If we seem to have done a lot of wrong things, if we have an educationally or economically thin background, if we believe we have inherited bad traits of character and are handicapped by them, we may feel there is no hope of gaining satisfaction and success in life. But such a conclusion is totally unnecessary. By utilizing truths that Christian Science clearly explains, we can begin shaking off the liabilities we feel are holding us in a hopeless state. "Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good," Mrs. Eddy tells us with immense encouragement, "and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already done; but distrust of one's ability to gain the goodness desired and to bring out better and higher results, often hampers the trial of one's wings and ensures failure at the outset." ^{Science and Health, p. 260;}

Not one of us need feel that we lack the ability to attain goodness. The spiritually scientific fact is that man is the pure expression of God, good, and not a handicapped and condemned mortal feeling hopeless about life. The truth is that man, the idea of divine Love, is never blinded by wrongdoing—either as its perpetrator or victim —and is never in a hopeless situation. God's idea is always spotless, concordant, and whole. No matter what mountains of trouble seem to be closing us in, no matter what oceans of discouragement seem to be drowning us, it is possible through Science to begin proving now one's immortal innocency.

Luke relates that a woman considered highly immoral approached Jesus as he was dining with a Pharisee. She washed his feet with tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with expensive oil. Her great love and respect for Jesus, which the proud Pharisee had not shown, pointed to her repentance. Jesus assured her, "Thy sins are forgiven." ^{Luke 7:48;} Surely Christ Jesus' profound love, as it emerges in this incident, is indicative of his certainty of man's immortal innocence and of his recognition that it is possible for all individuals, despite a poor mortal history, to achieve good.

Christian Science can set us to work to find what God has already done. And what has God already done? God has made man as His immaculate expression. God has made man innocent of strife, deprivation, disease. Man is God's unflawed representation. Man is blessed with the infinite good of God.

God is Spirit, and His idea is incapable of slipping into the entanglements of materiality. In the allness of Spirit, materiality is an impossible and nonexistent concept. To think of oneself unresistingly and unquestioningly as a sin-prone mortal, caught helplessly and endlessly in some frustrating and degrading material circumstance, will not lead to freedom and goodness. Such false identification hinders our even starting to try our wings. Mrs. Eddy tells us: "Mortals must change their ideals in order to improve their models. A sick body is evolved from sick thoughts. Sickness, disease, and death proceed from fear. Sensualism evolves bad physical and moral conditions." ^{Science and Health, p. 260:}

So it is clear what we must do. We must change our thinking, our models. But no matter how oppressive our conditions, we can begin doing that right now. How? The page following the requirement just noted gives the answer: "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."

In the measure that we follow this rule the possibility of achieving good becomes the actuality of achieving good. As our thinking is spiritualized, our life, evidencing our thinking, changes for the better.

There Is no individual anywhere who is not capable of changing the course of his thinking in this moment. This is because the Christ, the unfoldment of Soul's purity and innocence, is with each of us always, everywhere. The Christ shows us the way to do better from the moment we have the willingness to open our thought to its direction.

The Bible tells us, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." ^{James 4:8.} We can begin drawing nearer to God right now by beginning now to spiritualize our thought, and we will begin seeing proofs of His love for us. Whatever good we can find in our thinking is the real and substantial element in our thinking. We should focus on that good, magnify and cultivate it; the good comes from God, and He will help us do this. Whatever is unworthy or evil in our thinking is the least substantial element of it. Scientifically seen, it hasn't substance or truth at all, and we can start discarding it. Evil cannot perpetuate itself, and there is no authority or cause behind it to perpetuate it. Discord comes from the mistaken belief that man is separated from God. But whatever is good in our thinking, even though it may seem to be the merest glimmer, is indicative of the presence of God, and God is never present in part but always in total.

Such an analysis of our thinking and the following changes in our living will start us on the way to achieving all good.

Geoffrey J. Barratt