IF YOU REALIZED YOU HAD boarded a sinking ship, and had the means to help save not only yourself but your shipmates, wouldn't you take drastic action to do just that?
At one time, I came face to face with the realization that a material sense of life is like that sinking ship, headed toward a dark conclusion—and I was on it. By this I don't mean that I felt close to death, but that my concept of life was off course and my thoughts on the subject needed to be spiritualized. A sense of life that's defined by mortal concepts—such as time, a physical body, material sensation, merely personal wants, and human-based relationships—adversely affects people in a significant way, and I didn't want to sit in that ship, so to speak. These limiting concepts blind humanity to the genuine happiness, security, and fulfillment God intends for each us as His precious offspring. Matter-based thinking and living also blinds us to the good influence our lives can have on others.
I still well recall when this idea from Science and Health hit home: "Earth has little light or joy for mortals before Life is spiritually learned" (p. 548). What I understood from that one sentence perhaps meant more to me than what I got from any other, at least in regard to what it did for my commitment to the Christian Science movement and pursuing genuine, lasting happiness.
