"AS for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me." As did David, the unhappy heart searching for patience and comfort can turn to God for rescue from the mental bondage into which thought has strayed.
"The lame, the blind, the sick, the sensual, are slaves, and their fetters are gnawing away life and hope; their chains are clasped by the false teachings, false theories, false fears, that enforce new forms of oppression, and are the modern Pharaohs that hold the children of Israel still in bondage" (The People's Idea of God, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 11). Human woe is part of the collection of false claims of which God knows naught. Link by link the chain which has held mankind captive will be broken by intelligent consideration and the understanding of spiritual truths. Since history began, humanity has been struggling against unjust restraints. Resistance and a determination not to submit to error seem the right course for a time; but in quiet study we come to see that there is a better method of freeing one's self than through opposition, for resistance by itself may tend to make error seem more real.
The question of bondage and freedom is a vital one. Our Leader well understood the hope which Christian Science holds out to humanity. Her writings adjust to our mental eyes a magnifying lens which brings into view things never before visible. She makes definite the way in which true freedom is brought about. And it is attained through gaining "the scientific sense of being," of which she speaks in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 101), and concerning which she adds, "It undermines the foundations of mortality, of physical law, breaks their chains, and sets the captive free, opening the doors for them that are bound."
Being at-one with divine consciousness is the cure for all deformities, defects, diseases, abnormalities: false concepts are destroyed by spiritual consciousness. In its light only the true facts of existence are visible. The only activity the real man can experience is caused by the divine Principle which produces the rhythm of the universe.
Christian Science practice is bringing this true understanding to mankind. This is the understanding the worth of which is far above rubies: it is true wisdom. It sets right whatever appears to be wrong. Normality, wherein everything is good, is "the scientific sense of being." Jesus knew and understood God, Truth, and His idea, man; and thus to learn of God and man constitutes salvation. All things work towards this end in one's adjustment to one's spiritual estate. We may call it passing from poverty to a sense of abundance, from sickness to health; but it is the unfolding of what in reality we already possess.
A true state of consciousness when arrived at heals instantly. A treatment is a state of thought that is logically cleaving to spiritual premises and following these to a true conclusion. It is touching with a corrective rod whatever unites mortal belief to conclusions which have no place in the economy of true thinking. As thought ascends we become more firmly established in that knowing which lifts human thought out of the restricted and repressed area of mortal sense.
Progress in spiritual attainment means growth in intelligence, in alertness, in true reasoning. There can be no escape from divine logic which brings us quickly into the line of light. False teachings, theories, and fears forge chains upon those who accept them, and the only release is through corrected mental states.
Paul was termed by some "a pestilent fellow," but he discerned that man is created free. If this be a fact in divine consciousness, spiritual man must remain free. We have this assurance in Ecclesiastes: "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it." Therefore, man and freedom are inseparable. But it is not until we begin to understand the power of spiritual thought that we commence our journey out of our individual Egypt. Not until we cast in our lot with Christian Science does spiritual discernment point out clearly that salvation is primarily a question of mental awareness of divine facts.
In whatever sphere of life we may find ourselves, the struggle for liberty goes on. The outward circumstances are as varied as mortal beliefs, but the heart of the struggle is ever the same. We may seem to enter this stir afresh when we advance into a new position in the business world, or into committee work in our organization, or into a purely domestic situation. But whatever the condition, opportunity is afforded us to uncover mortal mind's so-called claim to activity. It is well to remember that one governed by truly scientific thought refuses to push, to be a rival, or to be jealous, since he does not permit himself to encroach upon the privileges and duties of another.
One filling his own place, observing the Golden Rule, in time discovers that spiritual expansion is without limit. Elbowing and treading upon another's rights ensnares more deeply in the belief that gain is material accretion instead of spiritual unfoldment. Metaphysically we learn that a so-called enemy is not a person or a thing, but only an acceptance of evil.
Rivalry is destroyed when one realizes that another can never be an impediment to one's scientific advancement. Thus, a seemingly stubborn hindrance to right effort will be removed under divine guidance. God knows nothing of false emulation and hatred; but He does know that each one, as His idea, is in his individual place, environed by all the opportunity which perfection demands.
Fortunate are those who, having found activity in the Christian Science movement, realize that here is not a field for wrong ambition and rivalry, since opening thought to these defeats the purpose of Christian Science. Rather is Christian Science a river of righteousness flowing through the mental realm on its cleansing mission, a great river of opportunity appearing in the wilderness of human hopes.
When two or more are in close association, there may be a clashing of personalities and undisciplined wills. This is a common experience, but even it can be worked out in Christian Science. The true self recognizes only good.
Some of the chains that fret are so petty that we feel a sense of shame as well as of regret in our acknowledgment of them. Thus, a state of lovelessness is a burden borne by the world at large. When we are oppressed by a sense that no one cares for us; when those about us seem to be avenues for error to buffet us, we might call these states of mind a reversal of scientific knowing: we have temporarily lost "the scientific sense of being." But would we feel lonely or submerged in self-pity if we had an alert sense of spiritual truth and of how we might liberate ourselves through spiritual law which is ever available? Would not the very act of acquainting ourselves more closely with God and His law present a new and interesting phase of liberation from mortal decrees and opinions? When we gain a measure of the discernment of what constitutes man's birthright, and begin to understand that prayer is a lever always at hand to lift us into spiritual sense where we no longer believe that man is needy or deserted; when through spiritual understanding we escape from this lion in our path and catch a glimpse of how dominion over evil can be exercised, we are happily sensible that it can be done again, and yet again, until divine reality looms so large that we close our eyes just to contemplate it.
We are not permitted to dwell peacefully in false mentality. The gaining of entire spiritual dominion may seem a large undertaking, but we can begin now, resting assured that the task will be accomplished.
