Editorial September 25, 1902 Issue

What Shall I Do?

We are prone to plume ourselves upon what we are accomplishing or have accomplished without duly considering the more vital question of how are we doing our work. Christian Science found many, very many of us immersed in doing as if impelled and sustained by our own inherent power, and it required no slight effort to convince ourselves that God is the only power, the only action; that we are potent only as we reflect omnipotence; that we act only as we reflect omni-action; that selfimmolation is our strength, and that individuality is defined by selflessness.

Coming out of this sense of personal effort, the question often suggests itself: "What shall I do? A brother is going wrong, I see his slippery footing, what is my responsibility?" Here as everywhere and always, the work begins with ourselves. Our responsibility is to know that temptation cannot voice itself in seductive words, or betray by the treachery of sensuous delight. Our responsibility is to maintain the right attitude of thought, and to keep our brother where God keeps him in the beauty of holiness.

When opportunity, the opportunity of a receptive attitude, is presented by our neighbor, we must speak the words of Life, without the limiting thought that he is not ready for Christian Science, but speak with the understanding that humanity is always yearning for the love of the Father. This is the impersonal reflection whose radiance pure and clear illumines the darkened pathway, and banishes the phantom of temptation and sin. Get human selfhood out of the way, and know that God's work is done. S.

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