On page 12 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mary Baker Eddy makes this pertinent statement, "We own no past, no future, we possess only now." And farther on in the same paragraph she adds, "Faith in divine Love supplies the ever-present help and now,and gives the power to 'act in the living present.'" To make the most of the present moment is indeed an achievement, a true Christian attainment. As one learns to do this, he is redeeming the past and ensuring successful progress.
It is sometimes beneficial and wise to review past hours, or to relate experiences of overcoming, that God and His healing power may be glorified, but clinging regretfully to the past or speculating idly or unduly about the future robs one of present joy. And however sincere one may be in his desire to rid himself of unpleasant memories, he makes little real progress until he accepts the great truth, taught in Christian Science, that since God is good and ever present, evil is not real, and never has been present.
Everyone is willing to be healed of present suffering and discord, but the mortal dream of existence, seeking to perpetuate itself, would hinder one's progress by enthralling the senses in dreaminess and phantom memories of unrealities. Sometimes the suggestion takes the form of longing for a repetition of past pleasures, thus tempting one to believe that there was a time when more of good was expressed than is now at hand. Again, it may appear as resentment for wrong or injustice from which one has suffered.
