Article April 1, 1905 Issue

A Word about Honesty

BLANCHE H. HOGUE.

One of the first demands upon the student of Christian Science, is that for absolute honesty. Honest he must be, in his mental attitude toward that divine Mind to which he looks for help, and toward himself in the analysis which uncovers to his own discernment the thoughts and actions which are inconsistent with his highest sense of right. Honesty means much more than a lack of conscious misrepresentation, more than a lack of deceit. It is a positive quality of thought, from which spring all fair and gracious things in human relationships, and to search for it, and cherish it, is the duty placed upon all Christians. If an individual be imbued with honesty of purpose, it will govern his scrutiny of himself in such manner that the wavering, misty impulses of the human mind will be dispersed, and a growing clearness of thought will manifest itself in fairness and candor to all mankind. Upright judgments and just procedures are the outcome of honesty of purpose, and only such pure desire, at the springs of individual thinking, can lead to genuine truthfulness in outward manifestation.

If an individual have not natural honesty of purpose, he cannot know himself, nor make himself clearly known to others. His intention may at all times be honest, and he may consider himself strictly upright in all his dealings, but until uncertainty and confusion of thought are corrected by clearer views of his own desires, impulses, and emotions, he is not working from the mental basis which insures absolute honesty. Daily self-analysis, under the teaching of the Christian Science text-book, brings to light startling inconsistencies in the human disposition, and only that heart which can face unflinchingly the evil nature of all thoughts which are at variance with the Christ-mind, can grow out of the accumulated mental, moral, and physical ills of an ordinary human nature. Only that man who is deeply, purely honest, can endure the action of Christian Science in his life, for the reason that the activity of right thinking exposes mercilessly the weakness and untruth of wrong thinking; and nothing less than a supreme love for righteousness can stand the daily sifting, weighing, and testing of thought, motive, and speech involved in establishing individual scientific Christianity.

Every student of Christian Science may well ask himself, "Am I honest? Do I clearly desire the supremacy of truth above all else?" And in searching for a fair answer he may often clear away much that has been obstructing or oppressing him. To see clearly one's own desire and motive, is a fit preparation for a right beginning. About this matter John Ruskin has said, in "The Crown of Wild Olive,"—

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