Article June 20, 1977 Issue

Don't Fear Life, Love It

ETHEL R. RETHMAN

In "The Lobster-Quadrille" in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is this engaging invitation: "Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance." The dance of life— would we want to miss a minute of it, want it to pass us by? Not if we know the true nature of Life. Life is God, Spirit, ever present, perfect, infinitely good; and Spirit's creation expresses this divine Life. God did not just create life; He is the very Life of all creation, of you and me and of all His teeming spiritual universe. Spiritual sense bears witness to this glorious fact, to the divinely mental, illimitable, indestructible nature of life, expressing Life, God.

Why, then, do we not more fully enjoy our life's unlimited possibilities and freedom? Christ Jesus said, "Freely ye have received, freely give."^{Matt. 10:8;} Could it be that we are too occupied with fearing instead of loving? The Bible tells us, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear."^{I John 4:18;} Fear is self-centered thinking; love is selfless and therefore fearless. Real love, spiritual love, reflects divine Spirit—unlimited, impartial, knowing nothing unlike itself. Fear would bluff us out of all the good that is native to man. It would limit us to destructible matter. Can you think of a more extravagant waste of thought, emotion, energy than the indulgence of fear? Through understanding Life to be God, we have the weapon with which to replace fear's empty threats with victory.

How are we to rout fear? By accepting only the evidence of spiritual sense as Christian Science teaches, and rejecting unconditionally any evidence of the material senses. Who has ever been frightened by what spiritual sense imparts? Spiritual sense shows us life reflecting Life. It imparts harmony, perfection, peace, joy, health, goodness, beauty. Spiritual sense, expressing divine Principle, not personality, unselfs one and so removes the fear, "What's going to happen to me?" Unselfed thinking includes nothing that can fear or cause fear. Unselfishness releases divine energies, which wipe out fear.

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