Editorial August 16, 1924 Issue

All-inclusive Love

Albert F. Gilmore

Christian Scientists rejoice that in the teachings of the Bible as interpreted and explained by Mrs. Eddy is found the answer to every problem which confronts mankind. No situation arises which may not be met, no question is asked which may not be answered, through this universal and impartial Truth. Mankind's relation to the universe, to their fellow-men, to the so-called lower animals, to all animate objects, is set forth in a new and better light when it is learned that all God's creatures express Him who is divine Love, and that they possess no qualities, no characteristics, unlike God, who is infinite good. This may at first seem a startling proposition, and one may wonder whence came the so-called bestial qualities which animals commonly manifest; but when it is learned that since all God's ideas reflect His perfect qualities, the animal attributes of ferocity are seen not as real,—that is, of God's creating,—but false, the result of the seeming activity of a so-called mind apart from God, which thinks no more truthfully about animals than it does about man himself.

When one considers how completely divine Science has proved false the mortal concept of man, one readily accepts, and gladly, the inevitable conclusion regarding animals, many of which have become the burden-bearers, companions, and friends of mankind. In one of those sweeping statements which invariably carry conviction to the reader, Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 550), "God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men." Here our Leader has placed for all time the creation of these lesser ideas squarely upon a spiritual basis, utterly refuting the allegation of the material creation appearing in the second chapter of Genesis. The individuality of animals, as well as of men, she saw as perfect ideas, reflecting and expressing divine qualities.

How different become our thoughts toward all creatures, especially toward our domestic animals and pets, when it is recognized that true individuality is a divine idea which is embraced in all-inclusive Love! Surely nothing in God's idea, derived from a perfect source, could be bestial or ferocious. Nothing emanating from infinite good could express aught that is evil, hateful, or harmful. How came these seeming qualities with which animals appear to be endowed? So far as material qualities ever have a cause, they originated in that false, supposititious state of thought which has so presumptuously and persistently assumed to duplicate the divine creator. But should we accord a greater degree of reality to the animal creation and its characteristic qualities than we do to the counterfeit of man and all his material beliefs? Surely not! And when mortals come to see more clearly the true creation, recognizing the creatures of the so-called animal world as human concepts of the lesser ideas of divine Mind, humanity will assume a kindlier and more scientific attitude toward our valued friends, the lower animals. Men will cease to destroy these creatures in the name of sport, and enmity for them will disappear. All-inclusive Love can reflect nothing unlovely. No more can divine Mind reflect nonintelligence. Therefore, as we recognize these cardinal facts, holding to the perfect model, our animal friends will grow apace in loveliness and intelligence. Moreover, it must be perfectly plain that so long as we hold a wrong concept of animals, so long will they seem to be held in the bondage of limitation to the qualities which men have come to characterize as animal.

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