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Keeping crime in check
Originally appeared on spirituality.com
On the morning of April 25, 1996, I was in a taxi driving along the River Thames in London. I was on my way to a meeting, but the traffic was slow so my thought wandered as we inched along. As I surveyed the river, I suddenly found myself wondering why a certain terrorist organization, operating then in the United Kingdom, had never planted a bomb under a London bridge. That could cause a great deal of chaos, I remember thinking. But just as soon as this thought hit me, I realized it was an utterly evil line of thinking! And it wasn’t natural to me at all.
As a Christian Scientist, my spiritual study has taught me to discern between good and evil—to hold on to good, God, in my thought as the only reality and power. And likewise, to reject whatever opposes God’s all-goodness. So instead of continuing this idle contemplation, I began to vigorously dismiss it with prayer.
As the reflection of God, divine Mind, I understood that my identity embraced purity, moral courage, and goodness. And I knew this wasn’t just a true spiritual fact for me—it was true for all mankind. So, in essence, I could only identify the individuals and community around me with these higher concepts. Since morbid contemplations couldn’t develop, linger, or take up residence in divine Mind, they couldn’t occupy my thought either—however fascinating they might seem to be.
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