Article July 23, 1921 Issue

"Why callest thou me good?"

CATHERINE KENDALL

Human goodness at its best is but a counterfeit. How we do stand in our own light, and in the way of our own progress by leaning on this broken reed! Our highest aim and greatest happiness is to reflect divine good, God, and we do this effectually only as we rise above the human relative sense of virtue. Jesus drew the attention of the rich young man to this fact in the seeming rebuke as given in the nineteenth chapter of Matthew's gospel: "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." The young man was blinded to the highest absolute knowledge of good by the importance he attributed to the human appellation. This attitude of mind acted as a deterrent, and does to-day in that it obstructs the vision of the universal good which all may reflect, for, as Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 13), "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals." Since man always has the ability to reflect universal good, why should one address another as if he, the latter, held a monopoly? "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?"

We need not hug to ourselves that which prevents us from realizing the one and only source of good. We break the First Commandment by making a god of the human self and placing it on a pedestal, whereas by attacking this false god, by seeing through the illusion and making a seeming sacrifice we are abundantly compensated. Thus we are enabled to reach the one and only pure good, which is healing and harmony and joy. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Now this enemy must be deposed. In the endeavor one sometimes acquires the habit of self-depreciation, while still clinging unconsciously to an almost secret thought of one's own virtue. This needs following up and eradicating. One should not allow this habit of depreciation to develop into self-condemnation, with its attendant depression, and thus be blinded to his God-given abilities, the knowledge of which gives assurance and confidence, not in self but in God. We need to overcome the two extremes of self-righteousness and undue abasement, and find the happy mean, the sure knowledge of man's unity with his Maker. This is success, for, in the words of Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 192), "Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power."

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