Volume 7, Issue 9, page 8


include your gray face. So shortly it was
bright and shining, too. Strangely, you didn't
mind if the end of your nose shone. For this
was a different kind of shine. It was a pretty
dim replica, but it reminded you again of
Moses when he came down from the mountain.

If you were a man, you finally turned away
from yourself, to find that you had to lather
all over again, and didn't really mind. If you
were a woman, you simply interrupted whatever
your hands had been doing, and stole a rather
shy glance at your shining eyes, as if they
had been those of a loved one.

Before you left the bathroom, you tried a
few things your own shining eyes had taught
you, or had hinted to you. You watched your
eyes, and .. .

Thought of someone you had always hated.
Thought of someone of whom you were afraid.
Thought of someone of whom you were jealous.
Thought of a situation which had been worrying you.

Thought, somewhat diffidently, of a dark
secret desire.

The result, even when unrehearsed, was
startling. You had easily recognized -- now that
you looked for it, them -- hatred, fear, jealousy, worry, and dark desire in your eyes, If
you could see them, probably everybody else
could. It wouldn't do to mask your eyes, or
you couldn't see where you were going. So,
this particular, especial morning, .you tried
something: You tried to erase the hatred. You
thought again of the person hated, watched the
expression come into your eyes, then sought to
banish it by assuring yourself...
"I don't hate him now. I don't hate him
now. I don't hate him any more."
The expression in your eyes didn't change a
bit, so you learned an important lesson: You
had to be sincere. Well, Jesus must have been
sincere. Probably one of the most sincere men
you'd ever heard of. You took just a bit more
precious time -- you could pick it up somewhere
else during the 16 hours, or somewhat less
now, you'd be awake this day -- and tried sincerely not to hate the man, or woman, you
hated. You couldn't see much progress, but you
felt it, which was a beginning.
"You loved the whole world!" you said to
Jesus, somewhere near you. "If You could manage that, I should manage to love him. He's
probably not a bad sort, at all. Probably a
lot better than millions of men and women You
know and love -- myself among them!"
You listened for some sign, and the words,
or the thought, or whatever it was, could have
come from Him. They were new to you, you were
sure of that.
"Never belittle yourself; to do so is one
of the great sins!"
Now, there was a thought. You studied your
eyes again while you went over it, and it did
seem to you that they were more peaceful somehow, as if you were getting someplace and almost knew it. Could be a trick of reflection
in the mirror, but you doubted that, because
you still had the glow inside you which had
been with you since The Experiment started --
when the cock crew, or the alarm clock exploded, or the time in your head wakened you to
remember and look at the pictured Head and
Face of Jesus as you rose to the top of the
morning, intent on making something more than
usual of it.

You didn't usually take an hour to the business of rising, shaving, bathing, dressing --
but this morning you did. The Experiment already threatened to pack your day with inciA Skeptic Dissects
Some Sacred Myths
By HERBERT W. GARDNER
EDITORIAL WARRANTY