Giving and Getting PAUL STARK SEELEY, CSB          The great majority of mankind is busily engaged in the endeavor to get something. To get is the prime motive of mortals. The reason, as Christian Science makes plain, is that so-called mortal mind, the one basic error from which emanate all manifestations of evil, employs as its agency of identification, motivation, and expression that blending of negative beliefs termed human personality, — the counterfeit of the real man, the individual expression of Deity. This mortal, human personality, having no Principle or power to support or guide it, naturally strives to support itself by getting all that it can for itself, and in whatever ways its selfish ingenuity, impelled by fear of its own inevitable self-destruction, may conjure and conceive. The result is a temporal world of carnal thought, wherein men strive to get from men, and merciless competition, fratricidal and parasitic habits of thinking and acting, are commonplace.          How busy men are about getting! Many would get dollars and believe they are getting rich; others would get place or renown; some would get lands, houses, automobiles, fine apparel. Many are busy getting sick, getting well, getting hurt, getting angry, getting into trouble or getting out of it. Even as men ride in the streets and highways, some are getting, getting ahead or getting behind. All would get satisfaction and happiness. Getting, getting — how hollow the word sounds! Such getting is not in the language of the new tongue of Spirit, and has never been heard by God. Though the material sense picture of a world all a-getting, of mortal men impelled by false motives and futile ambitions, is not a pleasant thing, it is well for us to perceive its deceitful, empty vanity, and make certain that we are not accepting a place in the picture. It is but the poor counterfeit of real being, wherein God and man forever live to give.          On a certain spring day, a party of friends were motoring through a beautiful section of Pennsylvania. The drive was over hills and mountains, along streams and rivers, and through valleys, all clad in the rich and colorful garments of spring. The day was full of glory; and all nature sang a silent symphony of praise to the creator. Never before had the earth seemed so beautiful! As they drove on and on, there came again and again the message of giving. Everything was giving! The sun above was giving light and warmth; the road beneath was giving an easy way of travel; the car was giving transportation and comfort; the friends were giving of their hospitality and kindness; the trees were giving grace and beauty; the flowers were giving color and sweetness; the birds were making contributions choral; the streams were giving drink to birds and men and flowers; the farmhouses were giving comfort and shelter; the cows were giving milk for drink and food. And then, when there seemed no note of discord to jar the harmony of selfless being, there suddenly came into view a group of white tombstones glistening in the sunlight on the borders of a pleasing country village. Could they, too, be giving? Ah, yes, for the angel-visitant whispered that they were giving testimony of loving regard for friends present, though not seen. How good it was to hear that!          On we sped. The hills gave messages of strength and steadfastness; the valleys proclaimed how productive is humility; the road signs gave direction. Then we came to a mighty river moving onward to the sea. Its gift was the work of patient centuries, wearing down the slopes of mountains and preparing on its erstwhile banks the even grade where men may now lay their ways of intercourse and travel. All was giving. False sense was giving way, and Spirit was revealing that all creation by selfless expression was giving praise to the great Giver, the eternal God. All was just to make Love manifest. No sense of self was there. And the giving was so vital, so joyful, so fearless, so free. It was a faint glimpse of the heart-throb of divinity.          What was perceived on this one day but hints what we may all perceive each day and hour, — even that divine sense of creation wherein every created thing lives only to give forth the message of God, all-giving Love.  How natural for man to give! Is he not the expression of divine action and being, with no Mind or Life but God? Love, God, is never getting, but eternally giving, — giving goodness, purity, joy, life, health, peace, perfectness.          Then, too, the Christian Scientist has the opportunities for giving divinely provided in the Manual of The Mother Church. He may give whole-hearted support to every activity of this God-appointed movement. ...What a joy to show forth this divine fact, to prove throughout eternity what God is, even the Giver of endless good, and man the evidence of Love's divine generosity! Christian Science defines man as the reflection of God. That which reflects is so conditioned only because it naturally, tirelessly, and continuously gives. Thoughts of getting are like pitch drops on a reflector. It cannot function while they are there.          On page 5 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mrs. Eddy aptly tells us, "Wholly apart from this mortal dream, this illusion and delusion of sense, Christian Science comes to reveal man as God's image, His idea, coexistent with Him — God giving all and man having all that God gives."  Christ Jesus lived only to give of that truth which God had given him.  Our Leader spent all her years, as she tells us in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 39), in giving birth to genuine Christian Science.  A whole life spent in giving!  What, then, may we as Christian Scientists give?  First we may give thanksgiving, daily, hourly — and on Wednesday evening; then we may give forth kindness, love, purity, honesty, mercy, justice, in the rounds of everyday life. As we give thus each day, God will quickly enable us to give more and more of His healing Word, until we finally discover and demonstrate our true manhood as the individual expression of the omnipresent God.  Here is the fact of being; here is the motive for living; here is found all happiness, satisfaction, and success.          One thing only should men be engaged in getting, and that is understanding. "With all thy getting get understanding," writes the man of wisdom; and he also says, "All the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her." But this getting is the reverse of the getting that is humanly impelled. One cannot get understanding without giving, — even the giving up of a false sense of pleasure and pain in matter, a belief in a self other than the manifestation of God. Giving in surrender that which is but sinful sense, man gains what to him is everything, — the spiritual sense of life, wherein man is understood as Love's indestructible reflection. Abiding in this fortress of spiritual-mindedness, he begins to feel and comprehend the import of the master Metaphysician's simple but profound words, "Give, and it shall be given unto you."   "Giving and Getting," by Paul Stark Seeley, CSB Christian Science Sentinel, September 1, 1923

 

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