THE human exercise of reason may be correct or incorrect, depending upon individual viewpoint, experience, or the bias of education. That which to one may seem reasonable and sound, may to another seem unreasonable and unsound. This is because of the vagaries of the so-called human mind, which expresses the changing concepts of collective human opinions and beliefs, individually accepted and mentally emphasized.
On page 494 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy states: "Reason, rightly directed, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense;" and on page 452 she says, "Incorrect reasoning leads to practical error."
Reason, to be "rightly directed," must be directed by divine Mind, of which man is the intelligent idea. To the divine Mind, which is omniscient, all that really exists is known. Correct reasoning, then, begins with Principle or Mind, as All, and conforms to what Mind includes as real and eternal. With this direction one is properly equipped to discern the spiritual fact, and differentiate between the real and the unreal, the true and the false. Paul reasoned correctly when he said, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Incorrect reasoning, beginning with matter as real, declares that man is separated from God; that he is born in sin and brought forth in iniquity; that he is subject to laws of impairment, imperfection, and discord, and that he ends in death and dissolution. This process of incorrect reasoning is being corrected as the teachings of the Bible as explained by Christian Science are brought to individual consciousness.
The wise man reasoned correctly when he said, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." It is plain that to "please the Lord" one must be loving, kind, merciful, and just; he must be considerate, charitable—Christian. One who truly manifests the qualities of good finds no place in his consciousness for enmity, for he has seen that the only enemies one can ever have are erroneous conditions of thought.
Incorrect reasoning would reverse all this and see enemies as human beings with evil minds, having power to project false opinions and beliefs to the detriment of others. Accepting this as true, the individual may temporarily be harassed and burdened by the impress of this mesmeric false belief and the general misconceptions which obtain in mortal thought; and thus in his ignorance he may say that God has sent evil upon him.
Correct reasoning sets forth the fact that God, being infinite good, eternal divine Love, neither knows nor sends evil upon anyone; that He knows and has sent forth only that which conforms to His own essential nature and character, that which is spiritual and perfect.
Correct reasoning brings out the fact that because God is omnipotent there can be no opposing power. Omnipotent good, being also omnipresent good, precludes the possibility of an opposite evil power or presence inimical to man. Thus it is seen that in God's kingdom there is nothing of which to be afraid.
Fear, malice, envy, jealousy, discouragement, dishonesty, base and appear through incorrect reasoning. Correct reasoning shows that none of these evil beliefs are any part of the real man, and thus displaces and destroys them. Correct reasoning is spiritual, not material, recognizing the laws of Spirit as supreme, and showing that these laws alone govern man. Governed by spiritual laws, one expresses his native freedom, the harmony of Spirit, and is freed from the discords of material belief, from sin or sickness—from all the mesmerism of evil.
The Bible is full of promises of good to those who fulfill the requisite conditions. Spiritual, correct reasoning, coupled with fidelity in practice, enables one to do this, and thus to attain to the full measure of good which is man's heritage. To this unfolding of good there is no limit.
God has not limited man at any point. Through incorrect reasoning the human mind would, if it could, limit one's capabilities, his possibilities for good, and his present and eternal relationship with God. It would deprive him of health, harmony, and prosperity, and make him a hopeless creature, wholly dependent upon matter and material beliefs.
Correct reasoning reverses all this, revealing man as perfect, harmonious, and complete, joyous in health and strength, abounding in the consciousness of God's presence and all-power, and partaking of the immeasurable good promised in the first Psalm: "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
