Speaker: Have you ever stopped to think how much of the trouble in the world comes from wrong attitudes, from the wrong approach to our problems? The youngster who starts out convinced he can't learn algebra, the adult who "fights his job"' and magnifies his difficulties, those unfortunate persons who continually bicker with their neighbors—all these people are interfering with their own progress; they are victims of wrong thinking.

Our guest today overcame challenging problems in a high school classroom by correcting his attitude, by turning to God, divine Mind, for an understanding of man's God-given dominion. Our guest is Thomas C. Coddington of Madison, Wisconsin. He will tell us of his experience.

Mr. Coddington: While I was teaching high school English, my first teaching assignment, I had a serious problem of discipline. Three boys in particular were constantly distracting attention, and soon other students began to disrupt the routine. I began to dread entering the classroom. In order to correct the situation, I tried various tactics: I ignored the misbehavior; then I made threats of punishment; occasionally I displayed temper. I tried everything I knew to establish order, but gradually I lost control of the situation. I talked it over with the school principal, and we agreed I had to work this out for myself. No one else could maintain discipline for me. I had to win respect as the constituted authority in the classroom, just as a parent would do in the home.

At last I realized I had not approached the problem in the way I knew was always effective; that is, by making use of my understanding of Christian Science. So I turned to the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and I asked a Christian Science practitioner to help me.

As I studied, I saw that I had to correct my own sense of the situation; so I started out by realizing some fundamental facts about the nature of God: that He is all-powerful and ever present and so has dominion over His infinite creation. Also I clarified my thought as to the true nature of man as stated in the Bible: that man is God's image, made in His likeness. Consequently, man must reflect God's dominion, and in reality he expresses this dominion eternally. As Christ Jesus tells us, "The kingdom of God is within you." Instead of seeing myself and the students as discordant, unhappy mortals, I gained a clear understanding of the fact that man is the harmonious idea of divine Mind.

I knew that when we realize these spiritual facts and understand them, we experience the operation of God's law of adjustment. And very soon I began to see proof of this. I felt an inner poise, and I felt also a growing respect among the students. When disturbances arose, I didn't ignore them, but handled them vigorously and firmly. At the same time I maintained my poise. There was no feeling I'd been harsh with the students, but good humor, order, and attention began to prevail in the classroom.

At another time, I had an opportunity to prove in a different way how the understanding of man's God-given dominion enables us to meet practical problems. There was a girl in my algebra class who was extremely shy and felt inferior to her classmates. She was convinced she could not understand algebra, and I learned that the other teachers considered her incapable of grasping other subjects. Some thought she was mentally retarded. Knowing what I did about the true nature of God and man, I could not accept such statements as true. I knew that to limit man, who is God's reflection, would be tantamount to limiting God's intelligence.

These ideas enabled me to overcome the feeling that it would be hopeless to try to teach this girl. I encouraged her to come in for special help on any phase of algebra that troubled her. She despaired of attempting any of the algebra problems, but I pointed out that in order to succeed, she would first have to make the effort. We went step by step through many problems and also reasoned occasionally about her ability to do the work.

Her work came in regularly, and occasionally she recited in class, something she had not done before. At the end of the semester this girl had improved more than any other member of the class, and she passed the course.

I've had other experiences, too, which have proved to me beyond any doubt how effective it is to approach our problems in the constructive way of reliance on God.

Speaker: I think you've made it clear, Mr. Coddington, how effective the understanding of man's God-given dominion can be in solving practical, everyday problems. When we let this understanding determine our approach, our attitude, this removes the barriers of discouragement, defeatism, confusion, and it opens the way for success.

And, friends, let me emphasize that this constructive attitude toward the problems of daily life is not a matter of mere optimistic, human thinking. The prayerful approach which brings the answer to every human problem is an earnest desire to understand God better and to understand man better. When we do understand God and when we understand what is true of man in His image and likeness, we can know and experience man's God-given dominion—the dominion described in the Bible as dominion "over all the earth."

Christian Science shows that the way to surmount the problems of life is to exchange human concepts of ourselves and of others for the spiritual understanding of man's real nature, made in the image and likeness of God, as the Bible says.

Now let's just take a moment to consider this real nature of man. Christian Science reveals that God is divine Mind, infinite, perfect Mind, the source of all intelligence, wisdom, and perception. And since the real man is made in the likeness of God, it is obvious that he must express this intelligence and ability.

This is the line of reasoning our guest used in working out the problems he faced in the schoolroom. This method of approach to the problems of everyday living and the wonderful results it brings are brought out in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. For example, Mrs. Eddy says on page 531: "The human mind will sometime rise above all material and physical sense, exchanging it for spiritual perception, and exchanging human concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man will recognize his God-given dominion and being."

And so it is that through spiritual perception, through the spiritual understanding of God and man, you and I can prove step by step in practical ways the great truth which Christ Jesus taught and proved and taught others to prove. He expressed this truth of man's God-given dominion in these words which are from the Gospel of Luke: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, To here! or, to there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

The musical selection on the program was Hymn No. 382 from the Christian Science Hymnal (What is thy birthright, man ...?).