The metaphor of running a race as illustrative of one's endeavor to know God or Truth and to purify his living accordingly is a popular one with Scriptural writers. St. Paul makes use of it and gives valuable instruction as to how the goal of spiritual understanding is to be reached. In the twelfth chapter of Hebrews we are admonished to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us." What is this "sin which doth so easily beset us"? May we not look upon it as the belief of a personal existence apart from divine Principle, God? This belief may present to each one a particular form of error, a weight to be set aside. On page 5 of her book "Miscellaneous Writings" Mary Baker Eddy writes, "That man is the idea of infinite Mind, always perfect in God, in Truth, Life, and Love, is something not easily accepted, weighed down as is mortal thought with material beliefs." The weights, then, to be set aside are the false material beliefs which deny the perfection of God and man.
One of the many beliefs that weigh down the so-called human mind is that of uncertainty. It is indeed so much a part of mortal thinking that one is often unaware of its presence. This weight is set aside as one learns scientifically to know the positive nature of good. How often one hears the complaint: "Why should this come upon me? I wasn't looking for trouble." It is not enough not to be "looking for trouble." This is purely a negative attitude. One must be vividly aware and expectant of good! In one of her Messages to The Mother Church, Mrs. Eddy says (Message for 1901, p. 2), "Absolute certainty in the practice of divine metaphysics constitutes its utility, since it has a divine and demonstrable Principle and rule —if some fall short of Truth, others will attain it, and these are they who will adhere to it." This absolute certainty is obtained as one accepts his true status as an "idea of infinite Mind, always perfect in God." The weight of worry and insecurity is cast aside and one accepts ever-present good as reality, and expects its manifestation as inevitable in his human affairs. Thus his onward-going steps are made freer and more joyful.
Three weights there are that are much akin, and heavy hindrances indeed in reaching the desired goal of Truthful living or "life in Christ Jesus." These are the weights of destructive criticism, gossip, and condemnation. Little pebbles of gossip and criticism, stones of condemnation, are often carried around without one's realizing their weight, or how easily and quickly they accumulate. Mortal mind is particularly prone to cast its stone of condemnation at what it classifies as sin, often condemning the sinner even when the sin has been repented of and forsaken. Sin is healed through divine metaphysics as completely as is sickness, and should be as completely erased from memory. If one has been healed of leprosy, we do not continue to think of him as a leper and attach that disease to him.
