Editorial July 8, 1961 Issue

Some Ingredients of Success

Ralph E. Wagers

"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15). This prayer of Jesus applies to us today as much as it did to his immediate followers, for there can be no success unless one is kept "from the evil." It is righteousness that keeps us from evil. In fact, a basic element of success is righteousness —knowing and doing what is right—and no one needs to forfeit success to be righteous in his dealings with others.

Success involves many things, such as making right decisions, getting the right answers, having a right sense of values, exercising good judgment. These ingredients of success are of interest to everyone, but they are of particular interest to young people who are leaving the sheltering influence of home and Sunday School and are preparing themselves through higher education and training for their lifework. They are stepping into a highly competitive mental environment and are being confronted with a complicated set of values, many of which they are unable to reconcile to the standard that has been set for them in Christian Science.

It is necessary not to be deceived by these values, but to subject them to penetrating analysis —spiritually scientific analysis. This is a time to remind oneself that right and wrong are not questions that involve ethics or religion alone. They involve profit and loss as well. Righteousness is more than academic; it is vital. It is as essential to survival as it is to growth and development. Unrighteous decisions can he disastrous to others as well as to ourselves.

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