"Another family is trying to move in with us," I told my husband one day, "and this house isn't big enough for both them and us!"

He looked quizzically at me for a moment.

"It's the self family," I explained, and we both broke into laughter. We had awakened to a perfect spring morning, but soon the air seemed filled with small bickerings, unlike the usual peaceful, harmonious atmosphere in the household. We were grateful we had discovered the selfs when we did, for soon, by acknowledging that God alone was in control of our thoughts and actions, they had entirely disappeared again.

This family is one of the oldest known to mankind, and it attempts to encroach upon us when we least expect it. It is so sly and subtle that it is seldom noticed as it gets unpacked and settled. Then wham! One day we wake up startled, wondering why we or our loved ones are acting unkindly toward one another. We may even feel that we have good reasons for doing so! And by acting thus we are allowing self-assertion and selfishness, two offensive family members, to use our thoughts. Jealousy and envy, two of their closest relatives, are always nearby to work with them in their deceitful activity.

We may find ourselves weeping unnaturally over every small circumstance. If we look into our thinking, we will probably find another member of this despicable family lurking there. His name is self-pity, and he plays upon our emotions as he pleases, twanging them as one twangs the strings on a guitar. One of his relatives is emotionalism, but he can do us no harm when we are armed with poise, control, and good humor.

Then there's self-love, leading us into thinking so much about ourselves, our feelings, our wants, that we nearly neglect our families and our duties or think that our rights and wishes should have precedence over theirs. Self-will, yet another member, is perhaps the most tenacious as he clings to us and makes us believe that we actually enjoy his company! Even when finally recognized, he is difficult to oust, because he persistently moves in on us again and yet again.

Although the selfs walk in completely unannounced and unwelcomed when we are unaware of them, there is a means of keeping the mental door barred against them. Since they are aggressive, silent intruders upon our thinking, our thinking is the thing that needs defending.

The alertness of Christian Scientists to this duty is specified in the following Rule from the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy: "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." ^{Man., Art. VIII, Sect. 6;} Working with this statement and obeying it is our daily defense against aggressive mental suggestion, against the selfs and every other error.

In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy states, "In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error,— self-will, self-justification and self-love,—which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death." ^{Science and Health, p. 242;} So cleverly do these selfs masquerade as our own thinking that we often mistake them for a part of our real, spiritual being. So reluctant are we to part with them that we must penetrate their masks in order to perceive that they actually have no real identity. At times they seem virtually impossible to recognize beneath their disguises, unless one is really searching to regenerate his thought. Our perception comes through reflecting divine Love, and Love dissolves "the adamant of error."

Very late one night I was suffering from a severe ache in my throat. The pain was so intense that I could scarcely think clearly. Since I could not sleep, I arose and went into another room to study. I opened the textbook to the above passage and sat pondering it. It came to me that it is not our self-will, self-love, or self-justification that needs to be overcome but that of the one error, the belief in a life and mind separate from God. I reasoned that since God is the one perfect Mind and we are His image, we cannot, in reality, ever express these propensities. Erroneous will makes us believe it is our own thoughts that get filled with pain, discomfort, or sorrow. But the divine Mind alone is our Mind. We reflect only this Mind, perfect and whole. God's benevolent will for us is always good, dispelling the belief of evil will.

Erroneous self-love is error's means of making itself apparent, but our acknowledgment and reflection of divine Love annihilates this false sense of love until there is nothing left to express pain or abnormality. Error's presence would seem to be justified when we accept a belief in material causes and look for them. But as we realize that there has never been any cause but God and that that cause is Spirit and good, the false self-justification of error speedily vanishes, and the falsities of mortal sense disappear. As I thought along these lines, the pain in my throat eased and then completely vanished. Once again the self family had been resisted and put to flight.

We should not be unduly disturbed when we discover the selfs lurking in our consciousness. They seem to be present only when we have let down our guard. The simple solution? To keep constant watch over our thoughts.

Even the most pure-minded individuals have had the selfs to contend with. Consider Christ Jesus' solitary prayer just before his crucifixion: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." ^{Matt. 26:39.} His consciousness was so pure and so at one with God that he always did his Father's will. He instantly perceived the selfs in all their suggestive forms. And he didn't put up with them for an instant.

Neither will we if we strive to keep our consciousness as pure as did Jesus. Let's catch the self family as it tries to sneak in, and remove it before it gets settled! Then there will be no need for a specific ousting party. Let's be spiritually aware that there just isn't room for the self family and us.