Individual integrity—the demand for it has never seemed greater in both the public and private arenas. Yet there are still pressures to ignore the Golden Rule or to stay quiet even when conscience is crying out for a moral stand. Are we really as alone as we seem to be at these times, or is there a divine help that gives us the strength to recognize and to do the right thing? The following experience offers some answers worth considering. The author, a Christian Scientist, was recently employed in public service; because of the sensitive nature of the experience, he has asked that his name be withheld.

A Senior government official I worked for had been inaccurately and unfairly criticized in a signed newspaper commentary. Since part of my duties was to prepare speeches and articles for this official, it was logical I be called on to draft a reply setting the record straight.

However, I faced a dilemma. My orders were to write a response that went beyond just the issues at hand. I was to ridicule this critic personally as well, "Tear him limb from limb." I felt I was being drawn into a type of response that has been too often used of late in the clash of ideas that occur in public debate.

The brickbats I was to write were for publication. Unwilling to engage in a verbal variation of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," ^{Matt. 5:38; see also Deut. 19:21.} I turned to God as I had learned in Christian Science, asking that I be shown what to do. I drew strength from the fact that my motive was to seek what the Bible says is mine to accomplish: "Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." ^{James 1:25.} I had to do something, and I wanted it to be a deed that blessed.

As I sat at my word processor that night, I began thinking of something I'd read in the Manual of The Mother Church that the Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote for the Church she founded. The By-Law I thought of had to do with the Committee on Publication. Obviously my assignment was not a church matter, but it dawned on me that perhaps I had held a too limited and legalistic view of fidelity to the Church Manual. I saw that this set of rules could foster individual spiritual growth, serve as a defense of spiritual integrity if you will, as well as guide, protect, and nurture the Christ Science Mrs. Eddy had discovered.

The Manual says of the Committee on Publication, "It shall be the duty of the Committee on Publication to correct in a Christian manner impositions on the public in regard to Christian Science, injustices done Mrs. Eddy or members of this Church by the daily press, by periodicals or circulated literature of any sort." ^{Man., Art. XXXIII, Sect. 2.}

I focused on the words "impositions on the public" and "correct in a Christian manner." I knew that I could take this spiritually practical advice and apply it to my own situation. I was in complete agreement that the facts about my boss had been misstated and the wrong motives attributed to him needed to be corrected publicly. But I also knew that I could not sink to the same level of expression as his accuser. What I needed to understand, and then accomplish, was a reply done in a Christian manner. In no way, did I feel, could this include personal ridicule. Nor would ridicule be needed to correct the errors fully. My course of action became clear, and I was confident that I need not face a charge of insubordination because of the type of reply I crafted.

A further thought came to me. It surfaced as the familiar first words of the Gospel of St. John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." ^{John 1:1.}

As I thought about this Bible verse, I remembered a statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy that says, "The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man." ^{Science and Health, p. 284.} I reasoned that to the extent I firmly held to this metaphysical reality, knowing that God communicated nothing but His own ideas, I could see through the human picture of personal wills publicly clashing. I began to feel confident that healing could be brought to this situation.

At work the next day I could see that healing had begun. Without my requesting a change, and even though I was to be the principal author of the reply, my superiors decided the final draft was to be written by someone else and go out under his signature. As a result I would not be required to affix my name to a statement that might include the ridicule of another. Though I was gratified at this first sign of a resolution, I felt sure that inspired prayer was not going to keep just me from being a party to "verbal assassination." I continued to pray, expecting that the motive and inspiration for a harmonious resolution would become evident to those involved.

When the final draft of the reply was written, signed, and delivered for publication, I felt it had three unnecessary references; each was clearly intended as a personal attack. Negotiations with the editor of the newspaper that had originally printed the charges were left in my hands. In my discussions with this editor, he made the point that he liked our official reply very much and wanted to print it, but that he was troubled by the nature of some of our remarks and that if we would consider removing three specific references—the very same three I wished to delete —he would consent to doubling the amount of space we would be given for our reply. I concurred immediately and used the extra space to present fully and accurately the facts as we knew them, both correcting the initial false charges and making points that amplified our original position.

Attempting honestly to support the legitimate requirements of superiors need not lead to compromising our own motives. Whether the arena be that of public discourse, as tumultuous as that arena may be, or the privacy of individual conscience, as confused at times as that may appear, nothing can take away our ability to express a divinely inspired motive. Rather than believe we are caught between clashing wills, public or private, we need to look to God's love, supporting and expressing itself. There is no other reality. There can be no greater assurance for right action.