Human and Divine Love

ANNA GÖRITZ

Among the many wondrous things which Christian Science brings us, perhaps the most excellent is the understanding of divine Love, for this Love is the basis of Christian Science, also of its demonstration. How imperfect is that which mortal sense generally believes to be love! Consider for one moment the affection of one person toward another. It expects a like return for what it gives; it would occupy the time and thought of its object, and if possible own it exclusively. Such loving bears in its inception the stamp of selfishness, as in a strict sense it seeks its own, and that often at the expense of the personal liberty of the so-called beloved one.

Even the love held to be the most exalted, that is, the mother's love for her child, though capable of the greatest human devotion and sacrifice, yet lacks much of the ideal of true love. For does not this mother-love largely seek in the child its own likeness, and does it not consider the child as its own, thereby separating it in thought from God and believing itself to be alone responsible for the child's welfare and wellbeing? The insufficiency of the human ability, however, is then manifested in the worry with which this love surrounds the child, in the mistaken belief that it is thus doing what is right. And such worrying, which in many instances follows the child through youth and even into maturity, means a burden rather than a blessing. Thus what is called the highest love, and which believes itself to be fully entitled to this name, may become a serious handicap, if not a lasting fetter.

The causes for the greatest tragedies of human life may be traced back into the labyrinths of mortal love in its varied manifestations. Like a light from on high Christian Science shines into this chaos of human loving. Correcting and saving, it proclaims anew the old gospel of love which has its origin in God alone, and therefore is eternal. How we drink in this new message! How we would like to make it our own! but our mortal senses are not equal to the occasion, and a complete change of thought must precede the higher apprehension. The new message tells of God and of His children, of His love which they must reflect. Can we reflect what we have never seen and what is foreign and unknown to us? No; in order to be able to reflect God, we must learn to know Him as "our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious" (Science and Health, p. 16). Thus only do we grasp our relation to Him as His children. As such we are related to Him, belong to Him only; and this recognition causes the enslaving chains of human ownership to drop from us.

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