Article August 25, 2014 Issue

To exercise spiritual sense

Kathleen Chicoine

Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 209). The first step in exercising spiritual sense is being willing to step back from our own plans, wants, or fears—from a personal sense of ourselves. When we do this, spiritual sense shows us the presence of divine Love, which is both active and intelligent. Once we know what spiritual sense is, it is easier to recognize something called “personal sense” and, more important, reject it!

Personal sense is the voice that says, “It’s all about me.” It is often evidenced in strong personal feelings about others—criticizing them, benignly thinking we can do a better job than they, or even dwelling on conflict with friends or family members. Its opposite, spiritual sense, is the ability to let God guide our relationships and to see what is good and true in others.

Years ago, I found myself in the middle of a controversial work situation. It felt as though there was so much friction between me and other people, and things got to the point where I wanted to quit. A Christian Science practitioner whom I called gently reminded me, “The path you are on has nothing to do with other people.”

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