WHEN God said to Solomon, "Ask what I shall give thee," Solomon replied, "Give . . . thy servant an understanding heart, . . . that I may discern between good and bad." And the Bible further records that "the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing." All true Christian Scientists are also praying for an understanding heart; they too are longing to be able to "discern between good and bad" and thereby please God.
In spite of such prayers many of them are still wondering why their understanding does not increase more rapidly,—why they are not able more quickly and accurately to separate between the true and the false. May it be that one reason for this inability is that they are believing this understanding belongs to the head rather than to the heart?
For ages human belief, attempting to consider things mentally, has called intellectualism intelligence and has then denominated this supposed intelligence as the head, attributing to it the balance of power. It has at the same time named the affections the heart, often imagining the latter to be of far less importance than the former. It has therefore come to regard intelligence and the affections as separate activities, each largely if not entirely independent of the other, and both dependent upon matter.
