Article January 21, 1950 Issue

"THE RESPECT OF PROPER CARE"

ALLENE E. THORNBURGH

A Veteran of World War II attending school on limited funds purchased a small automobile, an old model, to convey him to and from his classes. With painstaking care he cleaned and repainted the car, refurbished the interior, overhauled and repaired the engine, and replaced the old, battered top with a clean white canvas one. So grateful was he for the convenience of this car in his busy schedule that he would scarcely allow a speck of dust to settle upon its polished surface. To one observer its shining resplendence seemed to give it an air of dignity, and one day she commented on the car's habitually neat appearance, stating that she liked to see him take good care of his possessions. The young man replied, "Well, Auntie, I feel that if anything is worth owning, it is worthy of the respect of proper care."

To the writer these were character-revealing words. That cleanliness, neatness, order, and beauty are generally recognized as commendable qualities is indicated by the well-known saying, "Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness." To correctly estimate these qualities in human experience, however, it is necessary to understand that, as Christian Science teaches, reality does not consist of material things to which man owes responsibility, as is commonly believed; but, instead, reality is spiritual consciousness, which man expresses as the reflection of the divine Mind.

Christian Science proclaims that God is divine Mind, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Principle, and that man is His reflection. It teaches further that material things are but objectified images of false thought, and are therefore neither substantial nor real. These facts Mary Baker Eddy summarizes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" as follows (p. 337): "Eternal things (verities) are God's thoughts as they exist in the spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the opposite of the real or the spiritual and eternal."

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