We hear continually these days about our rights. When nations and their leaders become tyrannical, is it not because they fail to understand the true rights of man? In family relationships the question is often, Who has the right? A correct understanding of the rights which God decrees for His idea, man, brings the necessary peace and adjustment. Disease is proved unreal when we realize that God gives us the divine right to health and harmony.
What a blessing it is to understand our rights, to claim them as our heritage! In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy tells us (p. 381), "Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust decrees, and the bias of education enforces this slavery." When we believe that man is born into matter, under material laws, subject to many mortal minds, our human experiences become frustrated and limited. We can be free from this bondage by living in obedience to the Christ, and by realizing that we are spiritual ideas, created by God, Principle, subject only to His divine law.
Without spiritual understanding we are not aware that God's law enables us to obtain our true rights and thus to bring peace and joy into our lives.
The Bible states (Gen. 1:26), "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." On page 587 of Science and Health, as part of the definition of God, our Leader gives the following seven synonyms: "Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love." It follows that man, created in God's image and likeness, must, by reflecting His nature, be the expression of all God's qualities.
Let us acknowledge and prove our likeness to God in our daily lives by claiming our birthright and by expressing His qualities. In doing this, we overcome the false sense of corporeality and thus prove that "now are we the sons of God," as the Bible declares (I John 3:2).
We find in the Old Testament that under Hebrew tribal custom a certain privilege or birthright belonged to the eldest son. This son usually succeeded his father as head of the family or tribe and also inherited a double portion of the father's property.
We read in the Bible that Jacob desired the birthright of his brother, Esau (see Gen. 25:27-34). As a result of listening to this aggressive mental suggestion, he bought Esau's birthright with "bread and pottage of lentiles." Jacob had not yet glimpsed his spiritual selfhood. The use of another's worldly rank and possessions seemed to him to be the way to rights and privileges he would otherwise be without. Later at Peniel, Jacob was forced to exercise spiritual sense to the point of seeing Esau as though he "had seen the face of God" (Gen. 33: 10). Only then was he able to glimpse man's spiritual birthright.
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes of the experience of Jacob (p. 308,) "Jacob was alone, wrestling with error,—struggling with a mortal sense of life, substance, and intelligence as existent in matter with its false pleasures and pains,—when an angel, a message from Truth and Love, appeared to him and smote the sinew, or strength, of his error, till he saw its unreality; and Truth, being thereby understood, gave him spiritual strength in this Peniel of divine Science." With his spiritual sense restored, Jacob was able to go forward to meet Esau, humbly and with confidence.
If we are expressing the quality of love with compassion and charitableness but need more of Mind's wisdom and intelligence, we should remember that we have the ability to express the completeness of God's qualities. The understanding that we are in reality God's expression results in improved human conditions, in better health, in happy relationships, in successful business activity, and in satisfactory expressions of artistic talents.
At one time the writer had been struggling with a false sense of herself as a mortal suffering from a prolonged organic disturbance, an unhappy relationship, and a frustrated desire to express an artistic talent. At the same time an industrial strike put a member of her family out of work.
Anxiety and bitterness claimed place in her consciousness. Humbly she prayed for guidance. She was soon led to read and study the citations in the Bible and Science and Health already quoted in this article. The realization then came that she had a spiritual birthright, which she could claim not only for herself, but for all mankind. She asked help of a Christian Science practitioner. With the aid of the Concordances to the Bible and to Science and Health, she continued her study of man's spiritual birthright.
It was not long before she realized that she could express more of the Godlike qualities. Her thought was lifted out of the false sense of a mortal selfhood. She felt a renewal of spiritual sense. The conviction of the unreality of material sense testimony filled her thought. In a short time, she was healed of the organic difficulty. Then a telephone call brought a sincere apology from the relative who seemingly had been the cause of the discordant relationship. A happy, loving association has followed.
In claiming her spiritual birthright, the writer also realized that all those concerned in the settlement of the labor strike were capable of receiving the right ideas necessary for a satisfactory adjustment, because they were in reality reflections of Mind, God. She had also learned in Christian Science that divine Love unites instead of separates; that since God is the only cause and source of supply, her supply could not be interrupted or limited.
In the next mail delivery came a check from a business firm. This amount proved sufficient for immediate needs. During the period of the strike, funds were always available to meet all obligations promptly. No strain or pressure was ever felt from the experience. And these proofs of God's bestowal of good upon His idea, man, enabled the writer to go forward each day, expressing her ability and freedom to develop the latent artistic talent.
Dominion over material sense, the realization of the unreality of matter, is possible to every individual. We have the right to claim what God is constantly giving us of His divine nature. We can prevail over the aggressive suggestions of mortal mind. We can prove our eternal birthright as the children of the perfect One.
