Article December 12, 1931 Issue

True Selfhood

NANCY H. ADAMS

Everyone recognizes that unselfishness implies selfforgetfulness, self-sacrifice, and self-effacement, but in Christian Science this quality takes on an even wider meaning. On page 51 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," in the chapter entitled "Atonement and Eucharist," Mrs. Eddy writes: "Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the dead."

"Unselfish" takes on a big meaning here. The selfishness of materiality is contrasted with the selflessness of spirituality. It was this surrender of materiality which enabled Jesus to recognize the only true selfhood, even God's image and likeness. In this way he saw himself and all God's children, and his spiritual insight enabled him with marvelous ability to heal those who came to him seeking help.

How are we to approximate this unselfishness of the Master; how adapt ourselves to the scientific sense of this spiritual quality? In her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 our Leader writes (p. 11), "Hold in yourselves the true sense of harmony, and this sense will harmonize, unify, and unself you." A dictionary meaning of the word "harmony" is "concord in facts, ... peace and friendship." Thus, we have to achieve agreement, peace, and friendship among ourselves as a first step towards unselfishness. How better can we do this than by studying the lives of prophets and apostles as found in the Bible? Here we find that Abraham recognized no loss in offering Lot his choice of the land before them. Jacob, the one-time usurper of another's rights, so ascended the scale of being that he could see his brother as Love's reflection, and would share with him his riches. The impulse for self-preservation on the part of Peter was changed to fearless self-surrender in God's service; while Paul could say, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ."

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