“A knowledge of error and of its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which destroys error, until the entire mortal, material error finally disappears, and the eternal verity, man created by and of Spirit, is understood and recognized as the true likeness of his Maker.” From Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy, page 252
“Mrs. Eddy once asked a branch church member how his church was getting along. When he said, ‘very harmoniously,’ she said, ‘That’s too bad. If you were making progress, things would not be so harmonious.'”from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, the “Blue Book,” by Mary Baker Eddy, page 222
Today I came across a poem in Precepts 2 by Gilbert Carpenter, C.S.B. – “A young student calls all affliction dark, and struggles to overcome it, just as he calls all harmony demonstration. He has not yet learned that the most deterring phase of animal magnetism is that which presents itself as human harmony, or human good, because it would seek to make mortals so happy in hell, that they have no interest in heaven. The following parody illustrates this contrast between human evil and human good:
It is easy enough to fight,
When the devil frowns and is vile;
But the man with might,
Is the man who can fight
When the devil comes with a smile.”
In my experience this smile works like a spell. It charms, promises, and deceives. The desire for things to be nice and smooth without facing and destroying evil was keeping me clinging “to earth because he has not tasted heaven.”(S.& H. 263) I am grateful to be learning to build spiritual fortitude rather than seek soothing words that did not heal. It is good to be where this is being taught!