We don’t generally think of dissatisfaction as something to be grateful for. Yet where would we be without the constructive dissatisfaction of innovators who can’t rest until they’ve invented a tool to do something more efficiently? How would human rights have progressed without the action of those dissatisfied with injustice?
Similarly, there’s a kind of dissatisfaction within each of us that’s not only positive but essential, according to Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science. Pointing to what the Bible says about our spiritual nature, that we’re made in God’s image, her Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896 notes: “All men shall be satisfied when they ‘awake in His likeness,’ and they never should be until then” (p. 358).
That’s not to suggest we should heed a barrage of self-criticism. A ceaselessly nagging inner voice isn’t reflective of God’s “still, small voice,” which constantly conveys to us our great worth as God’s child. Christian Science can heal us of this inner critic, as it did for me (see “Valuing ourselves as God does,” Christian Science Sentinel, August 20, 2018).
