Through a deeper understanding of God, everyone can learn how to overcome difficult situations and bring more harmony into encounters with others. When clashing opinions, misunderstandings, estrangement, or deliberate hate surface in our dealings, the first impulse might be to wonder what to say or do. If we really want to heal the condition, we need to remind ourselves that God, infinite Love, is the only Mind. This means that both we and our fellowman are, in reality, the expression of divine Love. When we are confronted with conflict and disagreement, we are actually facing a false sense of ourselves and others. If we believe that despising and slandering really represent someone's true individuality, we may end up accepting this sin as our own, because what we believe about others often conveys what we believe about ourselves. Self-correction removes belief in the reality of whatever is unlike Love in our neighbor's attitude— and our own. Though we may be tempted to believe a lie about our real identity as the reflection of divine Love, we need to claim our likeness to and inseparability from Love. Then we can see a supposed enemy as, in reality, the loved and loving child of God.
Christ Jesus was strikingly conscious of an individual's sinless, healthful nature as manifesting the one Father Mind. And those who responded went away healed. He detected the deep repentance of the woman known as the Magdalen when she came to him and, weeping, anointed his feet.Luke 7:37, 38; In the case of the woman accused of adultery, who was about to be stoned, he made her attackers recognize their own sinfulness. To the woman he said, "Go, and sin no more."John 8:11; At another time he said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."7:24;
We too will judge righteous judgment as we see in place of enemies the perfect likeness of God. To do this we have to know and love our fellowman as he really is—fully spiritual and good. Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, tells us, "If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Magdalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to practise scientifically and deal with his patients compassionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual intent."Science and Health, p. 365;
