The way to really see Yosemite National Park," said the Ranger Naturalist, "is to get off the roads and hike! A glorious panorama of the whole valley may be seen by taking Four-Mile Trail to Glacier Point tomorrow."
As the writer and other park visitors began the more than three-thousand-foot climb, aggressive thoughts suggesting that she should turn back kept coming to her. The others were moving much faster, and she wondered as she watched them if she was equal to the climb. Then this passage from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy came to her (p. 426): "The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it. When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress."
Pondering this, her thought was soon elevated above mere physical climbing, and the path became easier. The view of the falls and granite formations from below, then at eye level, then from above, was unspeakably beautiful. Soon the summit was reached.
How easy it would have been, for a time, to give up and turn back. The arguments of inadequacy had come so quickly. Yet pressing on, pausing to gain new vistas at every turn of the trail lest any of the grandeur on the way up be missed, had filled the writer with gratitude for having had such a rewarding experience.
Are we always grateful for the lessons learned on the way upward from each valley of darkness to the mountaintop of light? Are we truly saying, "Father, what more would you have me see?" instead of counting our footsteps and saying, "Why is the way so rough and long?"
If we have struggled with a difficulty, sometimes making great progress and at other times moving slowly, it may be well for us to pause, drink in the view (express our gratitude to God for His love and goodness), and lift our eyes from others to "the high goal," man's God-given perfection in the realm of harmony.
Pausing and stopping are quite different. The former implies active rest; the latter suggests complete inactivity. Moses admonished the children of Israel (Ex. 14: 13), "Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord," not, "Stand still." The Psalmist sang, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46: 10), not merely, "Be still."
As we pause along the way, we gather new inspiration and strength. We cast off burdens as we praise God for His allness. We listen to Him alone as we deny the presence of any mind but the one divine Mind.
If we just stop, all constructive activity stops. We are not listening; we are not rejoicing; we are not seeing or knowing who we really are as God's perfect creation; hence we are not truly resting or rested, for we are inactive.
Seeing and knowing are one and the same in Christian Science. As we endeavor to see only that which is real, we are knowing the truth of that situation. As we know the truth, we are seeing reality. God no more takes this ability away from us than the sun leaves the scene because the clouds are in the way. If we seem to be in darkness, we need only go higher, and we shall find that the light of Truth is shining all the time.
Perhaps one is saying: "I have tried to go up higher. I study the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly each day; I attend church; I read the Christian Science periodicals; yet I still have not been healed of this difficulty."
All these activities are certainly necessary and right, but, according to Mrs. Eddy, "Reason is the most active human faculty" (Science and Health, p. 327). Perhaps one needs to pause and think out what he has read and heard.
We cannot keep feeding ourselves without pausing for assimilation. We may need to ask ourselves often: What is the source of health, of supply, satisfying companionship, intelligence, understanding? When as the result of daily demonstrations we can truly answer, "God," to these questions, we shall find that we possess all good and lack nothing.
The fact that the real man is the perfect reflection of God cannot be denied. That we may not as yet understand this does not change the fact. God, divine Mind, understands it, and we possess this understanding by reflection. As we reason in this way, proof will follow.
Sometimes we have an erroneous sense of what "the high goal" really is. We may be looking so diligently for a change in the body that we lose sight of man as a spiritual idea and attempt to perfect matter. Matter is error, nothing, and one can never change nothing to more nothing or less nothing, sick nothing or well nothing. Perfection creates and maintains perfection. Application of this truth corrects our concept of ourselves and heals the body.
Some strive for the goal of money and prestige. Achieving these, they become self-satisfied, even complacent with their lot, and stop, thinking they have finally reached the top. Success and abundance are certainly right when they come as a result of listening for divine ideas and industriously using them in daily accomplishments. But this is not the ultimate, for we all must eventually strive to understand our innate perfection as children of God. When this is our goal, all good things are added, even though they become less and less important.
Christ Jesus brought forth a powerful lesson in his parable of the rich man who put his trust in money. This man said (Luke 12: 19, 20): "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Then Jesus went on to observe, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
Our deepest desire should ever be to know and understand God and man, who is made in His image. This high goal is a spiritual altitude reached by many human footsteps. These footsteps consist of constantly affirming that man—the real and only man—has always existed at the point of perfection and that regardless of the testimony of the lying material senses, the real man is never sick, never poor, never alone, never tainted, never lifeless in the sight of his Father-Mother God.
"The high goal" cannot be seen with the material senses. Money cannot buy it and knowing the right people will not help you to reach it. There is no shortcut; but holding on to the Father's hand will help one to see it more quickly. It can be a glorious climb all the way.
The writer used to look back with self-condemnation to many of the devious trails she had taken. They always turned out to be empty pursuits and seemed like such time wasters. One day a seasoned Christian Scientist pointed out to her that these experiences had been growing times. They had given her a truer sense of substance, Spirit, and had established her on the right trail to the right goal. Now she looks for the lesson in each experience instead of indulging in self-pity when trials come, and she always finds she has moved up a little higher in her thinking.
Life is eternal, for Life is God. There is no need to feel rushed as we affirm this truth on our way to the complete recognition of man's perfection. God is always with us, and perseverance will bring us right to the top. Mrs. Eddy assures us of this in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 85), "Perfection, the goal of existence, is not won in a moment; and regeneration leading thereto is gradual, for it culminates in the fulfilment of this divine rule in Science: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'"
