Emerson saw how heavy a load a human opinion may be in one's experience when he referred to "the deep slumber of a decided opinion."

One does not have to go far to encounter human opinion. Men and women—and often children too—have very definite opinions as to what they shall eat, how they shall dress, their own and others' conduct, the weather, art, politics, religion, and a thousand other things. Often when these opinions clash, fire and friction result; argument and ill will are generated.

Frequently a mortal's thinking is not much more than an assortment of opinions derived largely from other mortals, whose opinions he consents to accept as his own. What he reads and what he hears is mostly human opinion, and he selects such of it as appeals to his thought. Said David Lloyd,

However, well-reasoned, unprejudiced opinion is often the result of thoughtful observation and experience, and is certainly not to be cast aside as worthless. It frequently represents the best form of guidance the individual can see at the time, yet it never equals that infallible wisdom which inheres in God, and is reflected by His man.

The many opinions in human thought are the outcome of the common belief that every individual has a mind of his own which often entertains a viewpoint quite contrary to that of his neighbor. When Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science, she discovered the basic truth that absolute intelligence is the primal quality of Mind; further, that since absolute intelligence is by its very nature one, Mind, wherein this intelligence is, must likewise be one and only one. Therefore, there are in truth and reality not many minds, but one only, and all true identity is the individual expression of this one and only Mind.

The identities produced by Mind, as its expression, certainly have no capacity for entertaining mortal opinions. Each one reflects the Mind that does not opine but knows. Each individual expression of Mind constantly derives, through reflection, absolute knowledge, unclouded understanding, not from human persons or sources, but from God, the all-knowing Mind, to whom variable opinion is unknown.

Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 399), "The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opinions." Let us remember this. Then mortal opinions cannot be in man, who is one with God. There is no occasion for them. When consciousness knows what is true, there is nothing concerning which to have an opinion. Mind produces only the consciousness that humbly and joyously knows— never opines—and in that truthful knowing it is fully satisfied.

Frequently Mr. A, if in doubt with regard to what course of action to follow, asks Mr. B: "What do you think about this? What is your opinion as to what I should do?" Sometimes a hasty opinion is given which misguides the questioner. Even Christian Science practitioners have been known to make the mistake of giving out personal advice that is only mortal opinion. Their real work, first and last, is to help their patients find God, and through spiritual understanding become conscious of His control over the thoughts, words, and acts of men.

The true course for the individual in need of counsel is to turn humbly to the all-loving intelligence that is his Father, his Mother, his Mind, and his God, and pray with the Psalmist, "Teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth" (Ps. 25:4, 5). He must realize his unity with unerring Mind, whose function it is constantly to determine every thought and act of man. Not from human persons, however well-intentioned, but from the one infinite Person, comes the wisdom that never errs, the guidance that never fails. There is but one condition—that we trust the infinite One with all our heart, then listen, and obey.

So let us be less and less inclined to lean on personal opinions, be they our own or those of others, and more and more willing to lean on the promptings and guidings of the "still small voice"' of Truth and Love. Mortal opinions are not the result of humble, prayerful reliance on God. Usually they are the product of human reasoning, which can never be a substitute for divine inspiration, expressed by man through the activity of spiritual law.

To free ourselves from belief in, and sometimes a fear of, mortal opinion, the true idea of God and man must be gained. So long as one believes he is a human person, he is likely to turn with fear, or undue respect, to mortal opinion. Both human personality and human opinion are the outcome of mortal mind, the opposite of immortal Mind. In the degree one perceives that his individuality is not a mere human person, but the spiritual, individual evidence and expression of God, he turns from reliance on, or concern over, mere human opinion, to the all-knowing Mind, which causes man, its idea, to know even as God knows.

Differing mortal opinions are represented by schools of medicine and religion, by political parties, conservatives and liberals, by democratic and totalitarian states. But there is one truth as to medicine, religion, government, and all things, and that unadulterated truth is found only in the teachings of Christ Jesus and Christian Science. Therein are no mortal opinions, but the demonstrable truths concerning God, man, intelligence, law, health, and all that is. In the degree these truths are assimilated, loved, and lived, we express the perfection of being, which has no sense of mortal opinions, but spontaneously manifests the unfolding wisdom, love, and good that are the substance of our life, and declare the activity within us of God's law.

Paul Stark Seeley