When we understand and apply the Principle and rule of harmony as revealed in Christian Science, it is as possible to solve problems of human relationships as it is to heal the sick.
Discord in human relationships seems to confront us all at times. These inharmonies may range from simple misunderstandings between friends to serious disputes among neighbors or groups. The outcome of various efforts to solve these problems may leave scars more serious than the original problem. Discords are never really solved until right prevails and harmony is established for all parties involved.
That Christian Science is highly successful in solving such problems is attested by many testimonies given at the Wednesday testimony meetings in Christian Science churches and in the periodicals published by The Christian Science Publishing Society. The method of solving these problems is the utilization of prayer, prayer which springs from a spiritual understanding of God and His creation, ever present and harmonious.
The great spiritual truths found in the Lord's Prayer when understood and applied always bring healing and correction. This prayer helps us to understand that God is the Father of all and that loving our neighbor is natural and normal. Another wonderful prayer is found in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy under the heading "Daily Prayer" (Art. VIII, Sect. 4): "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to pray each day: ' Thy kingdom come;' let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!" The purpose and motive of both these prayers are the same.
It is significant to the writer that in the "Daily Prayer" one is enjoined to pray that sin be ruled "out of me," not out of someone else. It may seem as if harmony would prevail were the other person in a controversy to change his methods and actions. It may be that he alone is at fault; yet we are taught by Christian Science that it is our duty to look within our own consciousness and cast out of it whatever we find that is unlike the Christ, the ideal of God. Our only concern for the other person should be that God's Word may enrich his affections and govern him.
In a controversy, what someone else may think or do or say is not the important question. We should be concerned with our own thoughts and actions with regard to the situation. If we do our part well, and apply faithfully the teachings of Christian Science, holding firmly to the fact of God's allness and man's relationship to Him as His reflection, harmony will appear in our experience. Our criticism or condemnation of another brings punishment to us, and this punishment will continue as long as we persist in such thoughts.
We must learn the truths of Christian Science and abide by its precepts in order to avoid unhappy consequences. If things are not going well with us in our personal relations and if our problems seem not to yield to our prayers, we may well ask ourselves: "Am I condemning? Am I bearing false witness?"
Some time ago I had an experience that illustrates the foregoing. As a result of a business transaction, a friend owed me a substantial sum of money. My efforts to collect it or to get any satisfaction through letters were unsuccessful. I became disturbed, critical of the friend, and resentful. At this point I knew that I must examine my thinking in order to discover what would seem to cause or perpetuate such an unhappy situation. As I began to ponder the entire relationship, the money ceased to be the important thing. My attention was directed to a Bible verse (Rom. 13:8), "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law"—God's law—the only law.
At first I saw no application of this Scriptural verse to me or to my problem. He owed me. I did not owe him—or did I? Then a new light appeared. I did owe him something: to love him divinely; and that I had not been doing.
I had been thinking of my friend as careless, or worse, and apparently not concerned about his obligation. I had not been obedient to God's instruction found in the ninth commandment (Ex. 20:16), "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." I had been bearing false witness and had been paying the penalty for so doing. We learn in Christian Science that the only way to avoid punishment for sin is to stop sinning.
I was grateful for this awakening and immediately began to change my thinking about the whole matter. I decided it was time to follow the example of the Master as described by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health (pp. 476, 477): "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." This view also heals discords of all kinds.
As I thought of the perfect man of God's creating, I realized that this concept included the true identity of my friend. This vision erased from my thought the notion of a debtor who was unwilling to do right. I gradually ruled out of myself sin or wrong concepts concerning man. Healing took place in my thought, and I felt free and satisfied. We read in Romans (13:10), "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" —of all law. I paid the debt of love and obeyed its law and left the matter in God's hands.
It was no surprise when two or three days later an airmail letter arrived from my friend. With the letter was a check for the full amount due and an apology that attention to the matter had been so long delayed. Friendly relations have remained intact.
As we see only the perfect man of God's creating, our friends and all others who come to our thought are blessed. The problems of human relationship are resolved as the mortal and physical sense of man is replaced with the true view of man as immortal and spiritual.
Our Leader writes (Science and Health, p. 427), "Immortal Mind, governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual." Because of its infinite nature, the law of God, which is the law of harmony and perfection to the real man and the real universe, is also the law of harmony and perfection to the human situation and the physical universe. Christian Science makes this great spiritual fact available to humanity and heals inharmony of every sort, including discordant relationships, sin, and disease.
Instead of recognizing any inharmonious condition as a reality, as being what it seems to be, we should realize that discord is only aggressive mental suggestion, only specific denial of God's allness. As we see this spiritual fact, the difficulty disappears, and harmony appears and is manifested right where inharmony seemed to be.
How grateful we may be if we have glimpsed something of these spiritual truths and have at least touched the hem of Christ's garment! And how wonderful to know that no matter how many others are involved in any situation, we need only let the reign of right thinking rule all sin out of us. That is all we can do—all we need to do. God's perfect law, fulfilled in love, is capable of doing all that must be done to establish and maintain harmony.
