Article February 10, 1951 Issue

WISDOM

FRANCES E. BAKER

In the words of James (3:17), "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." In this sublime verse purity appears first in "the wisdom that is from above."

How wise is the one who seeks this purity of thought that is the primary requisite for the realization of the good which is the natural heritage of man as the child, or image and likeness, of God. Although these qualities of thought are ever present to the man of God's creating, it requires the diligent watching of our mental processes to detect and cast out as unreal those phases of the so-called human mind which obviously come from the Adam-dream. Active spiritual awakening is a pure, joyous process, which can only be health-giving and joy-inspiring. The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, asks in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 104), "Who wants to be mortal, or would not gain the true ideal of Life and recover his own individuality?"

This "wisdom that is from above" is then "peaceable." The calm, clear reflection of divine Mind is not buffeted by any suggestion of the so-called mortal or carnal mind, whether it comes in the guise of aggressive, subtle, or latent error. That which appears as aggressive is too obviously false to dethrone God's reflection, and the alert Christian Scientist sees in its appearance the negative opposite of genuine intelligence. That which would appear to be subtle cannot deceive, for the thought governed by divine wisdom instantly detects the machinations of the carnal mind as unworthy and outside the range of intelligent motive and action.

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