Article March 4, 1939 Issue

The Ethics of Power

ELSIE C. WISE

MANY in the world today are holding to the belief that the might of dominating human will alone succeeds, that victory rests on the side of the materially strongest, and that to him belong the spoils. Those who so believe reverse the Golden Rule, entertaining the conviction that other men, similarly placed, would thus treat them.

Christian Science, however, is supplanting the belief that material force and human will have power with the understanding that the only power inheres in divine Mind, and is expressed through righteous thinking. While self-will gloats over its seeming authority, spiritual insight enables one to be patient and kind, generous and tolerant, proving to himself and others that true ethical power rests on faith in and understanding of God, in whom is all power.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 484), "Physical force and mortal mind are one." And on page 131, under the marginal heading "The error of carnality," she sets forth the following arresting statement: "The central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power." Let us consider a few Biblical examples. Abraham, having received from God the promise that his seed should become a great nation, quietly deferred to Lot. He allowed his nephew to have the choice of the land before them, and then found God's promise renewed. A significant instance of the subjugating of the material to the spiritual is the case of Joseph, who, when he had been exalted to a position in Egypt second only to that of Pharaoh, freely forgave his brothers who had wronged him, and helped them in their need.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Scientific Recognition of Good