Article December 24, 1966 Issue

Freedom of Choice

FREDA SPERLING BENSON

A basic freedom is the right to decide what one likes. Everyone feels that he has the right to say, "I like that" or "I don't like that." And people usually feel that they themselves actually do choose what they like. But do they? Only if mortal existence were factual and not merely a state of material consciousness.

Because human experience is a mental state, a supposed mixture of spiritual ideas and mortal mind concepts, anyone who believes that his entire human experience is actual and that all that comes to his thought is true and desirable is the victim of false concepts. He may think that he voluntarily decides to choose something because the suggestion comes to his thought that he likes it, but as long as he believes that the evidence of the material senses is real, he can be falsely persuaded by thoughts not his own.

A college student asked a Christian Scientist a question which illustrates this point: "How can you tell whether drinking and smoking are bad until you have tried them?" Since it is a common human practice to try out things to determine whether or not we like them, this would seem to be a logical question. But the first step in answering it is to ask oneself, "Is the choice of evil ever a free choice?" Christian Science shows that it is not.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Finding True Individuality