Editorial June 3, 1967 Issue

A Reason for Living

Carl J. Welz

A reason for living becomes more important as technological advancements make living more complex. In simpler times people found themselves striving to stay alive because the desire to live is a natural instinct. But through mechanization people have become more engrossed in mental processes, and this has caused them to search for reasoned motives for living. Reports of young intellectuals attempting to end their lives seem to indicate that some have difficulty in finding satisfying motives.

Christian Science teaches that Life and Love are one, and this one is God, infinite, eternal Spirit. The highest expression, or manifestation, of God is man, who lives in Love. True motivation, then, is a matter of Science, of living because of what one actually is. The scicntific reason for living is both natural and spiritual. We live because Life is. And we must live a life of love because the I am, or God, is Love. We have no other real existence or consciousness of existence.

Surely Christ Jesus was not motivated to give his human life in love for his fellowmen by the thought of what he might receive as a reward. He was not seeking abundant supply or personal well-being or the praises of men. He gave as his reason for the loving life he lived, "I must work the works of him that sent me." ^{John 9:4;} Life caused him to live, and since Life is Love, he could identify himself only in the love he reflected.