I took some coins from my purse. As I chose one, I stopped to look at it. Here was this piece of metal, struck in some mint unknown to me, circulated for years, and held briefly in my hand. How many hands had it passed through? What effect had it exercised on the thoughts and lives of its multitude of owners? What made it circulate? Not the hand which held it, but the thought which moved the hand. It was a thing of value, even if small. A child could buy a candy bar with it. A woman could pay a bus fare with it. It had governmental authority behind its value. It had energy and motive behind its circulation.
In my handbag was a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel. On my table at home were The Christian Science Journal, some issues of The Herald of Christian Science in various languages, and The Christian Science Monitor. I was circulating the coin which I held in my hand because I knew very well what I meant to do with it and what it would do for me. It made me wonder whether I helped the circulation of the Christian Science periodicals with the same definite awareness of purpose.
Responsibility for publication of these periodicals lies with The Christian Science Publishing Society. But where does the responsibility for their circulation lie? Not only with church committees assigned to such work, but with the individual church member. We well know that we should increase the circulation of our periodicals, both through their purchase and through their distribution. If one were stranded in some bleak place and a copy of one of these magazines came to his hand, how eagerly he would seize upon it! Many in the world around us believe that they are stranded in bleak places. We have something to pass to them, if we feel sufficiently impelled to do so.
Christian Science teaches one to look beyond the impulsion of human thought, however good, to God as the source of all right action. Viewing any legitimate activity, one is prompted to ask what may be its significance when translated into spiritual terms. Can the concept of circulation be said to have eternal and spiritual meaning and so be divinely impelled?
Circulation is an integral function of the physical universe. The movement of the solar system, the returning seasons, the course of the blood, all evidence it. But what of the spiritual universe, the only true universe? Mrs. Eddy has this to say of it in Science and Health (p. 240): "Mind is perpetual motion. Its symbol is the sphere. The rotations and revolutions of the universe of Mind go on eternally."
Webster gives these three human definitions of the word "circulate": (1) "to move in a circle, ... to follow a course that returns to the starting point"; (2) "to pass from person to person or place to place"; (3) "to become well known or widespread." Spiritually considered, the first meaning of the word provides the basis for the others.
In Christian Science divine Mind is understood to be also divine Life. It is continuous, self-renewing, self-existent, without beginning or end. It perpetually unfolds itself in fresh expressions of vitality and intelligence. Inseparable from their source, these conscious manifestations of Life draw their energy from it. Incapable of departing from the allness of God, they must eternally function or circulate within Life's immensity. Coming from God, empowered by God, living and moving within His allness, each idea or manifestation of Mind brings back to its divine source the reflected intelligence and beauty which are the delight of the creator. As we read in the book of Revelation (4:11), "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
When one understands that existence is the functioning presence of God, that each idea comes from God, lives in God, and returns to God in perpetual purity and refreshment, it becomes imperative for one to impart this good news to others.
This was what Christ Jesus did. He knew, as we learn from the Gospels, that "he was come from God, and went to God" (John 13:3). His spiritual awareness told him that though he walked the earth in human form, yet his true being coincidentally moved and functioned in the realm of divine Life, which he called the kingdom of God.
In this knowledge he demonstrated the truth not only of his own being but of every expression of God. He did not remain content with the joy of this knowledge within himself but circulated it. When still a child, he imparted something of it to the elders in the temple at Jerusalem. He called disciples to follow him and share it as soon as he was ready to begin his ministry. And he taught them to teach his good news to others.
In 1866 Mrs. Eddy made her great discovery of Christian Science. She became aware that God, divine Mind, includes all real being and is the producer of all action. She saw that there is no other action. She recognized matter as merely the suppositional opposite of Mind. And she, like the Master, whom she loved and followed, had good news to impart.
The first means she adopted was to circulate manuscripts among her early pupils. Later came the writing and publication of her major work, Science and Health. Of this book she says, "It has mounted thought on the swift and mighty chariot of divine Love, which to-day is circling the whole world" (Miscellany, p. 115). And still later, in founding the Christian Science movement, Mrs. Eddy established the Christian Science periodicals as another powerful method of spreading the good news of her discovery. She did not remain content with the joy of discovering absolute truths. She demonstrated them herself and then made widely available the knowledge of how they must be utilized.
In the work of ensuring right circulation for the Christian Science periodicals, we too need to understand the word "circulate" in all its meanings and to make the first meaning the basis of the others. First, then, we must see that the cycle of good is complete and uninterrupted from start to finish because its origin and impetus are in divine Mind. The uncompleted purpose, the obstructed movement, have no place in the spiritual activity of Christian Science demonstration.
Circulation, recognized as divinely impelled, cannot fail to fulfill its purpose. As we turn to the next meaning of "circulate" and assume our individual responsibility for the increased activity of our periodicals, do we think of this as a human effort? Or do we first accept it as the outcome of divine impulsion?
Circulation of the Christian Science periodicals must be seen as the evidence in human experience of the cycle of complete good. Then we shall do the necessary work with greater enthusiasm. The truths these periodicals spread come from divine Mind, act divinely to heal and enlighten, and then lead thought back to the source of all good. They are kept moving, not merely by human goodwill but by divinely reflected energy.
As we accept activity in this work to be the result of spiritual impulsion, we shall more readily discern the arguments which would obstruct it. Many phases of human thought could be named as contributing to delayed or interrupted circulation of our periodicals: sheer materialism, too busy a schedule, too tight a purse, or the excitement of contemporary life. This last has such vast and compelling interests that the quiet persuasions of spirituality may seem tame to some.
But divine impulsion is anything but tame. It is superb spiritual power. When recognized by any worker in the Christian Science movement, it lifts his work to a different plane of activity, where the attraction of Spirit is supreme. It enables him to see that all opposition to his work can be scientifically reduced to the claim of animal magnetism. Animal magnetism is basically the belief that life comes from and returns to matter, with its inertia, false activity, and apparent power to halt or reverse the cycle of good. But this belief is untrue and has no power whatever. As we confidently discern this, the cycle of good moves irresistibly to its conclusion.
The coin which I held in my hand had governmental authority behind it. The circulation of spiritual thought, represented by our periodicals, is authorized by one government also. Christian Science recognizes this authority as God, the one Mind. It teaches us how to accept this authority as the sole impulsion of any action. "It shows," as Mrs. Eddy states, "the impossibility of transmitting human ills, or evil, from one individual to another; that all true thoughts revolve in God's orbits: they come from God and return to Him,—and untruths belong not to His creation, therefore these are null and void" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 22).
Spiritually considered, circulation is not routine. It is not dull repetition. It is the beautiful, delightful, vital movement of the ideas of God within the allness of God. As we entertain this spiritual sense of circulation, our present demonstration of it progressively patterns the Divine, with consequent effect on our own lives. More and more we find ourselves able to impart truth without effort. Thoughts flow easily when and as they are needed. The body glows with health. Affection is given and returned. What we have of supply goes into action and returns to us increased.
As we restore our understanding of circulation to God in spiritual knowledge of His omniaction, we find new opportunities for speeding our periodicals on their way. Recognizing their divinely impelled circulation, we are better able to detect and deal with unseen influences which attempt to bring them to a standstill.
Human effort alone is not enough. We need the awareness of divine impulsion. This lifts the worker to better achievements, and the periodicals themselves to greater heights of inspiration. We read in Isaiah (55:11), "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." This is a description of divinely impelled circulation, the power which governs the movement of the Christian Science periodicals.
