Article November 17, 1945 Issue

Companionship

WILLIS R. SMITH

How may one find truly satisfying companionship? This is a question often arising in human experience, and the answer may be rightly expected as spiritual light illumines one's understanding of man's true relationship to God and to his brother man. If one's desire for companionship is to be truly satisfied, it must not be pursued in the highways or byways of a current social experience, nor sought for in a human sense of personalities. It must be found in the appreciation and expression of Godlike qualities. This spiritual basis forms the only true foundation for friendship and companionship that are enduring.

Those who manifest such qualities as loving compassion, charitableness, and tenderness are good companions. Some further elements necessary to a fine companionship are mentioned on page 58 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where Mary Baker Eddy says, "Unselfish ambition, noble lifemotives, and purity,—these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence." Unselfed love reflects divine Love, and consequently finds true companionship to be on a spiritual basis.  He who draws upon the infinite resources of divine Love finds his thought expanding into broader vistas of loving companionship and friendliness. Friendly association is promoted and true companionship discovered as thought is permeated with the divine qualities.

Many are misled by human belief into ways that end in unrest and dissatisfaction. The suggestion that the companionship which depends upon the false pleasures of the senses is truly satisfying, is one of the illusions which exist only to those mesmerized by the evidence of the bodily senses. By contrast, companionship which is accompanied by clearness of thought and mutual helpfulness bestows a lasting joy.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

"A fruitful bough"