MOST people wish to have their houses made secure against unauthorized intruders, for they own things which are of value to them, and desire to keep their treasures safely. In wishing to maintain our own possessions in security none of us would deprive another of what he lawfully owns, The commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," has been taught us from early youth; and we have learned to recognize as dishonest, thoughts of envy, greed, or the belief that others have more than we have. Should we not at once condemn all such dishonest thoughts?
But are we as quick to condemn, or even to recognize, the intrusion of a thieving thought or dishonest motive in ourselves as we are with others? Do we always, as our Leader directs in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 392), "stand porter at the door of thought," being careful to shut out careless thoughts, impulses of impatience, ill temper, laziness, inattention, which if allowed to enter would perhaps tempt us to see not ourselves, but others, as annoying, selfish, slow, stupid, cross, quarrelsome? If we are absolutely honest with ourselves as well as others, the examination of such thoughts and impulses will expose them as stealing, or taking from the right concept of man. Spiritual man, made in God's image and likeness, is loving, intelligent, alert, kind, friendly; and to think of anyone otherwise is, to our sense, depriving him of some of the gifts which are his birthright as a child of God. We are permitting a false concept of man, a counterfeit of God's man, to steal away our spiritual treasure as a thief might steal rare pearls, leaving in their place counterfeits of no value.
If we yield to mental apathy, such a substitution may not immediately be discerned. Nor do we always recognize the subtle intrusion of the defrauding thought, and so we may for a time continue to regard those with whom we have relations, whether in home life, in business, or in church work, as being difficult or ill, sad or frivolous, inexperienced or slow in learning. By so doing we are thus tacitly allowing a mental theft in our thought about our neighbor, and as a consequence endangering our own safety. So would mortal mind's erroneous beliefs hold us imprisoned, and also deprive others of that perfect heritage to which they have a divine right.
