Editorial September 22, 1986 Issue

Can we live without goodness?

WILLIAM E. MOODY

If you were asked to list the basic necessities of life, more than likely you would start with food and water as essential. Most people would probably also add clothing and adequate shelter, and conclude that with these primary needs satisfied, human life could survive. And so it has for thousands of years.

There is something else, however, that may not appear very often on most people's list of what is necessary for life. But it truly is vital, and in ways that we might never have imagined. It is goodness. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy makes this arresting statement: "Mortals suppose that they can live without goodness, when God is good and the only real Life."^{Science and Health, p. 328.}

Goodness isn't a luxury. It really isn't something we can choose to do without, or get by with less of, or put off until there's a better time for it. Goodness is absolutely essential to our lives, now and always. And it is inherent in the man of God's creating, a fundamental element of our real being.

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