Article September 24, 1955 Issue

HOW TO MEET CRITICISM

ROBERT DOLLING WELLS

The happiest men are those who regard criticism as a challenge and a blessing, not a misfortune. The challenge is to do better if less than perfection has been expressed. Jesus said (Matt. 5:48), "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Man, as the expression of God, has no flaws in his life, no little or large defects. He is conscious of a universe where each one has his place and loves to be in it, because he is satisfied with the wholeness and freedom and joy conferred by divine Love. The nature of the real man is completely good, but our human demonstration of it is yet so incomplete that we need criticism of the right sort to help us correct our faults and unfold our latent rightness. Mary Baker Eddy states that which is obvious to the humble mind when she says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 89), "We are all capable of more than we do."

There is a large blessing in even unwarranted criticism. This is won not in a contest of accusation and refutation, but in the reversal of evil's lie with love and patience and forgiveness. An important beatitude—important to the success and peaceable progress of our efforts—is this benediction and command (Matt. 5:11, 12): "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven."

Blessed are those whose love is indivisible, whose object is to serve as the sun shines, with impartiality. The kind of love for our neighbor that ceases when criticism begins is mortal, not Christian. Who needs our patience, our forbearance, even our active support, more than the friend or apparent enemy whose shortsightedness, ignorance, and quickness to believe the wrong is as disastrous to his happiness as would be a severe disease? If we were to hear of a friend or acquaintance who is sick, we would feel and express our sympathy, our love. We would do what we could to assuage his suffering and to heal his disorder.

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