A Friend once said, "If you keep your attitude toward the world coincident with your altitude of thought, you will have obtained that blessed state called the kingdom of heaven."
The two words "attitude" and "altitude" are most challenging. A dictionary definition of "altitude" is, "Elevation in quality or excellence of any kind"; and one definition of "attitude" is, "Habitual mode of regarding anything." In order to have the kingdom of heaven as a present experience here and now, all thought must be seen to proceed from the one divine Mind, God. This knowing is our altitude of true thought. And our attitude to the world should be the positive assurance that the kingdom of heaven is available to all.
Elevation of thought is sometimes easy to obtain as far as acknowledgment is concerned, but to maintain the proper attitude seems more difficult. St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians (4:7, 8): "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men."
The "gift of Christ" gives every student the ability to maintain the true altitude and attitude. The man of Mind's creating can never be held captive to any material, finite, personal testimony. This is in accordance with the statement found in II Corinthians (10:5.) Here Paul speaks of our "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
To be in obedience to the Christ is to understand that the only Ego is God, the source of all real being, and to demonstrate this truth. Spiritual understanding permits us to ascend on high and shows us how to lift our vision of all creation to the altitude of divine reality. Our attitude toward our neighbor must be based on our altitude of true knowing. This knowing is the loving of our neighbor as ourselves.
In order to bring all their thinking and activity into obedience to the Christ, students of Christian Science pray earnestly and study consecratedly the Lesson-Sermon, outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly. This gives them the altitude of thought which helps them to meet the demands of the day and shows how to leave the personal, restricted basis of materiality for reality or the kingdom of heaven within.
The student of Christian Science frequently goes to his business maintaining this high sense of being, but at times something seems to happen to his attitude. He begins to see himself as a mortal working with other mortals. Occasionally he is misunderstood, confusion enters, fear becomes apparent, and that which had been conquered earlier in the day seems to take over.
It may be one's duty to' go downtown to the office, to cook the meals, to get the children ready for school, to write letters, or to answer the telephone. There may be many other demands. But, as students of the Science of Christ, what actually are the two fundamental demands upon us? These Mary Baker Eddy explains clearly and succinctly in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 467): "The first demand of this Science is, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' This me is Spirit. Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second is like unto it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love." Obedience to these two demands brings with it the coincidence of the true altitude and attitude.
How often during the day we should remind ourselves of these two demands! Basically the demands are one. For in the acknowledgment that the Ego is God, we instantly turn from the suggestion of a material man and find the Christ, true manhood, ever present. Mrs. Eddy states this action beautifully on page 316 of Science and Health, "The real man being linked by Science to his Maker, mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal selfhood to find Christ, the real man and his relation to God, and to recognize the divine sonship." Losing sight of mortal selfhood and finding Christ, we rid ourselves of any limited sense and thus recognize and experience the presence of all-knowing Mind, of Life that is timeless, of Soul that is always satisfied, and of unalterable Principle. And actually there is no matter or mortal mind to silence the tender tones of Spirit, revealing the joy of spiritual existence.
The remarkable thing concerning the words and works of Jesus is that he not only maintained the high altitude of the Christ-image in all that he said or did, but that his attitude toward others was based on this same altitude. For instance, when a sinner or a sick person came to him, Jesus' correct view or attitude maintained the altitude of his own Christliness. This correct view, holding all in the altitude of the Christ, healed.
Through Jesus' example we see that our own attitude must always go hand in hand with our altitude of knowing. Some students have a gap between what they know and what they do or say. In order to maintain the coincidence of what one humanly appears to be and what is true according to divine revelation, great care is needed in our attitude. Living the revelation of Christian Science rather than talking it, we learn not to permit a gap or gulf to appear.
Could a greater privilege be bestowed upon the Christian Scientist than that of living according to the true understanding of the Christ? Here we shall not be tempted to come down from the altitude of divine revelation. Our correct attitude will help to lift all into the light of Truth. Our Leader says (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 110): "Mounting higher, mortals will cease to be mortal. Christ will have 'led captivity captive,' and immortality will have been brought to light." Thus we see the coincidence of the altitude of true knowing and the attitude of positive assurance of its availability for all. This living, this knowing, is the kingdom of heaven within and is within the reach of our immediate experience here and now.
