When a problem doesn't yield to our prayerful efforts, it is often helpful to turn thought away from self and the contemplation of the problem and to work impersonally for the world. This point was brought rather forcefully to my attention when I was returning from a vacation trip in the East. As I left for the airport, I was suddenly stricken with alarming symptoms of influenza which kept me busy refuting the error and affirming the truth.
At the airport, it started to rain heavily, and there was some doubt whether the plane would take off. On the plane, my condition grew worse until it seemed that I might lose consciousness. At a moment of great fear, the thought came to me, "You are so ill that you don't care if the plane crashes." This shocked me into awareness that all was not well; and I knew that regardless of how miserable I felt, I was interested in the safety of everyone on that plane.
I was obedient to this spiritual intuition and immediately turned my thought away from self and started to work for the safety of the passengers and the plane. I knew that the divine Mind governs man and that this Mind is unerring in intelligence. I knew also that those on the plane could never be outside Love's tender care nor be separated from safety and that true activity proceeds from the one Mind and is spiritual and harmonious. After I had spent a few minutes in such prayerful work, it was announced that we would make an unscheduled landing in Washington, District of Columbia.
