Christian Science teaches that there is one Mind only, the divine Mind, which is God. Therefore the so-called mortal or carnal mind, which St. Paul tells us "is enmity against God," has no real existence. Commenting on mental malpractice, an activity of the counterfeit so-called mind, Mary Baker Eddy writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 213): "Unless one's eyes are opened to the modes of mental malpractice, working so subtly that we mistake its suggestions for the impulses of our own thought, the victim will allow himself to drift in the wrong direction without knowing it. Be ever on guard against this enemy." These instructions are unequivocal and stress the necessity of metaphysical work which acknowledges the allness of God, good, and the nothingness of evil.
Christ Jesus, exposing the falsity of the deceiving carnal mind, said (John 8:44): "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." In these words our Master succinctly uncovers and denounces the delusive, unreal existence and activity of the carnal mind, or animal magnetism. Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 103): "The maximum of good is the infinite God and His idea, the All-in-all. Evil is a suppositional lie."
Typified in the allegory of Genesis as a talking serpent, this illusive mental influence would counterfeit God's spiritual, perfect creation and vaunt itself against the omnipotence and omniaction of the infinite divine Mind. By its very nature error would appear to concentrate its assaults against the highest types of good, against all that is real and beautiful. Often when we have taken a strong and open stand for divine Principle, the jealousy and envy of mortal mind would claim to make a personal attack on us. Immediately after his baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus himself was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Many are the clever yet unintelligent and powerless manipulations which error would use to distract us from the path of Life. Brazenly it would launch its propositions in the guise of good, even of necessity, or perhaps whisper that the mild indulgence of sensual appetites confers pleasure, and that at least we must so indulge in order to be sociable. To the alert Christian Scientist, however, sensual indulgence and the use of tobacco and alcohol are debasing. There is no neutral ground here; moderation in evil is a self-evident absurdity.
Again, error would filter its guile through suggestions of fear, discouragement, or the waning of our inspiration, perhaps even hinting that the perusal of some unauthorized literature offers a short cut to the demonstration of Truth. We need to guard against error's claim to foster a lukewarm feeling towards our obligations in church, business, or family. St. John strongly denounced this apathetic attitude in his message to the members of the Laodicean church (Rev. 3:14-16).
He who believes that he is the victim of unkind criticism, and who is tempted to avenge such action in kind, needs to be on guard. The cultivation of a negative mental attitude makes a reality of evil and can never heal the situation. That which appears to wound our feelings is never a person; it is an impersonal, negative, counterfeit suggestion, never to be accepted or handled as real. With promptitude we must replace this belief in the reality of evil with its spiritual counterfact, the oneness of God and man. In the perfect man of God's creating is no quality to respond to or to express evil.
In the allegory of Genesis (3:1-6) the serpent itself caused no injury or bodily ill; it afflicted no hurt upon Eve. It merely talked. The cause of the subsequent discord lay entirely in Eve's acceptance of the serpent's aggressive mental suggestion that evil, as well as good, was real and desirable. Eve suffered from her disobedience and lack of mental alertness in detecting the spurious nature of the carnal mind.
In our Master's wilderness temptation (Matt. 4:1-11) the devil did not change the stones into bread or cast Jesus down from the pinnacle of the temple. Jesus triumphed because of his spiritual discernment, which detected the carnal mind's delusive nature and utter impotence.
So it is with us, his disciples of today. In the measure of our spiritual perception of God's allness and almightiness we can nullify the arguments of mortal mind. Hear our Leader's wise counsel concluding her searching analysis already quoted from Miscellany (p. 213): "Watch your thoughts, and see whether they lead you to God and into harmony with His true followers. Guard and strengthen your own citadel more strongly. Thus you will grow wiser and better through every attack of your foe, and the Golden Rule will not rust for lack of use or be misinterpreted by the adverse influence of animal magnetism."
Lovingly Mrs. Eddy provides a By-Law in the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 6) wherein she admonishes us to defend ourselves daily against aggressive mental suggestion. Over a number of years, since he was taught this By-Law in the Christian Science Sunday School, the writer has been increasingly grateful for the practical advice here given by our intrepid Leader. As a means of thought-disciplining and thought-correcting it has wrought for him physical healings and restored harmonious relationships just as quickly as he has heeded its directing.
It is highly important that we do not allow ourselves to be mesmerized by the odiousness of evil. God, good, alone is present and has power. An overstrained effort to keep ourselves free from the false imposings of the carnal mind would make a reality of evil and hence deny God's allness and the fetterless, spiritual verities of being.
Mere outward refraining from wrongful speech or action, unless based upon an understanding of the omnipotence of God, the one and only Mind, will not of itself promote our spiritual development. Paul sums up the matter pertinently in his second epistle to the Corinthians (5:4) where he states that it is not "that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon." The daily study of the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lessons enables us to be "clothed upon," to put on the armor of spiritual understanding, purity, strength, and love. Where else can we find the protecting, purifying, and healing truths than in the inspired words of the Bible and our Leader's Truth-dictated writings? Our obedience in putting first things first will bring our lives directly under the harmonizing influence of God's law.
During these days when the very foundations of human liberty would at times seem to be challenged, the call for a devout consecration on the part of the Christian Scientist is urgent. With authority, we can "be still, and know" that God, good, is All, and that no counteracting influence really exists. God can never be overthrown, and man is the eternal child of His care.
Let us express more and more the infinitely tender love of God. Closing the door of our consciousness to the beliefs which would deface the Christ-image of our true being, let us with gratitude open wide our thoughts to the grandeur of Soul. Then, of a surety, we shall come into possession of the Mind of the Lord, in which there is no taint of earth, no trace of the material, no element of the carnal. Our lives, indeed the whole world, will then hold so much of beauty and sweetness that we shall receive the benediction of the inspiring and much-loved hymn (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 122):
How blest are they whose hearts are pure;
From guile their thoughts are free,
To them shall God reveal Himself,
They shall His glory see.
