Honesty

LYMAN S. ABBOTT

There are no variable degrees of honesty. Such a statement may seem startling to one who has not given it careful consideration, but is none the less true.

Either we are honest or we are not honest with ourselves and others. It is our human concept of honesty that varies or seems to be definable by degrees. We are all in different states or stages of progress in understanding, and it is the human manifestation of honesty that varies, and not the real spiritual quality, for that is invariable; otherwise, it would not be a spiritual quality.

In our relations to others we need to cultivate the habit of genuine honesty in our thinking. The office employee who uses his employer's stationery and stamps, to say nothing of his employer's time, is not expressing complete honesty. "But that is such a small matter" and "They all do it" are but flimsy excuses with which to silence a guilty conscience. "My employer does not object," says another. True, he may not openly object; but too often he notices these "little things." "But the amount involved is so small," says another. Yes, so very small that the knowledge of absolute honesty in our thought is worth many times the actual money value of these "little things" we take. "But I put in many hours of overtime for which I am not paid," says the otherwise conscientious worker. Are you sure you are not well repaid for your loyalty and devotion?

"My employer is not honest himself and does many things that are not right, and I have to obey his orders; am I dishonest, then, if he requires me to do things that I do not regard as strictly honest?" Such a situation may seem difficult, but it is not impossible of correction. Perhaps one feels that he needs the position too much to run the risk of losing it by refusing to be a party to deception. In such a case, one needs to give prayerful thought to his course of action. It may be a case for prayerful waiting. Mrs. Eddy has said (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 542), "Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God's own way, and let human justice pattern the divine." One may be sure that if he seeks divine guidance he will not seek in vain, and that presently the right human footsteps will become evident. If, after he has patiently and sincerely sought divine direction, there still seems to be no way of correcting what is obviously a dishonest course of action, then he may know that infinite Mind will open the way for other work which will accord with the highest sense of right.

We need often to examine our thinking and to guard our thought against the intrusion of any of the false claims of mortal belief. As our Leader has said (Science and Health, p. 8), "We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are." She has also declared particularly that "honesty in every condition, under every circumstance, is the indispensable rule of obedience" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 118).

How may one who has long practiced little deceptions acquire the habit of honesty in thought? Like the demon which the disciples failed to cast out of the lunatic, so this demon of dishonesty "goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." By constant watchfulness, testing every thought by the standard of absolute honesty; by casting out every suggestion of evil that would try to deceive, and by patiently persisting in thinking rightly, we shall find our thoughts being purified day by day.

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