WHILE unselfish and sincere people everywhere are earnestly striving to eradicate discord in the human family as a whole, it is significant that relationships among near or close relatives often seem to present the most difficult problems of all. Christian Science teaches that all mortal discord stems from the false premise that man's origin is in matter rather than in Spirit, God. It also teaches that the happy and successful solution to all problems of relationship lies in understanding the fundamental Biblical truth that Spirit is the one primal cause, the only creator and governor of man, who is God's compound, spiritual idea. God, not man, creates and governs man. "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture" (Ps. 100:3).
Christian Science, which is founded upon the words and works of Christ Jesus, concurs in the Master's command (Matt. 23:9), "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." The acknowledgment of the spiritual fact that God, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient Mind, is the only real Parent, and that Mind's spiritual effect or manifestation is the only real man, leads to a more active expression of harmony, peace, love, and joy in the human family. Without this acknowledgment the human family remains inescapably discordant. Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 444), "Immortals, or God's children in divine Science, are one harmonious family; but mortals, or the 'children of men' in material sense, are discordant and ofttimes false brethren."
When we make a clear distinction in thought between the unreal, mortal sense of persons and families and the real, immortal sense of Mind's universal family of harmonious spiritual ideas, our exodus from bondage begins. As we discard the fear, selfishness, domination, misunderstanding, personal dependency, and possessiveness of enslaving material sense, we shall enter the promised land of Soul, where man expresses loving-kindness, thoughtfulness, consideration, co-operation, God-reliance, faithfulness, trustfulness, and freedom.
