Article December 17, 1979 Issue

Self-consciousness— what self?

HELEN R. CONROYD

Everyone is self-conscious in the broadest sense of the term. Consciousness of self affects all men, women, and children. But we are not all affected in the same way. The question is, What self are we conscious of?

Does that mean we have more than one self? Perhaps a conscious and an unconscious self? Or a spiritual and a mortal self? Not according to Christian Science. Because we are actually conscious expressions of the one God, who is Spirit, we are at all times spiritually expressed. This means our only real self and consciousness are spiritual.

Someone may say, "But that isn't exactly my concept of self-consciousness. I've been through it, and there's nothing spiritual about it! Or Godlike." True—the self-consciousness that would bedevil us is a state of mortal thought that sees no farther than itself. Everything is judged according to how it affects me. At this mental level we often feel timid, over-sensitive, selfish, unkind, unfriendly, indifferent—all the things we don't want to be. And aren't, in reality.

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