170-WATCH lest you fear the discordant and unpleasant phases of human experience more than those which, because they tend to put one to sleep, would rob one of his ability to meet and overcome the so-called domination of mortal belief, or mesmerism. Whatever stirs thought to greater spiritual activity, is preferable to the soothing and activity destroying effect of human harmony, which tends to put one to sleep, and rob him of his determination to overcome the domination of mortal belief. If you were learning to ride horseback and were given a bucking bronco to learn on-a horse determined to unseat its rider-when you could ride him, your ability as a rider would be unquestioned. Perhaps in His wisdom God is training us to maintain our spiritual hold on Him, by giving us the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, as we read in Is. 30:20, so that we may finally be able to say, "None of these things move me." It is not difficult to perceive that one receives very little training in spiritual stick-to-itiveness through human harmony. Jesus declared, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul (man's spiritually active sense); but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (put man to sleep to his duty to God, when to keep awake spiritually is the paramount need)." In the tenth chapter of Daniel we read of the spiritual vision Daniel gained as the result of a demonstration made, not over the unpleasant, but the pleasant side of human experience. He said, "I ate no pleasant bread . . . till three whole weeks were fulfilled." This indicates the progress he made in freeing himself from the so-called natural law of mortal belief presenting itself in its pleasant side. As a result, he gained a wonderful spiritual vision, that has come down through history as a remarkable and potent addition to spiritual revelation, to aid man in his understanding of good and evil, truth and error. The demonstration over the unpleasant side of mortal existence should ripen a student for the demonstration over its pleasant side. Real progress starts in human harmony and not in discord. The belief in the holding power of mesmerism is to be found mainly in the unconscious conviction that food, sleep, air, warmth, exercise, etc., are necessary for life and health. The phases of mesmerism which call for one's highest demonstration are those which strike no warning bell, when one yields to them. No active student of Science would ever fall asleep at night without vigorously rebuking any sense of discord, sin or sickness that might be assailing him. But he does this largely because such suggestions strike a note of warning that is unmistakable. He would feel blameworthy if he neglected to do this important thing. Yet since it is materiality that is the enemy of God, it is necessary in progress to begin to resist the belief in the seemingly natural, and harmonious phases of mortal existence with determination. This ought not to seem too great a task, since the acknowledgment of error is all there is to error. For instance, when one is sick, all there is to the sickness is the acknowledgment of it. All there is to temptation is the acknowledgment of it. Mrs. Eddy, however, did not expect us to give up sleep before we were ready to do so. Yet, before we go to sleep, we can strive to realize that God giveth His beloved the true sleep, and that no false sense of it can possess us. We can realize that true rest comes from a consciousness of God, and not from yielding to the mesmerism of unconsciousness. One reason the term malicious animal magnetism is so apt, is that it helps students to feel as blameworthy if they neglect to handle normal and pleasant materiality, as they would, if they neglected to handle downright sin. When a student is served delicate and luxurious food, there is no warning note to rouse him as to the error of sensation in matter, as there would be if he were assailed by sickness or sin. Through the term "malicious animal magnetism" a student is aroused to his neglect, if under human harmony he fails to continue to know the nothingness of material sense, as it claims to hold him in bondage, by asserting that without it man would die. This term helps to add a warning note to the claims of "pleasant bread," sleep, air, exercise. It helps to bring the student to the realization of all the claims of material sense which man must uncover and overthrow, in order to reflect the Mind which was in Christ Jesus.