Article April 5, 1924 Issue

"Cast out the beam"

DAVID BARNETT

Many of the disciples of Jesus and many of his subsequent followers have failed to understand his teachings. Mindful of this the Master said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Now, what is the will of the Father? Is it not, partly that His children shall dwell in peace, in love, in harmony, in mutual helpfulness? On page 590 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy defines the "kingdom of heaven" in part as follows: "The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind." Can we enter into this kingdom of harmony if we are continually mindful of the imperfections of others, or are doubtful of their motives? How can we be really conscious of error and discord, and yet be finding a place in a realm wherein all who dwell are forever conscious only of good?

What though to human sense our brother does seem selfish, unreasonable, or even evil-minded! While we cannot shut our eyes to error, to regard our brother's errors as realities is to becloud our own vision and to hide from ourselves the radiant realities of being. Consciousness of discord, held mentally as in either ourselves or others, automatically keeps us out of the kingdom of heaven, and calls attention to the fact that we are not obeying the will of the Father. Christ Jesus lovingly admonished his followers: "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ... Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." Here, clearly and simply, Jesus revealed his unsurpassed method of healing both sin and sickness. "First cast out the beam out of thine own eye"! If, when our brother seems subject to error, we credit the false evidence of the material senses, we thereby add to his burden, already heavy, thus violating the divine commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Moreover, we are at the same time unwittingly accusing God of having made man imperfect and capable of sin. This error in our own consciousness constitutes the beam which must be cast out before we can "see clearly."

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