Editorial November 29, 1924 Issue

Self-Knowledge

Ella W. Hoag

There is probably no one who does not desire to understand himself. Indeed the most careless thinker recognizes that if he had sufficient intelligence to know himself he would have found the open door out of many of his difficulties. All Christian Scientists recognize that if they are to demonstrate the Science of being the attainment of self-knowledge is a necessity. They do not always understand so clearly the method whereby it is to be gained.

As in all things, the only way to find a correct understanding of self is to start with Truth. Since God is infinite, He must be the only Ego, and therefore all true selfhood must belong to and exist in Him, while man as His image and likeness must be the reflection of this one Ego. Man, therefore, can know himself only as he understands God. Such self-knowledge as this must be the goal of every one who would find true existence. Christian Science presents the method whereby this true understanding of God and man may be learned and demonstrated. It explains God as divine, infinite Mind, including all good; and therefore it logically declares that man is spiritually, divinely mental.

Mrs. Eddy defines this self-knowledge in a very remarkable way on page 462 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she writes: "Anatomy, when conceived of spiritually, is mental self-knowledge, and consists in the dissection of thoughts to discover their quality, quantity, and origin. Are thoughts divine or human? That is the important question." And then she goes on to indicate that through such self-knowledge one may recognize and annul all error through the understanding of spiritual good.

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