Editorial October 19, 1935 Issue

Peace and Poise

George Shaw Cook

There is an old saying to the effect that it takes two to make a quarrel, and it is obvious that if one of two persons who seem likely to become involved in a quarrel calmly refuses to become a party to it, there will be no quarrel. The ability of an individual to refrain from quarreling, contending, criminating or recriminating in such circumstances would depend largely upon his ability to maintain a sense of mental poise and peace. Should he fully succeed in maintaining his mental and spiritual poise, there would be no quarrel and no possibility of consequent physical conflict. The prevention of such an undesirable and unprofitable conflict may, at times, be greatly facilitated by wise self-restraint on the part of witnesses or bystanders. For the bystanders to partake of the excitement, anger, rancor, and ill-feeling might result in the whole neighborhood or community eventually becoming involved.

As with individuals, so it is with nations. For this reason a dispute, quarrel, or conflict between two nations may, through the belief of mental contagion, augmented by alarming reports, fearsome predictions, and selfish motives, become epidemic, thereby affecting, if not involving, all nations.

Precisely such a situation exists in the world today. What, then, should Christian Scientists, individually and collectively, do under the circumstances? First of all, students of Christian Science everywhere, especially those who are members of The Mother Church, should be faithfully obedient to the provisions of Section 4 of Article VIII of the Manual, which reads as follows: "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to pray each day: Thy kingdom come;' let the regin of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!" Faithful obedience in this one particular not only will help Christian Scientists to maintain their own mental poise, their own spiritual peace, but will help, more than they may perhaps realize, to re-establish a proper sense of equilibrium and stability in the world's thinking and affairs. Each and every Christian Scientist has, therefore, in this hour, a solemn obligation, an imperative duty—that of keeping his individual consciousness free from those thoughts that make for war.

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