Article November 14, 1914 Issue

One Mind

BESSIE BYRNE

Mankind in general seem to be waking up to the fact that outward conditions are the direct result of human thinking. Articles are appearing in current magazines and many books are being published which point out the control of thought over all external conditions, —that it is mind which is causative, and not matter; but most of these writings deal with the subject from the material view-point. Failing to distinguish between right thinking and wrong thinking, as seen from the standpoint of Christian Science, they drop their subject before they have really begun. Turning from the belief that an evil condition is a material fact, to the supposition that it is a mental fact, simply changes one's viewpoint; it does not elevate it. So long as we concede to evil any existence whatever, the question of whether it operates in the physical or in the mental realm makes little difference in the seeming effect it produces upon us.

An editorial which appeared some time ago in a weekly of wide circulation, after pointing out the results in human affairs of wrong states of thought and their blighting effect upon the individual, advised its readers to reject such thoughts, not upon the basis of their unreality, but solely because of their undesirability. Of course this is making an appeal to the human mind to use its asserted will-power. Believing that evil is real and can be thought and acted, and then attempting to steer one's thought-processes aright, is fighting evil in its own territory with its own weapons. One is quite apt to find these weapons turned against one's self. Mrs. Eddy sounds a note of warning which is applicable in this connection, when she says: "In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to consider whether it is the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one" (Science and Health, p. 82).

From the moment Christian Science awakens the beginner to the all-power of Mind, this true Christian gospel instils into the aroused consciousness the fact that God is all the power there is, and that the all-power of Mind simply means the all-power of God, since God and Mind are identical. This teaching clears up the whole question of good and evil thinking and the way to deal with it. It does not direct our attention to an imperfect human mind and to this so-called mind's uncertain ability to stop thinking its own evil thoughts and to increase its thinking of right thoughts; on the contrary, the realization that God is Mind uncovers the paganism of belief in many minds, dispels the notion that man has a mind of his own, and lifts him out of this false selfhood into the recognition of the one Mind whose thoughts must of necessity be good thoughts. The student who adheres to this truth and is faithful in applying it, finds the evil dropping away which formerly seemed part of his very nature. This is the inevitable result of coming more into man's true relation to God, infinite Mind. He is simply proving in his own experience, to some extent, that the divine consciousness is indeed the holy city of John's heavenly vision, where "there shall in no wise enter . . . anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie."

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