Editorial December 9, 1967 Issue

"The highway to heaven"

Alan A. Aylwin

Mrs. Eddy says, "Self-sacrifice is the highway to heaven."^{No and Yes, p. 33;} This is similar to saying that self-sacrifice is the way to happiness. The carnal mind recoils from this trenchant truth because to it the sacrifice of selfish motives and aims is anything but happy. Its sense of joy is bound up within the framework of personal gratification, and putting this aside for a higher good seems impractical and visionary.

However, like all statements in Mrs. Eddy's writings, this one is intensely practical. She herself found peace, joy, and fulfillment as she surrendered selfish interests to the will of God. She says: "Early had I learned that whatever is loved materially, as mere corporeal personality, is eventually lost. 'For whosoever will save his life shall lose it,' saith the Master. Exultant hope, if tinged with earthliness, is crushed as the moth."^{Retrospection and Introspection, p. 32;}

If we feel somewhat dismayed by this prospect, let us remember that we never need to surrender anything that is actually good. The effect of Christian Science is to multiply good, not diminish it. What we do need to do is draw a clear dividing line between what is really good and what is fleeting and ephemeral.

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