The first time the writer of this article read the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, it might almost have been written in an unknown language, so little of it did she understand and appreciate. However, having witnessed the beneficial effects of its sincere study on those who had introduced her to it, she embarked on a second reading, with much happier results. Light, though in limited measure, began to dawn on what had previously seemed hidden and obscure.

The grain of Truth which she had accepted and assimilated began at once to have its salutary effect in the healing of minor ailments and unattractive traits of character. Headaches and colds, which had occurred so frequently that they seemed to be a part of her being, faded out. Irritability, sensitiveness, and personal pride gradually gave place to calmness, peace, and unselfed love.

No sense of hurt or harm can remain in the consciousness of one whose constant endeavor is to realize the kingdom of God within. True humility, so essential to the recognition of man's spiritual being, imbues one with confidence in the reality of all that is right. When we are convinced of the spiritual rightness of our thoughts and actions, unkind or unjust criticism fails to touch or disturb us. Correct reasoning includes the perception of the image and likeness of God in all men everywhere and of the nothingness and powerlessness of all wrong thoughts and intentions. Until attached to a horse, the cart is motionless, incapable of action. Similarly, error can of itself do nothing until it is, in belief, attached to an individual. If then we would not be guilty of harming our fellow men, we must make it our daily, hourly, prayerful practice to see ourselves and others as we are seen of God.

In a very courageous and forceful article entitled "Taking Offense," Mary Baker Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 223, 224): "To punish ourselves for others' faults, is superlative folly. The mental arrow shot from another's bow is practically harmless, unless our own thought barbs it. It is our pride that makes another's criticism rankle, our self-will that makes another's deed offensive, our egotism that feels hurt by another's self-assertion." Whether we admit it or not, our experiences are largely the result of our own thinking, our own decisions. We are the arbiters of our fate, for through understanding God's control over His universe we can prove that persons, places, and things cannot limit our demonstration of true being.

When sending his disciples into the world to preach the gospel and to heal the sick and sinning, Christ Jesus said (Luke 10:19), "I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." And he gave them a reassuring and comforting promise in these seven words: "Nothing shall by any means hurt you." To accept this promise for ourselves without reservation, and to know that because it is of God it will be kept, is to enfold ourselves in a panoply of protection from all that would bring harm, distress, or dismay into our experience.

The writer is reminded of two instantaneous healings which resulted from the understanding and application of this promise. One day, while preparing the midday meal, she upset a pan of boiling water over her hand. For a few moments the pain was intense, but as she reached out for the divine help she knew to be ever present and available, the words, "Nothing shall by any means hurt you," entered her consciousness with such force and conviction that she realized that her true and only selfhood was forever unharmed. This realization was so clear that the pain ceased and she proceeded to serve the meal in perfect freedom. The incident was quite forgotten until, later in the day, another opportunity to prove the truth of the Master's promise presented itself.

She and her husband were sitting on a heather-covered moor when, pointing to some object of outstanding interest, she looked at her hand and suddenly remembered that it was the one that had been so badly scalded two or three hours earlier. With a deep sense of awe and gratitude she noticed there was not a sign of the injury. As they were leaving the moors her husband gave a cry of distress and pain. A bee had flown behind his spectacles and stung his eye. Resolutely looking away from person and turning wholeheartedly to divine Love, the writer once again thought of the words, "Nothing shall by any means hurt you." They were as replete with comfort, assurance, and confidence in good as they had been earlier that day.

Accompanying that precious promise was the realization of God's impartial love, together with the statement from Science and Health (p. 514): "All of God's creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible." Then she heard her husband say, "It is all right now," and looking around she saw him mounting his bicycle in absolute freedom. There was no sting to remove, no harmful aftereffects whatever. How true it is that correct scientific knowing blesses not only oneself, but all who come within the radius of that knowing.

Persistently loving and obeying God's law of harmony, could we ever be offended or robbed of peace and poise? The Bible assures us (Ps. 119:165), "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them."

We are not responsible for what others think, but we are responsible for our concept of what they are thinking. Seeing each and all as in reality the man God made, we rejoice in the truth that there is in Mind's reflection no evil will, wish, or desire. In man there is nothing to harm or be harmed. It is the nature of divine Love to bless its own ideas. Man, God's image, is forever safe in the divine embrace, forever conscious of the presence of Mind, forever aware of his unity with all that is good and beautiful, happy and free.