Perhaps one of the most perplexing situations a student of Christian Science in business has to fare is that of competitors and competition. No matter what business one may be in, he is at times faced with arguments that the field is overcrowded, that accounts and orders go to others for no apparently good reason, or that despite his best work and intention another seems to reap the benefit of his most thoughtful efforts.

In this human concept of business, keen and unrestricted competition is even considered to be healthy and profitable. Unfortunately, this viewpoint seems more often than not to be translated into justification of questionable practices, which are accepted because they seem prevalent.

This purblind sense of sharp competition sees business solely as an endeavor to gain something which another is attempting to obtain at the same time—an attempt to procure something of which another must therefore be deprived. Such a notion obviously implies limitation in regard to opportunity, supply, service, and recompense. In some cases there does not seem to be enough to go round, so that only the most able or fortunate of several competitors can possibly be successful.

Even though generally accepted, these conclusions are not basically true. As followers of the Master we are puzzled that fierce competition seems to be included in the routine of commercial activities. But do we not too often lose sight of the marvelous inheritance which is man's because of his status as God's own perfect image? Do we not sometimes allow ourselves to be mentally drugged by what we hear and read which stems from a merely material viewpoint? The truth is that struggling for superiority, or rivalry as though for a single prize, is not according to the teachings of the Way-shower, Christ Jesus, nor is it consonant with the unequivocal conclusions of his inspired follower, Mary Baker Eddy.

The usual thought of competition is the will to be greater than one's fellows. Yet Jesus continually instructed his disciples to serve, to give, to minister, to heal, and to strengthen, but not to contend. Throughout her inspired writings Mrs. Eddy counsels those who would be successful to avoid rivalry, quarrel, combat, conniving, and to bend unremitting effort toward expressing Christlike qualities. She writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 148), "Christianity is the summons of divine Love for man to be Christlike—to emulate the words and the works of our great Master."

Fear is another progenitor of competition—fear that another will obtain favor, position, promotion, profit, or income at one's own expense; fear of personal loss because of another's gain. The elimination of fear from business activity through the understanding that man is the image and likeness of God, greatly broadens perception of opportunity for real service, excludes thoughts of possessiveness, expels cupidity, increases the realization of divine Love's impartiality.

A student of Christian Science seemed to be checkmated in nearly every attempt he made to effect sales of a certain commodity which he knew to be superior to anything similar then in use. The opposition seemed to come principally from another individual in the same kind of business, one having prior acquaintance in the field. The Christian Scientist was misled into trying to beat down what he pictured as overbearing competition by deft argument, by trying to meet opposing assertions with rebuttal and open rivalry. He soon found himself making no headway, but, rather, getting into a morass of envy and fear of diminishing business.

Then he realized that this was not a situation to be accepted by a student of Christian Science. So he took searching inventory of his own attitude and thinking. This brought the realization that no idea of God could possibly be in competition with another, each one being endowed by reflection with illimitable good, boundless opportunity, and the intelligence and ability of Principle, divine Mind. Thus it was patent that only right ideas could actually operate. It was clear, too, that substance and success do not depend on personality. Dependence on personality begets fear, envy, hatred, errors which would inevitably limit one's accomplishment to the restricted radius of merely human endeavor.

Looking to the Bible for help, the Scientist found in the thirteenth chapter of Genesis the striking account of the parting of Abram and Lot. Each of these men was possessed of much, and when it seemed as though there might be conflict of interests, Abram said to Lot (verse 8), "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren." Emphasis on the last word lifted the student's thought to the absolute oneness of God and man, the inseparability of man from God, his one and only source of existence and supply.

With this true concept of man all fear of destructive competition vanished, and a new vista of opportunity for service opened for him, with none of the unpleasantness which had hitherto confronted him. It was now clear to him that God's infinite ideas are brethren, and as such are of one Mind and cannot be involved in rivalry or disagreement. God's ideas are engaged in the Father's business, and because His business is never subject to vicissitudes, His representatives are without interruption doing His will. An excellent result immediately attained was that each individual concerned brought improvement to his respective commodity, with resulting blessing to the entire industry. Thus was proved again what Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 206): "In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes,—Spirit, not matter, being the source of supply."

When the Christ-spirit of healing, service, humility, and co-operation was substituted for the commonly held concept of mortal mind—the false notion that there must needs be struggle and rivalry for supply—the truth of David's comforting statement (Ps. 145:16), "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing," became plain and was found provable. Mind, God, could not possibly confer blessing on one and not on another of His ideas, for "they shall prosper that love thee."

In the exchange of ideas and services called commerce we may always be in the Father's business by expressing the highest degree of faithfulness, honesty, service, and forthrightness, thereby proving that God's man includes by reflection all the wisdom and ability of divine Mind itself. This wisdom ensures security by imparting the realization of income as ceaselessly incoming good, incoming gratitude, incoming strength, and a constantly increasing capacity to utilize the exhaustless qualities of infinite intelligence and Love. Our demonstration will be in direct proportion to our perception of this right idea of service.

There is no chance regarding the occurrence of good. How could the positive, ordered perfection of God's creation be accomplished or even assisted by accident or fortuitousness? Our model is the perfection of God as manifested through Christ. We are therefore successful in the degree that we rely on God and live the precepts of Jesus, the Way-shower. There can be but the one model to emulate, for Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 360): "Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you try to have two models, then you practically have none."

Comprehension that there cannot be both God and a competitor takes the worry and harassment out of business operations, and promotes a peace which is by no means soporific, but stimulates one to more effective achievement of worthwhile projects. The specter of competition as something apart from God, and therefore harmful or likely to give trouble, operates only in mortal mind, never in the God-given consciousness of man. The realization that God is All-in-all replaces such plaguing thoughts with confidence that in God's creation nothing can possibly exist in opposition to His eternal plan, which includes the well-being of all of His infinite ideas.