Would you trust a brick building put together with mush as the mortar? Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? No matter how solid the bricks, the successful binding together of those individual bricks to produce a strong structure can only be in proportion to the integrity of the mortar. And if every single brick is not produced with the same degree of integrity, the entire building could be weakened.
Is a civilization, a nation, or even a family any different? The strength of any of these depends on the "cement" of integrity. Unimpaired, pure, flawless, whole, morally sound—that's integrity.
We each possess that integrity from the very nature of our true identity. The opening chapter of the Bible records the actual nature of man as the image and likeness of God. And we all are capable of expressing our true selfhood.
In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy states: "In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow,—thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying." Science and Health, p. 259
We're not subject to a concept of man that offers little possibility of rising above the supposed limitations imposed by heredity, environment, or circumstances deemed beyond our control. But we often don't see this because we tend to believe what the physical senses and the world's general beliefs tell us we are. Also, too often we don't recognize the distinction between mortality and humanity. The two seem fused into one. Yet the term humanity has a higher signification than mortality. It embraces something more than the concept of man as a mere mortal saddled with an animal nature that reacts with self-preservation at any cost, with fear, anger, lust, deceit, brutality. Humanity denotes compassion, patience, honesty, meekness, morality, affection, integrity. These God-derived qualities point to our real, spiritual selfhood and are therefore natural to each one of us.
Science and Health counsels, "At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil.... The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity." Ibid., p. 571
This self-knowledge allows each one to be that "strong brick" in the moral structure where family, nation, and the world are secured by "the cement of a higher humanity." To gain this knowledge we need to start from a right premise in identifying ourselves. We are not catalogued by others' opinions, by any given culture, by a historical era, present or past. We're identified and governed by God as His spiritual image.
To express that higher humanity, then, that helps unite all interests in the one God, we don't have to struggle to make a good human out of the mire and muck of mortality. We begin with the premise of the one true creation, in which all is good now and man is the perfect expression of God, of good itself. This spiritual goodness is the basis of morality. Morality in its highest sense is not just being good; it involves striving day-by-day to be free of the limitations and demands of the flesh.
We're not catalogued
by majority opinion;
we're identified by God.
The Judeo-Christian teachings found in the Bible are grounded on the moral law, given with succinct and imperative clarity in the Ten Commandments. See Ex. 20:3-17 Throughout the centuries they have been the standard by which one measured an act as being moral or immoral. In the teachings of Christ Jesus, however, we gain a higher concept of the Commandments. The Master's Sermon on the Mount See Matt., chaps. 5-7 helps us to understand that they apply not only to outward acts but to inward thoughts. He stressed the need for purity, integrity, obedience, forgiveness, love. These Godlike qualities, lived, offer true morality. They show a practical understanding of those ten basic laws presented by Moses, which spell out the responsibility of the individual in relation to God and to his neighbor. Such responsibility is not an option; it is a command. It has a direct relationship to our own well-being and to the well-being of humanity.
"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible." More Unkempt Thoughts, 1968 The first time I read those words by the mid-twentieth-century poet Stanislaw Jerzey Lec, I burst out laughing, much as we do sometimes when looking at a political cartoon. At first it seems amusing, but then the depth of the message rouses us like a loud alarm clock! It would appear that a crowd mentality has always offered the individual anonymity, even if tenuous, enabling one to think he is merely an onlooker, uninvolved and without responsibility.
In the November 1887 issue of this magazine, Mrs. Eddy (who was also its first Editor and Publisher) wrote: "Through all human history, the vital outcomes of Truth have suffered temporary shame and loss from individual conceit, cowardice, or dishonesty. The bird whose right wing flutters to soar, while the left beats its way downward, falls to the earth. Both wings must be plumed for rarefied atmospheres and upward flight." Further on in the article she points out, "From lack of moral strength empires fall."Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 267, 268
Morals have their
foundation in divine
law, in Truth itself.
If you were asked "What is moral strength?" how would you answer? Often the word morals is thought to be synonymous with mores. But there is a major difference between morals and mores.
Morals are more than a human standard. They have their foundation in divine law, in Truth itself. Therefore they are impartial, universal, changeless.
Mores, on the other hand, are subject to change. They're ways of thinking and acting that spring from human opinions and the adopting of those opinions by a particular social group. They are, like trends in human behavior, sometimes conservative, sometimes flamboyant, perhaps arguing for individual interpretation of right and wrong and insisting that one's private life has no bearing on others.
Have we been building a structure with mush for the mortar? Strong bricks aren't made of the clay of selfish interests, arrogance, pride, or an outright defiance of a definitive standard of morals. Just because something is widely practiced or agreed upon as acceptable doesn't mean that it's ethical or moral, or that it heals. Individual responsibility never becomes obsolete.
The role and the responsibility of each individual have great implications, not only for the welfare of a nation or of the world, but for the individual. Purity of thought and action, in accord with divine law, is essential to counteracting the materialism that underlies our troubles and to making genuine progress.
"The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity." How can we fulfill our role in this promise? Mrs. Eddy offers practical direction: "Is not a man metaphysically and mathematically number one, a unit, and therefore whole number, governed and protected by his divine Principle, God? You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this."Pulpit and Press, p. 4 Doing so, we'll express a higher humanity and thereby help purify the moral atmosphere for all.
My people shall dwell
in a peaceable habitation,
and in sure dwellings, and
in quiet resting places.
Isaiah 32:18
