The words of the Psalmist in the fourteenth verse of the nineteenth Psalm set forth the earnest desire of the humble: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." They long to think correctly; they long to speak and to act so that they may help, not hurt, their fellow men. The evil thinker and the evil doer may seem to be much in evidence at times, but they are far outnumbered by those who would have their thinking and living in harmony with the will of God, the perfect will of God.

One of the many helpful things which Christian Science does for men is to teach them the nature of their true spiritual status, and how to think rightly. It reveals to them the truth about man, namely, that he is the son of God, and that as the son of God he reflects God, being endowed with spiritual power to know all right ideas. Men may think otherwise and believe that their ability to know true ideas and to think rightly is limited, but the truth is that the real selfhood of each of us, being the reflection of God, has the ability to know all spiritual truth and to express it.

The abiding relationship between God and man which Christian Science reveals must be understood if we would enter into our heritage of mental and spiritual freedom. God is Mind, and man is the idea of Mind. There is therefore no separation between Mind and man. "You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 4 of "Pulpit and Press." How much this understanding means to those who have it and practice it!

When one has the knowledge that in reality he is ever at one with Mind, he is in possession of a never-failing means of receiving divine aid, whatever his difficulty. For as he realizes the truth of his unity with Mind, unerring divine intelligence, he loses the false sense of lack of ability to think rightly. How could our spiritual selfhood, which is at one with infinite Mind, ever fail to reflect Mind's ideas, those perfect ideas which enable us to solve our problems through the destruction of erroneous beliefs! But there must be the clear understanding of man's unity with Mind, since it destroys the false sense of matter and evil and so-called material law.

An example of how the understanding of man's unity with Mind came to one to enable him to help another in difficulty might be cited. He was motoring with some friends when, after passing through a small village in a sparsely populated country district, a car was observed approaching round a bend in the road. Suddenly the approaching car, with its three occupants, was seen to swerve a little and then plunge forward into a ditch where it stuck fast in the wet muddy bottom. Before long half a dozen people had gathered to help in the difficulty, each bent on doing his best to pull the car forward and out of the ditch. But all that happened with each pull was that the machine sank deeper into the soft earth. At this point the one whose experience is being recounted, and who up to the present had been chiefly an onlooker, turned his thoughts to God, realizing Mind's allness and man's unity with divine intelligence. Instantly, as if impelled by an unseen power—as indeed he was —he turned to those working on the car, asked them to reverse their efforts and instead of pulling the car forward to push it backward. This they did, and in less time than it takes to recount the incident, the car was back on the road. Man's unity with Mind had been realized, and the realization or right thinking determined the right mode of action.

We can be certain that when we are in possession of the understanding of man's unity with God, nothing can interfere with our safety, our freedom from evil. It is our heritage, God-given and God-sustained, to be sinless, happy, healthy, and free. Our Leader says of the heritage with which divine Love has blessed us (ibid., p. 3), "Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love;" and she continues, "If you maintain this position, who or what can cause you to sin or suffer?"

The effect on others of right thinking is known to everybody. Kindness, gentleness, compassion, purity, love—these are modes of right thought. And how they transform an evil atmosphere! Let it not be doubted, the righteous or right thinker is the world's chief spiritual asset; verily, he is the salt of the earth. Our mental attitude, therefore, should continuously be that set forth by Mrs. Eddy on page 392 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she writes: "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously." And as we ourselves are controlled harmoniously, we are able to help others in attaining to the same desirable state of consciousness.

Duncan Sinclair