LET US BE HAPPY

If we want to be happy, why not start now to claim our happiness? How shall we do this? By accepting God, Spirit, and Spirit's ideas as the only realities. The Bible gives us definite instructions for finding happiness. Zephaniah said (3:14 ), "Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem."

Happiness demands expression. It increases as it is shared. Does mortal mind argue that we have nothing to rejoice over or sing about? Then let us ask ourselves whether we are looking to matter or to Spirit for our happiness.

Spirit, or God, is the opposite of matter. The allness and oneness of Spirit leave no room for matter. To know this brings one joy and peace and dominion. In that thought-provoking declaration, "the scientific statement of being," Mary Baker Eddy says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468 ): "Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal."

If we accept the belief that matter is real, we shut out the true sense of Spirit, and we shut ourselves out from the presence of God. We learn in Christian Science that matter is only an outward state of mortal thought. Speaking of Christ Jesus, our Leader says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 199 ), "The power of his transcendent goodness is manifest in the control it gave him over the qualities opposed to Spirit which mortals name matter."

Real qualities are qualities of Spirit, for Spirit, God, is All. As we resolve the false belief misnamed matter into its suppositional mental elements and replace these elements with the qualities of Spirit, we shall awaken to true happiness and rejoice in the oneness and allness of Spirit.

Then divine knowing will replace ignorance of God; the love of Spirit will replace the love of matter. Faith, "the substance of things hoped for" (Hebr. 11:1 ), will replace belief. Unselfed love will replace selfish desires. To be aware of Spirit is to know true selfhood, the divine nature. Then there can be no drive of human will, but we shall find unlimited joy and happiness in the inevitable unfoldment of the divine will.

Christ Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:39 ), "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Science and Health explains this prayer of Jesus as an expression of his desire that Spirit, not flesh, should be represented in him. This Science teaches that flesh is a mirage, a belief that matter has life, substance, and intelligence.

Spirit is forever revealing itself in spiritual consciousness, that consciousness which redeems us from the beliefs of the flesh. Then let us accept the joy of true consciousness. Spiritual consciousness is the only real house in which we live, the house of happiness. As we turn away from the mortal to the divine, from evil to good, from matter to Spirit, from error to Truth, we shall find happiness in true being.

I once heard a Christian Scientist say, "There is no embarrassment in consciousness." I felt an inner release. This was surprising, for there was no sense at the time of my being embarrassed about anything. The spiritual awakening led me to think back to events in the past that had been embarrassing. As beliefs of the past were wiped out, the truth that there is no embarrassment in consciousness continued to unfold through many months and years.

This unfoldment resulted in greater joy and happiness. I had found that embarrassment needed to be replaced with poise and humility. Many times it is the hidden qualities opposed to Spirit that must be weeded out. The Psalmist prayed (Ps. 19:12 ), "Cleanse thou me from secret faults."

Are we clinging to unlovely traits of character? Then we are accepting as real the qualities which are opposed to Spirit. Because God is Spirit, He always maintains His creation at the point of perfect being. Spirit is always unfolding the spiritual creation in purity, harmony, bliss, peace, joy—the divine nature. This is the creation which peoples infinite space with God's ideas, with forms of Spirit, not matter. This is the real creation.

Christian Science teaches that spiritual man is perfect, harmonious, and immortal. If we want to be happy, let us accept true being as the only reality. Then we shall be able to replace injustice with justice, envy with impartial love, greed with completeness, pride with humility, impatience with the control of the one infinite Mind.

When we replace hate with love, we find real joy; when we replace evil with good, we find pure bliss. As we replace doubt with confidence, weakness with strength, we experience dominion. The freedom and happiness of true being will appear as we accept the qualities of Spirit as the only real qualities.

Paul wrote (Rom. 8:9), "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Once when I was making an unexpected journey, suggestions of accident and disaster kept coming to my thought. Then symptoms of disease appeared. Unhappiness seemed very real. I began to pray in Paul's words just quoted, and the statement was repeated thoughtfully over and over.

Then I asked myself, "What is the Spirit of God?" Despite the mental turmoil of fear and confusion, the realization finally came that "the Spirit of God" is the nature of God. Then the question followed, "What is the nature of God?" This time the answer came much more quickly, for I was listening better, yes, listening to God, to Spirit, not matter. The answer was that the nature of God consists of the qualities of God.

Then the spiritual reasoning went on something like this: Man as the offspring of God expresses not fear but love, not rigid willfulness or resistance to change but the divine will in action, not discord but harmony, not expectancy of evil but expectancy of good.

The cloud lifted as concepts opposed to Spirit were replaced with qualities of Spirit. Willingness to acknowledge that "the Spirit of God," the qualities of God, constituted my only real selfhood brought the healing. The arguments of sickness and disaster disappeared. The rest of the journey was peaceful and joyous.

We are always willing to be healed, but are we always willing to reflect qualities of Spirit? If we would be happy, we must know for ourselves and for all mankind the nothingness of that which is opposed to Spirit and the reality of the qualities of Spirit. It is so simple to be happy. Even a little understanding of Christian Science awakens us to express the joy and health and happiness which we already have as God's reflection.