In the Preface to her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. vii) Mrs. Eddy writes: "The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity." No greater blessing could be conferred on humanity than to teach men how to think rightly, and this Mrs. Eddy does throughout all her writings. The truth which Shakespeare glimpsed as in a glass darkly, that "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so," she saw clearly, and put it to the test of demonstration. Then she set forth the truth about God and man and the universe so that the student is no longer taunted with the age-long question, "What is truth?" but may learn to think clearly and scientifically about all things. This thinking is no mere random exercise of thought, but it is based upon unchanging Principle, so that its results must always be in direct accordance with unerring, divine law.
"Eternal Truth," Mrs. Eddy writes, "is changing the universe. As mortals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought expands into expression. 'Let there be light,' is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres" (Science and Health, p. 255). Therefore right thinking, that is, thinking in accordance with divine Principle, is constructive and confers harmony. What are the mental swaddling clothes of which she speaks but the beliefs of life and substance in matter which inhere in the human consciousness, binding it as with iron shackles? If during four years of war right thinking on the part of Christian Scientists was so essential to the unfolding of the true idea and the ultimate victory for Truth, it is equally necessary now that the thought of the world is turning to reconstruction, since active right thinking is the basis of all construction and reconstruction. The world as yet does not realize the might and power of Mind, and is still oblivious to the subtlety of the supposititious powers which obstruct progress; and so its lofty hopes and ambitions are frequently doomed to disappointment. Since every physical condition is primarily a mental one, and that not true in itself but a counterfeit of spiritual reality, it is only by the right thinking of those who spiritually understand, that these conditions can be rightly adjusted and the efforts of mankind be crowned with success. Only thus will the reconstruction of the problems of the world be based upon a sure foundation, for only in this way will it be founded upon Mind, the divine Principle of the universe.
One of the great specters which confronts mankind at the outset to cause confusion and delay is that of limitation and lack of supply as a result of the wastage of war. The world's standard of supply is matter, and until it learns what substance really is as taught by Christian Science, its standard will remain the same. Accepted at this standard, supply becomes an entirely uncertain factor in human affairs, contingent upon the state of the bank or the market, upon international relationships, and at the mercy of the unscrupulous greed and selfishness of the profiteer. One thing that has become more apparent during these last few years is the insubstantiality and instability of all material things; and as the unreality of matter and the all-ness and substantiality of Spirit are demonstrated in increasing ratio by Christian Science, this material instability will become more and more apparent, so that ere long the man of the world will be compelled to look away from matter to Spirit for a sure standard of supply.
