Editorial October 6, 1923 Issue

"Condemn not"

Ella W. Hoag

When Jesus said to his disciples, "Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned," he stated a proposition and its corollary which, when understood and demonstrated, will do away with all the disagreements among men. To understand how to live in obedience to this command of our blessed Master is to be able to triumph over all fear of personal opinion and judgment, as well as to gain that realization of the spirit of Truth and Love which conquers all error.

It is safe to say that no human belief claims to produce more unhappiness than that of personal condemnation. Mankind, starting as it does with the belief in an existence apart from God, immediately conceives itself to be under a law of condemnation; and, as a result of this, condemning and being condemned appear, more or less, to be the usual mental habitat of humanity. There seems to be that which is worthy of censure, and so human belief justifies itself in the evil practice of condemning persons, until it would sometimes appear that nothing among mortals occupies more time and attention than sitting in condemnation on their neighbors' words and deeds.

When our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, wrote (Miscellany, p. 249), "You may condemn evil in the abstract without harming any one or your own moral sense, but condemn persons seldom, if ever," she showed the way to obey Jesus' injunction. To condemn evil—not persons—is the way out of all belief in evil. So long as evil is held as personal it will appear to have a foundation, and will continue to seem real to the one who thus considers it. From this mistaken viewpoint comes the false sense that one can be harmed by another's personal opinions and judgment of him. Also, that to be separated from certain persons is to be rid of the evil they seem to express. On the contrary, the instant an evil is dealt with mentally from the abstract standpoint,—that is to say, when it is considered apart from person,—then and then only can its unreality be recognized and proved.

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