FROM time immemorial, freedom has been the desired goal of every human being; it has been one of the deepest longings of the human heart, one of the strongest cravings of the human consciousness. Yet, at the same time, freedom has seemed almost unattainable, although mankind has searched for it in myriad ways and in all possible directions. The reason why freedom has not been more generally attained, is that it has been considered an external thing, a thing dependent upon circumstances outside of the individual, instead of an inward grace. Freedom, however, lies not in outward things; it is within man. Freedom is a spiritual, not a material condition of being; therefore, true freedom is an individual attainment. Freedom is within the reach of every child, man, or woman who is really willing to be free. No outward circumstance can prevent anyone from basking in the sunshine of "the glorious liberty of the children of God."
All humanity is longing for freedom from unhappiness, from sickness, from suffering and pain, from want and lack of all sorts, from loneliness and grief and fear, and in a measure, humanity is longing for freedom from sin; but mankind is hoping and waiting for something to happen that perchance will bring it this desired end. Right here is a clue to the unfortunate situation! Just so long as we are waiting for something to happen, just so long are we postponing our experiencing that which is here now, that which has been with man forever, for God, the one Mind, is and has been the all of good in all eternity; and the desired freedom from all discord is one of the manifestations of the "infinite progression" which Mrs. Eddy calls "concrete being" (Miscellaneous Writings,p. 82).
Let us briefly consider all the things we desire to be freed from: unhappiness, sickness, suffering, pain, want, lack, loneliness, grief, fear, sin, et cetera. Are they not one and all expressions or effects of the belief in a cause or a power other than God? All these untoward conditions are effects of causes which, according to the teachings of Christian Science, are outside the realm of reality. These so-called causes are denials of the all-presence and all-power of God, good, denials of that which is and ever shall be.
It is far easier to see and understand the unreality of the difficulties which beset us if we at once trace them to their mythical source. However awful or terrible or powerful they may seem to be, they lose much of their seeming boast to power as we begin to see clearly that they do not proceed from God, and therefore cannot be real; that they actually are not true and are not really happening. They are simply effects of the mesmerism of mortal mind, the mesmerism which at times succeeds in making a man believe what he knows is not true. This self-mesmerism is the only thing that hinders the full realization of our God-given liberty.
As we begin to understand this better and begin to see that liberty means salvation from false beliefs, not salvation from all sorts of evil things and evil happenings, new hope springs up in our hearts; a new courage is born in us. We see that we are not victims of unfavorable circumstances, not victims of laws producing sickness, pain, suffering, loss of strength, loss of vitality, and not even victims of, or subject to, the very general belief in hard times. The teachings of our beloved Leader make it clear to us that in the measure that we are awake—in the measure that we keep our thinking clear and based on the divine Principle, Love—we realize more and more that we are living, here and now, in the divine presence, which excludes everything unlike itself. As Christian Scientists, we have in our glorious Science received the understanding which enables us to keep our eyes open, fixed on Truth, and to avoid being blinded by error, by self-mesmerism.
Self-mesmerism, as the name indicates, is a mental state we impose upon ourselves, either through carelessness or through ignorance; and because we impose it upon ourselves, we need not and cannot blame other people for it, or charge it to circumstances and happenings in the world at large. The individual acceptance of error demands individual correction; and the glory of this individual correction is that it will eventually bring universal salvation.
Let us see how we can successfully overcome this self-mesmerism, which is an effect either of carelessness or of ignorance. If a man is not awake, not alert, not watchful, he allows himself to be handled by false beliefs of evil in its myriad forms. He accepts the suggestions of evil, of lack, of misfortune, of sin, sickness, and death, and through his acceptance of these false beliefs he seemingly begins to manifest them more or less; for his experience is the expression of his thinking, the expression of his consciousness. Then fear comes in, and the evil beliefs seem to assume gigantic proportions; he feels as if he were bound on every side, and looks desperately for a way out of the misery. Now in mortal mind cannot be found a way out of material beliefs, for mortal mind is itself the sum total of material beliefs. Thought must look beyond mortal mind, beyond the seeming. It must look upward, onward.
