Article June 12, 1920 Issue

I have read with much interest the article, "Calmness Brings Health,"...

James M. Stevens—Thief River Falls, Minn.

The Tribune

I have read with much interest the article, "Calmness Brings Health," in a recent issue. The doctor's position is a very commendable one, but it does not necessarily approach the teachings of Christian Science. For while it is true that equanimity is necessarily an outcome of the study and practice of Christian Science, equanimity, under the generally accepted meaning of the word, may be the resultant of conditions diametrically opposite to Christian Science. For example, stoicism or passivity—either of these states of consciousness may manifest equanimity, but neither of them can be considered as in any way related to Christian Science.

Equanimity, according to the doctor, if I understand his viewpoint correctly, would be acquired by material education or the cultivation and exercise of human will power, perhaps carried to the point where imperturbability would become habitual or involuntary. On the other hand, equanimity achieved through Christian Science comes from the understanding of God, good, as the one creative and governing power, always present and ever available. This correct understanding of God and of man created in his "image and likeness" inculcated upon the consciousness of any child, will give to it the true basis of equanimity.

The equanimity which Jesus displayed was the result of his understanding of God and of his knowledge of his true self. He knew that there was no power inherent in himself to make him do or not do anything. He said, "I can of mine own self do nothing" and "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works," thus showing that he recognized the power which directed and controlled his being to be other than himself, and he knew that this power was unerring, unchanging, ever present Love, and that in this ever present, all-inclusive Love he lived and moved and had his being. He knew as a positive, demonstrable fact what every loyal Christian Scientist is trying to demonstrate, namely, that God is Love, unchanging, ever present, all-inclusive, eternal; and this understanding lifted him above the human sense.

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