Speaker: I'm sure there are times when most of us participate in some kind of group activity. Perhaps it's in an office, in a school, in a club of some kind, or in athletics. No matter what we are doing, whether we're supervising a construction job or planning a vacation trip with the family, it is necessary that we get along harmoniously with others.

But what can we do if a feeling of strife creeps into a group and causes tension and distress? Our guest today is a student from Johnson City, Tennessee. During his second year in college he found himself in the midst of an unhappy situation like that. But instead of merely trying to put up with it, Robert Hodges turned to prayer, to a spiritual understanding of God, for the solution.

Bob, tell us about it.

Mr. Hodges: I was on the cross-country track team. All the members were very good runners, but there seemed to be something missing. There was an atmosphere of rivalry and jealousy because each one had a very good chance of being top man on the squad. The tension built up over a period of weeks while we were training until it became so bad that some of the fellows wouldn't even work out with the others. Then at this point a surprising thing happened. Shortly before our first meet I was elected captain for the year, even though I was the youngest man on the squad. I knew something had to be done, because no group can operate effectively in that kind of atmosphere. So I prayed about it as I'd learned to do in Christian Science. In the Bible it says that "all things work together for good to them that love God." And as I thought about this I realized that in God's creation all things work together in perfect order and harmony, and so there could actually be no rivalry, jealousy, or tension. God didn't create that kind of thought, or give it to man. And so I could see it had no real basis. But I knew each of us could use his God-given capacities, and this didn't have to involve any conflict.

Speaker: That's helpful, Bob, to see that man's real capacities are God-given, because actually man is made in the image and likeness of God and expresses God's qualities, which are good, as Christian Science shows. And the natural result of understanding this would be a change in thinking—more cooperation, a more harmonious atmosphere, a spirit of unselfishness.

Mr. Hodges: I certainly saw the proof of that. I tried to set a good example for the others myself, not just trying to be first man all the time but working for the good of the team. Then just before our first meet, I tried to get over some similar ideas in a little talk to the fellows before we started the race.

Speaker: How did you make out that day?

Mr. Hodges: Well, something happened that showed there was a big change in the atmosphere. This meet was a four-mile cross-country race, and going into the last three hundred yards I heard somebody behind me yelling, "Go faster!" I did, and finished first for our team with this other fellow right behind me. It was one of our men. The two of us talked quite a bit on the way home, and he told me that from the time I'd beaten him in a freshman race, his one desire had been to beat me. He probably could have done it that day, but because one of our opponents was coming up fast, he yelled for me to speed up. The next week he came in first, and I was right behind, yelling for him to go faster this time. And the week after that still another fellow came in first. We had a wonderful season; and at the end we couldn't actually say that any one of us had been top man for the whole year, because so many of us had come in first in the different meets, and all the boys were happy with it that way. One of the seniors said he'd enjoyed that season more than any; the atmosphere had been so friendly and good. And if you could have seen the way it was before, you'd realize why I say that only an understanding of God could have brought about such a change. There's no doubt about it. Christian Science does show us how to overcome inharmony wherever it crops up, because it reveals the truth of God and man.

Speaker: Thank you for telling us about that experience, Bob. It must have been a real pleasure to see the changed mental atmosphere of the track team.

Friends, let's talk for a moment about this word "atmosphere." Now when our guest referred to this word, he was, of course, using it in its figurative sense—as a surrounding or pervading influence. I'm sure all of us have had the experience of walking into a room crowded with people and immediately sensing the mental atmosphere of joy, or boredom, or perhaps tension. It's not uncommon to hear someone speak of the atmosphere of thought. In fact, we might say that the atmosphere of any group is determined by the thinking of those within it. If there are dark clouds of envy, rivalry, tension, and jealousy among the members, inharmony and failure are likely to be the result. As it says in the Bible, "Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."

But how can we go about eliminating strife in daily affairs? Christian Science explains that problems involving human relationships can be solved through the prayer of spiritual understanding. Efforts to correct an unhappy situation by our trying to adjust conflicting human views may end in failure or only lead to worse conflict. But we find the answer when we change our thinking from a material to a spiritual basis, in other words, bring our thoughts into communion with God, divine Principle, Love, and realize the true, spiritual status of the man of God's creating.

You see, God, infinite Spirit, knows only harmony and governs His creation in perfect order. From this, we can reason that man, as the spiritual expression of God, must always dwell in the atmosphere of infinite Spirit; he must always express divine Love's harmonious government, which maintains all in perfect harmony. Sinful qualities of thought, such as distrust, suspicion, jealousy, and envy, are no part of man, God's perfect, spiritual likeness. We become immune to conflict and strife in proportion as thought is adjusted to this spiritual basis. Mary Baker Eddy makes this clear in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she says (p.70), "Whatever is false or sinful can never enter the atmosphere of Spirit."

As we learn to understand and prove these truths of spiritual being, tension and strife give way to harmony in daily affairs. Jealousy can be overcome as we realize that divine Love is impartial and bestows the abundance of infinite good upon man without discrimination.

Our gaining a spiritual understanding of God and man will not only bring peace and harmony to our daily affairs, but is bound to bless all with whom we come in contact. It enables us to become more constructive members of a group. Mrs. Eddy compares this healing influence of spiritual thoughts to the rays of a sunset when she says in her book "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 356): "A radiant sunset, beautiful as blessings when they take their flight, dilates and kindles into rest. Thus will a life corrected illumine its own atmosphere with spiritual glow and understanding."

The musical selection on the program was Hymn No. 144 from the Christian Science Hymnal (In atmosphere of Love divine).