A business man who is working out his daily affairs through the application of Christian Science, is sometimes tempted to think too much of the complex details of each problem, and not enough of the basic idea manifesting Principle. Many business investigations and reports are confused by a mass of facts and figures which in themselves may be highly interesting but which may not reveal the truth of the situation, for statistics and specific data, including examples, comparisons, and other devices of minute analysis weigh as nothing against a single metaphysical truth.
An illustration of the presentation of complex details in connection with industry is what is being published about the dye industry. The discussion of the problems in this industry is interesting, and the detail analysis may, of course, lead to the discernment of the solution; but the point that the student of Christian Science must recognize is that it is the discernment of the truth that counts, not the consideration of the material details. In this industry it has been believed that the extraction of the dyes leaves quantities of material which can be used only for the manufacture of explosives. Now this is an illustration of how an inductive method of investigation may result in a belief of extreme limitation through the continuance of evil, for if there must be great quantities of explosives as by-products, then some use for these explosives must be found. Arguments such as this are not conducive to the turning of swords into plowshares.
Christian Science teaches that discernment of Principle, and of what Principle includes, is manifest as constructive and not destructive activity. Therefore, reasoning in accordance with the divine Mind must enable one to prove the true utility in place of any false belief. In other words, there must be the right and constructive use for the by-products of dyestuffs, just as there is for alcohol, or what alcohol has been made from.
