In the depths of poignant human experiences one may yearn for a quiet place where he may retreat from fear, worry, and suffering. He may feel that if he could abide in the stillness of the desired haven, the buffetings of the world would cease their sway. Christian Science teaches us that merely getting into a different geographical location will not solve problems. One must rise higher in thought, in spiritual understanding. He must strive to attain an elevated state of mind in order to surmount difficulties and soar above sordid, unpleasant, and troublesome evidence. Those who love the hill country know that ofttimes extraordinary effort must be put forth to gain the sanctuary of the lush upland pastures. Over boulders, down into gorges and up again, the rugged path leads, but the human effort is rewarded. In these upland pastures one pauses to survey the beauty spread out below and to drink in the tranquillity of vistas of higher peaks beyond.
To gain permanent peace of mind, health, and prosperity—the still waters and green pastures of which the Psalmist sings —obedience to the rules and methods of Christian Science is required. In the Scriptures we read of the wanderings of the uphappy, disobedient children of Israel. As recorded in the fifth book of Moses, called Deuteronomy, the Hebrew leader exhorted his people to press on despite their difficulties and to attain the promised land or the promised good which God had given them. Moses endeavored to show them that this land is not like Egypt, but is a land which God knows. Speaking to the Israelites in a way that they could understand, he described the promised land as embodying their hearts' desires—brooks of water, fountains, fig, olive, and pomegranate trees, honey, and no lack of anything.
To these simple people this Utopia appeared as an idyllic, material place to which they could go and where all would be well. Moses must have known that it was a state of mind, a conscious, spiritual sense of harmony, peace, and abundance, which could be possessed only by obedience to a spiritual afflatus which seemed woefully lacking. He exhorted his people to change their thinking, to turn from their slothful, wicked ways, and to observe the commandments of God which had been given them, commands which are the guideposts to this land, or divine state of consciousness. Forty years he had been pointing these things out to them by his teaching and practice.
