Editorial January 24, 1914 Issue

Perfection

Annie M. Knott

It is simply astonishing how the demand for perfection is resisted by mortals. They are willing to grant that human conditions should be improved, especially if this does not require too great an effort on their own part; but how many are there who would accept the proposition that nothing less than perfection, in all they think and do, should be the constant aim of every human being? Here it may be said that the possibility of even striving rightly to reach this high goal is dependent upon the recognition and unfoldment of our spiritual capacity to grasp the idea of perfection, and Christ Jesus undoubtedly had this in view when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." This demand was voiced by him after he had made a complete separation between the material sense of obedience to God's law and its spiritual sense, which never stops short of perfection.

In Science and Health (p. 353) we find this remarkable statement by Mrs. Eddy: "Perfection underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly real. All things will continue to disappear, until perfection appears and reality is reached." The trouble with mankind in general is that they deny the possibility of attaining perfection in anything, and so they are content with low aims and achievements, and yet not satisfied, for as the psalmist said, long ago, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness," and this likeness can never be less than perfect. Mrs. Eddy's words, above quoted, bespeak a great fundamental truth, and if they were better understood and heeded, the failures of mortal experience would be rendered impossible. If our thoughts and efforts were each day characterized by a pure purpose to attain perfection in all things, from the most ordinary duties up to our highest spiritual aspirations, and if we constantly realized that God expects this and no less of us, because He has spiritually endowed man to this end, there would be not weariness, but joy in every effort, and new strength as a result of it.

The honest and intelligent workman who strives to do his best, makes steady gain along his own lines, but the outlook of the Christian Scientist is a far wider one. He knows that his entire nature must be responsive to the demand for perfection, that it is his high privilege to reflect divine intelligence in all things, and to express Truth and Love as his very life. He also learns from Christian Science how to remove, one by one, all stumbling-blocks from the path of human progress, and to "break every yoke" (to quote Isaiah), not by the blind struggles of human will, but by the power of spiritual law, understandingly applied.

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