One of the many interesting marginal headings in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, is "Veritable success" (p. 372). It refers to the following statement: "When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely, he will be perfect. He can neither sin, suffer, be subject to matter, nor disobey the law of God. Therefore he will be as the angels in heaven." What a striking and comprehensive statement this is, differing widely from the commonly held human view of success.
This then is the star to which we may hitch our wagon. In our endeavor to attain this "veritable success" we may freely manifest all the pure sinlessness which already belongs to man's true being; we have unlimited opportunity to lift our thought above the jumble of earthly concepts, which are the cause of all suffering; we are entirely at liberty to put belief in matter with all its spurious laws under our feet and prove its nothingness; and we may fully enjoy our at-one-ment with our divine Father-Mother, God, whereby we joyously obey His will, knowing that it has for us nothing but perpetual harmony.
Spiritual good is unlimited. It is free and available for all. The more we use, the more we shall have. The intention, the directness, and the thoroughness which we put into our endeavor to gain true success are a matter of our own choosing, a matter solely between ourselves and God. Each one may be as complete as he wishes in his reflection of divine qualities, without interfering with his neighbor's acquisition of those qualities. Each one may overcome his belief in sin and materiality without diminishing his brother's opportunity to do so. On the contrary, our overcoming makes his overcoming easier; his achievement opens the way for our achievement.
As veritable success is proved in a degree, it will express itself outwardly in improved conditions, in a wider field of activity, in multiform blessings and benefits. Jesus spoke of this as seeking first the kingdom of God, whereby all good will be added to us.
Since man is the reflection of the one infinite Being, he is generically one; hence all good expressed by one individual is equally available to every other individual. But let not the belief of separation enter in, dividing man into men, people, persons! That false belief is the starting point for minds many, for selfishness, fear, pride, envy, malice, and so on.
The false, material concept of success is finite and limited, since this is the very nature of matter. It concerns itself with conditions of materiality. Hence it causes mortal man to believe that the more his fellow man has, the less he himself can have. This false concept is one of the most prolific sources of strife, of sin and unhappiness, in the material world. Mortal man fancies that he can gain more worldly success by depriving another, by crowding him out or pulling him down. But, because of the essential unity of man, such methods automatically result in pulling himself down, thus falling into the pit dug for another, as the Bible puts it.
The health and wholeness of the human body requires that all its members be whole and work harmoniously together. If the hand were to imagine that it would gain more health and strength by crushing or poisoning the foot, the result would inevitably be that the entire body would deteriorate, and the hand would suffer with the foot.
It may seem at times that others—that is, our concept of others—can interfere with our demonstration; but if we analyze the situation clearly, we shall find that nobody and nothing can prevent or delay the demonstration of veritable success. Outward agencies may seem able to alter the conditions for the achievement, but this, regrettable and even grievous as it may seem at times, still is only extraneous. Since we are not striving for possession or for position, but simply to manifest humility, sincerity, integrity, love, holiness, this can be done whatever the outward conditions may appear to be. We know that our Master used the very conditions which the most remorseless motives in the carnal mind could prepare for him, yea, even the crucifixion itself, as stepping-stones for his glorious demonstration. And we may follow in his footsteps in this as in everything else. Our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy, assures us, out of her rich and deep experience, that "he who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the current of that life steadfastly flowing on to God, its divine source" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 19).
The alert Christian Scientist will know that no wrong sense of competition can enter into his endeavor to attain true success; in fact, right endeavor excludes such competition, though leaving the field wide open for right achievement. His sincerity will protect him from being taken in by any boastful sense of "holier than thou," any "stunts" of achievement. Indeed, such mistaken concepts would delay his progress, since the pride which motivates them is the very essence of error.
Often it has been proved that a generous, joyous acknowledgment of another's demonstration has opened the way for some similar demonstration on the part of the onlooker. This is in accordance with divine law. The wholehearted appreciation of our brother's achievement takes this achievement into our own consciousness as a reality, embraces and cherishes it, and hence it outlines itself in our own experience. And the unselfish love whence springs this generous joy unites him to the bountiful Giver, impartial divine Love, whereby a mighty potency joins with the activity of the truth about the situation. We are provided with a beautiful example of generous appreciation in the book of Exodus. When he was informed that two Israelites were prophesying in the camp, and was asked to forbid them, Moses quietly replied: "Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" If, on the other hand, an opposite sense were entertained, limiting good and envious of it, this would in belief separate us from impartial, universal Love, the source of all good, and result in our loss.
The story of Abraham contains an inspiring illustration of these spiritual laws. We are told that he was very rich in gold, silver, and cattle, and that his nephew Lot, with his herds, accompanied him. As their herds grew still greater, it was found that the land could no longer support them all. Abraham then proposed that they separate, and generously allowed the younger man to choose where he would locate. Lot then chose for himself the well-watered Jordan basin, which, in contrast to the rest of Canaan, was as fertile as Egypt itself.
Abraham may then have been momentarily tempted to feel a sense of loss, of hesitation as to where he was now to turn for his subsistence, but the word of God, as it came to him, was a complete and utterly satisfying reply to any such sense: "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. ... Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee."
Abraham's unselfishness and trust in God enabled him to lift his concept above the limited, mortal sense into a more divine sense of boundless good. It naturally followed that all the good which his vision thus embraced became identified with him, his very own, to remain with him and his consciousness forever. This spiritual law is as effective today as in Abraham's time, and anyone who finds himself in a similar position may prove it for himself.
As men individually and collectively focus their vision on the only success worth having, unbounded opportunity to let God be expressed in all His divine qualities, and consequently to know and prove the nothingness of whatever phases of error may present themselves, they will find themselves released from a sense of rivalry with its motley train of errors. In the degree that spiritual understanding enters human consciousness and gradually permeates it, all things are seen in the light of Truth. Then good is multiplied, God's wise and perfect laws are seen to prevail, and false concepts are obliterated. Thus we all, together, shall approach the "veritable success" where we shall acknowledge and manifest our true status and "be as the angels in heaven."
