Obedience, although universally recognized as the watchword of progress in the line of material effort, is very imperfectly understood in its larger spiritual meaning; and because of this indefinite apprehension, many well-disposed men, like Saul and Marcus Aurelius, have been servants of evil when they thought they were following good.
To be obedient is to do right; to do right is to do one's duty, and to do one's duty, according to Scripture, is "to know God," hence, to be truly obedient is "to know God."
The Science of Being teaches that spiritual man exists as the infinite reflection, the image of God, and, as a result of this relation, that he possesses, in consciousness, the universe of ideas. Science also declares that "All the varied expressions of God reflect infinite Life, Truth, and Love," and that "these ideas range from the infinitesimal to immensity" (Science and Health, pp. 518. 503). Thus it will be seen that all spiritual ideas are naturally obedient to Spirit, for their very being is in Principle. The spiritual man's knowledge of the universe of ideas is, therefore, in constant and perfect accord with Principle. In contrast with this Scientific concept of obedience, a material sense of things is, by its very nature, a false, or disobedient consciousness.
