Many of the world's greatest discoveries have been unfolded to some one through the simplest of experiences. An event, perhaps of everyday life, which had never before meant anything, has suddenly been the means of opening up new vistas of thought. It is thus that Truth is ever revealing the beautiful, grand, and pure, so that all may sometime, and in some way, know and believe that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
One may walk past the same spot frequently for years and never note the beauty of nature which lies in the near background. Is it to be thought strange, then, that a young tree set out in the grounds of a Christian Science church should have occasioned much profitable food for thought, or be deemed peculiar that the lesson learned therefrom should not have been unfolded in some other way? Planted under what seemed to be just the right conditions, this sapling had developed into a scraggly looking tree. Shortly after a refreshing shower, the attention of some onlookers was directed to the spot where it was. It was at this time that there was seen to be something radically wrong either with the tree or the way in which it had been planted. The first impulse was one of condemnation. Seeing its appearance, it was very easy indeed to blame some one for not having properly prepared the plot where the tree was planted. Then it was realized that to condemn any one without question is not in accord with the teachings of Christian Science. Upon further consideration it was reasoned out that perhaps the sapling had grown until its taproot had met with some resisting obstruction which prevented it from obtaining its natural nutriment. Still further reflection, however, revealed that both of these arguments were erroneous.
Nurserymen have for years attached labels to small trees, bushes, and oftentimes, flowers. This is usually done by means of a copper wire, because it is very pliable and also resistant to the weather. This young tree had been treated in this way. Its forlorn appearance was due entirely to the restricting influence of the copper wire, which remained just as it had been placed, in spite of the fact that the tree had been developing and unfolding each day. To recognize what was the contributing cause of the impairment was the first logical step in remedying the difficulty. The next, and most important one, was to remove the offending restriction. When this was done, the change was noticed almost immediately. The tree is now a thing of beauty.
Are we not all very like this young tree? Does not the indulgence of a false material concept of life hamper us with restrictions, labels, and so-called laws? Are not these a bar to our natural unfoldment—the growth which is out of sense and into the sure realm of immortal Mind? Is it not these restrictions which we must discern by means of the spirituality which we have already attained? We must surely remove and destroy them if we would rise to "the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." This must be what Paul means when he says: "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."
Whether or not we gain that clear realization which was so demonstrably evident to Christ Jesus as to what properly constitutes man, the idea of divine Principle, the image and likeness of God, he nevertheless remains just as divine Mind made him. Every demonstration of the Master was based upon the infinity, boundlessness, and freedom of all that really exists—that which is. If we, too, would attain to that freedom from earthly restrictions which Jesus demonstrated time and time again, we must learn to discern the methods by which the belief we entertain in the power of evil seems to fasten upon us the many restrictions, all of which come from the ignorant belief that matter is possessed of life and intelligence. We must not blame any one for what we are doing, or where we find ourselves, although to blame is what mortal mind would have us do. God never made a single idea which was not for all time, eternity, just where He wanted it to be, and doing just exactly what He wants it to do. The only restriction which Principle places is the stringent one which is incorporated in the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
The copper wire symbolizes limitation, the suppositional opposite of infinity. We must learn to discern how unreal is the finite concept with which mortal mind, if unrestrained by a knowledge of Truth, would try its level best to retard or obstruct our spiritual unfoldment. How impotent, however, in the light of Christian Science, are its futile attempts to place restrictions and limitations upon every object in the universe. The wire had to be seen before it could be removed. We then need to learn how best to see, by means of spiritual discernment, with what the offending senses are making an effort to hamper and hinder. Once we detect it, we can effectively remove it in the way of which Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 392), "When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forgetting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance."
We saw, in the case of the growing tree, how the little wire was retarding its unfoldment. In the lives of men the hindrance is always some offending thought entertained, some thinking which has ignorantly been accepted as real and true, some concept which never had even the most distant relationship to Truth, God; for truth is of God, and what He made, the Bible assures us, shall be forever. "Christian Science," Mrs. Eddy says on page 68 of Science and Health, "presents unfoldment, not accretion; it manifests no material growth from molecule to mind, but an impartation of the divine Mind to man and the universe." On page 69 of "Miscellaneous Writings" she says: "Christian Science is the unfolding of true metaphysics; that is, of Mind, or God, and His attributes. Science rests on Principle and demonstration. The Principle of Christian Science is divine. Its rule is, that man shall utilize the divine power."
Unfoldment, then, is a perpetual process,—that is to say, without any retardation, resistance, or restraint. This is so, because it is of God, and whatever is of Him must inevitably be like Him. The mandate of Mind is ceaseless unfoldment. There is nothing in His kingdom which can act or operate in opposition to His unerring command. If we accepted no other creation than that which He made, we could never be hampered or hindered from unfolding in the right way. It is only because the finite conception of creation is accepted as God's, that mortals are forced to discern and remove the fetters, which at times seem as real as did the wire which choked the sapling.
The Bible is filled with lessons which prove that we must follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus if we, too, would do the works that he did. We must learn that the claim of evil is lessened just in proportion as we strive to discover what is impeding our spiritual progress. Having discovered the nature of the false claim, let us be active in removing the devastating theories from the mental realm in which we live. Then we will clearly see that a lesson is waiting us everywhere,—a lesson which will conclusively demonstrate that unfoldment is indeed God's unchanging law, which cannot be interfered with, nor hindered in any way.
