Watching Our Responses
The way we respond to things plays a large part in determining our peace, harmony, and happiness. Our responses are more important than many of us realize.
One may believe that certain words or actions of another have caused him to be disturbed or miserable, while it is actually the state of his own thinking, rather than the circumstance, that has produced his unhappy feelings.
I became more aware of the importance of watching my responses through the following experience. One afternoon and evening I became the recipient of repeated disturbing telephone calls. Because they continued, coming at regular intervals, I removed the receiver from the telephone at one thirty in the morning so that I could get some sleep.
When I awoke later, I realized the calls had continued because I had reacted to them with annoyance and apprehension. Recognizing the need of correcting my response, I reasoned that since the thinking that produced the calls was erroneous—God, Mind, being the source of all consciousness and action—both the erroneous thinking and the calls themselves were unreal and powerless and could not possibly harm me. I could see clearly they were impelled by mortal mind, or impersonal evil, which seemed to be interfering with my peace of mind.
This Bible promise seemed applicable: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Ps. 91:9, 10 ; I affirmed that in Truth and Love, man's real abiding place, there are no mortals to annoy or to be annoyed, that there are only God's spiritual ideas, all under the control of divine Principle, Love. Then I no longer felt concerned about the situation. Soon the unwelcome telephone calls stopped altogether.
Aggressive suggestions are false and baseless. Because they do not come from God, good, the only Mind, they have no source or origin. Evil, being unreal, has no power or authority to interfere with our enjoyment of spiritually bestowed blessings.
One who keeps his thought filled with truthful ideas responds to such errors as disagreeableness, injustice, unkindness, neglect, and so on with patience, charity, meekness, and spiritual understanding. As a result one remains undisturbed, and is free to deal with any situation wisely and helpfully. Inspired forbearance also may have a beneficial effect on the offender, causing him to change his behavior.
It is always possible for us to respond harmoniously to anything that confronts us, for our real, spiritual selfhood as the likeness of divine Love includes naturally constructive qualities. Mrs. Eddy writes: "Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love. If you maintain this position, who or what can cause you to sin or suffer? Our surety is in our confidence that we are indeed dwellers in Truth and Love, man's eternal mansion." Pulpit and Press, p. 3 ;
How do we respond to physical discord or suffering? To do so with irritability or self-pity, or perhaps to question why one is forced to contend with a problem, may interfere with healing because it admits reality to that which is actually unreal.
As one refuses to believe in the false evidence of the material senses and patiently and courageously persists in the affirmation of spiritual, scientific verities applicable to the case, he is assured of healing. Since disease, deformity, and suffering are not caused by God, the entirely good creator, any evidence of the discords is unreal, having no cause or law, dominion or power. The errors of material sense never become part of man's genuine spiritual being, which, as Mind's idea, is always perfect, free from all inharmony. God's law of perfection acts as a law of harmonious adjustment in human affairs when it is acknowledged as supreme and is relied upon. Having no foundation in Truth, a discordant condition cannot continue when its nothingness and man's eternal, changeless reflection of God are recognized.
When faced with evidence of sin, disease, or deformity, Christ Jesus did not respond with alarm or revulsion or condemnation. Through his realization that men are really the spiritual children of God, he brought healing to many sufferers. He responded to persecution with patience, meekness, and forgiveness. Understanding the impersonal, unreal nature of evil, he prayed from the cross for his crucifiers: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34 ;
To watch our responses, to keep them in accord with Truth and Love, rewards us with increasing peace, happiness, and well-being, and contributes to our spiritual progress. A guideline to right, constructive thinking and harmonious living has been provided us by Mrs. Eddy in the sixth tenet of Christian Science: "And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure." Science and Health, p. 497 .
