In the present seething mental turmoil, when more strenuous attempts than ever before are being made to enthrone the human mind; when charlatans and deluded intellectuals alike proclaim it to be omnipotent; when the claim to dominate the world by mental means, no matter how evil, is thundering its vacuous nothingness; when the enemy of Christ is striving to "divide and rule;" when shortsighted, impetuous Peters rush to take the sword of material means in the attempt to rebuke sheer nothingness, to allay the necessary and salutary chemicalization that is the sure sign and promise of the coming of the wholeness which is the Christ; when weary workers, fainting under the charge to "watch with me one hour" begin to ask themselves whether it is any longer safe or wise to return good for evil, and whether the Sermon on the Mount is sufficient equipment for the fight against evil: when all these things are clamoring to be heard, it is well to remember that Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered that "evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power" (Science and Health, p. 330), and who ordered her life in accordance with that truth, never permitted considerations of the enormity or subtlety of evil to deter her or to mesmerize her into personalizing evil, into dignifying a bewildered human mind with any shade or grade of importance or power.
To rebuke and destroy the present epidemic of personal responsibility and its accompanying feverish fear, of self-righteousness, self-justification, and virulent, categorical condemnation of others, we cannot do better than assimilate what Mrs. Eddy says on page 8 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles, defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should reflect." It is a case of doing the first works, of leaving all, even self-righteousness, for Christ. Immediately following the foregoing passage we find: "Whatever purifies, sanctifies, and consecrates human life, is not an enemy, however much we suffer in the process." And we can rest assured that the suffering cannot be ended until self is purified, sanctified, and honestly consecrated. This process will not be seen in the present wholly material attempts to dominate by intellectual and moral argument; for Truth is in nothing that is material, and power is not in the human mind, nor can God be made in the image and likeness of men. In short, mental despotism is not the remedy for mental despotism.
The Christian Scientist who is wise listens to his Leader's words: "Science says: All is Mind and Mind's idea. You must fight it out on this line. Matter can afford you no aid" (Science and Health, p. 492). A little lower down on the same page, in order to disabuse her readers of any belief that the human mind is a power either for good or evil or has any likeness to the divine Mind, she says: "God is Mind, and God is infinite; hence all is Mind." Let us note the italics, and let us cast aside forever our precious, petty sense of right and wrong. One is right, and that one, God. Instead of condemning our friends and our enemies, let us persistently recognize without the least sneaking, fearful attempt to outline, that God alone is right; then alone we shall be right and be fully, joyfully aware of it.
