The Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, may not have been an institutionally educated scholar of the natural sciences, but I find her insights about the laws of nature and their applied relevance to health and human affairs to be breathtaking. Take her statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual . . .” (p. 265).
An early career in education gave me many opportunities to learn about how this law of spiritual gravitation finds expression in the law of gravitropism.
“Gravitropism,” also referred to as “geotropism,” is defined by The National Academy of Science as: “The directional growth of an organism in response to gravity. Roots display positive geotropism when they grow downwards.” In other words, there is a law of nature that ensures deeper root growth, because roots will always seek out—and grow toward—a gravitational source. And in collaboration with, not opposition to, phototropism (the same organism’s irresistible growth toward a light source), each plant finds itself held in perfect balance between a deep root system and a vibrant canopy of leaves reaching towards the sun’s light.
