Article January 12, 1998 Issue

LIFE WITHOUT CYNICISM

Sandy Portincaso

Last year, when I was thinking about how I could better serve God, the thought came to me to take a stand against cynicism. During some self-examination, I discovered that this attitude was heavily influencing my every thought and keeping me from seeing man as God creates him, as loving, spiritual, and perfect. I also realized that I was spreading cynicism freely! But taking a stand was not as easy as I thought. This was a long-standing habit, and to break its hold, I had to pray daily (some days moment by moment!) to refute the belief that cynicism had more power than God. I also affirmed that God, Mind, would give me the alertness and strength to take my stand for the truth each day. Added to this prayer was the expectation that God, Love, was enabling me to succeed.

Every day I read the Bible and Science and Health. Then one day I discovered this line: "Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness" (Science and Health, p. 332). This really encouraged me. As God's spiritual idea, I could hear only His voice, His thoughts of goodness, which were void of cynicism. And I realized that it is the Christ, not a human, mortal tongue, that silently speaks to mankind and voices the good about God's beloved sons and daughters—you and me.

So I prayed to voice only good about others, to reject evil qualities as true about anyone, and to watch for opportunities to commit myself unselfishly to the success of others. When people would present new ideas to me, I would sincerely listen for the good in them, rather than kill the idea by spouting forth a heavy dose of disapproval or pessimism. Each time a project was assigned, I prayed to approach it with freshness in order to drop any cynical outlining or doubts based on past endeavors. Soon I began to see qualities in those around me that I had never seen before. My eyes were starting to open to the love others were expressing and to pure motives that had often gone unrecognized. It was as if I had emerged into a whole new world! I felt freer, happier, less critical. I even felt more beautiful inside and out. Co-workers and friends commented about this change. They found me much more pleasant to be with—and so did I!

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