In various parables Jesus emphasized the need for mortals to overcome the desire for the accumulation of material things, a mental state as common to humanity then as now, in order to gain spiritual riches, the spiritual understanding of God and His universe, and to lay hold of lasting treasure, eternal life. The rich man in the parable, whose grounds had brought forth so abundantly that his barns would no longer contain his harvest, proposed to replace his storehouses with greater ones, that he might lay up more of what he believed to be the substance necessary to his enjoyment, that is, material things. In the midst of this planning, God said to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" And Jesus assured his disciples that this parable illustrated the mental condition of those who would gain material riches while making no effort to serve, and thus to please God. And service to God is profiting mankind in some constructive and useful way. The rich man was trying to pacify his material yearnings by satisfying them with more materiality.
Paul charged Timothy to impress upon the adherents of Christianity that they should not place their trust "in uncertain riches," but rather "in the living God," the source and Giver of all good. The Bible is replete with this sentiment, that trust in God is the only way to salvation, the only way to gain permanent things, spiritual ideas, and eternal life. Christian Science, developing the Science of the Scriptural teaching, states and reiterates the paramount importance of gaining an understanding of God and of His universe. This knowledge is permanent, since it constitutes spiritual riches, which alone are dependable and lasting. In the definition of "ark," on page 581 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we read, "God and man coexistent and eternal; Science showing that the spiritual realities of all things are created by Him and exist forever."
One of the greatest tragedies of human experience is that mortals are generally inclined completely to ignore these profound truths and devote time and energy to the accumulation of that which at best is temporal, since it possesses no quality of permanence. Christianity as preached and taught has had only a measure of success, it seems, in impressing the fundamentals of the Master's teachings upon needy, struggling humanity. The search has been, and still is, not for treasures of truth, spiritual riches, but for that which satisfies personal desires, the material senses. This is true not only of individuals, but of peoples and nations as well; and it is this fact that accounts in large measure for the terrible situation of the world today. Analyzed, the underlying purpose of the terrific struggle is to build bigger barns in which to lay up greater store of material things.
In this milieu there has appeared the word "appeasement" as characterizing a policy of pacification through satisfaction of human desires; that is, through offering a certain measure of material things and implied authority as a reward for abstaining from the violence deemed necessary to take by force what mortal mind is set upon possessing. The wide attention that has been given to the subject of pacification of belligerent nations through offering some sort of compromise has brought the word "appeasement" into unusual prominence. It is almost a household word.
To understand the significance of the implication attached to the word, its metaphysical connotation should be carefully noted in relation to the meaning commonly attached to it. First, to examine it in its usual meaning and use: appeasement, says the dictionary, is the effort "to pacify through satisfaction," that is, to meet the desires and claims of mortal mind by giving something, the possession of which satisfies its desires. Thus the mortal is calmed, pacified. This meaning of the word, it seems, has found repeated exemplification in the efforts of certain nations to avoid armed conflict by satisfying the demands of those struggling for greater possession of territory and the resultant increase in authority. It is to be noted that in the majority of cases the subject has been approached from a purely material standpoint. The proffers made to satisfy and thus pacify have been wholly of a material nature. The goals sought by the nations were wholly material, and for purposes of gratifying or pacifying national pride, the material senses. Mortal mind was reaching out for more earthly possessions, and it was to be appeased, satisfied, by proffers of some portion of what was desired. That the results of the proffers have been satisfactory none can affirm; that any solution, still in abeyance, will be satisfactorily arrived at through appeasement is gravely doubted. The mortal mind seeking satisfaction in matter knows no limit to its desire for accumulation of material things, no limit to its ambition to extend its authority.
It is becoming increasingly apparent to Christian Scientists that no plan of appeasement upon a material basis can be successful. Materiality and material means have never proved successful mediators to bring lasting peace. Of necessity they have failed and will continue to fail because such efforts are neither based upon Principle nor grounded in justice. They are at best makeshifts. And when did compromise with error, evil, ever bring out the demonstration of righteous and lasting peace?
In human affairs some form of appeasement has often been undertaken on the ground of expediency, a halfway step, an effort to hold the forces of evil in leash, pending a peace based upon Principle, divine justice, and righteousness. The effort may not be condemned as a whole, because it has been honestly undertaken as the lesser of imminent evils. That it has accomplished nothing permanent is no cause of wonderment to the Christian metaphysician.
Jesus taught the absolute necessity of complete reliance upon God, upon spiritual forces, in order to establish the reign of righteousness. He knew that lasting peace could never be established on any other basis than divine Principle. He insisted that the time was then, not at some later date, for his doctrine to be accepted and practiced as the way to accomplish the desired end, the goal toward which humanity, perhaps unconsciously, is forever marching.
But Spirit, not matter, must be the ultimate of that seeking. Christian Scientists are taught that men must look to Mind, God, and Mind's manifestation for all reality. This being true, there can be no permanent harmony, no lasting peace, except in the divine economy, which recognizes the brotherhood of man, presided over by the divine Principle whose reign is forever just, forever righteous. True appeasement is, then, a spiritual process. It is the result of gaining the Mind of Christ. It is the spiritual serenity which springs from understanding. It is the satisfaction which mortals gain from spiritual truth, from understanding God, His Christ, and man. In illuminating words Mrs. Eddy writes on page 227 of "Miscellaneous Writings," "The sublime summary of an honest life satisfies the mind craving a higher good, and bathes it in the cool waters of peace on earth; till it grows into the full stature of wisdom, reckoning its own by the amount of happiness it has bestowed upon others."
The desire for higher and lasting good finds satisfaction in grasping the things of the Spirit. As this desire unfolds, as the spiritual sense is educated, it finds its greatest joy, its keenest, its only satisfaction, in sharing its treasures with those ready to receive them and to be blessed by the ministry of the healing, redeeming, and saving Christ, the infinite idea of good. The pacification, the perfect peace that springs from this experience, is a foretaste of the reign of infinite Love, is the state of complete satisfaction to be enjoyed by all when the brotherhood of man becomes a living fact in human consciousness. How unlike the effort to appease through material proffers is this sublime experience! Yet it is the only means whereby lasting and permanent peace will ever be attained. It is God's way, the way whereby all men may gain the spiritual bliss which in reality is man's forever state. Our Leader gives perfect expression to this sublime fact in a beautiful poem (Poems, p. 79):
"The centuries break, the earth-bound wake,
God's glorified!
Who doth His will—His likeness still—
Is satisfied."
Copyright, 1941, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.
