NORMAL to everyone, regardless of his human background, is an inherent, God-given desire to be distinctly individual and unrestricted in his expression of being. Christian Science shows us that the real selfhood of everyone is both of these.
This Science reveals that the universe of perfect Mind is peopled with countless spiritual beings. Though governed by one Principle, these ideas are distinctly individual in character. There are no duplicates or rivals in God's infinitely varied universe. Each son of God is a priceless original, unique in his distinguishing characteristics. He is a complete and indispensable image of Spirit, forever free from the limitations of the flesh. This spiritual distinctiveness of individual man can never be abrogated.
Christian Science also presents the rule of Principle whereby man's individual, spiritual being is brought to light and demonstrated in human experience. And today, when the dignity, rights, and freedom of the individual are becoming more and more widely recognized and defended, it is imperative that we distinguish clearly between the genuine distinctiveness of Mind's idea, which is unfolding to human consciousness through obedience to the divine will, and any counterfeit material sense of self promulgated by the human mind or human will.
Christian Science affords everyone complete moral freedom to cultivate and express his own individuality. But Science teaches that since Spirit, God, not matter, defines the individuality of man, the only way for one to attain true distinction and freedom of expression is through his comprehending and obeying the law of Spirit, which is now fully and finally set forth in the Scriptures and in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. Conforming human thought and life to divine law, or the facts of true being, awakens and develops our sense of individual spiritual identity. The assertion of a selfhood apart from Spirit, that is, not in conformity with the laws and rules of revealed Truth, hides spiritual individuality.
Through spiritual sense we can see that Christian Science is God's unfolding law. When we do see this, we shall recognize the impersonal authority of Science and the divinity of its demands. We shall not then attempt to build up the belief of finite personality, but, deep within the precincts of our inmost thoughts and affections, we shall gratefully obey the demands of divine Science as the means of demonstrating our priceless individuality in Spirit.
Although no two individuals express Truth in exactly the same way, individuality is always spiritual, not material. It is never expressed in physical characteristics, in affected mannerisms, oddities of dress, or in other personal eccentricities, but in such God-derived states of thought as innocence and simplicity, sincerity and truthfulness. It cannot be seen in a personal sense of importance or unimportance, but in goodness, selflessness, and love.
Jesus was the most distinctive individual the world has ever known, not for any physical or personal reason, but because he expressed his spiritual and original sonship with God. He knew that the only way to demonstrate individuality was through spiritual reflection, or the Christ, his divine nature, which was appearing to human thought in the order of unfolding law. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Jesus knew that material personality was no more a part of God's individual, eternal man than a shadow is a part of a sunbeam; he knew that it was but a shadow of sense that must flee before the light of the ever-unfolding Christ, Truth.
The Apostle John assures the followers of the Master that, through receptivity to the Christ, they have the power to demonstrate who they really and individually are. He said (John 1:12, 13), "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
In a Bible lesson based on this statement, Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 185), "Self-renunciation of all that constitutes a so-called material man, and the acknowledgment and achievement of his spiritual identity as the child of God, is Science that opens the very flood-gates of heaven; whence good flows into every avenue of being, cleansing mortals of all uncleanness, destroying all suffering, and demonstrating the true image and likeness."
Throughout Bible history there were those who caught glimpses of the Christ, and because they did, they were able to experience something of their true individuality. Today everyone can claim and demonstrate his unique and original likeness to God through the Science of Christ. A sincere and consecrated study of this Science frees the student from the unreal restrictions of a fleshly sense of life and intelligence in matter and makes apparent to him the boundless freedom of his individual identity in Spirit.
Always a distinctive reflection of the divine order and law of being, individuality is alive with infinite possibilities and variations of expression. A common tendency of mortals is either to conform mutely to some transitory human belief, for fear of not being accepted by others, or to take a position sharply divergent from a normal sense of things, for fear of not being recognized, or in reaction to mediocrity. Both of these extreme positions temporarily obscure the originality, vivacity, and genuine attractiveness of true being. It is right to be different from all uninspired modes of human thinking; however, we do not achieve this difference through extremes of human behavior but by launching out in the scientific adventure of spiritual self-discovery.
Who would not demonstrate his own individuality, which includes true health, peace, security, and satisfaction? The entire healing system of Christ's Christianity and its Science involves exchanging the false view of man as a material personality, continually at the mercy of matter, sin, disease, and death, for the correct view of him as a distinctly individual, spiritual being, subject only to the harmonious law of God, immortal Life.
If we are tempted to believe that we are bound by an ordinary, colorless, or otherwise unattractive or faulty personality, we must not give life to this error by fearing or resenting it or by trying to make it over. But, rather, we must renounce all finite sense of self in matter, seemingly attractive or unattractive, as unreal and let Christian Science lift us to "the acknowledgment and achievement" of our incomparably beautiful and distinctive identity in Soul, divine Love.
If we make, a study of the Bible and Science and Health, the spirit of Love will begin to stir in us and our singular place in the order of unfolding divine law will dawn upon us. We shall see that conforming our lives to the Ten Commandments, adopting the affection and purpose of Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and yielding full obedience to the demands of the Science of Love will enable us to attain right individual distinction and freedom.
Too, we shall gain a humble conviction that just as the law of Moses was necessary to hold the children of Israel in line with the order of spiritual unfoldment promised to Abraham's seed, so the spiritually revealed Rules and By-Laws of the Church Manual by Mrs. Eddy are necessary to protect us from the temptation of evil to claim and assert a mortal sense of self apart from Love.
As we stay close to the Bible and all of Mrs. Eddy's writings, the radiant spirit of Love, beginning to blossom in our lives, will grow brighter and brighter. Our contribution to human activity will become more and more colorful—divinely different. Belief in material personality will diminish until it finally vanishes in the full realization of our original individuality in Spirit.
Because of the action of divine law in her experience, our inspired Leader comprehended and expressed more of her individual spiritual being than has anyone since the time of Jesus. Because of her closeness and obedience to Spirit and Love, she has made a unique and valuable contribution in this age toward the welfare and freedom of mankind. Summarizing our subject in part, she says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 104), "In Science all being is individual; for individuality is endless in the calculus of forms and numbers." On the same page she adds, "In obedience to the divine nature, man's individuality reflects the divine law and order of being." Then she asks, "How shall we reach our true selves?" Simply and profoundly she answers, "Through Love."
