To know thyself is a great achievement. It is power unto salvation. Happy, peaceful, and secure is the individual who has been awakened from his dream of pain and pleasure in matter and has at last found his true selfhood above and beyond the confines of material living. This joyous realization of life in God is always an individual realization, accomplished through the enlightened union of desire and effort. There is no vicarious realization of Truth. Everyone must ultimately find the truth of being for himself, and by himself, not by examining outside physical phenomena but by piercing the depths of metaphysical noumenon. True knowledge is of the Spirit and is found in the infallible universe of Mind, and one wastes his time in searching for it in any other place.
The search for the truth of individual being has had a long human history, a record of triumphs and defeats which provides the background for our present understanding of man. The ancient Greeks, early workers in metaphysical research, did much to cultivate the practice of self-knowledge. In fact, "Know thyself" was one of their precepts and was inscribed in gold letters on the temple at Delphi. But noble precepts, however displayed, will never transform the thought habits of men until deeply inscribed in their hearts by the invisible hand of pure desire. Nowhere in the arts, sciences, or literature of any period is the search for spiritual self-knowledge so completely satisfying, so completely rewarding, as in the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy.
Jesus' self-knowledge was complete. He knew himself as the son of God and proved his knowledge conclusively in the resurrection and ascension, when his human selfhood was swallowed up in immortality. He preached that individual man is the embodiment of divine knowledge and power and based his thesis on the spiritual fact that "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). Some of Jesus' followers understood his doctrine, but many were unable or unwilling to grasp his teaching regarding man and God. But the truth he taught shines on, to be glimpsed from age to age by those fearless thinkers who were reborn in its redeeming light.
The Apostle Paul was one of those thinkers who were transformed when the inner light of divine knowledge flooded their consciousness. Later we find the great Christian missionary writing a letter to his confused brethren in Corinth in an endeavor to heal their seeming differences. He called their attention to the spiritual nature of man and plainly told them in these revealing words who and what man is (I Cor. 3:16, 17): "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
Truth can never be pushed aside, for Truth is omnipotent and fills all space. When, in fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy of the Comforter which would lead into all truth, Christian Science was revealed to Mary Baker Eddy—another fearless thinker —the true knowledge of man's being was again presented to mankind. The saving power of the Christ that is set forth on every page of her inspired textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," has been proved to be a sure salvation from sickness and sin, an unfailing aid to spiritual self-knowledge, to the kingdom of heaven within.
Christian Science informs and instructs mortals in the knowledge of true selfhood and gently leads human thought to perfect Mind, the divine origin or Principle of all ideas which our Leader defines as God. It teaches that the magnitude of God, Mind, is infinitely expressed as a compound spiritual idea, the composite union of a limitless variety of ideas, of which individual spiritual man is the highest in order of being.
The exact nature of God's reflection, the individual and compound idea, is illumined by Mrs. Eddy in a definition of man, a definition which is fundamental to a correct understanding of one's true selfhood. It begins (Science and Health, p. 475), "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements." Farther on it says, "Man is spiritual and perfect." And still another part of the definition reads: "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; the generic term for all that reflects God's image and likeness." Then, after setting forth still more of her revelation regarding man, she gives this loving advice (p. 476): "Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood."
From this revelation of truth one learns that man's nature is identical in quality with God's nature. But Christian Scientists know that it is much easier to believe this truth than to understand and demonstrate it. That is why they set aside a part of each day for study of and meditation on the things of the Spirit, and it is in this way that they learn to know themselves better and to see their fellow men in this new light.
As students of Christian Science seeking self-knowledge, we know that instruction comes to us in the form of ideas, some of which unfold through study and reason, and others through meditation and revelation. It is comforting to know that we do not have to understand and practice all of the truth at once in order to make progress Godward. One sure step at a time carries us onward and upward, because Truth interprets itself to us according to our receptivity and in the way that best meets our present human need—and we take the next step from there. Christian Science is truly the Comforter that Jesus promised long ago. It never passes us by on the other side and is no respecter of persons or conditions. It takes us where it finds us, lends the helping hand of love, binds up our wounds with the oil of kindness, and supports us as we take the first step to health and holiness.
The student's self-knowledge increases as Truth daily unfolds to him. As he grows in spiritual stature he becomes keenly alert to error's deceptions and can more quickly dispose of the wandering sinful fancies which would invade his consciousness. He develops a calm courage and confidence as he proves, through spiritual understanding, the powerlessness of adverse circumstance. He has learned through revelation and reason that no mortal mind weapon can ever harm the son of God—neither fire nor wind, disease nor death—for man is inviolate, imperishable. He recognizes matter and material sense as the greatest barriers between him and the world of Mind and knows that his demonstration of the Christ-nature will eventually destroy the many material beliefs that seem to obscure the perfect man.
Every ounce of prayer and effort put into this scientific knowing carries with it an immediate reward of more grace, wisdom, and power. The proof of our growth Spiritward is in mental regeneration, which takes place in individual consciousness. As one demonstrates more fully Mind's idea he realizes more clearly the importance of thought in shaping his human adventure. What one is thinking every hour of the day must bear constant watching, for the character of one's thinking determines the experience of the individual. Thought cannot be disguised and can never be kept secret. Thought will out.
The problem to be solved, whether it be a seeming lack of virtue or health, of abundance or success, is never caused by a "something" or a "somebody" outside of us, but is always traceable to mortal thought, a mental suggestion. Whatever is held in consciousness, be it joy or sadness, victory or defeat, good or evil, seems to be objectified in human experience. The Christian Science doctrine of perfect God and perfect man, when accepted by the receptive human consciousness, replaces material concepts with the Christly thoughts of Truth. Thus not only does the happy, harmonious manifestation replace, the human discord, whatever it appears to be, but the individual's thinking and living are transformed and elevated. Each time some un-Godlike thinking is corrected with Mind's pure knowing, we advance another step toward the full knowledge of our true selfhood and mortal mind surrenders another claim to power.
"Know thyself" is interpreted by the Christian Scientist as meaning know thyself as the man in whom God is well pleased. Our power for good, our power for healing and saving mankind, is in direct proportion to our knowledge and demonstration of man's nature. Today as we contemplate the infinite possibilities inherent in every individual through his understanding and demonstration of the Christ within, we are inspired and encouraged to press on as did those dauntless thinkers of the past who placed their all on the altar of Truth and won salvation.
Some day we shall all demonstrate the perfect spiritual man, know ourselves as Mind knows us, and see ourselves as Love made us. This understanding of true being is not only possible tomorrow but possible today, and carries with it the prize of the ages, for as our Leader proved in her experience (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 161), "He who gains self-knowledge, self-control, and the kingdom of heaven within himself, within his own consciousness, is saved through Christ, Truth."
