It is comforting to know that the demands of the great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," can unfailingly be fulfilled by reflection of that Mind which is divine, not human. There is no reservation here, no consent to evade the demands of man's divine Principle, Love. To love God "with all thy mind" means that we gladly welcome the light of Truth into every corner of our thinking, well knowing that spiritual light annihilates the darkness of fear, impurity, false belief, and superstition of every kind. We shall never fail in our obligations to God if we realize that it is God, the one omnipotent Mind, who both demands and bestows perfection. It is scientifically self-evident that so-called mortal mind cannot love God, good; and that God cannot be obeyed by what Paul terms the "carnal mind," which "is enmity against God."

God can only be loved and obeyed by His own reflection. Thus it will be seen that, since God is All-in-all, there is no real obstacle to spiritual progress. All that needs to be overcome is the superstitious belief in an evil mind. The practice of Christian Science removes erroneous superstition and, day by day, reveals each one's spiritual pathway as clear and unobstructed. Unlike the old theological teaching, which attempts to fix obstacles of sickness and temptation in man's pathway and then expects these supposedly bona fide obstacles either to be circumvented or submitted to, Christian Science scientifically removes the superstition that in infinite, eternal God, good, evil could ever have had either place, power, or entity. Spiritually interpreted, the First Commandment is seen to be a statement of the unity of God and man. God's image and likeness alone can obey God's commands; and this obedience is supremely natural, easy, and always complete, for it is expressed by reflection. This being so, we ought gladly to surrender the supposition that man is separated from his Maker by any barrier or obstacle whatsoever.

Are we depressed, discouraged, variable in our moods, and swayed by beliefs adverse to Truth? Then, let us bind this great commandment, relating man indissolubly to the one Mind, as a frontlet before our eyes, our vision. Let us realize that it is perfectly possible for every one to obey the commandments of God; indeed that, viewed in the light of infinite Mind and its perfect manifestation, the real man, disobedience is a scientific impossibility. The seeming difficulties of mortals may be said to arise from the belief that they have a mind, a soul, a spirit, apart from God; and the solution to all these difficulties lies in the recognition that it is the joy and privilege of all to reflect the oneness, the allness of God, good, thus claiming and demonstrating the divine inheritance. God's perfection is the guaranty of man's perfection; and the holiness and health of God are the guaranty of man's holiness and health. God's purity is reflected by all His creation. We should feel gratitude, and not dismay, in considering the demands of this great commandment; for the apostle has truly said that "his love is perfected in us."

Since God is All-in-all, we can have no real consciousness apart from the divine Mind; hence to love God "with all thy mind," simply means to love Him by reflecting Him,—by expressing Truth at every point. Perfection is always and only possible by reflection; hence, genuine, spiritual humility rebukes the egotism of sin and denies to sin the right or ability to separate man from God. Humility, claiming all for God and nothing for error, banishes self-deception, lightens every task, and gives to God the glory for every victory which He alone has won in us.

Since God is the only cause of man's every thought and desire, it is obvious that God has never interposed the slightest barrier between Himself and His image; therefore there is, in reality, no such barrier. The supposition that there is any barrier between God and man—any barrier either of fear, matter, sickness, or sin—is a false belief, which in loyalty to Truth, to God, the only cause and creator, we should condemn, cast out, and dissociate from ourselves totally and continually, until it tempts us no longer. Obedience to the great commandment is the natural outcome of knowing that God is the only Mind; so that, of necessity, spiritual man's every thought, every impulse, every desire, is born of God and obeys and glorifies the only cause and creator. God is glorified in His image.

From this perfect basis we shall be able to correct the defects, the infidelities of our everyday life. We shall cease to be lenient toward the least sin in ourselves, either of commission or of omission. When error seems to assail us, we shall not be passive or apathetic, but shall take the offensive and cause the error to retreat. There is nothing so encouraging as our own individual demonstration, our own progressive conquest of error in its apparently moral and physical phases. We need to be most watchful in our method of condemnation, never entertaining self-condemnation, yet never condoning or temporizing with any form of error which could well be corrected to-day. Not discouragement, but courage, expresses intelligent, spiritual reliance. Every quality which links us to the one Mind needs to be cherished and expressed, until we awake to the fact that goodness is perfectly natural, even inevitable; and that the great commandment is really a statement of man's eternal Godlikeness, purity, and singleness of heart.

Quoting the original text in Ecclesiastes, our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 340): "Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man," and then she interprets it as follows: "Love God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole of man in His image and likeness."