CHRISTIAN SCIENCE finds us in the wilderness of material sense. A certain amount of suffering may have preceded the appearing to us of the truth. Or else we may be in the possession of what is regarded as health, may have an assured position in the business world, and yet have arrived at the conclusion that something is amiss; that we are not getting out of life what we had promised ourselves. We take note of our neighbor to see how it is that he is solving his problem of living, and often find that he is doing it through Christian Science. Having reached the place mentally where we not only recognize that we need salvation, but are willing to make sacrifices to achieve it even in a moderate degree, we too take up the study of this Science.
We ask ourselves, What is it from which we need to be saved? A cloud of dissatisfactions, which disturbs our serenity, has appeared on our mental horizon. We begin a searching mental analysis, and presently the answers commence to appear. We need to be saved from criticism of our neighbor, from seeing evil when there is good to be seen, from unrest and wrong ambition, from the temptation of depression or irritability, a jealous outlook, or, maybe, from belief in inability to sell goods. These accusing shadows cross our mental horizon like figures on a screen.
With a sense of dismay we behold these familiar evils of disposition which we had considered petty and inconsequential and, moreover, an integral part of us, being unmasked as mental conspirators—enemies that sit as advisors in our innermost mental conclave. Thoroughly awakened to a need for regeneration, we again inquire what this religion will do for us, and learn that it will turn our thoughts into healthy channels.
