Profit

Violet Ker Seymer

To men and women of all professions or no profession, and to young people, Christian Science offers the right understanding of profit. It lifts thought beyond the merely financial aspect of profit, which is apt to involve one in rivalry and worry. The mental sense of what is deeply profitable enables one to use present occupations as stepping-stones to those of purer and more permanent value.

The spirit in which a manager conducts his business, for instance, determines whether or not it shall be in the highest sense profitable. While fully justified in expecting efficiency and zeal on the part of his employees, he will also appreciate the value to him and to them of fair consideration, encouragement, gratitude, and verbal appreciation of their work. These are the profits he should seek to increase, for they are a shield to him against the arguments of stagnation, domination, or lack of opportunity to serve humanity.

In that business which is permeated throughout by the spirit of justice, mercy, and loving-kindness, as taught in Christian Science, both employer and employees will be found seeking in all their dealings to express the integrity of divine Principle and the unerring intelligence of divine Mind. In such a business there will be found no shirking of duties, no unjust blame, no favoritism, no anxiety. Even as business accounts have to be correctly balanced, so should one balance one's account with God, that is, watch and see how closely he is balancing his conscious reflection of God with its perpetual expression in his daily life. The true thinker is convinced of the adequacy of divine Mind on all occasions, and through his conscious dependence profits by it at every turn. Holding closely to the law of cooperation which governs God's ideas, he finds himself animated by the spirit of helpfulness and directed into suitable ways of expressing it.

Paul wrote to Timothy, "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." These precious assets rule out depressing conversation, uncharitableness, doubt, impurity—traits of the carnal mind which are always on the debit side—a dead weight on any individual and any business.

"Godliness is profitable unto all things." The business man or woman, the school-teacher and pupil, the parent and guardian—in short, every individual should look to his reflection of divine Mind for the fruitage of each coming day. Then he will be kind-hearted and light-hearted, alert in seeing and seizing profitable opportunities of every kind. At its close he will find it helpful to note whether it records increased perfection in the execution of every task, strict truthfulness, courtesy, and charitableness in his mental attitude toward all with whom he has been associated, and whether, throughout its vicissitudes, he has maintained the immanent sense that "I and my Father are one." In human intercourse it is obvious that words can be a blessing or a bane. The Christian Scientist seeks to prove that as human speech is divinely controlled it leaves behind it no sting and remorse, but only a blessing.

It is profitable to note how nearly one has remembered his indebtedness to God for all right faculties and qualities and has liquidated it by their active reflection. Then he will, if necessary, replace discouragement with fresh spiritual courage and renew his faith in the right. Thus regarded, each day is of equal value to everyone.

Paul required of Timothy that he "give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine," and, summarizing various duties, he added, "Meditate upon these things; ... that thy profiting may appear to all." Each one's presence at home, in business or society, should be a happifying influence—profitable and agreeable to all. To this end, the Christian Scientist finds that he must be mentally true to God, to his own real nature and that of his fellows, endeavoring to see himself and them even as God sees the image of Himself. This will be a shield to him and to them against every assault of evil temptation. If obsessed by suggestions of resentment, dread, disappointment, boredom, or slackness, the faithful Christian Scientist will promptly turn temptation into victory by utilizing his spiritual weapons. He will remember that every moment of his day is to show profit—spiritual gain. On page 104 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy writes: "I will love, if another hates. I will gain a balance on the side of good, my true being." Thus the sacredness of silent overcoming, liberation from the tyranny of personal sense, and the joy of released loving-kindness hallow each well-spent day.

Whether one's position in business be high or subordinate, the opportunity for spiritual growth is always equal. When the goal before one is seen to be spiritual, his human footsteps toward it are here and now divinely directed, guarded, and rewarded. The highest profit lies, then, in bringing every thought and aim under the control of divine Principle. Christian Science bids those engaged in business be on guard lest engrossment, anxiety, or ambition with regard to financial profits should exclude from their thoughts the deeper consideration of spiritual gain. Jesus said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

Violet Ker Seymer

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No Incurable Disease

April 29, 1933

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