Article November 26, 1955 Issue

TAKE IT EASY

CAROLINE B. WINGERT

In the stirring times in which we find ourselves it is not at all uncommon to hear as a farewell admonition among friends the familiar expression, "Take it easy." This phrase, however, will bear careful scrutiny, for is it not in most instances intended as a warning against undue physical exertion, and does it not overlook that part of one's thinking which has to do with one's well-being? Yet, the Scripture informs us that as one "thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7).

True, the unthinking tendency among men is to drift along with the established beliefs that man is a physical personality, a combination of matter and mind, and that this so-called matter acts independently of mind in experiencing fatigue and other untoward physical conditions which in turn must be physically guarded against. This tendency leads to the frequent reminder: "Don't overdo. Take it easy." There is no Scriptural authority for accepting the theory that man is a physical person. The Bible is very definite on this point. In Romans we read (8:9), "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." And Mary Baker Eddy tells us in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 119), "Man is free from the flesh and is individual in consciousness—in Mind, not in matter."

In what sense, then, should one take it easy? Let us consider what the word "easy" actually means. One dictionary defines it in part as follows: "Free from ... care, worry, constraint, etc. ... Moderate; unhurried." Accepting this definition, we may well heed the admonition, because taking it easy in this way would produce a stabilizing effect rather than an inhibiting sense of fear.

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