Editorial May 13, 1972 Issue

Motivation and Health

Carl J. Welz

One of the great hoaxes of the belief of life and intelligence in matter is the suggestion of mood motivation. Taken in by this hoax, we believe we can't do anything unless something called the mood strikes us. Then we find ourselves victims, sometimes slaves, to whatever it is that produces moods. What makes it a hoax is that this belief tells us it is our very own personality, and accepting it we become proud of it, nurture it, and defend it, when all the while it is sapping our effectiveness, interfering with our peace, and making those who have to live with us miserable. What is more, let alone, it can make us sick. But we can do something about it.

So what is the truth about this hoax? It can be found in these potent words—part of "the scientific statement of being" Mary Baker Eddy gives in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness." Man is motivated by the infinite Spirit; he has no other spirit. This "scientific statement of being" begins: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all."^{Science and Health, p. 468;}

The Bible tells us, "There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."^{Job 32:8;} The moods of a material personality are but counterfeits of divine inspiration. They are expressions of the carnal mind, which, Paul wrote, "is enmity against God."^{Rom. 8:7;} Christian Science teaches us that whenever we accept something that opposes God, Spirit, we subject ourselves to what is opposed to our own intelligently motivated being, for our real selfhood is the reflection of God.