We have heard much about self-righteousness, that quality which asserts personal justification on the authority of personal opinion. But is there a true sense of righteousness? Christian Science teaches that man derives his selfhood from God. Therefore man possesses no mind or individuality of his own, but exists only to reflect and express God. This dependency on God makes man one with his creator, and precludes the possibility of any righteousness other than that of Deity. This, then, is the only righteousness.
Divine Love heals all evil, and the healing of self-righteousness is indeed no exception. The so-called love which is opaque with self-interest, spotlighting its affection on a chosen few, and on self, cannot heal. But Love, shining impersonally and universally, blesses all, and heals all that are in need of healing.
True humility, that silent, selfless quality, is the antipode of self-righteousness. Being void of pride and prestige, it claims no other will than God's and obeys no other impulse or motive. Humility requires us to relinquish the false sense of ourselves as mortals, including the claims of material personality with its background of material inheritance, human accomplishments, and mortal yearnings. Hear this comforting and arresting promise which Mary Baker Eddy makes in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 185): "Self renunciation of all that constitutes a so called material man, and the acknowledgment and achievement of his spiritual identity as the child of God, is Science that opens the very flood-gates of heaven; whence good flows into every avenue of being, cleansing mortals of all uncleanness, destroying all suffering, and demonstrating the true image and likeness."
