Editorial September 16, 1916 Issue

Correcting Self-condemnation

William D. McCrackan

Self-condemnation presents itself for correction only to those who are striving for spirituality. They alone are aware of the great distance between the ideal man and the mortal counterfeit and are capable of suffering from the glaring contrast. Metaphysically considered, self-condemnation is one of the many phases taken by selfishness, that is, by the belief in a self apart from God, and it must therefore be destroyed, like all those other phases, by the spiritual understanding of man's true self. In this overcoming, however, there is danger of overlooking. In leaving behind the sense of guilt, watchfulness is needed not to fall into the temptation of moral slackness.

Mrs. Eddy has shown solicitude for the welfare of students of Christian Science by uncovering both of these false states of mind. On page 455 of Science and Health we read, "A mental state of self-condemnation and guilt or a faltering and doubting trust in Truth are unsuitable conditions for healing the sick." Again, on page 112 of "Miscellaneous Writings," referring to the condition called "moral idiocy" of a certain noted criminal whom she visited in his cell, Mrs. Eddy writes, "This mental disease at first shows itself in extreme sensitiveness; then, in a loss of self-knowledge and of self-condemnation,—a shocking inability to see one's own faults, but an exaggerating sense of other people's."

Between these two extremes lies the human right thinking which is directed by divine Science. Self-condemnation, as it generally afflicts the conscientious Scientist, tends to become the bane of his existence unless corrected by Truth. It frequently seeks entrance into his consciousness just after he has performed some particularly useful piece of spiritual work. At such times self-condemnation is merely the result of the general condemnation which error tries to impose upon those who are destroying error, and the acceptance of this condemnation would load the sin of the world upon those who are actually saving the world. Then it behooves the practical Christian Scientist to ask, Is it self-consciousness which is at fault, or self-indulgence, self-justification, self-pity, self-importance, etc.? In any case self-importance must play a part in every type of ill which reaches humanity, for if no importance whatever was attached to self, no suggestion could convert itself into sin, sickness, or death.

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