THE weather plays an important part in the activities of the human race. At the present time large amounts of money are spent in maintaining meteorological observatories and radio stations, weather ships, and the like, for analysis of the weather and probabilities regarding it, and for the transmission of the information to those interested. It is obvious how vital such information must be to mariners, aviators, agriculturists, and others. Yet even the experts admit that forecasting the weather is far from being an exact science. There are too many factors involved to make anything but a short-time prophecy completely reliable.
Now the sincere student of Christian Science is well aware, because of his study and experience, that the only real cause is God, Mind, Spirit, and that the effect of this only cause must be good. Since God is All and One, there is no cause or effect opposite or antagonistic to God, to unchanging, harmonious Principle.
On page 331 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy makes the following statement: "The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas. The Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit. Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no discord; all is Life, and there is no death. Everything in God's universe expresses Him."
God's universe includes man and his perfect, harmonious activity. The harmony which exists as a present fact is in accord with the teaching of the Master (Mark 1: 15), "The kingdom of God is at hand." This kingdom is not in another sphere nor in another era of time, but is here and now, right at hand for those who recognize that God is All and that the ever-presence of Love is the essential fact of creation.
Man's health or spiritual well-being is included in God's universe, and so is the true sense of weather. The implications are tremendous. Just as one is entitled to well being because his true selfhood is the reflection of God, so one is entitled to and in reality always has good weather, for the simple reason that man lives in the realm of omnipresent Love and is governed by Love's beneficent law.
How beautifully is the bounty of divine Mind expressed in Isaiah (55:10, 11): "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
In the cycle of earth's seasons we see the pageantry of nature in all its varied pattern. The cleansing winds of spring, with the early rains falling on the expectant earth, and the strengthening sunshine bring the first blooms to wayside and garden. Then comes the fruition of summer and its golden harvests. So we go on to the quiescence of autumn, "season of mists and mellow fruit fulness," as the poet Keats called it. And finally the mantle of winter's snow covers the land with beauty, while beneath it the processes of nature continue in preparation for the next springtide.
Whence comes bad health, or bad weather, or poverty, war, distress, famine, and the remainder of the woes that harass mankind? From a Christianly scientific point of view, they are part of the mortal dream, symbols of the ignorance of God as the only power, presence, activity, and Life. Within the confines of the myth of evil lie all problems, all disasters.
The glory of Christian Science rests in the fact that it shows evil to be an illusion. The belief that evil can act as a cause disappears as the recognition of real being dawns. The salvation from evil is always by virtue of the Christ, Truth, as preached and demonstrated by Jesus and brought to the understanding of this age by Mrs. Eddy, who writes (Science and Health, p.192): "Erring power is a material belief, a blind miscalled force, the offspring of will and not of wisdom, of the mortal mind and not of the immortal. It is the headlong cataract, the devouring flame, the tempest's breath. It is lightning and hurricane, all that is selfish, wicked, dishonest, and impure."
The condition called bad weather needs to be resolved into mental terms—into beliefs, such as selfishness, wickedness, dishonesty, and impurity—and then firmly denied. A clouded, violent, fearful, hateful outlook is manifested as a world of storm, destruction, and disaster. Yet there remains the inescapable fact that all these erroneous conditions, and the abnormalities of weather attending such beliefs, can be corrected by prayer or spiritual means—by one's establishing their opposites as the only realities.
After Elijah's great triumph over the priests of Baal, the Bible tells us that the prophet was assailed by despondency and fled in fear of his life. He came to Horeb and stood upon the mount. We read (I Kings 19: 11, 12), "And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."
God, divine Love, is not in the turbulence, the destruction, or the disaster. Infinite Love is evidenced in that which is lovable and lovely, in that which is tranquil and balanced. Love is known to mankind in the consciousness of eternal peace and true solace, which is ever at hand in times of need. Infinite good is evidenced in the good things we know, in the blessedness of gentle rain or summer sunlight, in the scented wind across the heath, or in the calm, clear beauty of winter days. Perfect Mind presents an indication of its own divine, exquisite pattern.
Students of Christian Science have learned from their Leader that God controls all, including the weather, and that the recognition, with the awareness of this spiritual fact, is the answer to the beliefs of bad weather or impending disaster.
During the month of October the writer had to drive a car some two hundred miles to a port from which he had to make a short voyage by a night boat. Throughout the whole of the road journey a fierce autumnal gale raged, and the radio described it as country-wide. In places it was difficult to steer a straight course, and from time to time great branches were seen to fall from wayside trees. In fact, several smaller branches dropped across the car.
As the writer drove along with all the alertness that was possible, he and his companion dwelt on the truth of God and His eternally harmonious creation, in which all conditions are unchangeably tranquil and man is safe in the haven of Soul. They arrived unharmed at the port of departure. The storm raged on until nine o'clock that night, which was the time for their going on board ship. Suddenly the storm ceased, the stars appeared in a cloudless sky, and when the ship set sail, it was over a perfectly calm sea.
Christian Scientists have so many happy demonstrations of the healing power of Truth that these experiences preclude the claim that they are mere coincidences. With these experiences goes an increasing appreciation of the teachings of the Master, who so often emphasized the dominion which belongs to the sons of God. This dominion must include the victory over discordant weather conditions.
Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health,p. 125): "The seasons will come and go with changes of time and tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agriculturist will find that these changes cannot affect his crops. 'As a vesture shalt Thou change them and they shall be changed.' The mariner will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air. The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars,—he will look out from them upon the universe; and the florist will find his flower before its seed."
Already there are signs that, in some degree, this prophecy is being fulfilled. We should watch that our outlook be filled with the expectancy of good and good alone and thus ensure that each step in the path of human progress will be for the betterment of all conditions, including the weather.
