"Good thoughts are potent; evil thoughts are impotent, and they should appear thus" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 252). In these words Mrs. Eddy indicates the sure way of salvation from all the consequences of false belief. Ideas of love, joy, health, abound in divine Mind; for we read in Jeremiah, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Since Truth alone is real, then omnipresent, true thinking is never for an instant suspended; there is never a moment when Truth cannot instantly free us from any error of belief. Spiritual man thinks by reflection. No mortal can originate any thought, either good or bad. That which is not Truth, or its reflection, is mere illusion, and should be dismissed as such. To the listener, ideas which purify, liberate, and heal are always present. When the world lay sleeping, only the devout shepherds, eagerly watching for the dawn, their faces to the east, heard the angelic host proclaiming, "On earth peace, good will toward men." Every one who steadfastly holds his gaze to the light will gain the reward of his right mental attitude. Self-pity and apathy are put to flight through alertness and industry.
Thoughts and feelings being so closely related, we shall cease to feel impatient, discouraged, or sorrowful, in proportion as we turn to Truth and cast out the thoughts which seem to produce this erroneous mental condition. Similarly, when the belief in sickness tempts us to feel ill, we should recognize that our problem and its solution are entirely mental. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood," the apostle says, and senseless matter certainly cannot wrestle against Spirit.
If circumstances seem discordant, our courage far spent, and even our health failing, let us honestly face this evidence of wrong thinking, and seek release through obeying this constant demand of divine Principle, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." Let no one mentally resist the demands of divine Principle, or delay his divinely natural redemption by indulging in false beliefs after their falsity and impotence-have been recognized. Truth's corrective action restores peace, joy, health. Divine Mind controls each individual spiritual idea, and our legitimate expectation should be to discard vague thoughts, and think and act truly, according to Principle. When Jesus spoke of the narrow way leading to Life, and the broad way leading to destruction, what was he illustrating, if not the scientific and true way of thinking versus the erroneous one, and the corresponding consequences? Through the fidelity of the few will come to pass the repentance and the redemption of the many. In the one infinite Mind there are not two ways of thinking; and so in reality, no matter how falsely error may seem to argue, there is no such thing as being "doubleminded." Through divine Love all may demonstrate that true thinking is the joy and privilege of every hour. Perhaps we may be tempted by the subtle lie that wrong thoughts can pass unheeded, since they are powerless. Scientifically speaking, they are indeed powerless to harm the idea of God, but so far as human experience is concerned, discordant belief undermines the health and harmony of all who willfully or ignorantly indulge it. In the twelfth chapter of Revelation Michael and his angels figure as mental warriors, waging the holy war in human consciousness; and the dragon and his angels, symbolizing the arguments of evil or matter, "prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven." Where Truth is reflected, Truth prevails. Sometimes the dragon seems to argue that the fears and the anxious solicitude of others can hinder the healing and general progress of students of Christian Science. When it is once seen, however, that it is what we think about others, and not what they think about us, which is of paramount importance to our growth, we shall quickly cast aside all weak excuses, and clean our own windowpanes in order that they may admit God's abundant light.
