Article December 8, 1923 Issue

Right Thinking

ELSIE PRESS

The beginner in Christian Science finds that, however deeply steeped he may appear to be in the false beliefs of materiality, Christian Science shows him the way of escape from them. If he finds himself enmeshed in any of the beliefs of evil,—sickness, selfishness, jealousy, the tendency to criticize unjustly, or any other form of error,—he can be lifted clear of these entanglements through the application of the truth as revealed in Christian Science; but he must obediently follow the command which Christ Jesus gave to his disciples when he said, "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch," and the wise admonition of our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, as given in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 392), "Stand porter at the door of thought."

Watching and standing porter over our thoughts may not always seem an easy task; but as the student is faithful and earnest he finds his task grow easier; for, whatever the beliefs may be, the same remedy can be applied to all. Moreover, the student who is earnestly striving to attain the spiritual understanding which enables him to overcome material beliefs, even if at times his steps may falter, will see these wrong conditions disappear if he but persevere. If the earnest beginner in Christian Science can accomplish this, more advanced students, applying the truth in their daily lives, should be able even more readily to destroy such false thoughts as jealousy, hatred, anger, envy, or evil speaking, for they have learned through Christian Science that it is one's own thinking which has to be watched and corrected.

Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 407): "Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters—passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge—is conquered only by a mighty struggle. Every hour of delay makes the struggle more severe." Christian Scientists, therefore, must ever watch and guard their thoughts against these "relentless masters," and see their unreality, whether they appear to be manifested in themselves or others. In the consciousness purified by the understanding of divine Love, wrong thinking cannot dwell. Our Leader points out in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 114) what all must do in order to guard against the pitfalls of evil, when she says, "Christian Scientists cannot watch too sedulously, or bar their doors too closely, or pray to God too fervently, for deliverance from the claims of evil." By keeping thought constantly filled with good we are able to prevent the entrance of all wrong thinking, and thus prove its powerlessness either to prevent our own progress or to cause us to be a stumbling-block in the path of our brother.

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