To maintain lasting friendships is a Christian demand, especially so for students of Christian Science, who recognize the one God, divine Love, as the source of all being. The truth is that each individual in his actual, Godlike identity is always in perfect harmony with every other individual, because as ideas of the one Mind, God, they are individually and collectively governed by Him. God's ideas, being eternally in perfect agreement with their Maker, are in perfect agreement with each other. We can demonstrate these facts in happy human relationships when we understand them and learn how to apply them and other spiritual truths to our friendships.
Perhaps our basic need is to learn how to prevent the aggressive claim of animal magnetism—called hatred—from destroying a relationship we hold dear. Mrs. Eddy's explanation of "animal magnetism" in Science and Health shows us what we need to know and do. One of her statements clarifying the term reads: "It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful. This belief has not one quality of Truth." Science and Health, p. 103;
We can see animal magnetism at work when we find ourselves becoming harshly critical and resentful of an individual whom we have previously loved. If allowed to go unchecked, this false belief of a material mind that is both good and evil could eventually destroy the friendship.
