Article February 12, 1966 Issue

Self-knowledge and Self-control

KATHLEEN O'CONNOR

The teachings of Christian Science show the important part self-knowledge plays if one is to obtain the full fruition of Mind-healing. No one can truly know himself as long as he believes himself to be a mortal, however personally good. Why? Because the so-called mortal mind is a state of self-deception or self-ignorance—the exact opposite of self-knowledge.

When he was addressed as "good Master," Christ Jesus said, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God" (Matt. 19:17). And Paul advised everyone "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" (Rom. 12:3). The only true basis for self-knowledge is in the recognition of man as an idea in the divine Mind, as the image and likeness of God.

"Anatomy, when conceived of spiritually, is mental self-knowledge, and consists in the dissection of thoughts to discover their quality, quantity, and origin. Are thoughts divine or human? That is the important question," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 462 of Science and Health. Through constant self-examination the Christian Scientist endeavors to cast out of his consciousness everything that is unlike God, good, whether presented to him in the guise of his own thought or that of another. True self-knowledge is an indispensable prelude to success in healing and in gaining dominion over sense and self.

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