Article May 8, 1943 Issue

Overcoming Self-Consciousness

[Of Special Interest to Youth]

HAZEL R. HARRISON

In his true selfhood man, as the image and likeness of God, is of inestimable value. Christ Jesus said, "Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."

One who had lacked faith in her ability to succeed once learned from a mountain brook a lesson which helped her to find confidence and freedom. Trailing a tiny stream in search of its source, she was led to a cleft in a rock from which gushed a lively spring of sparkling, clear water. While pausing to enjoy the surrounding beauty, she was reminded of a statement on page 481 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science: "Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else." It was seen that the real man, like the stream, must be one with his source, divine Spirit, in order to exist. Therefore, since he is tributary to his creator, "and to nothing else," deriving all true thought qualities from Him, he must be, indeed, "of more value than many sparrows." These and corresponding thoughts based on the teachings of Christian Science aided the student, as they have helped many, in overcoming what is termed an "inferiority complex" and its companion, self-consciousness.

The word "self-conscious" is defined by Webster, in part, as being "conscious of one's acts or states as belonging to, or originating in, oneself." This definition typifies the theories of human education which describe man as material, separate from God, with a mind of his own, in which originate thoughts limited and lacking in good. By contrast, through the lens of divine Science, we perceive that the spiritual man of God's creating expresses, as the reflection of the one infinite divine Mind to which he is tributary, unlimited spiritual qualities and right ideas. Mrs. Eddy, in her definition of man, says in part (ibid., p. 475): "That which has no separate mind from God; that which has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker."

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