There is, perhaps, no question which knocks at the mental door of the Christian Scientist more frequently, or more insistently, than the one which involves the letting go of our brother. In many human relationships there has appeared to be so strong a sense of ownership, of personal possession one of another, that it seems to take many and varied lessons before one learns how to think and act towards others in a perfectly Christian and scientific manner.
From the ordinary viewpoint the claim of authority one over another; the sense of what is due one another; the way in which each is to maintain his own freedom, allow his brother equal freedom, and still to maintain loving and harmonious relationships; the way to be mentally helpful and yet not to trespass on each other's rights and privileges—all these are problems which present themselves to most of us in myriad forms.
Before Christian Science was revealed these problems seemed very difficult to solve. In the endeavor to be loving and kind, to be tenderly solicitous for each other's welfare, multitudes of fears for loved ones would constantly assail, and temptations to believe that each knew always what was best for the other would often present themselves. Because of all this, men formulated certain almost inflexible codes of proper actions one towards another. There were supposed laws for all home relationships—between husbands and wives and parents and children, between them and their more distant relatives, between friends and neighbors. Inasmuch as these were based on the letter and spirit of the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount,—inasmuch as they were worked out from the standpoint of unselfish love,—they were helpful, and harmony resulted.
