ON page 181 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mrs. Eddy writes: "Progress is spiritual. Progress is the maturing conception of divine Love; it demonstrates the scientific, sinless life of man and mortal's painless departure from matter to Spirit, not through death, but through the true idea of Life,—and Life not in matter but in Mind."
All sincere persons desire to make progress; all want to be farther along on the road to achievement; all yearn to be successful. But many persons, dissatisfied with their attainments, are frankly questioning their chosen means and methods, and are wondering whether they have found their true courses. They ask: Are we on the right track and headed in the right direction? Are we going forward, standing still, or losing ground?
"Progress is spiritual"! That is the premise everyone must eventually adopt; it is the fact everyone must, sooner or later, apprehend and apply. Why? Because God is the author, the originator, of all that really exists —all intelligence, wisdom, activity— and God is Spirit; hence spiritual causation underlies all genuine accomplishment. No one can make lasting progress without having some provable knowledge of Spirit and of spiritual things. To put it differently, he must have some exact or scientific understanding of ever present Mind and its ideas, and be able to express Mind. Since progress is spiritual, its potentialities and possibilities are unlimited and ever at hand.
