There was a strange device among the art exhibits. A board lay on the floor. At each end, a rope was attached, so that the board could have served as a swing if it had been hung from a tree limb. But this was not the artist's intention! The "operating instructions" hanging on the wall said: "Try lifting yourself up!" Pictures of people who had tried this were also shown. People stood on the board and pulled hard at the ropes, but what happened? As expected, nothing!
This object later inspired me to ponder my own and others' efforts at solving problems. We seek solutions individually as well as collectively. Wars, economic distress, lack of space, environmental pollution, aggressiveness, and so on, threaten the world. Perhaps the individual also sees himself confronted with loneliness, discouragement, sickness, uselessness—the list can be extended indefinitely.
Honest and good efforts are obviously being made everywhere to solve these problems. But sometimes success seems slight. Isn't this because we often try "lifting ourselves up"—relying on the limited offer of human solutions or patent remedies instead of the infinite good of God, Spirit? Mrs. Eddy says, "Few there be who know what a power mind is to heal when imbued with the spiritual truth that lifts man above the demands of matter." The People's Idea of God, p. 12. What is this "spiritual truth" of which she speaks?
