The answer to the heart's question whether life is worth living varies in veracity and value according to the individual outlook. When circumstances appear to favor the human sense of happiness and prosperity, life is thought of as well worth living, and strenuous efforts are made to get the most out of it. Yet not infrequently there is an undertow of fear lest one's possessions and happiness be taken from one by untoward circumstances. The individual who is uncertain of his anchorage knows little of abiding peace.
By contrast, the more serious-minded human type, inclined to severe self-discipline and censorship, looks for happiness in the unknown sphere sometimes termed "the hereafter," and for the present feels that life is "of few days, and full of trouble." In spite of his conscientious desire to live rightly, this one also misses the abiding peace which marks the presence of spiritual understanding.
Both to the seeker after surface happiness and to the joyless disciplinarian, Christian Science brings the assurance that life is worth living, and explains how this may be proved. One who is drawn to the study of this Science through some specific need, or else because of an undefined dissatisfaction with life, soon discovers that the quality of his thinking determines the quality of his living. He gains a new sense of values, and by sure degrees finds the old false pleasures, apprehensions, and depression yielding to joy and quietness of heart born of clearer vision.
