If a carpenter were to work eight hours on a house, then spend several hours in tearing it down, and repeat that performance daily, unquestionably it would take him a long while to complete the structure. Perhaps the Christian Scientist spends several hours a day in building—in faithful study and prayer—but follows it with several hours of tearing down, by entertaining fear, doubt, ingratitude, or resentment, then wonders why his progress is slow. Being a Christian Scientist consists largely in controlling our thinking; and this provides us with steady employment, for our thinking goes on continuously. To advance steadily in our march Spiritward, we must not only study earnestly and pray fervently, we must keep a sentinel ever on guard against enemy thoughts that creep in during darkness of inattention, and a monitor ever ready to guide good thoughts into the citadel of consciousness. The pioneer of scientific right thinking in this age, Mary Baker Eddy, tells us in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 252), "Right thoughts are reality and power; wrong thoughts are unreality and powerless."

Right thinking in Christian Science is reflecting the one Mind or intelligence, and consists in loving God and man, in knowing the truth which makes us free, in being pure in heart so that we can "see God," good, and ourselves and our brothers as sinless and whole. We must know God's perfect creation so thoroughly that we can instantly detect the counterfeit, reject its demands, and rigidly exclude it from our thoughts.

Our Master gave us the key to right thinking in two commandments, To love God and to love our neighbor. Keeping these, one could not break the older commandments. He also pointed out that the gist of carnality consisted in looking on a forbidden object with evil desire. Jesus belittled the meticulous care of the Pharisees, who held to outward forms, saying, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, ... these are the things which defile a man." Bible reading and churchgoing alone will not carry us into the kingdom of harmony, happiness, for the kingdom of heaven is within us, in the heart that is pure and animated by unselfish motives. In an era of spectacular material achievement, a spirituality-minded woman, poor in things but rich in thoughts, saw that more important than all this pageantry and commotion, were purity, gentleness, love. She tells us in "No and Yes" (p. 12), "The essence of this Science is right thinking and right acting."

Habits of thinking, like habits of conduct, are easily formed and hard to break. Error claims that it is sometimes impossible to break bad habits, to get on to the right track after one has started wrong. To human sense this seems to be true, but "with God all things are possible." Mrs. Eddy warns us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 407) that "man's enslavement to the most relentless masters—passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge—is conquered only by a mighty struggle." But let us humbly thank God that they can be conquered. This "mighty struggle" is not with guns, before the eyes of men, but is a mental battle conducted in private, between good and evil thoughts, as Jacob wrestled long ago. When we are assailed by real or seeming injustice, we have a choice of weapons. We can use God's weapons, love and kindness, or use Satan's weapons, hatred and violence. Hatred never brings anyone happiness or success. A man does not become a murderer in a moment, for, assuredly, crime is the outgrowth of years of wrong thinking. So when a good man rises in a crisis to heights of nobility, it is the flowering of years of unselfish thoughts and deeds. Underlying every lovely deed is a lovely thought. The Bible and our Leader's writings show us how to use the weapons of right thinking, so that we can overcome weakness and wickedness and thus conquer evil habits.

Useful work is a help toward right thinking. It makes us unselfish because, generally speaking, it is done for others. It makes us happy to know that, like the birds and flowers, we are making the world a better place to live in. To do good work we must keep our thought constantly on it, and this keeps out evil thoughts, which are ever knocking for admission, suggesting inharmony of different kinds. Even while we are doing our mental work and attending church, error tries to distract our attention. If thought is permitted to wander from the service, we are not really attending service. Christian Science study is not a form of entertainment, it is work; and we reap what we sow. We must sow watchfulness, obedience, and unselfishness, if we would reap healing and regeneration. We must not overlook the danger of letting our thoughts wander, for wandering thoughts are idle thoughts.

One must strive resolutely to control his thinking; he must be the engineer on his train of thoughts, not the sleepy passenger who goes wherever the train carries him. Thoughts are often harder to control than acts. Thoughts come and go almost imperceptibly. One may be outwardly upright, yet hardly aware that he is harboring selfish and critical thoughts. Thoughts, like roots, grow out of sight, and if they are healthy, they bring forth a harvest of good deeds. To direct one's thinking aright at all times, to think lovingly of all in secret, is the supreme test of the Christian Scientist. We cannot save the world by seeing our friends or patients as God's children, and the rest of mankind as failures or sinners. We think our way into the kingdom of heaven. Prayer is the most exalted and most effective form of right thinking. Paul left us this unerring direction: "Whatsoever things are true, ... just, ... pure, ... lovely, ... of good report; think on these things."