struggle back again into the heaven of holy inspiration, recognizing and analyzing their experiences in their true perspective. If, as our Leader bids us, we stand "porter at the door of thought" (Science and Health, p. 392), the myrmidons of false suggestion will have no power over us, though they throng the maze of mortal mind, entrapping the unprotected, and snaring the innocent with false promises and the devil's own tool, discouragement.
Tennyson has sung that a mortal's "crown of sorrow is remembering happier things," but many could tell of far greater anguish. When we ourselves have groped our way through dark places to the light, and rest in the peace of Truth's sanctuary, sometimes we must stand aside and watch while those we love most stumble, weary and wounded, in a battle which need never have been fought if the Science of Life had been studied and understood, if Principle had been intelligently applied to the situation. All we can do is to pray that the Light which never has failed, and never will fail, shall comfort and succor them.
To all pilgrims this age affords the same promise through the discovery of Christian Science, which makes plain the straight and narrow way. Tradition, however, has decreed that experience of a chastening and grievous nature alone can educate and enlighten mankind; therefore are the valleys of pain still filled to overflowing with those who perceive not yet the "more excellent way." All day, every day, every moment, Truth proclaims the highway of Love for those who can hear its voice; but mortals drift blindly on in wrong directions, and weary bands of footsore pilgrims still retrace the beaten paths of the dream of life in matter.
Want of confidence, or in other words ignorance of God's allness, complicates our decisions, whether it be in details or in the more important problems which we have to meet. Mistakes are made because we allow thought to be swamped in the mire of minor considerations, and we do not keep in the main road of Spirit. We are mesmerized by the fleeting moment, or persuaded by the pedlers of unprofitable wares to fill the storehouse of our thought with rubbish. These experiences eventually entail a radical uprooting of weeds, some baneful, all worthless, springing up in the secret places of consciousness and striving to hide the beauty of Love's golden flowers.
The lessons of experience are learned only by those who look for the reason of discordant conditions within themselves, and who do not blame every one and everything for the mistake sometimes recognized but seldom traced to its true source because of ignorance and pride. Sometimes "until seventy times seven" must we wrestle before humility with its meek wand dispels the clouds encumbering us and our account with Truth is accurately balanced. This process of purification through correction of wrong action consequent upon wrong thinking, demonstrates conclusively that what mankind calls experience (chiefly mistake) need not take place, if we were sufficiently wise and enlightened to find the path of understanding without it. Its only seeming necessity is the mistaken belief that without mortal experience progress is impossible.
The mariner who guides his ship through currents and hidden rocks, does so through his knowledge and study of a chart. If he did not have the chart, he would learn only through running his ship on these rocks; or, being at the mercy of the currents, he would lose his course, with possible loss of life as well as of his vessel. But since the chart exists, he should avail himself of the information contained in it, and having proved the value of these directions in fair and foul weather, he should gladly and obediently follow them. The Bible and the Christian Science text-book are our charts, wherewith we may learn to avoid the dangers of sense and by degrees gain some knowledge of the infinite possibilities of man as divinely equipped and strengthened.
What we need to learn is the value of poise. The rudderless ship drifts inconscquently, hither and thither. When our life-purpose is defined in the desire of unity with good, in consecrated service, we gain a mental poise which neither rocks nor adverse currents can affect, because it is directed by infinite Truth and cannot respond to any other signal. Our calculations will then be purely spiritual and "each successive stage of experience" will truly unfold "new views of divine goodness and love" (Science and Health, p. 66), thus bringing us nearer to those "many mansions" prepared for us in our Father's house, where nothing can ever happen save that which is everlastingly good.
