According to one theory of modern psychology, the blame for present difficulties of the individual lies hidden in his past history. It is believed that by ferreting out past darkening events, bringing them from the so-called unconscious into the present consciousness and re-experiencing the emotions they aroused, the individual can be helped to correct his present difficulties.
From a superficial consideration, the theory might seem to have its attractive points. We might like to blame our shortcomings on the sins of our parents rather than face them ourselves and thereby assume an active, constructive responsibility. It is easy to understand that under this method of thinking, we could continue along indefinitely, nourishing a group of treasured weaknesses, considering ourselves the victims of circumstances or of an unfortunate childhood. But through the study of Christian Science, one becomes aware that the only way to correct any error is to bring into consciousness the specific truth that the error or lie is about. This mental action replaces unreality with reality.
The more one discusses and amplifies the error that two times two is seven, the more one remains in ignorance of the fact that two times two is four. The analysis of error is impossible, and because of its character of mimicking or counterfeiting the truth, the pursuit to clarify it, or to explain it, is a hopeless and futile task. What is the answer to the following problem: "Once in my childhood I added a column of three fours and got a result of sixteen"? The quest to explain error or ignorance in the past as well as in the present is not constructive and will always lead us into a dead-end street.
In Ecclesiastes we read (3:15), "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past." God's truth is eternal, and ignorance, error, or any other mode of mortal mind cannot take refuge in the so-called dark recesses of an unconscious past. The spotlight of truth will illuminate and dissolve the mist of any error that tries to hide itself in the past. Substituting the sin of a thoughtless parent is like trying to correct one mistake with another mistake.
In the same chapter in Ecclesiastes we read: "I know that, whatsover God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it." Mrs. Eddy says in "No and Yes" (p. 24), "There was never a moment in which evil was real." This simple statement should show us why attempting to dissect and analyze an unreality leads to endless confusion.
Our Leader continues: "This great fact concerning all error brings with it another and more glorious truth, that good is supreme. As there is none beside Him, and He is all good, there can be no evil." The examination of nothing will always culminate in nothing, just as the multiplication of zero one million times still results in zero.
The reverse of every lie is the truth. Confidence is always at hand to replace fear; power is here instead of weakness, health and dominion are ready to supplant sickness and submission. The only favorable thing that can be said about a lie is that by reversal it points to the truth. Further considerations of it are valueless. Jesus said of the devil, or evil (John 8: 44): "There is no truth in him.... He is a liar, and the father of it." Unless one acknowledges at the start that good is all and that evil is nothing, the pursuit of health and happiness is nothing more than the chasing of rainbows. The analysis of every aspect of evil will show that in each case or in each event the specific truth was there first. It had to be so, or error would not know what to counterfeit.
Has anyone ever heard of a counterfeit three-dollar bill? No, because there is no real three-dollar bill for the counterfeit to copy. First was the Word, the true idea of God. Then, suppositionally, the lie seemed to set up an illusive opposite without the true idea's being affected one iota.
One could go back endlessly trying to find the reason for two railroad tracks coming together, and the same is true if one searched for the horizon. The bare facts are that the tracks do not come together and that one never reaches the horizon. The appearances are only illusions, and this is demonstrated by the simple facts in the case.
Our Leader writes in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (pp. 149, 150), "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee." This is as true of the past as it is of the present or future.
An ignorant acceptance of an erroneous situation of the past is exactly like an ignorant acceptance of an erroneous situation of the present. At the exact moment when the maladjustment is supposed to have occurred, in reality God was all that man was conscious of, and God was the only reality of man's being. The mist was as much of a mist then as it is today.
The student of Christian Science realizes that in spite of any talk or opinions to the contrary, there was never an era of childhood or youth when wrong education formed an imperfect man. Man's creator is perfect. Therefore his character and individuality eternally reflect perfection. There is no starting point or basis for imperfection or maladjustment.
Our daily work is to live these spiritual facts constantly rather than to repeat them intellectually. We must know that we cannot be fooled into any acceptance of a faulty personality having its roots in a speculative past. We are heirs to a perfect individuality without blemish or spot. This is our birthright, bestowed upon us by a heavenly Father. We must daily acknowledge this heritage and never feel that we are ever too insignificant for God's tender care.
The attempt to live in a nonexisting past keeps some people from accepting the glorious revelations of Christian Science. They are deceived into believing that they do not care to emerge from their structure of past circumscribed and limiting beliefs. Seeing this point clearly gives us the opportunity to unmask one of the persistent evils or illusions of our time, the seeking of refuge in a semideveloped or ignorant past. Unfoldment and progress are vital characteristics of Truth, and we must accept each day as an opportunity to demonstrate and to live this fact. Only as we understand the statement, "That which hath been is now," can we prove our rightful place in the dynamic present, our rightful work of expressing the active eternity of God and man.
Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (pp. 470, 471), "The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history."
The word of the Lord is right; and all his works are
done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment:
the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.... The
counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts
of his heart to all generations.—Psalm 33:4, 5, 11.
