Editorial April 21, 1923 Issue

Enriching the Affections

Albert F. Gilmore

In the Daily Prayer from the Church Manual, which Christian Scientists are wont to repeat with joy and gratitude, Mrs. Eddy invokes the blessings of divine Love in these terms (Art. VIII, Sect. 4): "And may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!" "The affections of all mankind"! How perfectly does this expression epitomize our Leader's love for humanity! How thoroughly characteristic of her all-absorbing desire to open the way of salvation to every mortal! This invocation raises the important question, How are the affections to be enriched? This question finds full and complete answer in the teachings of Christian Science. In fact, the supplication itself contemplates the agency through which the blessing is to be realized,—through the "Word," or "Logos" as the Greek has it, which Mrs. Eddy interprets on page 134 of our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," as "Christian Science." Thus the passage takes on a new significance. How else are the affections of mankind to be improved,—that is to say, enriched,—unless through their spiritualization by the operation of Christ, Truth? And centered upon the all-healing Christ, they offer infinite possibilities of enrichment.

The quality of men's affections is determined by the character of the objects upon which they are centered. To be carnally minded is to love the things of the flesh; and Paul declared such a mental state to be death. But he made plain the means of triumph over the "last enemy," declaring, "To be spiritually minded is life and peace," obviously meaning that by placing one's affection upon the things of Spirit, one could gain the true sense of Life as Love, and thus realize the peace which inheres exclusively in Spirit. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth," he admonished the Christians at Colosse in his efforts to lift them into a sphere of spiritual-mindedness, the "things above" being the things that are not seen,—the Christ,—expressing the truth about God and His universe. On page 265 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy declares, "Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual,—they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite,—in order that sin and mortality may be put off."

Here, then, is a complete answer to the problem. Leaving the sensuous and material as unworthy of one's affections, lifting thought higher and higher into the realm of Spirit, seeking good, and learning to love it,—these are the steps which lead to the richer affections, which are permanent and pure. In the "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind," as given in the Christian Science textbook (p. 115), "affection" is placed in the category of moral attributes, the transitional stage between material and spiritual thinking. It characterizes a quality of thought on its upward course from the earthly to the heavenly. Affection is the highest human approach to the Love which is divine, in which man has his true being. The affections, then, are enriched exactly in proportion as the perfect ideas which express the divine Mind find place in human thought, spiritualizing it through supplanting somewhat of its materiality. Approaching the mental state where only Love abides, thought takes on the eternal quality of Love's ideals, wherein is no element of sin and death, no sorrow, no inharmony, no parting, and no pain; where, in brief, our Father-Mother God, divine Love, is ever present.

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