Article December 11, 1954 Issue

THE PURE IN HEART

BERNICE BEAL

Through the study of Christian Science many are learning the first important step in purification of the heart, namely, to differentiate correctly between good thoughts—the thoughts of God which constitute real life—and those thoughts which are not good, hence not of God. Mary Baker Eddy gives this definition of "heart" in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 587): "Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and sorrows." From this it may be reasoned that purification of the heart means the freeing of human consciousness from all that is mortal. In other words, purity of heart is purity of individual thinking. It is the unfolding demonstration of immortality, or good, proved to be ever present and the only life of man. Jesus declared, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8).

In word and deed, and especially in the thoughts underlying both words and deeds, the pure in heart exemplify divine Life and Love in each aspect of daily living, though this means relinquishing certain phases of thinking which may appear to be relatively harmless. For example, we need to guard against and overcome the temptation to dwell unduly on the human, personal sense of self and to reject self-pity, self-justification, self-will, self-love, envy, jealousy, and the like.

To keep the heart consistently pure and to reap the benefits of right thinking, it is helpful to ponder often the meaning of God as the great First Cause or creator. And careful study of the definition of man as "the compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind" (Science and Health, p. 591), aids in establishing the conviction that man, the spiritual idea of God, is as incapable of expressing impurity as is his Maker, since he represents, or reflects, God —substance, Life, and intelligence. Obviously, nothing can be added to infinity.

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