ONE who had never seen or heard of a kumquat could not possibly feel that he was missing one. But one who complains that he cannot find a kumquat anywhere in the market indicates by his complaint that he has a clear concept of what a kumquat is. The absence of it disturbs him only because of his positive concept of it.
And so it is with any claim that good is absent. On page 186 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth. It is nothing, because it is the absence of something. It is unreal, because it presupposes the absence of God, the omnipotent and omnipresent."
The claim that good is absent appears vividly in the spectacle of mortals governed by selfish materialistic motives, promoting disregard for moral and spiritual law and gaining power because others, failing to distinguish good from evil, follow them. This spectacle, it would appear, is keeping the world in a state of unrest and humanity in constant fear of war. Its appearance on more local levels would keep a community at strife, a church in turmoil, or a family struggling with inharmony. But Christian Science tells how we may see through this show of error and behold instead the reality of God's perfect government. Moreover, it shows us how we may demonstrate this perfect government in our own lives and contribute substantially to the overcoming of evil on a world-wide scale.
