Editorial July 1, 1967 Issue

True Compulsion

Helen Wood Bauman

One definition of "compulsion" is "an irresistible impulse to perform an irrational act."  Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary; Immoral and criminal acts can probably be more frequently classified under this definition than as deliberate, premeditated control. One hears a great deal at present about emotional conflicts, especially in the minds of young people who are confused about values in today's world and who become victims of irrational, compulsive action.

Dr. Dana L. Farnsworth of the Harvard University Health Services, an expert on the subject, speaks of a "lack of impulse control" in many young people today, and he says, "More youngsters are giving vent to their feelings without thought of the consequence." He continues, "It's act now and think later."

Everyone acts under some kind of impulse control. Every thought, every act, begins somewhere. Does impulse start in the fragile brain of a mortal or in a higher Being, a governing Principle greater than the self? Christian Science insists and proves that there is but one real center of control, and it isn't a brain. It is God, divine Mind. And Mind is both intelligence and wisdom. No sultry mood, no malicious instinct, comes from the one real center of right control. When Mind's control is demonstrated—and any fact can be demonstrated—human action is independent of the wild, compulsive action of the carnal, or mortal, mind that seeks to control mankind.

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Understanding Soul
July 1, 1967
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