You can almost picture the wide-eyed, inquisitive five-year-old carefully taking hold of the pocket compass that his father had brought to his bedside for him to see.
What impressed the boy most about the compass was not that the needle pointed in the same direction regardless of which way he turned the case; rather it was that whatever was acting on the needle was something outside the case, something in space, "the space that had always been considered empty."
From this account of young Albert Einstein's first encounter with the effect of the North Pole, we get a peek into the early life of a great discoverer, someone who looked at an ordinary compass—even ordinary time and space—and discovered something extraordinary. See Ronald W Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times (New York: Avon Books, 1984), pp. 28-29.
One evening recently, after I'd watched a couple of news and commentary programs, it struck me that we have an urgent need for additional extraordinary discoveries—spiritual ones. Thinking back on the kinds of problems faced by society five, ten, twenty years ago, though they may have seemed difficult and complex at the time, I don't recall thinking that they seemed unsolvable. But on this particular evening, and for the first time, I was beginning to feel that that had changed. From one newscast to the next, and from one interview to another, the chilling message coming across was one of utter hopelessness. The problems had become too big. Praying never seemed more appropriate.
Through prayer many people have triumphed over "unsolvable" problems, and ordinary ones, by glimpsing extraordinary things about God and His creation. Yet what is so matter-of-factly considered to be creation looks so lost: vulnerable, discordant, cut off from God. "The earth is utterly broken down," Isa. 24:19. begins a verse from the Bible, though it sounds like one of today's headlines. So when it comes to the deeply troubling reports we're getting today, whether they involve failing institutions or a deteriorating environment, can prayer really help?
Yes, it can. The objective of individual prayer, as Christ Jesus taught us, is not to reassemble or preserve crumbling, materialistic systems. We're not turning to some kind of repair service; rather we're praying to discern something of the actual, spiritual nature of creation and the laws of God, divine Principle, that underlie and maintain all harmony The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, points out in her book Science and Health, "Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good, and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already done; but distrust of one's ability to gain the goodness desired and to bring out better and higher results, often hampers the trial of one's wings and ensures failure at the outset." Science and Health, p. 260.
Sometimes when we turn to prayer, fear of failure would try to weigh us down before we get started. This downward drag on our thought is animal magnetism, the deception of mortal, materialistic thinking, opposed to spiritual-mindedness.
From the outset, mortal mind would try to bury every budding hope and noble effort with the repeated assertion that nothing can be done, that there are no answers. Of course, the underlying assumption that a mortal, material mind determines our capacity to discern and understand more of God's creation and His perfect government is a fundamental error itself, a hopeless beginning.
The outlook brightens when our starting point for prayer changes; when we seek the true status of man through a correct understanding of his Maker. While mortal mind would, at best, only imagine man to be spiritual, the image of God, our spiritual sense bears witness to nothing less than His likeness.
One evening
recently, after
I'd watched, after
couple of news
and commentary
programs, it
struck me that
we have an
urgent need
for additional
extraordinary
discoveries—
spiritual ones.
The likeness of God is not apart from Him, left alone to contend with a material world. This flawed concept of man's relationship to God—an arrangement whereby God exists and operates in a universe somewhere apart from His offspring—would put time and space between man and divine Mind, man's source of intelligence. The bleak and misleading assumption that we are far removed from the clear direction and unfailing government of our creator should be reexamined in a more spiritual and scientific way.
Christianly scientific prayer annuls the disheartening claims of mortal mind and enables us to see more of the soundness and goodness of divine Mind—the soundness and goodness inherent in the universe of God, including man, not external to him. As Mind's spiritual idea, man can't be outside of God's awareness or His embrace. Prayer can restore the wonderful sense of closeness to our Father-Mother, of being held and completely cared for at every step. That's not to say that in human experience difficult issues won't continue to demand our attention and, occasionally, seem to reach out-of-control proportions. But in challenging times we shouldn't lose sight of man's unity with God nor with the spiritual nature and intelligent government of His creation. Strengthened by this understanding, we won't be weighed down by difficult issues, feeling that we must abandon hope and prepare for defeat.
When mortal mind hammers us with reports that we don't have the resources to undo what appears to have been done, deep-felt prayer silences those suggestions and turns our thoughts to the quiet assurance and might of Christ, the divine message to man of "what God has already done." What He has done, what is spiritually discoverable, was once described in the Bible as "a new heaven and a new earth," Rev. 21:1. free from any sorrow, pain, or death. Glimpsing this reality, we find man's being, our own identity, to be wholly spiritual and intact.
Understanding God's unalterable, undisturbed universe, including man, provides the spiritual basis of hope and our reason for standing up to hopelessness as undeserved and illegitimate. As we continue to pray and listen for more of God's message, even in the midst of despair, the answers we need begin to appear.
The time must come when a mortal, material sense of being is reckoned to be false. But the transition from this false sense of existence to a perception of the truth of being isn't burdensome or discouraging. Quite the contrary, it's filled with hope and accomplishment.
Prayer is extraordinary. Even if we think our prayers are moving us too slowly in the right direction, the fact is we are making this transition, as we must, with every honest prayer. And our Father-Mother cares for us with the answers we need every step of the way.
