Sometimes in books and movies a character is presented who is direct contrast to the hero. By comparing the hero to this character—his foil—the book or movie brings out the hero's good points more clearly. Although this technique can be helpful in showing an audience why they should like the hero, should this type of comparing be done in real life?

When I was growing up, I had a tendency to compare myself with a brother of mine. He was good in school and in sports. So, to make myself look better I tried to find other areas to excel in where he wasn't as successful. I treated him as my foil.

I was never really comfortable with this attitude. I had the nagging feeling that it wasn't right to make myself look better at the expense of someone else. But behind the habit of making comparisons was the notion that good was limited and unevenly distributed. It seemed to me that another's good somehow diminished my own. Yet as I became familiar with what Christian Science teaches about God, and man's relationship to Him, it became clear to me that I could stop this "foil" thinking. There was really no need for it!

The Bible says that God is Love. This Love is infinite, embracing all creation in unlimited goodness. Our true selfhood, or identity, is the expression of divine Love. This selfhood is entirely spiritual, perfect, complete, intelligent. Each of us is really the recipient of Love's abundant goodness. Because this is the actual fact of our being, we can express God's goodness, His qualities, in all facets of our lives—in school, in sports, and in our relationships with others. There is no lack of good, because God is good and infinite. Therefore, there is no need to compete with others for it or try to diminish another's good to enchance our own. Mrs. Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals" (p. 13).

Sometimes, though, we may not think that we or others deserve to experience God's goodness. If we feel this way, it's because we are accepting a limited sense of who we are—fallible mortals with various shortcomings. We're forgetting that we're really God's perfect children, complete in every way. (Of course, we do have to demonstrate this spiritual fact!)

I began to see that this limited viewpoint had a lot to do with my "foil" thinking. A simple experience helped me to understand God's love for each of us. One summer day I was sitting on a beach in bright sunlight. I noticed the other people on the beach were enjoying the sunlight as well. There was more than enough of it for all of us. The amount of sunlight others were getting did not in any way lessen the amount I was enjoying. To me, the sun symbolized God, and the sunlight symbolized the good that God was bestowing on each of us. Even if I had claimed that the others on the beach didn't deserve the sunlight, for whatever reason, this would in no way have increased the amount of sunlight shining on me! Besides, I knew that God did not see us as a bunch of mortals, some better, some worse. Divine Love sees each of us as its own beloved spiritual idea, perfect in every way. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ Jesus said, "He [God] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). As we see ourselves and others as truly blessed by Love, we experience more and more of the good that is always available.

This understanding led me to shift my standpoint. Instead of looking to see if others were more successful or more popular than I was, I prayed simply to be grateful for all the evidence of good that I could already see. This good did not need to be propped up with clever comparisons; it was established by God. As I prayed and held to the fact that limitless good from God is always available, the tendency to compare yielded. I developed a sincere appreciation for others' accomplishments, without envy or jealousy. I also stopped treating my brother as a foil, and I stopped belittling him in my thinking. The tendency to be quietly smug when others failed (whether they seemed to "deserve" it or not) ended as well.

Some time later I experienced some academic success while my brother seemed to flounder. It might have been tempting to be glad or to rub it in, but the earlier prayer had lifted me above this pettiness. I knew the good from God that I was experiencing was also available to him. I tried to be as supportive of him as I could. Eventually, he overcame his difficulties, and we were both pleased with each other's successes.

This experience showed me that, whether we feel we're on the favorable or unfavorable side of a comparison, we can look to God, divine Love, to see more of God's unlimited provision of good for each of us.