Editorial April 1, 1922 Issue

On Choosing Rightly

Duncan Sinclair

The Christian Scientist is in a far better position to discriminate between several courses of action, should they present themselves, than any other person. He is living under conditions common to all humanity; the same sun shines upon him, the same winds blow upon him, and he is subject to a routine similar to that which is the daily experience of all. Moreover, he is confronted by problems likewise common to all mankind, problems pertaining to moral issues, social welfare, and—of greatest importance of all—spiritual progress. Human life to mankind, generally, is a complex organization; to the Christian Scientist it is a vast field for strenuous endeavor in the overcoming of the errors of material sense by his understanding of spiritual truth.

In the process of overcoming, the Christian Scientist is continually being called upon to choose or to determine upon a course of action. He is continually finding himself in a position similar to that in which the tribes of Israel found themselves at Shechem when Joshua addressed them in the words, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." The choice they were called upon to make depended upon where they stood with regard to an understanding of God. Joshua knew that this was universally true; for, in presenting the choice to the Israelites, he implied that freedom of choice remained with them by saying, "But as for me and my houes, we will serve the Lord."

The wisest decisions, then, must always be the result of the highest spiritual understanding. Mrs. Eddy, in an illuminating sentence in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 373), lifts the whole process of choice out of the so-called material plane into the purely spiritual. It reads, "Neither material finesse, standpoint, nor perspective guides the infinite Mind and spiritual vision that should, does, guide His children." What a blow our Leader here delivers against the subtlety of so-called mortal mind with its limited perspective and its tendency to deceive. She strikes at error; and in the same breath points out the truth that infinite Mind is above the deceptiveness of mortal mind, and that Mind, understood through spiritual sense, guides His children.

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