Fighting material beliefs as something is virtually admitting their reality. We cannot very well fight a thing which we know is not existent. The way therefore to get rid of a false belief is not the way of fighting a nonentity, but the way of knowing the truth, which dispels the false belief just as light dispels darkness. In solving a mathematical problem we do not fight the mistakes we have made. The gaining of a better understanding of the facts spontaneously corrects the false belief and leads to the right solution.
So it is our clear understanding of Truth which helps us not to mesmerize ourselves, not to get scared by false images of thought, not to start fighting unrealities as if they were real. What we know of Truth is always sufficient to help us take the first step out of error, and the first step invariably is the knowing that the error is not true. Divine Love then will show us the next step. Let us all the time make use of our knowledge of Truth. This knowledge then will grow more and more, and will unfold in each one, for it is in every individual consciousness. It is included in real being, since "man is the expression of God's being" (Science and Health, p. 470). The gaining of this knowledge is due to "the purpose of divine Love to resurrect the understanding, and the kingdom of God, the reign of harmony already within us" (Miscellaneous Writings,p. 154). God's purpose never fails; it invariably is accomplished. The ignorance which is the cause of self-mesmerism is no part of our real being; and in the measure that we realize and manifest our real being, ignorance vanishes before the light of understanding, and with it disappears the liability to self-mesmerism.
Carelessness is another door through which self-mesmerism tries to take possession of our consciousness, and it is a door which we, as Christian Scientists, can and must keep closed. Christian Science is Science, and therefore it is impossible to obtain good results unless its rules be accurately applied. False beliefs, entertained and not corrected, will appear as hindrances in the solving of our problems until, with the help of divine Love, we cease to entertain and obey them. We cannot afford to stop being watchful and alert for a minute. Thinking and talking error must not be indulged in, for they are detrimental to our happiness, our health, our freedom. They obscure our clear vision of Truth.
So let us do our mental work carefully and thoroughly, our spiritually mental work which consists not of fighting evil as something, but of keeping our consciousness free from all belief in evil. In his letter to Timothy, Paul writes, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called." This "good fight of faith" is the fight to keep our faith in God, and in man as God's image, unshaken and pure, and not to let it be overcome by the false suggestions of mortal mind. This faith lays hold on eternal Life, or Truth. It unfolds the understanding of the allness of God and of the fact of eternal life for all God's children, the eternal life which includes all that is good and harmonious and desirable and happifying; the eternal life—the freedom—in which God's creation is maintained. This liberty is not only freedom from evil. It is freedom to know good, to experience good, to do good and to be good. The desire for freedom existing in the human heart really is the desire to be good, the longing to live what we really are and to be free from all that would prevent the fullness of being.
Christian Science calls us to this freedom, for God maintains it as the natural status of being. Being is freedom; being is free from any destructive element, because being is eternal. As we grow into the understanding of what being includes, we begin to realize more and more that our work consists of letting true being be reflected in us, and in watching against mortal mind's suggestions which would efface the sense of true being.
Obedience is the pathway to liberty. Obedience is not a restrictive quality, not a quality which closes some avenues of thought or action. Obedience is the quality which opens up all true paths, all right ways to happiness and success. Obedience does not hamper our efforts. On the contrary it gives us the assurance of being on the right way, and moreover it gives us the certainty of attainment. Obedience to Truth protects us from wandering away from reality, and from getting lost in the mazes of belief. False belief is all that enslaves a man; belief is all that robs him of his liberty. That which seems to bind humanity to disaster is not a solid fact, not a necessity. It is a false belief mentally entertained, and therefore there is hope for all of us— hope of freedom from the binding chains of false beliefs, the hope which, as Paul says, "maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Obedience is letting God be all to us. It saves us from having other gods, saves us from bondage to evil. The longed-for liberty, therefore, is reality seen and lived and demonstrated. Liberty is the fruit of the understanding of God.
