Recently the writer listened to a round table discussion on postwar plans being broadcast from Great Britain. An arresting statement was made by one of the speakers, an Englishman, who said in part, "It is important that there be friendship and affection between Great Britain and America, but what is more important is that there be understanding between the two nations." He was aware, no doubt, that nations, even as individuals, could be friendly and even affectionate and yet entirely lacking in understanding of one another's problems. And without this understanding between individuals and nations there could be no real, lasting peace, harmony, or prosperity. His plea for understanding differs very little in substance from the prayer of King Solomon uttered in other troublesome times (I Kings 3:9): "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad."
When Mary Baker Eddy, the beloved Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, wrote this inscription on the flyleaf of a Bible presented to one of her students (Prov. 4:7), "With all thy getting get understanding," it is evident that she was not referring to an accumulation of material knowledge, but rather to the acquiring of spiritual understanding.
Today, every alert Christian Scientist is aware of the vitally important work to be done in the world on the subject of peace and postwar planning. If in the past some of us have been content to sit idly by and think that daily metaphysical work for our nation and other nations is not really our concern, or that we had better leave it to more experienced Scientists, or that our declarations of the truth can mean but little in the solving of the world's great problems, is it not time we relinquished this false sense of contentment?
