Taking Sides

When Jesus commanded the disciples to cast their net on the right side, he certainly did not imply that an abundance of fish would necessarily be found on the opposite side of the dory; in fact, his meaning was far from that. It was needful for them to be taught to acknowledge God first as the source of all good, and when they did so success was at hand. There is no difference in Jesus' time and ours; every man, woman, and child is constantly under the injunction to cast on the right side. Scarcely an hour passes that we are not forced to take sides either in thought, word, or act. How often one is asked, "Do you think it right to do thus and so?" Children, perhaps no more than their elders, are guided either consciously or unconsciously by the decisions or words of others. If every one could know the exact relation his example has to the lives of others, how infinitely more careful he would be to cast every thought on the right side. A doubting, hesitating, or faltering course does not give the needed support. In our daily dealing with one another it is therefore absolutely necessary to have a fixed standard of right ever at our command, lest we wrong or be wronged. Perchance one contemplates making a purchase at what he believes to be a bargain, and if the justice of divine Principle, God, had been given frequent hearing, it will not be long before the voice of justice is heard asking: "Are you sure that you are not trying to get something for nothing in this bargain? If such is your desire, you are entertaining a thief, and if he will steal for you, he will also steal from you. Now, therefore, choose."

So long as one must strive against false, educated beliefs, the command will be, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." It would not be difficult to take sides were we in the presence of one who spoke slanderously of a true and faithful friend. To remain neutral in such a case is absolutely untenable, for such neutrality is nothing short of double-mindedness; but, on the other hand, honor, justice, and love would summon us to the defense with all the refutation and vigor of which we were capable. Are we as prompt to take sides for God when mortal mind speaks slanderously of His reflection, man, calling him deformed, sinful, and mortal? Do we side with mortal mind, forgetting that "one with God is a majority"? When error seems rampant and the day out of joint, the least we can do is not to add more weight to the false evidence.

Now the average person, accepting the term "Majority rules" as logically sound, has gradually come to believe that the majority therefore must be right, whereas in a scientific sense the majority is very apt to be entirely wrong, and this is so by reason of the crowd element of many minds. Was it not the majority which cried "Hosanna" in the first instance and "Crucify him, crucify him" in the next? One lone voice, however, lifted fearlessly above the tumult and fury of a mob has often been known to subdue those fears and passions and so avoid what might have ended in a panic or catastrophe. Surely, then, where one is with God or "where two or three are gathered together" in His name, there Principle reigns supreme. Though it seems paradoxical, still it can truly be affirmed that Principle operates most of the side nearest right; or as Mrs. Eddy clearly states it on page 168 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "Whatever influence you cast on the side of matter, you take away from Mind, which would otherwise outweigh all else."