Many people are creatures of habit. Some of their habits are good, some bad, others indifferent. But whatever the quality, if thoughts and acts develop from unthinking repetition, they will form a pretty flimsy base on which to build a harmonious and progressive life.

How easily a good habit can fluctuate and become a bad one! It lacks the stabilizing influence of spirituality. To be consistent in our expression of good, we discover the need to go above mere repetitive human thinking and learn something of man's unity, or oneness, with God, infinite divine Mind. We must begin to understand our real selfhood to be spiritual, an idea living in and exactly expressing the perfect nature of this Mind.

To attempt to correct or discipline mortal mind through willpower is to court defeat. This mind cannot evangelize itself, because it is inherently false. Belief in its reality and power must be given up, and the one real Mind must be accepted as the only consciousness of man. As thought humbly yields to the allness of the eternal Ego—as one recognizes it to be the omniscient "I" of his being, the Principle of every thought and act—his human life becomes more consistently Godlike. It becomes clearly evident that good character traits and their resultant order and consistency of action are not attained by mortally mental processes but by the freshness and spontaneity of spiritual knowing.

There is nothing vague or inert about this knowing. It requires a definite, sustained effort to hold thought to spiritual reality and conform conduct to the high standards of Christian living. Mrs. Eddy writes, "There is no excellence without labor; and the time to work, is now." Further on she continues: "The lives of great men and women are miracles of patience and perseverance. Every luminary in the constellation of human greatness, like the stars, comes out in the darkness to shine with the reflected light of God." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 340;}

Blind habit at times may seem to be a positive influence, but consistent progress and excellence of performance require a great deal more. Those who accomplish much cannot be mere automatons obeying the direction of habitually established patterns of thought or modes of activity. They must be mentally awake, conscious of what they are doing moment by moment.

Mrs. Eddy herself was mentally alive through spiritual inspiration. She was alert to the needs and possibilities of the moment. In her great work as Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, human habits of thought, stereotyped ways of doing things, were cast aside. The freshness of inspiration led her into a new realm of spiritual discovery. She tells us, "The divine hand led me into a new world of light and Life, a fresh universe—old to God, but new to His 'little one.' " And then speaking further of her discovery, and the demands it makes on us in our relation to God, she continues, "He must be ours practically, guiding our every thought and action; else we cannot understand the omnipresence of good sufficiently to demonstrate, even in part, the Science of the perfect Mind and divine healing." ^{Retrospection and Introspection, pp. 27, 28;}

If the one Mind is "guiding our every thought and action," we won't let our study of Christian Science become just a good habit. We will view it as a vital, ever-new spiritual adventure. Although it is valuable to pursue one's study in a regular, systematic way, any sense of mere habitual duty—just going through the motions— should be detected and destroyed.

To Christ Jesus, prayer to God was normal and natural. It was not just a repetitively acquired habit. It was a joyous communion with divine Love that renewed and strengthened him and made him equal to his great mission. This understanding of his real selfhood, ever at one with Mind, was the Christ, the saving, vitalizing idea that he prayed might be understood by all mankind. He asked "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." ^{John 17:21;}

However, we must recognize that destructive habits based on a persistent preoccupation with the human body and its desires can seem to hide the primal oneness of real being. Sensual habits cloud one's spiritual perception and hide the coexistence of God and man, Mind and idea. Mrs. Eddy warns, "Selfishness and sensualism are educated in mortal mind by the thoughts ever recurring to one's self, by conversation about the body, and by the expectation of perpetual pleasure or pain from it." ^{Science and Health, p. 260.}

When confronted with a wrong habit that tenaciously resists correction, we soon find that we need help from a source beyond and above any personal effort we can make. Spiritual strength and inspiration are needed.

We must clearly, decisively, recognize our unity with omnipotent, all-satisfying divine Love—man's only Mind—and vigorously reject the mesmeric attraction of evil. This can and will silence the aggressor, however habitual it seems to be.

Alan A. Aylwin