The genesis of this article is a little protracted. I originally sat down to write a sort of treatise on the value of never complaining. It had become clear to me in my study of Christian Science that a human tendency to find things to complain about can keep someone from grasping truth wholeheartedly. I had been particularly adept at doing just that, and I wanted to share my insight with others.
So I set out my new-found understanding that I could only entertain joy and love if my thinking was not in “complaint mode.” However, along the way, the article took on too much of an accusatorial tone and its language lacked compassion. In making a metaphysical argument it is easy forget that one is not going to have much of an audience if entreaties to “rise higher mentally” lack love. Net result: The article needed a rewrite.
For those who are in the midst of a demanding challenge, it is a very human reaction to chafe at the circumstances. If you have just been fired from your job, when you have done nothing wrong—as happened to me once—the sense of injustice and grievance can be overwhelming. It really does not help, at such a time, to have someone say, “Just get on with it; you will be blessed by this challenge,” especially if you feel cursed by the unfairness of it all.
