Article May 28, 1966 Issue

Finding Oneself

GERTRUDE E. VELGUTH

A young widow sought the help of a Christian Science practitioner. She was suffering the heaviness of grief, burden, despair. She had been impelled to ask for spiritual help from another, for she herself had not been able to find it. She could lose herself, she told the practitioner, only when she was busily occupied in her work and hobbies or in helping others. These were the only times when she really got away from herself and found the rest and peace she longed for.

"You know," the practitioner observed, "I believe you are mistaken when you say you lose yourself in pursuing these useful and pleasurable activities. Rather, aren't you really finding yourself in them?" Apropos of this thought she read a compelling statement from the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, observes, "God rests in action."^{Science and Health, p. 519;}

The practitioner had long since learned that when we actively express divine qualities, such as wisdom, intelligence, and joy and when brotherly love and compassion motivate our words and our acts, we do not lose, but rather find ourselves. The exercise of spiritual qualities identifies one as God's spiritual idea, bearing witness to His benevolent nature. Christian Science teaches that man, God's image, His perfect likeness, is the true idea reflecting good in manifold ways.

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