We can so easily fall into the habit of criticizing others if we are not alert, for in acknowledging the standard of perfection set by Christian Science and in trying to bring out that ideal in our own lives, we too often expect others to have reached that standard already. Then if, in our opinion, someone has not yet been able to demonstrate this perfection in his own experience, we tend to judge him, forgetting, perhaps, that we also have fallen short in many ways. The legend of Procrustes illustrates this inclination. All travelers who stopped at his dwelling, he laid upon his bed. If they were too short, he stretched them out. If they were too long, he cut off their feet. Sometimes our judgments of others are equally cruel.

Christian Science teaches that man is perfect now because God is perfect and man is His image and likeness and that this fact of man's present perfection is demonstrable in the degree that we understand it. Christ Jesus said (Matt. 5:48), "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Made in the image and likeness of God, man must be His spiritual reflection; he is not a mortal struggling towards perfection, for the reflection cannot differ from its original. Christian Science, therefore, presents the true view of man as eternally perfect, and Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, states in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 470), "God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle of man remaining perfect the divine idea or reflection, man, remains perfect."

From the human standpoint, however, we have to strive to live up to this ideal—or real— man, and we do so in the degree that we spiritualize and purify our thought. There is no contradiction in this when we see that the perfect man is real and true and that what we see as an imperfect man is not true but is a misconception, or mistaken view, of the real man which yields to the true idea. The Christ reveals the ideal man, which was presented by Jesus; and as the Christ, the true idea, is accepted, the human being advances towards perfection.

The student of Christian Science purifies thought by gaining each day a better understanding of God and man and living in accord with his understanding. "He constantly turns away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable things of Spirit," we read on page 21 of Science and Health. The passage continues, "If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy."

Paul also indicated this in his letter to the Romans when he said 12:2), "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

While expecting the highest of others, as of ourselves, we must be alert to the error of judging persons who may long to overcome their failures and shortcomings but who have not yet sufficient spiritual alertness and understanding to do so. We need to be as compassionate and patient in thinking about and dealing with others as we should expect them to be with us. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy," as Jesus expressed it in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:7).

It is easy to become impatient with the faults and mistaken views of others and to become exasperated with the apparent slowness of their spiritual growth, and this applies to our thoughts about church memberships as a whole as well as to individual members. Yet if we too closely watch some plants and shrubs for signs of growth, we may be led to believe that they are not growing at all; whereas they are really growing at their own pace and will eventually throw out new roots. Any gardener who impatiently condemns and pulls out anything that does not grow as quickly and in the precise way he decides it should grow destroys rather than constructs a garden.

Divine Love is never critical. The nature of Love is to love, and this includes understanding and consideration. Love supports and upholds; it never tears down and condemns. Love always helps and heals; it never hurts or harms. Love is always constructive: it is never destructive. Love never finds fault but corrects and governs. Love knows only good; and in this all encompassing consciousness of good, there is no sense of error and nothing to criticize.

Man is an individual consciousness, reflecting only what divine Love knows, and having nothing that divine Love does not have. The real man, then, is not critical. The human consciousness which seems to hold as true both the perfect and the imperfect is all that criticizes; so, in the final analysis, all criticism is really self-criticism.

It is mortal mind, or the false sense of existence, that seems to embrace and express the imperfect; but one who accepts this as true and manifests it in his human experience does not deserve criticism but help. Destructive criticism pins upon individuals the very thing of which they may be trying to rid themselves.

Constantly to criticize others, therefore, is to persist in holding as true the false picture of man. Talking about it is too often an attempt to make others believe the false picture. Christian Science teaches us to look beyond the evidence of the physical senses and to see in Science the perfect man, whom God created.

Of course, we cannot be entirely uncritical. We must make the distinction between what is right and what is wrong where matters of Principle and Truth are involved. We cannot afford to condone evil, leave error un-condemned, or accept the mistakes of others. But we must never attach evil to man and must never condemn persons or criticize them for holding false views or for acting wrongly. Casting error out of our own thinking and letting our light shine without self-righteousness will help to destroy evil and lighten the path for others.

On pages 7-9 of "No and Yes," Mrs. Eddy has written a valuable guide to our attitude towards those who may be mistaken or who do not seem to have reached the standard of perfection raised in Christian Science. She counsels (pp. 7, 8): "I recommend that Scientists draw no lines whatever between one person and another, but think, speak, teach, and write the truth of Christian Science without reference to right or wrong personality in this field of labor. Leave the distinctions of individual character and the discriminations and guidance thereof to the Father, whose wisdom is unerring and whose love is universal."