Freedom
Men turn to their highest concept of God for the satisfaction of their desires. It is as natural to feel that one's good comes from a source outside one's self, as it is for a child to turn to his parents for love, protection, and supply.
The object of human desires seems with most mortals to be material—better physical health, a larger income, more of what are called the pleasures of life. But that which should really be desired may be expressed more correctly and exactly when it is realized that mankind is in reality longing for freedom, freedom from a false sense of limitation, which is the result of a mistaken sense of health, of supply, of happiness. When one recognizes that one's desires should be for freedom from a limited sense of good rather than for the acquisition of material possessions, he has taken big step towards spiritual understanding. His method of thinking begins to be altered. Since he is definitely seeking a freedom which is spiritual, and his consciousness is no longer pinned down to material sense evidence, he perceives that to acquire freedom he must come into accord with fixed spiritual law. Such a one no longer turns to Christian Science or seeks the aid of a practitioner merely to bring about some material circumstance or condition. He has learned that humanity's method of trying to use spiritual fact to further the designs of human will has not been, and never will be, successful. Christian Science frees consciousness from human will with its mistaken outlining of its material sense of good, and restores the joy of freedom from bondage to the desires of material sense.
Our great Master taught that flesh and blood (materiality) cannot enter the kingdom of heaven; and one who is intelligently striving to enter the straight and narrow way leading to that kingdom studies to bring into his consciousness the recognition of the nature of God and of His creation, realizing that a consciousness filled with spiritual reality is inevitably freed from beliefs contrary to and denying that reality. Mrs. Eddy has made plain the nature of reality. On page 331 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she writes: "The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas." An idea, being entirely mental, is not cognizable by the physical sense, so called; and to become aware of an idea is a mental process wholly independent of sense-evidence.
He, therefore, who is seeking the truth about Life must find it in spiritual consciousness, unhampered by beliefs about matter. To one seeking the truth about supply comes the realization that he must seek a larger understanding of divine intelligence, of divine Love, inclusive of trust, confidence, honesty, gratitude, and kindred qualities. When these reign in thought, there will be freedom from their opposites, fear, greed, dishonesty, and their concomitants, lack and poverty. Divine Love does meet the human need; but mortals should ask themselves, How much divine Love am I admitting into consciousness through reflection with which my need may be met? "Treasures in heaven" is not an idle phrase; and thousands of men and women are coming to the realization that one of life's greatest privileges is the perception and utilization of spiritual good, whose source is inexhaustible, whose riches are bestowed more freely the more earnestly they are sought. It is not possible to seek the highest good in this way and still retain in thought worry or anxiety about the human, temporal sense of possessions.
One of the good and perfect gifts of a loving Father is health. Health is in reality a mental state. Mortals obtain true health in proportion as consciousness is delivered from belief in evil. To admit the presence, power, or existence of sin, disease, and death is to deny the existence of Truth, or God, and is to infringe upon the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." But as one learns to hold steadfastly to the facts of Being,—harmony, peace, strength,—unmoved by the shifting, wavering beliefs of sense-testimony, he experiences greater freedom from such evidence. The physical senses lack power to testify permanently to a consciousness that is rising above the fear of their testimony. Every case of healing in Christian Science is due to the fact that some one or perhaps more than one individual has discarded the fear of belief in evil, and has humbly sought to worship God and to trust His truth and His power to establish the truth.
Humanity's need for freedom is not greater along any line than that which may be called problems of personality. Here there must be brought into the problem the recognition and manifestation of unselfed love, the love which is just yet compassionate, pure yet without self-righteousness, the love which recognizes that "God's children in divine Science," as Mrs. Eddy tells us (Science and Health, p. 444), "are one harmonious family," whose members are not inimical to one another's welfare or happiness. Accompanying this unselfed love is the desire to see as man only that which expresses the right idea, and to recognize as unreal all false beliefs about man. Only thus is relief found from the discordant conflicts that seem to be a part of human relationships. Man's obligation is allegiance to God and loyalty to God's creation; and in proportion as one is loyal to that creation he enters the kingdom of heaven, and is ruling out of his consciousness those concepts which bring evil into his experience. Fear of the unreal no longer darkens his thought or paralyzes his effort. In the gracious words of a well-known hymn:
"If God is all in all,
His children cannot fear.
See baseless evil fall,
Knowing that God is here!
"Oh, Perfect and Divine!
We hear Thy loving call,
And seek no earthly shrine
But 'crown Thee Lord of All.' "
