THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD VISIBILITY

HAROLD C. LEWIS

Good visibility is very important to one who is driving an automobile. Recently the writer bought a new car, and the first thing he noticed upon driving it was the improved view that he had in all directions. This gave him more pleasure and a greater feeling of confidence than he had had when driving the older car. In the older car, parts of the body obstructed his vision in several directions. These blocked areas are called "blind spots."

Considered from the metaphysical standpoint, good visibility is also important in daily living and in our progress as Christian Scientists. We should frequently ask ourselves, "Do I daily maintain spiritual visibility so that my view of existence is clear and unobstructed, or do I sometimes allow some subtle phase of error to constitute a blind spot in my thinking?"

Sometimes a student of Christian Science, though faithful in his study and protective work, is suddenly faced with some serious physical problem, and he may ask himself: "Why did this come upon me? I did not fear it or give it power. In fact, I did not even think of such a thing!"

Perhaps it approached unknown and unseen because a selfish desire to control, monopolize, or dominate others had obstructed his spiritual vision. Self-will, fear, jealousy, resentment, and other wrong thoughts act as mental blind spots, which not only hide that which is good but also keep us from detecting the approach of error and guarding against its subtle attacks.

In his efforts to maintain good, spiritual visibility, the alert Christian Scientist daily strives to keep his thought Godlike. Our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 210), "Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them."

If we daily obey these words of our Leader, our spiritual visibility will be clear, and our vision be unobstructed. Error will not then go undetected and cannot make us the unsuspecting victims of sin or sickness.

In the Bible we are given many guides to clear, spiritual visibility. Among these guides are the Ten Commandments. These Commandments point out the errors, such as idolatry, adultery, hatred, dishonesty, bearing false witness, and impurity, that obscure and obstruct spiritual vision.

Our spiritual visibility drops to zero when we allow ourselves to be governed by these wrong thoughts. In order to destroy them, we must recognize them as baseless evils and strive to have no other gods, no other Mind but the divine Mind, no Life, substance, or reality but that which is spiritual.

Another help in clearing away obstructions is the study of our Master's Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Christ Jesus sets forth various qualities of thought that are indispensable to the alert Christian Scientist. Meekness, mercy, purity, and unselfed love must be held consistently in consciousness and expressed in daily living in order that we may detect and overthrow the subtle attacks of animal magnetism, or error.

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God," said Christ Jesus (Matt. 5:8). This pure, spiritual consciousness rightfully belongs to man, the image and likeness of God, and can be claimed by each one of us, for we are His ideas.

The Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy is an indispensable aid in maintaining good, spiritual visibility. That our Leader regarded strict obedience to the Manual as highly important in our daily work and growth is evident in her words in Miscellany (p. 230), "Of this I am sure, that each Rule and By-law in this Manual will increase the spirituality of him who obeys it, invigorate his capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn, and to awaken the sinner."

Many a student of Christian Science, faced with some perplexing problem which he has not readily solved, has turned to the Church Manual and found the spiritual light which has uncovered and cleared away some subtle form of error that had been preventing healing.

In Ephesians (5:15) St. Paul writes, "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." One meaning of "circumspect" is "watchful on every side." Surely Paul was urging Christians to maintain good, spiritual visibility at all times in order that they might be able to detect any error and destroy it by seeing its nothingness and the allness of God.

Let us always be circumspect, that is, maintain good visibility. In our striving to do this it is necessary for us to realize the utter nothingness of the carnal mind. In reality we can have no mind apart from God. In the words of our Leader (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 536), "The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness."

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MAN REFLECTS DIVINE LOVE

January 24, 1959

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