One night I received a phone call from the authorities at the school where I taught. Word had been received that our school was to have trouble the next day. I was told I was to be assigned campus duty and a substitute would be hired to teach my classes. Two other schools had had trouble the previous week in the same city, several persons being injured and the classes canceled.

As I hung up the phone, the thought occurred, How can you prepare to meet this trouble? The answer came immediately, "You can meet it right now, for the only confrontation you can possibly have is in your own thinking."

I came face to face with the realization that because God is All there can be but one infinite Mind, God, not many limited, material minds. This stopped any belief that there could be a clash of minds. Fear and hatred were blocked by the ever-present glow of intelligent Love. I simply had to stick to the absolute truth of peaceful, perfect spiritual being and love God, my students, my neighbor, my community. This took much mental striving, but upon retiring that night I felt that the confrontation had been met in my thinking and all was at peace.

The next day was completely harmonious. I enjoyed every minute of campus patrol. The confrontation failed to materialize, and for the remainder of the year the school was relatively peaceful, without any serious student upheaval. It was demonstrated in school activities that people, whether black, brown, white, or yellow, could get along together without violent disruptions.

At times during his healing ministry Christ Jesus was confronted by angry crowds and pressing antagonists. One time as the people were about to cast stones at him, he passed through their midst unnoticed (see John 8:59). Another time his wise words dispersed a group of opponents attempting to trap him between Roman authority and the traditions of his own people (see verses 3-11).

Jesus taught: "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."¹ Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health, "You will learn that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself."² This is the Christlike basis on which we can face up to confrontations.

What is it that comes face to face in conflicts? Is it students against Establishment? Is it physical force met by physical force? No, in essence it is the clash of mortal, material concepts based on the false belief that man is limited and separated from God.

How can violent disruptions be lifted out of the realm of material belief into the divinely mental realm of real, spiritual being? In Proverbs we read, "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man."³ As you look into the water, you see a reflection of yourself. So it is with your heart, or your thinking. What you see in the other fellow reflects to a large extent what you think about him. Could this not be an excellent place for each one of us to start in a confrontation?

There is but one God. Now, God is the Mind of each of His individual ideas, or expressions; therefore there is but one Mind. For a confrontation to take place there must be two opposing minds. When you come face to face with another, how then can there be two opposing minds when there is only one perfect Mind? Each is, in reality, an image, or reflection, of the one divine Mind. When you have two reflections of the same source, they must be alike in quality. The one God cannot be opposed to Himself.

Those we see must be spiritually perceived as children of God, not as mortals having feelings of injustice, inequality, and frustration. They need not express animality or resentment, because the power of Spirit can unfold in their consciousness. Unrighteous rebellion, hostility, and so forth can be seen as no part of them, for man is guided and governed by the divine Principle, Love.

Again, is the one in front of us not our neighbor? The Master told us to love our neighbor as ourselves. In truly loving the one confronting us we would not be seeing him as violent or having irreconcilable differences of opinion with us. We would be loving him as we love God, for we would see him in his true, complete being. We would see him not as a hating or confused mortal but as a loving, intelligent spiritual idea of Mind.

What about the doubt and fear so prevalent in such situations? It is impossible for them to exist where divine Love, Mind, reigns supreme. According to John, "Perfect love casteth out fear."⁴ Fear can be countered by the deep, continued realization that man expresses the qualities of Love, such as kindness, grace, and stability. These are always a present possibility with all mankind.

When we wrestle scientifically with the fear of a confrontation, we come face to face with the fact that there is but one Mind, God. Then we can see our neighbor as we see ourselves, as the perfect image and likeness of God. We must strive to see the perfect man, the man of God's creating, not a turbulent mortal. This frees us from strife and allows the peace of perfect Love to control our experiences.