Students of Christian Science. when working on a problem, are sometimes told by a friend or practitioner,"You should love more." Not only is it more love which is needed, but a higher quality of love, a love which is more and more spiritual—a deep love for God and His ideas.
Persevering in the reflection of divine Love, the student can begin ridding himself of the errors which seem to confront him. Every phase of human suffering is caused by belief in some false concept. This is destroyed when the true concept is recognized. The value of spiritual love in this recognition is set forth on page 366 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where, referring to the need of loving one's brother, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Not having this spiritual affection, the physician lacks faith in the divine Mind and has not that recognition of infinite Love which alone confers the healing power."
We must love God supremely. Why? Because God is All, and when one is trying to love a concept God did not create, he is trying to love that which has no real existence. Is it any wonder there sometimes seems to be so much unhappiness and disillusionment! The false concept of happiness, health, home, supply, completeness, and so forth must be replaced with the true, and the disciplining of thought necessary for this accomplishment requires constant watchfulness, an improving quality of love, a growing ability to detect that which is inimical to harmonious being. In an article entitled "Love Your Enemies,"on page 8 of "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy writes,"Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles, defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should reflect." All erroneous concepts, including belief in human good, defile, deface, and dethrone this Christ-image, because the lens through which divine light and love appear in the illumination of our way has been darkened.
