Article September 24, 1904 Issue

A Word Concerning Discouragement

BLANCHE H. HOGUE.

The feeling of discouragement is a phase of human experience with which every mortal is more or less familiar. It besets almost every effort which is not immediately successful, and claims to be the natural accompaniment of all anxiety and disappointment in human affairs. It makes its inroads, in varying degrees, upon every life, because of the very nature of the daily problems; and every man desires to be rid of it.

While Christian Science opens an unfailing way of escape from this condition of thought, nevertheless, many students have found that they are at times just as heavily discouraged as they were before becoming Christian Scientists. The one great difference between the two mental situations, however, is that, in the old pathways, one submitted more or less to the arguments of discouragement until time or experience, changing the circumstance, revived hope, whereas Christian Science offers an intelligent, effectual way of dealing with all discouragement. The teaching of Christian Science does not promise immediate release from all trial, temptation, and cross-bearing, nor does it assure complete immunity, at once, from the many adversities which tend to dishearten and dismay mankind. But from the moment the revelation and logic of Christian Science penetrates the mind and heart of a student, that man or that woman is better equipped for the battle against adverse conditions, and is fortified, in growing measure, against the suggestions of discouragement accompanying such conditions. And this, because encouragement is not dependent upon outward circumstances, but upon the ever-present indwelling expectation of the triumph of righteousness which Christian Science fosters in its adherents.

One reason why the student of Christian Science is tempted to be discouraged, perhaps more sorely discouraged than ever before in his life, is because his first knowledge of Christian Science unveils to him a perfect model, sets it before him as his model, and insists that, as speedily as possible, he mould his thoughts and deeds to conform to its exalted requirements. This ideal once in his heart, nothing short of his best effort contents him, and the results, even of the best he can accomplish, are often so far from the perfection perceived, that the comparison, in itself, would argue for discouragement. Often the student is prone to overlook the fact that the recognition of his own failure, coupled with the clear understanding of the reasons therefore, is the greatest possible cause for encouragement. In the old way, he may have been accustomed to excuse his shortcomings under the common belief that "human nature is not expected to be perfect." In the new way, the same imperfections cause him more pain, because he is more keenly alive to the demand for perfection. With the divine command "Be ye therefore perfect" standing as the continual monitor of each hour and each day, it is not unnatural that the old inclinations and habits of thought should, by sharp contrast, seem disheartening. The perfect standard causes thought to condemn more swiftly than before, the inherent traits of the human nature; and the quickened desire for righteousness, exposing more clearly the nature of error, seems at times to exaggerate the sense of error's stubborness. The means by which to redeem this situation, however, come in the same hour which demands the redemption, because the knowledge that the way of escape from evil has been found, stimulates hope and supplies the quality of courage which silences all possible arguments for discouragement.

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