THE most important education mortals can acquire is not knowledge gained about the material universe and material man, but the understanding of what constitutes reality, the understanding of that which is eternal and enduring. While the desire to prepare oneself to be useful and efficient in human experience is commendable and the importance of that training should not be underrated, it does not solve the problem of spiritual advancement. This can be done only through an earnest endeavor to seek and prove the truth of God as primal cause and man and the universe as the effect of that primal cause. No amount of material knowledge about what is actually only a counterfeit of the real creation can ever solve the problem of being, which must, sooner or later, be worked out through spiritual understanding. True education or enlightenment, then, is altogether spiritual. However, in order to be made practical in human endeavor this true education, or spiritual understanding, must be brought to bear upon every phase of human living.
Since the discovery of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy more than three quarters of a century ago the pathway out of the bondage of human ignorance of God, out of the darkness of the material senses to the joyous recognition of Soul, God, as eternal Life, has been made plain. It is interesting to observe that in a paragraph in the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, the marginal note of which is "Sense versus Soul," there is a statement which reads (p. 486), "Earth's preparatory school must be improved to the utmost." "Earth's preparatory school," therefore, must be the opportunity which we have right here and now of relinquishing our faith in things material and laying hold on the verities of being.
The first step in availing ourselves of this opportunity for spiritual advancement is to gain some understanding of God and His law and of the rules for practicing this law through the study of the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings. The second step, which is fully as important, is to put into practice what we have learned. The practice of Christian Science results in healing, and in healing lies the proof of the correctness of our understanding, for does not the Bible say (Matt. 7:16), "Ye shall know them by their fruits"?
