The Greek philosopher Antisthenes founded a sect whose purpose was to find and apply a remedy for the vices, prevailing then as now, of avarice, luxury, and undue ambition, to inculcate a love of virtue, and to bring about simplicity of manners. Surely the ancient philosopher and his sect were inspired by praiseworthy motives! Yet the followers of Antisthenes speedily degenerated, and were finally known as cynics, a term of reproach. The name of Diogenes has survived through many centuries as their best-known exemplar.
The term cynic is now applied most commonly to a sneering, sarcastic, morose, and all-round disagreeable faultfinder, who now as ever is very much in evidence, and who is frequently regarded as a nuisance. Too often he is guilty of the very thing which caused the cynic Diogenes to request Alexander to "stand a little out of his sunshine." Nevertheless, the cynic is not usually a bad-hearted fellow; he has been soured by disappointment, disillusion, and injustice. He has been more easily soured when possessing, at first, a kind heart and a keen sense of justice, but he always lacks sound discrimination. Whatever its ancestry, cynicism in its bad sense is always an illusion and obsession; it is always of the devil, the father of lies. When allowed to have its way, its fast-growing yeast acidulates our thoughts and our faces so that they become morose.
We are all liable, at times, to become more or less cynical if we are not watching vigilantly. Hence, as with many other temptations, we need to remember Mrs. Eddy's wise admonition: "Stand porter at the door of thought" (Science and Health, p.392). We should also remember that bad little foxes often grow into large ones. The habit of indiscriminate faultfinding with persons and things mundane may easily grow into a habit of faultfinding with things divine, or rather with what may seem to be things divine. The abhorrent octopus of atheism is thus nourished in the dark places of mortal mind, and its stealthy tentacles are thrust forth to crush and destroy.
