Every Christian Scientist realizes the necessity of impersonalizing evil. In applying the healing power of his religion, he adheres strictly to the rule of divine Love, which uncovers and destroys error, but never condemns persons. To do this successfully, it is imperative that the Christian Scientist maintain constantly in thought a definite distinction between God's immortal man, forever untouched by error, and the mortal error to be cast out. Sin, disease, death—all the fraudulent phases of personal sense—must be stripped of any supposititious affiliation with God and His perfect man, in order that these errors may be overcome and healing effected.
Of equal importance to the Christian Scientist's success in healing are his realization and utilization of the fact that good, as well as evil, must be impersonalized if the student is to demonstrate an ever-improving understanding of God. There is, however, a vast difference between the scientific application of these two processes. To impersonalize evil is to realize its complete detachment from spiritual man, to see its spurious claims as no part of God or His perfect creation, and to deny and destroy them through the spiritual understanding which recognizes this very unrelatedness. We do something which is analogous to this in arithmetic when we correct a mistaken calculation with no thought of condemning the individual numbers involved.
Impersonalizing good, on the other hand, never entails a denial of good, since good is God, infinite and eternal Principle. Knowing this, the student does not attempt to separate from man those very qualities and properties which proceed from divine Principle and which are indispensable to man's existence. Rather does he claim them, not only for himself, but for all men universally. Realizing the scientific truth that divine good is ever present, ever available, and forever independent of personal sense, he refuses to limit or restrict good in any direction. He neither confines, outlines, nor localizes good, but understands that throughout eternity man has impartial and unrestricted access to the inexhaustible resources of divine Love.
