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WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED TIME?

From the July 1955 issue of The Christian Science Journal


Much of human life, its order and regulations, seems to be based on time. We read in Ecclesiastes (3:1,4), "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:...a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." But as Christian Scientists we must watch that we are not taken in by this false sense of time. Wisdom demands that we make time our servant, not our master.

Mary Baker Eddy tells us, in a definition in the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," just what time is (p. 595): "Time. Mortal measurements; limits, in which are summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, knowledge; matter; error; that which begins before, and continues after, what is termed death, until the mortal disappears and spiritual perfection appears." Thus she strips time of its mastery, and shows us that the more we acknowledge perfection or reality, the less we acknowledge time.

The earnest study and application of Christian Science bring release, in great measure, from the exacting demands of time in our daily lives. The beliefs of infancy and age, of so-called laws of health, of lack of time to do our work, can be proved false. From our Leader's definition we see that the belief of time is a belief of limitation, and that the fear accompanying this false belief disappears as we apprehend the perfection of God's spiritual creation. Then let us become aware of the perfection of good in all things, and time will cease to limit us.

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