Article August 29, 1953 Issue

"KNOW THYSELF"

J. BUROUGHS STOKES

Some four hundred years before Christ Jesus, the Greek philosopher Socrates tried to show that the greatest of all arts, the art of living a good life, called for knowledge of the right. The emphasis he placed on good as being the key to correct self-knowledge and action startled the sensuous age in which he lived. Despite the hatred this brought, he unflinchingly directed his efforts to correcting the problems of everyday morality. His strict adherence to his guiding ideal brought the hemlock cup. However, the good in his philosophy lived on and helped prepare the thought of men for spiritual revelations yet to come.

Going far beyond the limited view of Socrates, Jesus saw that man is the reflection of the supreme and only good, or God; that God is the only intelligence of the universe, including man; that He is the first and only cause, omnipotent, omniscient Mind, Life, Truth, and Love. He knew that the so-called opposite of good, named evil, is a mythical power and thus does not exist. He proved that the source of men's enslavement lay in the belief that there is evil called sin, disease, and death. When this belief was corrected by establishing the superiority of good in thought, the restoration of purity, health, and life was instant.

The importance of self-knowledge, of watching and guarding thought, is stressed throughout the Master's teachings. He knew that as one "thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7); that in the degree one dwells in the consciousness of good and obeys the divine law of Love he demonstrates man's God-given perfection. Jesus' proofs of the oneness and allness of good, of God, were so positive and complete that he rightly became known as the most perfect individual the world has ever known. He proved beyond cavil the wisdom and necessity for each one to know himself, and he showed what could be accomplished when man's selfhood as the spiritual idea of God is understood. However, Jesus left no written record to show future generations how they could gain and demonstrate this truth for themselves. It remained for Mary Baker Eddy to explain his works as natural unfoldments of God, good, and to give to the world the Science which Jesus demonstrated.

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