Questioner: The ability to get along with others is an important asset for any person in business whether he is in a store, an office, a manufacturing plant, or out on the golf course, for that matter, I ran across a bit of advice on this subject recently, it went something like this: "Be gracious without being ingratiating, and be pleasant without being pleasing."
Speaker: Well, that's helpful as far as it goes because it acknowledges that getting along with others starts with us and not with other people. The Bible provides a deeper insight into the true nature of man. And this view offers a very practical basis for getting along with others in business or elsewhere.
Questioner: You just said that it starts with us. In many offices, executives and workers alike would say that the other fellow is the one with the bad temper, the one who is hard to please, and hard to do business with.
 Speaker: What would you say is our motive for wanting to get along with others?
Questioner: I suppose to make life a little happier since we all spend so much time at our jobs.
Speaker: Well, we have to ask ourselves how we can accomplish this with a greater sense of harmony and joy. And we find in Christian Science that as we look beneath surface appearances—look beyond the distorted exterior—then we ca n see what man's true nature really is.
Questioner: What do you mean by the distorted exterior and true nature?
Speaker: Let me draw on an illustration. Suppose a ship is covered with barnacles. They certainly seem to be part of the ship. What would you say is the effect of these barnacles?
Questioner: Well, they make the ship a little more difficult to steer and they slow down its progress in the water.
Speaker: Now let's just relate that to business. Wouldn't you say that the barnacles of fear, jealousy, hate, prejudice, impatience, and resentment that seem to be in oilier situations slow down the progress of an individual in his work? We find in Christian Science that when spiritually understood, the Bible reveals man's true nature as the likeness of God and that tear, jealousy, impatience, and so forth are foreign to man's nature as the son of God. In the first chapter of Genesis we read (verse 27). "God created man in his own image."'
Questioner: But isn't it asking the impossible to visualize a perfect man when, after all, we have to work with somebody who's anything but perfect?
Speaker: The difficulty arises because we become accustomed to accept the outward appearance or the characteristics of someone, the ugly traits, as actually belonging to man. But Christ Jesus said (John 7:24), "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
Questioner: But there are all kinds of people. I mean, some have certain strengths and others have weaknesses because they're human.
Speaker: It's this human, limited view of man that we have to see through. And we do it by spiritually understanding the nature of man as presented to us in the Bible.

Christ Jesus saw right through the barnacles of fear, jealousy, hate . and all sin sickness, and deformity, whether physical deformity or a sense of being deformed through impatience, jealousy, or envy. And he recognized man's sinless, perfect nature as God's likeness to be right where the barnacles seemed to be. The result of this right knowing was that he healed. He reformed character and overcame every difficulty that he met.
Questioner: I think a lot of people would like to reform themselves as well as others, but to remove irritability, impatience, and bad temper just seems like an insurmountable project. How do you begin?
Speaker: Well, we certainly don't begin with the barnacles! We find in Christian Science that we have to begin with God. And so the basic work we do in Christian Science is to learn from the Bible the nature of God and the divine, Godlike qualities which man possesses by reflection. We endeavor to recognize that this divine nature is the true identity of each individual.

We learn in Christian Science that, as the Bible says (I John 4:8), "God is love." We learn that God is Truth. If God is Love, then the very reflection, or expression of Love must be thoughtful, kind, and considerate. If God is Truth, then the reflection of Truth must be truthful and honest.