A “yoke” has been defined as a bar of wood uniting two animals, usually oxen, to work in the fields drawing heavy loads. Figuratively, a yoke is a symbol of burden and submission. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God declares, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6). Beliefs about aging may seem to bind us and be a heavy burden, but through the teachings of Christian Science, this yoke can be broken.
These beliefs begin with birth and attempt to affect us at every stage of human experience—infancy, adolescence, midlife, and old age. At whatever stage we or those we love appear to be, spiritual truths are available to break the yoke of burden and submission to educated theories and opinions regarding age. We can learn to be a law to ourselves and thereby negate and annul the so-called laws of material, mortal belief.
In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy exhorts, “Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake” (p. 442). Much could be said about what it means to be a law to oneself. But in regard to aging, I think it can be applied to mean that we should be alert throughout our days and nights to those generally held opinions and theories that would claim to have a negative effect upon everyone. They cannot affect us if we consciously place ourselves under the law of God, good, which sustains and maintains our health and well-being throughout all our days.
All of us, at whatever age we currently are, need to defend ourselves from negative thinking about aging. We might ask ourselves: “How many times during the day do I think of my own age or that of those close to me? How many times do I identify friends or even strangers according to their apparent age?” Aren’t these thoughts frequently negative? Even thoughts about the age of young children are often associated with erroneous beliefs—helplessness, limitation, immaturity, willfulness, etc.
This yoke of false education can be broken.
Youth is often considered the most desirable stage of human experience, and every stage that follows it is viewed as an ongoing decline to inevitable errors associated with old age. But we don’t have to accept or submit to these views for ourselves or others. The burden of this yoke can be broken. We can be a law to ourselves by acknowledging that God is the only lawmaker and that we, as His spiritual image and likeness, are subordinate to His laws alone, laws that preserve our harmony and health.
The first books of the Bible refer to individuals who lived extraordinarily long lives—Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, and others. We read that at age 120, Moses’ eyes were not dim nor had his strength diminished (see Deuteronomy 34:7). The discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, displayed mental acuteness, physical well-being, and the ability to accomplish prodigious amounts of work until her earthly experience closed at nearly 90. In a remark that contrasts strikingly with the world’s opinion about senior years, Mrs. Eddy once said, “The added wisdom of age and experience is strength, not weakness, and we should understand this, expect it, and know that it is so, then it would appear” (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Expanded Edition,
p. 318).
Twice in her writings Mrs. Eddy refers to her “advancing years” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 135). What a wonderful way to characterize growing older! Advancing signifies going forward, making progress. Aging is almost universally associated with the opposite—retreating, losing ground. But this yoke of false education can be broken through spiritual education, through acceptance of truths taught in the Bible and in Science and Health.
We read in Job, “Thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning” (Job 11:17). Morning signifies a new beginning, a fresh start, the potential for progress through increased spiritual insights gained through study and prayer. To begin each morning with prayer to behold more of God’s infinite goodness and love, and to see that our true nature is the very image of His love, is the best possible way to start our day. As we hold throughout the day to what we perceive through early-morning prayer, we can make continuing progress toward the realization that our “age shall be clearer than the noonday.” This noonday does not decline into a sunset of diminished capacities. Man, as the image of his Maker, remains at the zenith of his God-bestowed perfection. The understanding of this spiritual truth is manifested humanly in undiminished mental and physical soundness.
Frequent study of pages 244 to 249 in Science and Health can be extremely helpful in breaking the yoke of false beliefs about aging. Here may be found many scientific truths that contradict and annul numerous errors commonly associated with senior years. Marginal headings highlight the substance of the valuable instruction given on these pages, which enables the student to counter beliefs of aging. Here are just a few: “Man never less than man,” “True life eternal,” “Mental sculpture,” “Perfect models,” and “Renewed selfhood.”
On page 249 Mrs. Eddy writes: “Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine ‘powers that be.’ Such is the true Science of being.” These sentences summarize how the yoke of submission to beliefs of aging can be broken. We can be released from the burden of false education about age as we learn through Christian Science that we are governed by the higher laws of God, which maintain and sustain our mental and physical well-being throughout our entire life.
