Article April 16, 1921 ISSUE

True Courage Established

MAY JOHNSTON HALE

THE foundation for true courage is a right understanding of God, which eliminates fear. In the history of all peoples we may discern the striving to worship some superior power, but mortals seem always to be attempting to deify something as near like themselves as possible, something that can be understood humanly, and so when Jesus gave his Christ-teaching with its wonderful proofs of the supremacy of Spirit, the people were disappointed in not finding him a material ruler. To them, as to most of the human race, the material world seemed to be the real, and the spiritual world appeared distant, vague, and shadowy. Human beings are in constant dread of something. Foremost is the fear of death, the belief that life is in matter and can be destroyed. And this great fear leads to many lesser fears,—of poverty, sin, disease, and accidents. Even the food eaten and the air breathed seem laden with dangers.

One of the first results of the study of Christian Science is the lessening of these fears in the thought of the student. When it is learned that instead of being a far-off deity seated upon an imaginary throne in the heavens, "God is incorporal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love," as Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 465), and that this God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever present with His expression, man and the universe, the foundation for true courage is established. Since God, good, is supreme, infinite, and omnipotent, there can be no other power; therefore evil has no place in reality, so there is nothing to fear. The study of the Christian Science textbook reveals also the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468), which to so many students is a veritable rock of salvation when they are tempted by fear: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual." This statement is a direct deduction from the definition of God.

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