One evening while my husband and I were having dinner, a topic in the news came up in our conversation, and we suddenly found ourselves in a battle of opposing opinions. The argument ended when I snapped at him and we left the table.
I went into my office knowing my wonderful husband had already forgiven me for the sharp comment.
“How unhelpful that conversation was!” I thought. Arguing our opinions back and forth didn’t contribute one iota to solving the problem.
It was unusual for us to have that kind of conversation. I had been praying about political stridency in my country and the world, and here it had invaded my home!
Still agitated from the incident, I turned to the Bible, and to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the seminal work by Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. I searched opinion in Concord, a computer tool for the Bible and Eddy’s writings, and these three short passages from Science and Health caught my attention:
- “Human opinions are not spiritual” (p. 192).
- “In Christian Science mere opinion is valueless” (p. 341).
- “The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opinions” (p. 399).
Wow! No mortal opinions in divine Mind. None. Not even really good ones (like some of mine)!
Christian Science teaches that God is the one all-knowing Mind and that we are never separate from this Mind. Divine Mind is directing each of us, constantly. And the ideas coming from infinite Mind are broader and higher than the ground-level good opinions I’d been collecting and carrying around in a mental box I thought of as “my world view.”
It was clear in that moment that opinions based on a limited, mortal sense of things are inferior and therefore unnecessary. Even the practice of getting an “expert opinion” or “legal opinion” is, ideally, not about someone’s personal view. We are asking for assistance in seeing the larger scope and specific details pertinent to an issue, not for personal bias. At best, opinions are just human constructs. At worst, opinions embody self-will, self-justification, and self-love—what Science and Health calls “the adamant of error” (p. 242).
Since that evening I’ve been studying, praying, and endeavoring to learn how to live each day without opinions. If opinions are unnecessary, why have them? Dropping a focus on opinions frees up time for more productive, Spirit-based thinking.
But how do we make decisions about who and what to vote for, or even how to spend our time or money, without an opinion? How can thought be clear, focused, and discriminating without opinions?
What I’ve come to see is that giving up opinions isn’t giving up clear thought or active engagement with personal, community, national, or world affairs. Intelligence, clarity, and discernment are built-in qualities from God, and we can exercise them with confidence and humility every moment, even in making small decisions. Letting go of opinions is about dropping the notion that we can sort things out through the human mind from the level of personal experience and biases. But we can thoughtfully listen to and consider the value of all sides of an issue.
Dropping a focus on opinions frees up time for more productive, Spirit-based thinking.
Since spiritual ideas actually come to us from divine Mind, a constructive way of thinking and making decisions is to turn thought upward for light on a subject and watch for the inspiration that naturally comes. Thought that is less bogged down in self and more receptive to divine Mind is much more fluid, expansive, and open to higher and higher views.
At times when we’re not feeling particularly receptive, thinking out from biblical precepts such as Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount lifts thought to a more loving and universal standpoint for considering issues—and so-called opponents.
Letting go of opinions has been very freeing for me. I’ve become more alert to resist the temptation to turn inspired thoughts into opinions, into rigid personal and dogmatic notions that close us off to new inspiration. When a long-held opinion surfaces in my thought, I’m more willing to let divine Love gently eliminate a personal attachment to it, and remove self-will and self-righteousness. Whatever seems valuable about a viewpoint I’ve held may sometimes remain as my current best light on a subject.
I find myself bringing ideas that I thought were mine to God with the prayer, “Father, this still seems best, but I’m ready and listening for better and higher concepts, and willing to trust everyone else’s thoughts on the matter to You.” Though it’s not always easy, and there is still much to learn, I’ve found that when I’m not attached to a particular outcome, I’m better able to listen to others and to contribute to a constructive solution in group decisions.
Mary Baker Eddy proved that keeping thought above mortal opinions brings spiritual power to the resolution of even the most divisive issues. During the planning phase for building the Original Edifice of The Mother Church, the Christian Science movement appeared divided over two competing visions for how it could best accomplish its mission, and what functions the Church building would serve. Though Eddy certainly had her own views on the question, which involved legal issues, she nevertheless did not participate in the public debate. Instead, she urged her followers to cease disputing and let the solution be worked out through prayer, Christly actions, and the yielding of personal views to God’s plan.
In an article titled “Hints for History” in the July 1892 issue of the Journal, she wrote: “I do believe, yea, I understand that with the spirit of Christ actuating all the parties concerned about this legal quibble, that it would be easily corrected to the satisfaction of all. Let this be speedily done. Do not, I implore you, stain the early history of Christian Science by the impulses of human will and pride; but let the divine will and the nobility of human meekness, rule this business transaction in obedience to the law of God, and the laws of our land” (republished in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 141).
In August of that year, even with the conflict in full swing, Eddy wrote to the treasurer of the building trust fund: “Let us prepare our hearts (if they are not already prepared) to receive God’s dear benediction, else, we can not have it. This preparation, at this time, consists in cherishing no feeling towards a single actor known or unknown in this business transaction that we would not have God look upon, and ourselves could say of it,—‘it was also the mind which was in Christ Jesus’ ” (Mary Baker Eddy to Alfred Lang, August 9, 1892; L07832, The Mary Baker Eddy Library; © The Mary Baker Eddy Collection). For Eddy, holding animosity toward those of differing opinions was not expressing the Mind of Christ.
A reorganization of the Church followed that would resolve the immediate controversy, unify members, and help prevent further divisions. Over and over Eddy lifted her followers to the understanding that “mere opinion is valueless.” She wrote those words from experience, not theory.
She proved the truth of this statement in Science and Health: “Science shows that material, conflicting mortal opinions and beliefs emit the effects of error at all times, but this atmosphere of mortal mind cannot be destructive to morals and health when it is opposed promptly and persistently by Christian Science. Truth and Love antidote this mental miasma, and thus invigorate and sustain existence” (pp. 273–274).
Each of us as divine Mind’s unique expression is naturally clear, focused, and discriminating. These spiritual qualities prevent us from being influenced by the opinions of others or manipulated by marketing strategies. They also enable us to perceive the absolute powerlessness of false ideologies of hate, violence, or terrorism.
“Are thoughts divine or human? That is the important question,” Science and Health says. “This branch of study is indispensable to the excision of error” (p. 462).
I’m still actively watching for and embracing every good idea I can find on how to solve the pressing issues of our time. Constructive ideas are evidence that Love’s corrective and reforming action is available and operative on the human scene. But the best thing I can do for my community, nation, and world is to keep my thought on divine Mind’s irresistible spiritual guidance in human consciousness. Divine Love, not mere human persuasion, has the power to awaken us all from a mesmeric pull toward taking sides or holding adamant stances.
As Second Corinthians 10:3–5 in the Common English Bible says: “Although we live in the world, we don’t fight our battles with human methods. Our weapons that we fight with aren’t human, but instead they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses. They destroy arguments, and every defense that is raised up to oppose the knowledge of God. They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
