Editorial April 4, 1903 Issue

"Talking it Over"

"Let's talk it over." We are all familiar with the expression, and some of us have been unwise enough to adopt the policy of talking over our troubles, and have even imagined that in thus imposing our burdens upon others, we have lightened them for ourselves. But Christian Science uncovers the error of this course and it is seen to be a subterfuge of mortal mind, whose object always is to increase, never to decrease or even to mitigate, evil. It is a false philosophy, very apparently false, when we face it fearlessly.

Error has no existence in reality, its only pretended existence is in the mortal concept, the counterfeit. Now, be the trouble physical, mental, or moral, what does this indiscriminate talking it over do? It fixes the lines of the gruesome picture in one's own false consciousness, and gives the sympathetic listener a distorted image to carry away to others.

Circumstances may sometimes impel a pardonable confession of weakness or fear from one who solicits the counsel of experience; but only selfishness could induce us to darken our neighbor's vision with the rehearsal of that which seems to obscure our own, and especially if he himself is perchance struggling to rise above the mists. At the very best, it is a longing for human sympathy, a desire to have some one bear for us or help us to bear a burden that should not be borne, but disowned and at once and forever cast away.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

Our German Periodical