One does not make marked progress in a business, art, or profession without the conviction that the work in which he is engaged is of positive value. One also needs the conviction that it is necessary to understand his subject, strive steadily to deepen his knowledge of it, and work with genuine sincerity of purpose according to rules underlying it. The need of these convictions applies as well to religion, but generally speaking religion has been regarded as belonging to the realm of mysticism, creeds, ceremonies, and blind belief, in which reason and intelligence have little or no part.
Mrs. Eddy's discovery, Christian Science, reveals in the teachings of Christ Jesus exact, spiritual Science. In this Science is given a religion which is the demonstrable Science of living. Because it is both spiritual and demonstrable, this religion demands of its adherents growing spiritual activity. Thought must emerge from the material sense of things to the spiritual, rise above belief to demonstrable understanding.
One who accepts Christian Science through blind belief, but has not the conviction that it must and can be applied to each human problem, is in a hazardous position. Our Leader says in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 54), "There is danger in this mental state called belief; for if Truth is admitted, but not understood, it may be lost, and error may enter through this same channel of ignorant belief."
