In college, I participated in a production of the musical West Side Story. I played the character Chino, who doesn’t have the biggest part but has an important role in the narrative. He wrestles with self-importance, and also with hatred and a desire for revenge when he feels he’s been betrayed. These aren’t qualities I admire, but I appreciated Chino’s story because it helped to illustrate the variances, even vagaries, of human thought and experience.

During rehearsals, I became very sick and had to take several days off from school. I was praying for myself as I have learned to through my study of Christian Science, but I was feeling pretty stuck. One afternoon, the director of the production (also a Christian Scientist) came to see me. I appreciated his thoughtfulness, and he gently asked me an interesting question. He wondered if the sickness had something to do with identifying too strongly with the character I was playing. 

Believing that there are other powers besides God does not make those powers legitimate.