Article April 15, 1922 Issue

Employment

GEORGE SHAW COOK

There are three words in common use which convey different shades of meaning, yet which mean practically the same thing. The three words are business, occupation, and employment. It is helpful in these days when so much is being said about business and the lack of it, employment and the want of it, occupation and the absence of it, to gain something of the true, spiritual value of these terms. The prophet Isaiah said, "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." The word "righteousness" may be said to mean rightness of thought, right mental activity, or right knowing. The prophet's words, then, might be paraphrased to read: The work (activity) of right thinking, or right knowing, shall bring peace, quietness, and assurance forever. This understanding of the true nature of work and its results precludes the belief that real work, activity, or employment could possibly be attended by any sense of lack, limitation, or anxiety.

Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Seek the knowledge of God, good, through right thinking, and you will be supplied with all that even to human sense is needed. To seek the kingdom of God intelligently we must first know what God is, and know what and where is His kingdom. In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, we find (p. 465): "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love;" also, on page 590, that the kingdom of God is "the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind." Jesus further said, "The kingdom of God is within you," which in the light of the foregoing definitions would mean that the "kingdom of God," or the "realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind," is within that consciousness which reflects or expresses the qualities or attributes of divine Mind, God. In other words, the kingdom of heaven or the divinely harmonious state of mind is where Life, Truth, Love, divine Principle, is understood and demonstrated. Mind's infinite, harmonious activity as divine knowing is its "realm," or "kingdom." This activity of divine Mind is infinite, limitless, and therefore omnipresent. This infinite, limitless activity of Mind is necessarily all-inclusive; but it could not, and does not, include anything unlike divine Principle, God. It therefore does not include anything in the nature of limitation, stagnation, lack, want, or unemployment.

Mind, God, is eternally occupied with His own infinite, harmonious, ceaseless activity. It is the business of man in God's likeness to be eternally and uninterruptedly employed—occupied, that is, in reflecting or expressing the activity of divine Mind. It is, therefore, inconceivable that man could ever be without employment. To gain the true status of man in God's image is to acquire that knowledge of man's eternal perfection and security to which Jesus said all else shall be added.

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