SINCE the word "sensitive" is closely related to the word "sense," it too can be considered as having two aspects, the false or corporeal sensitiveness and the true or spiritual sensitiveness.
An illustration of these two kinds of sensitiveness is given in the Gospel of Luke, where he tells of the band of men who came to arrest Jesus. In cutting off the right ear of the high priest's servant, Peter showed a sensitiveness to error which believed that error is true and that it is personal. Jesus exercised the spiritual sense of sensitiveness when he instantly healed the servant. Jesus was sensitive to the reality of good, and this naturally resulted in healing.
Let us ask ourselves: "Do we, like Peter, respond to evil? Do we believe, as did he, that man is a mortal personality capable of evil? Or are we awake to our true selfhood and our brother's true selfhood as the expression of God, Soul?" Peter's impulsiveness was the result of his allowing his thinking to be impelled by evil and physically fighting it as if it were real. Jesus' thought was based on Love as the only power, presence, intelligence, and action. He handled and destroyed error by realizing God's allness and evil's nothingness. He knew that Truth does not fight with error as another power. Truth is, and this fact is a self-enforcing law which nothingizes error.
On page 95 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth." And in her book "Unity of Good" she says (p. 21), "There is no sensible matter, no sense in matter; but there is a spiritual sense, a sense of Spirit, and this is the only consciousness belonging to true individuality, or a divine sense of being."
Actually, then, there is no material sense or sensitivity. God is Soul; and man, the image and likeness of Soul, manifests spiritual responsiveness or sensitiveness to good alone. Soul is Mind; and Mind and idea are forever indivisibly established in spiritual being. Right now man is the perfect effect of the one perfect cause, Mind. Thus there is no other so-called cause impelling man to act. Animality does not make man impulsive. Because spiritual sense conveys all true impressions, man has no consciousness but that which is spiritual.
The false type of sensitiveness, then, is a claim that there is an evil stimulus which impels man, whereas in reality there is no stimulus, force, or action but good. The realization of these facts about sensitivity establishes and maintains the unconditional supremacy of spiritual sense and destroys corporeal sense.
We sometimes hear certain people spoken of as being "thin-skinned," hypersensitive, or "thick-skinned," insensitive. Both are false phases of sensitiveness. The former is sensitivity to evil, and the latter is lack of sensitivity to good. Hypersensitivity is a false estimate of ourselves and others. Beginning on page 223 of "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy tells in the article "Taking Offense" how to heal such thinking. She lists some of the qualities, such as patience, a genial temper, a settled equanimity, and a broad charity, which are needed to meet this false sense. And as we turn our thought to God, acknowledging His allness and man's oneness with Him, we shall discern our unity with the divine source of all goodness, recognize that all reality is good, and so bear witness to spiritual sense instead of responding to error.
Insensitivity, the other extreme of mortal thinking, treads tactlessly over the feelings of others and "rubs people the wrong way." It is a wrong sense of self which is the basic error in both hypersensitivity and insensitivity. That is perhaps why Mrs. Eddy, when writing of the effort to live rightly, says in her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 (p. 8), "In this struggle remember that sensitiveness is sometimes selfishness, and that mental idleness or apathy is always egotism and animality." Such beliefs as self-assertion, self-indulgence, self-satisfaction, self-seeking, self-pity, self-justification, must be replaced by self-immolation, self-control, self-denial, and self-sacrifice if we are to express man's divine nature.
But let us not think that being sensitive only to good means to ignore evil. On the contrary, a pure, spiritual sense of reality apprehends what in mortal mind has to be corrected for the purpose of disclosing the true facts. Jesus knew that evil is no part of man. When the adulterous woman was brought to him, he did not condemn the woman, but said to her (John 8:11), "Go, and sin no more." His realization of man's inherent purity brought true redemption.
A student of Christian Science believed he had a sensitive nature and consequently suffered from any kind of clashing sense impressions, and especially from harsh noises. At one time it was necessary for him to be in an environment where there were extremely disturbing sounds. At first he did not apply his understanding of Christian Science to the situation, but soon he saw what was needed. He turned his thought to God, Mind. He began to see that since Mind is the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting One, man can know, see, or do only what Mind causes him to know, see, or do.
Mind and idea are one; therefore man cannot hear what Mind does not hear. And since Mind is wholly good, man reflects Mind's consciousness of good alone. He turned from the false impressions of grating sounds to the qualities of Soul, such as peace, freedom, and harmony, which constitute man's being. He discerned that since Mind is the only cause, man cannot suffer from the effects of a so-called sensitive nature. He acknowledged that there is nothing really going on but Love's unfoldment. The result was that he became so oblivious to the noises that he soon forgot all about them. Sometime later he noticed that they had gone, but he did not know when. He had been healed of a false sense of sensitiveness, and his natural responsiveness to Soul was in a degree realized.
As we understand that man's true being is sensitive to good only, we are aiding in maintaining peace, happiness, and harmony in our affairs. No friction, irritation, or roughness is present where kindness, graciousness, and gentleness fill thought. These Love-bestowed qualities replace antagonism, resentment, and even despondency and criticism. A pure sense of the ever-presence of Love calms all agitation and excitement.
A better recognition of true sensitivity will help us to be more watchful of what we accept into thought, both when alone and when with others. When alone, do we let in mortal ambitions and selfish hopes? When with others, do we allow thought to become infected with selfishness, which would promote self at the expense of others?
In all of our daily experiences, whether we are conducting a business, driving on the highway, shopping in the stores, or attending church meetings, spiritual sense, when heeded, unfolds harmony. Indeed, as we reflect more and more of the divine consciousness, we shall find opportunity to help all mankind. As we correct and destroy any sense of error in our own consciousness, the belief in it is lessened for the whole world. When, like Amos or Jeremiah, we feel that we are battling with evil as a reality, we make little progress with world problems. But if we approach each day with the Christlike consciousness of perfect God and perfect universe, great good will unfold.
Class distinctions, conflicting ideologies, economic maladjustments, political rivalry, are the creations of the material senses. Distrust arises from the same kind of false sensitiveness that accepts strife between individuals. We know that in all of God's universe of love there is no such thing as a disagreeable nation or aggressive wickedness. Since Love and Love's ideas constitute the allness of being, there can be no impositions of evil in Love's kingdom. This kingdom of heaven is established in individual consciousness as we accept only the impressions conveyed by spiritual sense and let it impel our words and acts.
