Students at colleges and universities are being presented with a new method for finding satisfying companionship. This method offers supposedly successful matching of one individual with another when answers to a number of questions are input to a computer.

An examination of the underlying concepts involved in this method indicates the agelong fact that young people seek someone of fill a void in their lives, to bring into their experience that which seems to be lacking. Erich Fromm in his book The Art of Loving says, "The deepest need of man, then, is the need to overcome his separateness, to leave the prison of his aloneness." ^{The Art of Loving, p. 9;} Sometimes one believes it necessary to overcome this sense of separateness through a meaningful relationship with another. One also finds a sense of urgency involved, indicating that one must find his future companion immediately or else face a long, lonely life.

The computer method supposedly offers an instant answer to one's desire for right companionship. But can a computer really solve a problem of companionship? Can reliance upon a merely human concept of man, evaluated by a machine, bring satisfying relationships into our experience? Earnest students of Christian Science would say No.

Divine Mind alone, not human action, joins and blesses; and the understanding of this fact dispels suggestions of loneliness, separation, indecision, or loss. Christ Jesus said, "What ... God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." ^{Mark 10:9;} To solve any problem in Christian Science, a student will turn away from the argument of lack to his understanding of God, divine Love, as the source of all good. He will see that in reality as the reflection of Love he is already complete. He readily acknowledges that as the idea of Spirit he includes forever all right ideas—companionship, happiness, and abundant love. Knowing, as Jesus did, that man abides forever at one with God, he realizes that he can never be separate from divine Love or deprived of joy, satisfaction, and completeness.

However, one must not only affirm what is true but also specifically deny the claims of mortal mind that would attempt to ensnare him into accepting any belief of lack or of separateness. Perhaps one is without right social activity. From the standpoint of man's unity with God's goodness he can claim as his by divine reflection the qualities of generosity, lovingkindness, and joy and then express them. At the same time he will deny as part of his real selfhood the aggressive suggestions of timidity, lack of opportunity, or belief in a cataloged type of human personality.

We may seem unable to choose from a number of seemingly acceptable companions. Through reliance upon the omnipotence of the one Mind, present and active with us, we can be led to make a wise choice. Or, if we have already made a choice and find that it was a mistake, listening for and following Mind's unerring direction will heal such a situation and bring peace and harmony to all concerned.

The who may have lost what appeared to be the only "right one" can find peace and happiness through the recognition that the ideas of Love are not separated but are forever at one. Giving in to self-pity or self-condemnation never heals. Yielding to the divine impulsion rather than human will brings renewal, regeneration, and the open door of opportunity.

Accepting the belief of separateness, together with looking at things from a material standpoint, might lead a student into attempting to find satisfaction in a purely physical relationship. This seeking of satisfaction in that which is fleeting is lacking in responsibility and good judgment. This short-term type of satisfaction lacks maturity; it lacks true love. It takes rather than gives. The quality of thought that needs artificial stimulation and that seeks physical release is based on a wrong foundation and cannot over-come fear and a sense of inadequacy.

It we begin any project, either a social engagement, a business venture, or a new human relationship, with a sense of our own God-given worth, together with a genuine interest in giving to and blessing our followmen, we grow out of the fear born of self-centered thought. Searching for lasting relationships through emphasis on the physical ends in lack of satisfaction and lack of peace. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Early had I learned that whatever is loved materially, as mere corporeal personality, is eventually lost." ^{Retrospection and Introspection, p. 32;}

How may a Christian Scientist see evidenced in his experience the qualities of Deity, such as righteousness and good? Mrs. Eddy gives the answer in these words: "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts." ^{Science and Health, p. 261.}

Because man is the immortal evidence of God, the divine Father-Mother, the qualities of true manhood—strength, perseverance, protectiveness—as well as those of true womanhood, tenderness, inspiration, solicitude—may rightfully be claimed by each one, whether male or female, and be exercised in one's daily activities.

Through devotion to Truth one will find himself expressing the completeness of true being rather than believing that he is only half a person, who must find the other half in order to be complete. One will become conscious of his wholeness as the expression of God, suffering no sense of lack or loneliness, feeling no sense of limitation because of a claim of human personality. Rather will he become aware that he is the image of God and that he reflects the wholeness and completeness of Deity. He will then find the qualities of true manhood and womanhood being evidenced in his human experience.

To sustain and maintain a relationship, one must rely upon Mind to guide and direct his activities. To begin a social experience with reliance upon a computerized evaluation of material personalities and then to look for spiritual help to solve other problems that may come in a friendship or marriage is tantamount to defeat. Dividing one's loyalty weakens one's ability to demonstrate Truth. But as we start with Mind and rely wholeheartedly on its unerring direction, happy relationships result.