"KNOW thyself," that ancient precept described by an English poet as "the heaven-sprung message of the olden time," seems to acquire a new intensity of wisdom in the light of Christian Science.
The householder of Jesus' parable brings forth things new and old; and because the old is side by side with the new, both are enriched by this juxtaposition. It seems easy to say, "Know thyself," "To thine own self be true," and so on, but we want to be told how to do it, for when we look within at the complex variations and combinations of motive and thought which go to make up this entity called "myself," it seems practically impossible to be sure that one knows anything at all about it. The explanation of its inconsistencies, its follies, its sins, and particularly of its goodnesses, is altogether beyond us. Many give up trying and just drift, but more adopt the better plan of endeavoring to select as many of the good traits as possible, and then to cement the whole together with as much good nature as circumstances will permit, intermingled with the usual and supposedly inevitable degree of inconsistency.
The resulting "me" may present a more or less satisfactory exterior to the world; it may enjoy some popularity, some success, and may even seem to be contributing some definite accomplishment to the world's advance toward enlightenment and progress, but does it satisfy the demand "Know thyself"? Now Christian Science is in the world not to destroy, but to fulfil the word of God; not to condemn, but to save; and therefore its answer to this question is characteristic. What it says in effect is that so long as one's concept of himself contains any erroneous notions as to what man is, he cannot know himself, simply because error is unknowable. But let one base his thoughts of himself on the true idea of man, God's image and likeness, and he begins to know himself. Therefore the injunction to know ones self sets us to work to distinguish between those erroneous notions regarding man which are everywhere prevalent and that true idea of man which was most perfectly ex-emplified in Jesus the Christ.
