Article January 17, 1948 Issue

SELF-DISCIPLINE

OLIVE E. DVORAK

Under the title "Discipline" in the Manual of The Mother Church written by Mary Baker Eddy three daily duties are specified for every member of this church: "A Rule for Motives and Acts" (Art. VIII, Sect. 1), the "Daily Prayer" (Art. VIII, Sect. 4), and "Alertness to Duty" (Art. VIII, Sect. 6). These demand earnest self-discipline to fulfill the Scriptural instructions in regard to "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Cor. 10:5). An interesting modern translation of this passage is, "I destroy arguments and every obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, and I take captive every thought and make it obey Christ."

To hold thought to the spiritual verities of God, perfect Principle, is the Christian Scientist's inescapable duty. That which "exalteth itself against the knowledge of God" and is the obstacle to the fulfillment of this righteous activity is the belief that there is a selfhood in matter which is supposed to think and act independently of God. There is no more reality in the false concept of selfhood than there is in any of the manifold vicissitudes it appears to undergo. Scientifically interpreted, self-discipline means the recognition of the nothingness of this supposititious mortal self and the cognition that any existence outside of God, the All-in-all, is impossible.

Christ Jesus achieved impressive demonstrations of the perfect unity existing between God and His image and likeness, man. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he —and he alone because of his long practice in self-denial—beheld, not a human personality named Jesus, but the "Lamb of God," which Jesus exemplified. The Lamb typifies the complete immolation of mortal selfhood whereby Christ is revealed as the true, immortal idea of God, the real man. Thus it is that only as mortals begin in their own experience to see the unreality of mortal mind's claim to selfhood, are they able to perceive something of the spiritual idea, which is one with God.

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