In June, 1954, I had a routine dental appointment for the cleaning of my teeth. The dentist pointed out a tooth needing immediate attention. He said that it had a sizable cavity, which he probed with his instrument. An appointment was made for one week later to fill the tooth.
One day during that week, my thought was alerted by Mrs. Eddy's statement in Science and Health (p. 390), "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony." Pondering this spiritual truth, I could see that the decayed tooth was a form of discord and that it indicated a need for a better understanding of God. I prayed to know in what way I needed to overcome "ignorance of God."
I saw that I must know God better as substance and that God, being Life and Spirit, is not only the source of man's being, but also the substance of man's being. In Science and Health we read (p. 468), "Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay." It was a real privilege to study and think along this line.
