No demand upon us is more urgent than that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

This is easier said than done. How can we love a neighbor who appears to be anything but lovable and who has irritated or injured us? That seems like an unfair challenge, until the spiritual understanding of the oneness and allness of a divine, supreme, infinite Mind dawns upon our thought. How do we arrive at this understanding?

The Christian Scientist finds that a prayerful readiness, a humble, deep inclination toward God, good, and a sincere effort to lead a life in harmony with divine Truth and Love, lifts his thought from a worldly sense of things to spiritual perception. Essential to this end is his daily study of the Bible in the light of Christian Science —a study that the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly outlines for him each week, and that he pursues further in the writings of Mrs. Eddy. Through this study he comes to recognize the distinction she makes between so-called mortals—men as they are too generally seen, sinning, suffering, and dying—and the true, immortal man God has created. She says in Science and Health, "Mortal man is the antipode of immortal man in origin, in existence, and in his relation to God." ^{Science and Health, p. 215;}

To mortal sense we see the person in his external appearance and inadequacy—a man consisting of a body that can be attractive or ugly, beautiful or deformed. Does this constitute the man that Christ Jesus commanded us to love?

The Bible says: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." ^{Gen. 1:26;} But how often we have read or heard this passage without the spiritual illumination that would have awakened us to the fullness of this truth!

To recognize our neighbor as he really is, in the image of his creator, we must first recognize God. In Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy unfolds the nature of God through seven synonyms: "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." ^{Science and Health, p. 465;} God, divine Mind, is the creative Principle, the guiding Truth, the pervading Love, the perceiving Soul, the all-knowing Spirit, the infinite Life. Man, the spiritual idea which proceeds from this Mind, reflects his source in every quality. It is his only Ego.

God is absolutely good, perfect, and harmonious, and He is infinite, including nothing contrary to Himself. He is all power, all wisdom, and from His unlimited fullness flows everything that is real. His nature is echoed by all the good we see around us, by every word and act of truth and love. He is perpetually active, and is constantly animating us with good impulses. As we awake to this fact, we find Him always present, always leading us to think good thoughts and to express and do good only.

What is true of us is true of our neighbor. He is actually a spiritual idea, an individual expression of the divine wholeness. He is a creation of the divine Principle, or Mind, not an outgrowth of matter. He is pervaded by the tenderness of Love, guided by Truth, governed by all-intelligent Spirit, and animated by all-perceiving Soul. He reflects eternal Life. This man of God is never separated from his Principle, God. He can lose nothing of what he perpetually receives from God's, Mind's, fullness, nor can he change himself, because this Mind is, and eternally remains, unchangeable and perfect.

Consequently, our neighbor, as he is in truth, is incapable of doing any harm or acting unkindly. Then where do evil qualities come from—qualities like self-will, selfishness, envy, hate, malice? These false character traits proceed from mortal thinking fettered by the material senses—thinking that is developed from a so-called mortal mind opposed to God. The Bible says of this supposed adversary of God, infinite good, "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." ^{John 8:44;} We need to recognize as a lie whatever mortal mind presents to us, refuse to believe it or act in accordance with it.

This explains what keeps our neighbor from appearing lovable to us, and how to deal with it. When our neighbor gives in to the evil suggestions of human willpower, unkindness, and self-righteousness, and we see him as doing so, we are seeing not man but a false picture presented by mortal mind. Mortal mind's picture must be recognized as a lie and corrected, and we do our part by correcting it right where we confront it—in our own thought. Through reason and spiritual insight we can acknowledge that man is subordinate to the divine government alone, and that, in truth, everyone is alike in origin and existence, though his abilities and possibilities are individual in expression and application.

This is how it is possible to truly love every neighbor. The intensive study of Christian Science leads from erring, human sense testimony to the eternal truths of God, which actually govern man and the universe. If our understanding has progressed to the point where we recognize our neighbor and ourselves as individual ideas in the universe of Spirit, and hold to this view and progress in it, then we will gratefully perceive and joyfully express the love that embraces everyone. We will love our neighbor as ourselves in the certainty that all that is operating is divine Love. Mrs. Eddy assures us, "The power of Christian Science and divine Love is omnipotent." ^{science and health, p. 412.}