Editorial October 25, 1952 Issue

LOVE'S OBJECT

Helen Wood Bauman

In the light of a dictionary definition of the word object as "a conception formed by the mind itself," Mary Baker Eddy's statement concerning Love's object, found on page 304 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," takes on fresh meaning. Here are her words: "This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death." Mrs. Eddy goes on to assure us that perfect man, being under the control of his Principle, remains sinless and eternal.

These comforting truths, which Christian Science reveals, show the inseparable relationship of God and man, Mind and idea, cause and effect, Love and its object. Man, being Love's object, is not external to Love, but is included in it as Love's own idea. And as a conception formed by Mind itself, man can never wander from Mind's control. In fact, because man is Love's object, or idea, he may be said to be the objective state of divine Mind; and it is thus that one should identify himself and all the creatures of God's making.

The terms objective and subjective appear several times in our Leader's statement of Christian Science, and their meaning is clarified by a dictionary, which quotes this explanation of them by Sir W. Hamilton, a Scottish metaphysician: "In the philosophy of the mind, subjective denotes what is to be referred to the thinking subject, the ego; objective, what belongs to the object of thought, the nonego." One is apt to accept the ordinary usage of the word objective as describing something existing independently of mind, or perhaps as meaning the tendency to view events and phenomena in a detached or unprejudiced way. But in their philosophical meaning, and as our Leader uses them, object and objective refer to the thing thought, as distinguished from the ego, or the thinking subject. Without this understanding one loses the full impact of Mrs. Eddy's statements which refer to the object of Love, Spirit, and also of her explanation of matter as being the objective state of mortal mind as well as its subjective state.

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