To one who can accept the truth that all causation is in Mind, and who therefore begins to look away from [pg 470] matter and into Mind, or Spirit, for all that is real and eternal, and for all that produces anything that is lasting, the doubts and petty annoyances of life become dissolved in the light of a better understanding, which has been refined in the crucible of charity and love; and they fade away into the nothingness from whence they came, never having had any existence in fact, being only the inventions of erring human belief.
Read the teachings of the Christ from a Christian Science standpoint, and they no longer appear vague and mystical, but become luminous and powerful,—and, let me say, intelligible.
It is true, as you intimate, that this theory of life is much more generally accepted by women than by men, and it may be true that as a rule their reasoning is much less rigid in its nature than that of the sterner sex, and that they may be liable to scan their premises less keenly; but may it not also be true, that they are of finer texture and more spiritual in their natures, and that they may be just as likely to arrive at the truth through their intuitions, in connection with their logic, as we are through the more rugged courses? If it be true that man is the more logical, the fallibility of our own reasonings very frequently becomes painfully apparent even to ourselves, and they are therefore not the safest gauge by which to judge others.
I believe, myself, that when it comes to standing up for Truth in the face of the world, and possibly at the sacrifice of position and popularity, women possess the necessary courage in a much greater degree than do men.
I had not intended to weary you with such a long [pg 471] letter, but after getting into the subject, I hardly knew where to stop. As an old and loved friend, I have given you a glimpse of my inner life, because I hardly knew how to explain my mental condition to you in any other way....
Footnotes
[1.]The order of this sentence has been conformed to the text of the 1908 edition of Science and Health. [24][2.]Quoted from the sixth edition. [30][3.]Quoted from the sixteenth edition.[4.]A copy of the Bible was included among the books placed in the corner-stone.[5.]See the revised edition of 1890, or page 334 in editions subsequent to 1902.[6.]See edition of 1909.[7.]See Science and Health, p. 47, revised edition of 1890, and pp. 152, 153 in late editions.[8.]Page 292 of the revised edition of 1890.[9.]Page 234, revised edition of 1890.