“Neither red tape nor indignity”

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, once wrote: “. . . neither red tape nor indignity hindered the divine process. Jesus required neither cycles of time nor thought in order to mature fitness for perfection and its possibilities” (Unity of Good, p. 11). One definition of red tape is “official routine or procedure marked by excessive complexity which results in delay or inaction”; indignity is defined as “an act that offends against a person’s dignity or self-respect” (merriam-webster.com).

We may encounter delay, inaction, or even humiliation when working toward purposeful goals in daily life. But the teachings of Christian Science show that we are not subject to bureaucracy or excessive complexity. Jesus found immediate answers to difficulties related to supply, health, and right activity in the face of Pharisaical attempts to prevent progress and subject activity to complication and material rules and rituals.

God’s power to govern and inform is absolute, and the fact that there is one God, who is all-good, assures harmonious interactions even in the face of opposition. This guarantees that even bureaucracy is subordinate to spiritual authority; it can have no strategy or agenda, no channel for disseminating misinformation. We can know that there is no obstruction to the steady, undeviating action of God, divine Principle.