Article August 21, 1937 ISSUE

Possessions

FREDERIC LE BARON FOOTE

Many, if not most, of the problems of the individual as well as of the nations of the world are bound up in a false sense of possession. The accumulation, or lack, of material things, whether it be in terms of money, goods, or land, is the basis for much of the tension and pressure which is so often unhappily externalized in human experience. To this error may well be added the false personal sense of possession which human beings have towards one another. In no other way than by Christianly scientific thinking can we gain and maintain the right sense of possession which brings with it peace, joy, and true happiness.

After questioning the young man who had desired of him instruction about how to gain eternal life, Christ Jesus said to him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Evidently, the young man needed a better sense of possession. Inasmuch as Jesus never restricted or limited in any way, but always richly benefited those who sought him, can we not be sure that the demand was for the laying down of a false sense of possession? Mrs. Eddy says of Jesus, in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 54): "Through the magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he defined Love." It is related that the young man "went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." In other words, he clung to the false belief in the desirability and substantiality of material things, and the sorrow which is a part of this false belief.

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