Article July 25, 1983 Issue

Those "aggressive" pronouns!

EDMONDE L. ST. JOHN

The story is told of a schoolboy who was asked what part of speech "my" and "mine" were. He answered, "Aggressive pronouns."

Of course he meant "possessive" pronouns, but the misapplication of the word "aggressive" can be used as an important lesson to the Christian Scientist. How aggressive personal thought can become when attached, for example, to the concepts of body, family, business, church. When these are conceived of as personal possessions or projections, they may suggest to us a false sense of responsibility for health, development, and safety. This personal sense can bring praise; it can also result in censure. Writing in Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy says: "Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be independent workers, personal authors, and even privileged originators of something which Deity would not or could not create."^{Science and Health, p. 263.}

Now, the point is not for us to needlessly get bogged down in self-conscious semantics every time we want to use a possessive pronoun. But it is useful to evaluate just how aggressive our personalizing may be. There is a genuine need to see that since everything belongs to God, nothing can exist apart from Him. Every spiritual idea, be it the true concept of body, family, business, church, must emanate from good, God. He alone maintains His creation. Material belief would persuade us otherwise and load us with the false responsibility of being a self-made man, the victor over—or victim of—our own creations.

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