MY FATHER TOLD ME about an experience he had as a freshman in college. He decided to take a course in physiology—a subject in which he had only a casual, non-professional interest. Most of his classmates in the course, however, were highly devoted pre-med students, intent on learning every detail. In accord with his modest objectives, he studied only a few hours per week. Not surprisingly, he barely passed the course. I remember asking him why he didn't study harder. "I took the course out of curiosity," he said. "They took it out of a desire to save lives." His point was, the amount we need to study a subject depends upon how much we want to accomplish in its practice.
I decided to do a temporary experiment to test the effects.
Mary Baker Eddy, author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, recommends a level of study of the Bible and of her book that is even higher than that of a medical student in a physiology course. She writes, "It is true that it requires more study to understand and demonstrate what these works teach, than to learn theology, physiology, or physics; because they teach divine Science, with fixed Principle, given rule, and unmistakable proof." No and Yes, p. 11.
