THE practice of Christian Science is a forward-moving mental and spiritual activity. It demands a change of thinking and living. It includes new unfoldment, new inspiration, a willingness to leave old standpoints of thought and to accept new ideas.
This is particularly true of those who are formally in the practice of Christian Science. It is not enough to seek out the treasures of Christian Science and then store them away on the shelves of our thinking. These new ideas must enter the current of our living. Prayer results in a change of consciousness, and a change of consciousness results in a change of experience.
Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, tells us in Science and Health (p. 68), "Christian Science presents unfoldment, not accretion." Jesus' parable of the talents vividly illustrates the blessings we receive through utilizing the understanding that we have and thus gain more. In the Master's parable of the sower, the seed which fell on good ground "brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirty fold" (Matt. 13:8). It is important that we produce in the measure of our ability and understanding. Jesus said (John 13: 17), "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."
Inspiration comes to the spiritually active consciousness. To the letter must be added the quickening of the Spirit. We must actively express the truth that we know. Then there is room and receptivity for higher and better concepts. We give and therefore receive "good measure, pressed down . . . and running over. . . . For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again" (Luke 6:38).
Opportunity comes to the spiritually active consciousness. One may be tempted to believe that certain circumstances supply the opportunity to practice Christian Science or that opportunity is governed by external events. In this way he may be tempted to sit and wait for something to happen. But experience is the outgrowth of thought. Our opportunity comes from within.
In Christian Science we know that divine Love is Principle, or creative Mind, whose power impels good, generates right activity, and endows man with wisdom, purpose, and initiative. We learn that man is the expression, reflection, or emanation of this divine Principle—perfect idea made manifest by perfect Mind. The activity of good is a coming out from or an outcome of God, Spirit. Wherever this Principle is manifested, the healing Christ is there.
If we understand ourselves to be representing divine Love, then we have business to attend to—and good business. Certainly if God has called us to be fishers of men, then He will direct us where to cast our nets. We have only to consider the vast need in today's world of what Christian Science has to offer to know that there is no dearth of opportunity.
It is the readiness of thought that brings the opportunity. People thronged Jesus because they discovered he had what they needed. Simple fishermen sat at his feet; the children felt at ease with him; a Pharisee came to him by night. This was because Jesus was filled with the Spirit. He manifested the spirit of Christ, which fed the hungry and healed the sick.
The qualities of God are always in demand. The need for more activity in the practice might well indicate the need for more of the qualities of God, or the spirit of Christ, to be manifested. This demands spiritual exercise. It is certainly axiomatic that one must practice if he is to be a practitioner.
Spiritual exercise is important to the Christian Scientist. It is not routine or habitual but inspirational and spontaneous. The Bible tells us that Jesus came with fan in hand to separate the chaff from the wheat, to gather the wheat into the garner and to "burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matt. 3:12). Science and Health defines "fan" as, "Separator of fable from fact; that which gives action to thought" (p. 586).
We must continually exercise our God given ability to think rightly and to act rightly, to discriminate between right ideas and wrong beliefs, to practice individual responsibility, to preach the gospel, and to heal the sick. In order to carry on this activity, we must be increasingly convinced of the unreality of evil and of the allness and omnipotence of good.
This requires a consistent handling of animal magnetism. We know that Christ is the activity of Truth in human consciousness. And we must be equally aware that animal magnetism is the opposite so called action of error, or evil, in human consciousness. In order that our experience may reflect freedom and opportunity, we need to meet the challenge of this belief of resistance to Truth, the belief that intelligence is in matter and that evil is real.
The allness of God and the oneness of divine Mind are effective antidotes to this claim of evil activity. There is no intelligence apart from God; hence there is no mind to argue against the right practice of Christian Science healing. It is good scientific practice to deprive error of any mind.
Discordant and diseased conditions are often caused by the habitual, unthinking acceptance of wrong beliefs about body and health. Prayerful treatment in Christian Science represents a cleansing of human consciousness. The regenerating Christ is the activity of Truth, which sweeps clean the avenues of thought and reveals the true idea of man in God's likeness. Man is not mortal, static, or stereotyped; he is an immortal idea, forever individual, spontaneous, active, and free. God is infinite Life, Spirit, Mind; therefore man is ever alive, awake, conscious, spiritual.
In the process of actuating the practice of Christian Science, one may be tempted to accumulate many things, ideas, articles, Christian Science literature, early editions of Science and Health. Collecting and cataloguing ideas is accretion; assimilating and expressing them is unfoldment. We may well deeply appreciate what has been written for Christian Science periodicals in the past, but by all means let us digest it and bring it into the daily stream of our living in order that we may call it our own. Then we won't be surfeited in our thinking and in our study. This free movement of thought is essential.
It is important that we maintain our forward motion. We cannot afford to waste time in idleness or in aimless waiting. We cannot be like the chauffeur who, when asked how he could wait for such long hours for his employer, answered, "I just shifts my mind into neutral and sets." Here is a challenging question to the Christian Scientist. Is he idling in neutral?
Jesus said of himself (Luke 22:27), "I am among you as he that serveth." One who serves has prepared himself with what is needed. His supplies are freshly gained from prayerful communion with the source of all good. His thought and speech are not canned or stereotyped, but spontaneous, impelled by love, seasoned to suit the occasion and to meet the particular need. What he serves is fresh, not left over from yesterday.
Being original, man is not repetitious. Giving the same treatment that we gave yesterday denies the efficacy of yesterday's work. If the work has been well done, there has been movement of thought; and we are meeting a new situation today.
The inspiration gained from our daily study and work is the keystone of active practice. This is absolutely essential. It is that which reveals the presence of God with us and gives vitality to our healing efforts. It is the evidence gained from Spirit that man is the expression of God.
The Christ appearing to individual consciousness brings new life, new hope, new unfoldment. It moves our thought on to higher expression of health, harmony, and freedom. This appearing is endless, for creation is infinite. Putting off the old man and putting on the new, we move to the ideal man of God's creating and to the perfect demonstration of sinless, deathless, diseaseless being. Our Leader gives us this comforting encouragement (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 340): '"Be active, and, however slow, thy success is sure."
