In evaluating and analyzing world affairs from the daily news, it seems logical to identify the presence of good or evil with a particular person or group of people. Not only are these attributes applied to prominent personalities who receive ample media coverage, but are also present closer to home—with family members, neighbors, fellow employees, etc. It stems from the belief that a particular position or figure can be some sort of “creator,” and wield an influence that can shape a course.
This thought tends to limit and subordinate my reasoning, and attempts to define my perception of what is actually “going on.” I have found that the only way out of this is to hold before my thought the “perfect model,” which Mary Baker Eddy describes in Science and Health as a “spiritualization of thought” that “lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind” into consciousness (p. 407). This perfect model is not some type of magical thinking, but is a present possibility of the realization that God’s idea, man, can never be alienated, estranged, or divided from his only source—infinite Mind.
As Christ Jesus proved, spiritual man, our real state, is at one with God. We are united with this glorified consciousness through obedience to the first great commandment: to love God with all our heart. Loving God with all our “heart” means excluding from thought any condition that is not from or of God. It is the opposite of this—namely loving or acknowledging something besides God—that brings a sense of discord into our experience.
