A familiar feeling returns whenever I read a great book with a large cast of characters. I get interested in the characters and events in a particular chapter. Then that chapter ends and a new one begins that focuses on different characters. Wait—I want to stay with the ones I’m familiar with.… A bit reluctantly I start the new chapter, but then I get just as engrossed in its story—until it happens again.
In the best books, by the time you reach the end you see how the various stories knit together and you’ve gained insight that brings value to your own human journey. This offers a lesson we often struggle hard to learn in life—good will keep coming and triumph over longing for good we think is over. It will because overarching divine Love purposes infinite progress for creation.
In the universe of perfect Mind where “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28), there’s no destruction or end of good. Spirit, not matter, is the real substance of everything. For instance, as much as we miss people that come and go to limited human sight, when we commit ourselves to seeing them as individual expressions of God, we do become convinced that they are continuing to develop and experience new insight and joy—just as we are every day when we seek to know and live more of Truth. Identity is spiritual; the consciousness of good continues forever. Feeling this even to a degree brings joy in thinking of everyone we love. And it makes going forward into new chapters a positive experience.
