What Is Your World?
"Well, if you're in that kind of world, you just have to go along with it."
What kind of world?
The business world of the headlines, where legitimate, creative expression is often accompanied by glamour and excitement that blur—even obscure—moral sense. Where the pressure is strong to join in alcoholic conviviality or drug experimentation. Where expense accounts are falsified as a matter of course and truth is shaped to convenience. It is a world where much that is good appears to be offset by excesses that may sweep one up with momentary fascination. After the moment is over, one is left flat, unsatisfied.
But is this the real world—or is it just a generally accepted concept? Viewed from the standpoint of spiritual sense, each of us is a pure idea of Mind, which is God, created and guided by Him. Our destiny and opportunity for expression are governed by divine law, not personal whim. Our world, indeed our universe, is the inviolable atmosphere of the one divine Spirit, or Soul. Each of us is in perfect relationship to every other idea, never needing to push, never being pressured to obtain and hold on to success. The power of God—of divine Love—is the only influence in this world. Divine Principle is its standard for living.
Christian Science proves that these absolute facts of God, man, and the spiritual universe, understood and held in consciousness, act with power. They free one from the pressures to join in with, or at least condone, immorality in business or business-associated activities. They change one's experience in any field from a negative refusal to go along with the crowd to a positive example of Christlike living, which works to leaven the grossest lump of materiality.
Mrs. Eddy advises her readers in Science and Health, "Never breathe an immoral atmosphere, unless in the attempt to purify it." Science and Health, p. 452 ; If our careers bring us into a situation not conforming to the standard of Principle as we understand it, in that very situation our pure, spiritually motivated thoughts and actions can change the course of events. Often we can take the initiative in fresh and original ways and guide others to higher, more rewarding activities.
Sometimes just by being ourselves and maintaining our standards, we bring a new idea to colleagues.
Soon after she stepped into an office for a job interview, a Christian Scientist was offered an alcoholic drink. When she declined, the quick, intrigued retort was, "That's original!" She got the job. Months later, an executive who had interviewed her came into her office and sank wearily into a chair. He said he must really follow her plan and stop drinking, because the amount of it that he was having to do in the course of business was wearing him out.
Christ Jesus, our ever-relevant guide, showed us the way by his own career. Before he began his healing and regenerating work, he clearly heard God declare that he was His beloved Son. Jesus' grasp of this divine fact was tested during his forty days in the wilderness. So sure was he of his relationship to God that no devious arguments of the devil, or evil, beguiled him. He proved that he was prepared to face with positive effect every type of worldly thought. Mrs. Eddy writes of him, "Since Jesus must have been tempted in all points, he, the immaculate, met and conquered sin in every form." p. 564 ;
Jesus' loving compassion gave a fresh start to the woman taken in adultery and chastened the self-righteousness of those who had brought her to him. His firm exercise of Principle sent the money changers flying from the temple. The experience of those with whom Jesus came in contact was lifted higher because he saw beyond the concept of a material man and material world to each man's spiritual nature as God's pure heir.
When we too are firmly grounded on the spiritual fact of our sonship with God, alert to the disguises of evil and armed against them, we can face any situation. If it needs purifying, we can purify it. However, it is vital to work from the basis of everyone's innate goodness as God's reflection rather than from the view of one pretty good mortal trying to improve other mortals who are not so good.
Is anyone, perhaps, afraid of being the only one who sticks to Principle in a business group where moral standards differ from his—or seem nonexistent? Mrs. Eddy has a comforting antidote for this fear. She writes, "You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this. Then you will find that one is as important a factor as duodecillions in being and doing right, and thus demonstrating deific Principle." Pulpit and Press, p. 4 ;
Sometimes, deep in our hearts, we may be bothered by what business colleagues may say about us if we take an ethical stand that seems unusual, if not unnatural, to them. But which means more to us—allegiance to spiritual standards, or the personal opinions of others? And how do we really know what another is thinking?
Let me given an example from my own career. After what seemed a long search and much prayer, I was offered a very interesting job. The new company needed me at once, and when my government work permit did not come through quickly, I agreed to start without salary. It was against the law to earn money before one had the permit. So unusual was this stand that my employer called in the company lawyer to try to convince me to take the money. But I had just had a sharp lesson in abiding by Principle and strictly obeying the law of the land, so I did not yield. This, added to the fact that I did not indulge in behavior which seemed quite natural to my employer, made me appear unique and not a little strange to him. In time the permit came, and about a year later I was given a bonus covering the period I had worked without pay. My relationship with my employer became one of abiding affection and respect on both sides.
Do we sometimes feel that the moral challenges in our present work are really too great and that the best course is to leave? Perhaps it is, and thoughtful prayer will bring the answer. However, it is helpful to remember Jesus' communing with God about his apostles at the end of his earthly career. He said, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." John 17:15 ; After his resurrection, he said to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15 .
If our prayers lead into work where our talents can best be expressed, we can move serenely in any situation, assured that our human activities are embraced in God's arms. His is the only world we have to go along with. It is, in fact, where we abide.
