Joy

Alfred Pittman

It early becomes apparent to the student of Christian Science that joy is spiritually natural. He recognizes it as a quality of God, divine Mind, of whom man is the perfect expression; and as he does this, he usually finds himself happier than he was. Through gaining some understanding of his true selfhood as God's likeness, he has clearer evidence of the perfection of that selfhood.

The joy of the divine Mind arises, it is plain, from its consciousness of the allness of good, and this consciousness is reflected by man. Therefore the student begins to see that, like Mind, he can in his real being cognize only good. He sees, further, that good which he can know is not just what he formerly regarded as good. It is vastly better and more satisfying. Good is God; Mind, or intelligence, which is ceaselessly inspiring; Love, which is perfect, changeless, and infinitely resourceful; Life which is altogether harmonious, and eternal. Because of the infinitude of good, of Mind, Life, and Love, the student sees that this divine Principle, which delights and blesses "without variableness," is always present, and that nothing unlike it can really be present, or exist. To begin to understand these basic facts in Science is to be joyful in a new way.

The true understanding of joy is of much practical value in the experience of the student of Christian Science. If, for example, he seems unhappy, he can recognize at once, scientifically, that this is an unnatural and unnecessary condition; and such recognition is in itself an obvious advantage. But his knowledge of the true nature of joy enables him, further, to see where to look for it. He knows that joy is an attribute of God, divine Love. Therefore he has to waste no time in looking for it in matter or materiality, where it is never to be found, but sees that it can be in evidence for him through the expression of Love. As he acts accordingly, and succeeds in forgetting himself in the fuller showing forth of divine Love in his thought and life, the unhappiness vanishes, and joy appears for him, as it has many times done for others.

The student soon sees, further, that joy is allied in the broadest sense with healing power, just as it is allied with love. It comes quite naturally to be regarded as a test of the quality of one's healing work. Generally, this work is happy indeed for those who do it, and in a large proportion of the cases, the needed healing comes quickly. When the healing is delayed, however, the student may sometimes consider profitably whether there has been enough joy in his work; and sometimes he readily sees that lack of it has been the trouble. It is well known that realization of spiritual truth heals in Christian Science, and the truth, being perfect, is always joy-giving. If therefore there is not joy in one's work, it is because the recognition of Truth has not yet been clear enough in it. Often, under such conditions, healing has followed immediately when the student has simply claimed the joy and gratitude that were reasonable for him, on the basis of the facts that he had been acknowledging.

Since it is realization of truth that heals, it is clearly not enough to present a joyless, or even merely hopeful, resistance to any false claim of evil, accompanied though it may be with correct statements of truth. The scientific way, manifestly, is to meet it with the utterly assured love and joy that express the divine Mind. "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation," said Isaiah.

Joy, as understood in Christian Science, does not depend on material circumstances. It depends on man's oneness with God, which is unalterable; and Christian Scientists have been able to prove in gratifying measure that it can be maintained, and can have its natural healing and liberating results, in the face of even the most difficult human conditions.

Christ Jesus set a high example in this respect in the garden of Gethsemane. He was aware that he was about to be betrayed and crucified, and that even his nearest followers were weary and wavering. But in his prayer on that occasion he spoke of his joy. He said, "These things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." It was natural for him to do this because of his clear understanding that joy is in the nature of man; but it is not without significance that when he did it, under such human conditions, he was within three days of his highest demonstration up to that time.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, makes this statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 76): "The sinless joy,—the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness without a single bodily pleasure or pain,—constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual."

Alfred Pittman

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