At a time of turbulent upheaval in society, when many are floundering for lack of direction in their lives and crime is on the increase, it is mandatory for us to turn constantly to divine Principle and perceive how the control of Principle may be demonstrated in daily experience. Christian Science teaches that God alone governs man, for man is the image and likeness of God, the emanation of divine Mind. It teaches that an understanding of God brings self-knowledge to the individual, and that obedience to God brings self-control into his experience. Such self government or control is the activity of divine Principle in human consciousness. It manifests itself as spiritual understanding and the ability to demonstrate God's law of healing and regeneration.
To help society, one must start with himself. He must demonstrate in his own experience that man is the expression of God and that he is under God's constant control and sustaining care. As he begins to set his own house in order, the individual can see opportunity to help others and contribute to the general advance of society's concept of law and government. Mrs. Eddy says, "He who gains self-knowledge, self-control, and the kingdom of heaven within himself, within his own consciousness, is saved through Christ, Truth."The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 161; In the degree that we come to this consciousness of dominion, we are equipped to demonstrate the law of God in healing and helping others.
In acknowledging only one God, one Mind, we strike at the very basis of the belief in evil, the belief that mind is in matter and that evil can control individuals and disrupt society. In Christian Science, this belief in evil is termed "animal magnetism." It is the direct opposite of self-knowledge and self-control under Principle, and it would claim that man is material and that evil and animal instincts govern individuals and hence prevail in society. It is only as we gain some understanding of God as Spirit and of man as spiritual that we can grasp the nature of divine law, see the basic foundation of a moral society, and be able to enforce these laws in human experience. Self-knowledge in Christian Science does not involve a research into matter but into the nature of God, infinite Spirit, the creator of man.
