SELF-LIMITATION

FOR the beginner in Christian Science, demonstration is often easy; mountains of fear, disease, and sin are removed before the newfound faith in God which sees nothing as impossible. The result is such joyful wonder and thanksgiving at the perception of the real man, the image and likeness of God, as is expressed in the words, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." Yet experience, which should only confirm faith, sometimes dulls for a time the keenness of our perception and tempts us with a return to old beliefs under new names. It is easy to attribute failure to the opposition of animal magnetism; but is this not, after all, giving power to the same old evil in a new guise? It is easy to dismiss all problems with the plea that our present life is but a dream; but is not this neglecting to be properly grateful for the very real good and the opportunities for more good, which we already have? It is even comparatively easy to deny the reality of death, as a thing to be dreaded; yet can we say we have overcome it until this and all death's seeming evidences have vanished?

It is easy also to become over-cautious, to load ourselves down with a bundle of suffer-it-to-be-so-nows which are, after all, mere superstitions resulting from discouraging experiences. All of these things become fatally easy the moment we cease to progress. It is impossible to stand still without slipping backward. When we come to a seeming impasse and feel inclined to wait for the world to make the next move, we need to remember the words of the hymn (Hymnal, p. 195):—

It is true, of course, that we are not expected to attempt what is beyond our ability to demonstrate; but it is also true that we should continue to demonstrate greater ability. In the study of material science, after fundamentals are learned, progress is retarded or made uncertain by the limitations of the subject. Christian Science, however, is not only unlimited, but the way of achievement has been made plain to us much farther than we have gone. There is no reason why the truth should not gleam as freshly on our sight after a year's study as after a day's; indeed, our understanding of its potency should be greater, and our grasp upon it more secure.

The only thing which can possibly mesmerize us into any compromise with error is a false sense of self. The belief in self may take many forms, but perhaps the very commonest is that self -limitation which is the counterfeit of true humility, and is, in fact, merely a degree of self-exaltation. The student may feel, for example, that higher understanding is denied him because of age, lack of mental training, or some other such disability. He may fold his hands in pseudo-meekness and say in substance: "Lord, who am I that I should do this thing?"—be it healing, testimony, or church work—"for I am unworthy; let it be done by another."

At first sight this sort of self-depreciation may seem excusable enough; yet, like all the other qualities proceeding from self, it should be replaced by a knowledge of the real man, made in the image and after the likeness of God. God's man knows no limitations, because he depends not upon himself, but upon omnipotent Truth. When a task seems too great for us, let us ask ourselves: What power is it, after all, that does the work, and where is any power that can possibly keep the work from being done? We have been told to "break every yoke"—yet of ourselves we know that we can do nothing. Admitted inability to make any demonstration is, therefore, not meekness; it is simply an insidious form of conceit, because it means that we are placing the material self, with its limitations, above that power of good which is reflected by the real man. We are attempting to make omnipotence void by the sins of our own false sense. Consideration of these facts is indeed a blow to that shrinking timidity which is inclined to regard itself, after all, not as a vice but as something akin to virtue. There is no need for confusing it with true humility, when we consider that true humility is humble only before God, while the false variety would disparage man's power over error.

The demonstration which the diffident student discusses with most reluctance is the destruction of "the last enemy." Now it is certainly true that sooner or later each one must grapple with and overcome for himself the belief in death. It is not profitable to wait for some marvelous event which shall bring realized immortality to us without particular effort on our part. No impossible injunctions were given us by the Master, yet the command to "raise the dead" is coupled with that to "heal the sick," and was obeyed by Peter and by Paul. Their demonstrations, like those of Christ Jesus, prove that the conquest of death does not mean mere verbal denial of its reality, while its necessity as a material phenomenon is admitted. As when we deny the reality of sickness its material evidences disappear, so it must be when we correctly deny the reality of death.

Granted, then, that this demonstration is before us, the only questions are when and where. Certainly at no improper time; but we must consider that the promise is always true, "Lo, I am with you alway." It has already been proved that the same power which cures our lesser ills is no less effective when applied to those of seemingly greater magnitude. As for place, it is well to remember that good is omnipresent. Have we permitted ourselves the belief that conquest over material laws will be any easier on another plane of demonstration than on this? We can hardly expect to find God more powerful or our own conditions improved beyond our deserts; for, as Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 296), "the death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal."

This revelation of the real man, in a world deluded by myriad beliefs of time, space, and decay, is a point toward which humanity seems to struggle slowly. It is still, however, a definite and necessary goal, not a thing to be put off or discussed only with bated breath. To one who inquired concerning the present propriety of claiming immortality, Mrs. Eddy replied in the words found on page 242 of Miscellany: "You can never demonstrate spirituality until you declare yourself to be immortal and understand that you are so. Christian Science is absolute; it is neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom. Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration. By this I do not mean that mortals are the children of God,—far from it."

Mortals are, indeed, so far from any demonstration of eternal life that our material selves, in their fierce desire to live, tell us that we cannot make the demonstration, because our making it means another step toward their destruction. Obviously, life eternal does not mean eternal contentment in matter; it means the absolute denial of matter. Death is not that denial; it is matter's seeming triumph. So long as we regard death as sacred in the sense of its being God-sanctioned, just so long must we endure it. In the prophecy of Ezekiel we read, "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye."

The material beliefs from which we must turn are many. We are lulled to sleep by the belief that death itself means rest. We are misled by our wishes as to the happy state of our loved ones who have passed, instead of being willing to trust their happiness to God's goodness and their own demonstration on one plane as on another without any magic change induced by dissolution. We are urged to give credence to another suggestion of materiality now seeking support in a world just emerged from war,—that of so-called "spirit" communication. The fact concerning this suggestion has been settled for all time by Mrs. Eddy in the fourth chapter of Science and Health entitled, "Christian Science versus Spiritualism."

In short, to overcome belief in death it is necessary first to overcome belief in material man, materially created, and to supplant that belief with a knowledge of real Life —that Life in which man has neither material origin nor material end. Job's plaint, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble," was answered by the psalmist when he said, "It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves." Just as sickness is being destroyed through Christian Science by the knowledge of what constitutes true health, so death must be destroyed by the knowledge of what constitutes true life,—by an understanding of Life as Spirit, Mind, quite distinct from material existence. The muscular activity of worm or germ is a poor counterfeit of the unlimited activity of good, reflected by the real man and the real universe.

If not merely for our own advancement, we should be prompted by a decent sense of gratitude to attempt to make more and more apparent man's right to continue in this real activity uninterrupted by any power opposed to Life. The possibilities of achievement here and now, if we can only cease to limit our own growth, are beyond mortal conception. In Deuteronomy we read: "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? . . . But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it."

There is never any need to look anywhere but to God for His unfolding of good to us. The only necessity, in a world anxious to substitute, if it only knew how, "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," is peaceful progress on the part of those who have learned how. And the way is clearly pointed out on page 90 of the Christian Science textbook: "The admission to one's self that man is God's own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This conviction shuts the door on death, and opens it wide towards immortality."