Editorial July 1, 1933 Issue

Forsaking Our Nets

Violet Ker Seymer

ON page 79 of "Retrospection and Introspection" Mrs. Eddy writes, "We glean spiritual harvests from our own material losses." There is no gain of the true without surrender of the false, and even as Jesus bade the disciples forsake their nets, so Christian Science bids us forsake whatever contracts our mental horizon and lowers our achievements through absorption in wholly material pursuits. To those for whom professional work and business seem a present necessity, Christian Science brings fresh inspiration and ever higher motives, which in turn beget success and progress at every stage of mental advance.

Mentally speaking, what are the nets we are to forsake? The belief in a material origin; the notion that life, health, and intelligence are in the material body and at its mercy. These basic errors which have the sanction of so-called man-made laws enmesh humanity in fear, idolatry, pride of possession, self-justification, and self-condemnation. In the measure in which an individual yields to them he is robbed of freedom, joy, and spiritual progress. On the other hand, as human thought grasps the fact that infinite Spirit is the source of infinite life, health, and intelligence, and transfers its dependence from matter to Mind, a radical change commences and continues. Better thinking, inspired by the divine Mind, is cherished. Health appears in place of sickness, and sinful beliefs fade out in proportion as the love of good enters into consciousness. Health, righteousness, and joy are represented in God's image; they are his by divine right, spiritually, integrally, everlastingly.

To one and all, the forsaking of matter for Spirit brings a new sense of purity and security, and to this fact Christian Scientists as a body stand ready to bear witness. The mental regeneration wrought by divine Mind lifts oppression from human thought and calls forth the divine likeness, which is untouched by evil and forever distinct from mortal personality. While acquiescence with material sense begets fear and stress, response to spiritual sense begets confidence and serenity. As Christian Scientists mentally discard the faulty and restricted concepts urged upon mankind by material sense, and at all times hear and obey the voice of Truth and Love, the joy of spiritual individuality becomes more and more apparent in their thoughts, and evident in their daily lives.

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