A business man who is working out his daily affairs through the application of Christian Science, is sometimes tempted to think too much of the complex details of each problem, and not enough of the basic idea manifesting Principle. Many business investigations and reports are confused by a mass of facts and figures which in themselves may be highly interesting but which may not reveal the truth of the situation, for statistics and specific data, including examples, comparisons, and other devices of minute analysis weigh as nothing against a single metaphysical truth.

An illustration of the presentation of complex details in connection with industry is what is being published about the dye industry. The discussion of the problems in this industry is interesting, and the detail analysis may, of course, lead to the discernment of the solution; but the point that the student of Christian Science must recognize is that it is the discernment of the truth that counts, not the consideration of the material details. In this industry it has been believed that the extraction of the dyes leaves quantities of material which can be used only for the manufacture of explosives. Now this is an illustration of how an inductive method of investigation may result in a belief of extreme limitation through the continuance of evil, for if there must be great quantities of explosives as by-products, then some use for these explosives must be found. Arguments such as this are not conducive to the turning of swords into plowshares.

Christian Science teaches that discernment of Principle, and of what Principle includes, is manifest as constructive and not destructive activity. Therefore, reasoning in accordance with the divine Mind must enable one to prove the true utility in place of any false belief. In other words, there must be the right and constructive use for the by-products of dye-stuffs, just as there is for alcohol, or what alcohol has been made from.

Instead of any material sense of things we need to understand the true idea in Mind, which is the infinite manifestation of Principle and not a fragment or limited entity of any sort. On page 25 of Miscellaneous Writings Mrs. Eddy says: “That there is but one God or Life, one cause and one effect, is the multum in parvo of Christian Science; and to my understanding it is the heart of Christianity, the religion that Jesus taught and demonstrated.” It makes no difference what name may be given to the one cause or what name may be given to the one effect, neither cause nor effect is altered in any way by a human process of naming. Infinite Mind is infinitely manifest as the truth to take the place of the belief in humanly complex details.

A business man, then, may analyze details, if he wishes, but if he is depending on Christian Science he needs to see through his whole analysis that he is simply giving human names to Principle and its idea. The fact is that Principle and its manifestation remain the same through all his analysis. By turning his attention to Principle, and seeing that the true manifestation is infinite in variety, he is able to conquer the belief in confusion through knowing the presence of the rightly arranged activity of the divine Mind.

A man may say, however: “But I do not always express intelligence. I try to do so, and I think that I do manifest some intelligence, perhaps.” Such a one is thinking of the human sense of intellect rather than of the one infinite, divine intelligence which the real man always manifests. The work of such a one is to declare the reality of man as the actual manifestation of this infinite intelligence, and not to argue on the wrong side. A doubt as to his ability is a denial of the efficacy of unerring Principle.

To know that man does manifest infinite Mind here and now is to realize unlimited ability. The problem of the dye industry, for instance, is not so much that a discovery of new human ways and means is necessary, but that the understanding of Principle as producing only right and harmonious action must reduce the belief in seemingly present limitations to nothingness. In other words, progress is the disappearance of the sense of limitation. The infinite idea of Principle always has existed and been manifest to the only Mind that can know anything. It is merely the belief of mortal mind in a lack of manifestation that has to give way.

Divine Principle, or God, does indeed govern the true spiritual universe, of which the human sense of things is only counterfeit. The understanding of this government which Christian Science teaches gives to the student real energy, endurance, and sureness in business or any other experience, which the inductive study of material details never could give. Thus Mrs. Eddy says, on page 128 of Science and Health: “The term Science, properly understood, refers only to the laws of God and to His government of the universe, inclusive of man. From this it follows that business men and cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance and mental powers, enlarges their perception of character, gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man.”

To Principle nothing is impossible. Therefore, the business man understanding Principle, and relying upon it consistently, finds the right way opening through what may have seemed impossibilities. Instead of reasoning merely on a basis of precedent, on the basis of what has been the usual thing, he knows that the unfoldment of Principle now breaks the old limitations. The unknown quantity in any situation from a human standpoint, is infinite Mind, and what infinite Mind knows as the true idea. Fortunately, however, this spiritual fact is absolutely known to the true man now and always. A declaration and demonstration of this knowledge means the destruction of the human sense of ignorance.

The only prophecy that it is safe to make in connection with business is that because Principle requires infinity of manifestation, there must be continuous expansion of opportunity. One understanding cause knows effect likewise; so it is possible to predict the true effect of true cause. This kind of prediction in business must supplant human doubts and fears, and prove that the real outlook is always good. Any belief in business depression, in fact, can subside only as business men learn to think more in terms of Principle and its spiritual idea, rather than in terms of human detail, for the one intelligent Principle takes care of every detail of true living and maintains the spiritual action which is man’s state of being busy.