Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 458, 459): "Christianity causes men to turn naturally from matter to Spirit, as the flower turns from darkness to light. Man then appropriates those things which 'eye hath not seen nor ear heard.' Paul and John had a clear apprehension that, as mortal man achieves no worldly honors except by sacrifice, so he must gain heavenly riches by forsaking all worldliness." As type and symbol, what a valuable lesson mankind can learn from the flower of the field! If, perchance, a seed falls into some dark corner, as soon as it germinates it begins to grow out of the sod and push upward toward the light.
Because mortals, on awakening to the truth of being, seem to find themselves in the midst of materiality and surrounded by the darkness of material beliefs, that is no good reason for remaining there. When one is growing out of materialism, it is against fair logic to keep one's eye on the very circumstances from which he wishes to escape. Rather should he turn his gaze towards the indestructible things of Spirit. The enlarged human capacities of an individual who has turned his face towards the light of Spirit cannot be fairly measured by a material measuring reed. The reason for this is the fact that he is putting off the old and putting on the new. The casual observer may think that one should use his newborn understanding of Truth to become a greater partaker of materiality, but this is not true. One is growing out of materialism, not into it. This does not signify the neglect of material duties, but it means the fulfillment of human obligations in accordance with the law of Spirit. Outgrowth of the material is always accompanied by transformation, which must of necessity bring a better manifestation in human affairs.
When Truth is revealed to human consciousness, it changes the trend of the individual's whole career. It is the occasion for a testing time in the life of all mortals, as Jesus' parable of the talents, in the gospel of Matthew, shows. The servant who had received five talents and the one to whom two talents had been delivered increased their store of spiritual understanding. The law of spiritual activity had begun to operate in their consciousness. That is, on awakening to the truth of being they began to realize the temporal nature of material things and to value them simply as the apparently necessary provision for human needs. When burdened less with material duties they had not become more worldly-minded, but had devoted their time to learning more of the things of Spirit, thereby taking advantage of the opportunity afforded them by the Master.
