We generally assume the value of reading but frequently do not examine too closely what or how we read. Uncritical acceptance and uncritical rejection are equally common. The academic student and even the reader looking for worthwhile material often find constructive evaluation a problem. Yet here, if we are students of Christian Science as well as readers of books, we have a valuable opportunity. We can deepen our appreciation of literature for the common good.
To the Christian Scientist, appreciation in its basic sense involves being aware of and grateful for man's relationship to God. Basing our thought on the account of man as God's image in the opening chapter of Genesis and on the unfoldment of this truth throughout the Bible, we can appreciate more fully the grandeur and nobility of true existence and the healing that this understanding brings to human affairs.
One of these human affairs, as already mentioned, is literary evaluation. Does not man, as the reflection of Spirit, reflect also the spiritual qualities that impel right evaluation? Discrimination and discernment, then, are not elusive but at hand for every reader. Likewise, perception and penetration characterize Soul, or God, and so must appear in His reflection. Soul is but one of the synonyms used for God by Mrs. Eddy. A study of all the synonyms reveals further qualities that enable the student and reader to view the situation from an enlightened standpoint of spiritual objectivity. So he may consider Mind as having abundance of clarifying and satisfying ideas, Principle as having stability and order, Life as giving vitality, Truth as revealing integrity, and Love as embracing all.
