The Right Standpoint REV. JAMES J. ROME          In the various questions which come up for consideration in one's experience, there are generally so many conditions and influences involved that it often seems difficult to reach a decision as to the proper relation of things and the right course to pursue. This sense of confusion and uncertainty arises from the fact that human affairs are usually considered from a personal standpoint, in which opinions and feelings play a very important part, whereas a right conclusion about anything can only be drawn from a scientific basis. Personal feelings or opinions, likes or dislikes, can have no place in forming a right decision; its correctness must be measured by its conformity to some known standard and rule. "Judge not according to the appearance," said Jesus, "but judge righteous judgment."          In working out a mathematical problem there may be times when the operation seems somewhat confusing, and a successful issue is by no means apparent. One would not expect to accomplish much at such a time by merely consulting his feelings or opinion, or by trying to find the easiest way out. The only right thing to do is to examine the work already performed and see if it is correct, then see how the basic law of mathematics can be applied to the next step, and learn the rule by which to apply it; then by patient work the problem will be solved.          Now Christian Science teaches that all the problems in human experience can be solved in the same way; for that only can be the correct manifestation of being which is in accord with and expresses the perfect Principle of existence and its rules or laws. Strict adherence to the divine Principle or Mind and its harmonious expression is the foundation of all truly metaphysical practice. To take such a position is to deny and disregard all seeming confusion which may arise as the result of doubt or fear, to repudiate all erroneous methods or systems, and to recognize as valueless and powerless whatever contradicts or fails to comply with the correct statement and demonstration of perfect Principle.          It becomes evident from the conflicting conditions of material existence with its mishaps and calamities, that it is not governed by a perfect, invariable law; therefore we conclude that real existence, governed by infinite, immutable Principle, must be spiritual. From this standpoint alone can the truth about God and man be established, and every erroneous statement and belief about them be corrected. Since, as is evident, the operation of perfect Principle and its rules or laws must be harmonious and perfect, we find that by their application to human affairs the sick are healed and the sinful are reformed.          The recognition of man's spiritual, perfect being does not permit of any excuse or explanation for erroneous theories or false laws, but eliminates all that does not express and fulfill God's law. When the disciples asked Jesus, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus took no time to consider or discuss the subject on their human basis of reasoning, but taking the whole condition entirely out of the realm of material concepts he answered, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." This could only have been said with regard to man's spiritual identity, not the material belief about him of which the disciples were thinking, for of such a man the Scripture had said, "There is no man that sinneth not." If Jesus had stopped to reason it out on the mortal plane of thought he could not have healed the man.          Now the disciples were not the only ones who ever made the mistake of searching around in the attempt to discover some sin as the cause of physical discord. While it is true that harbored sin must hinder recovery from sickness, this does not justify the conclusion that there is always some heinous sin in the thoughts of patients to be uncovered and condemned. When we begin to consider and deal with error from the standpoint of cause and effect, we are likely to give it reality and power. To detect the nature of the wrong thought manifested and dismiss it as powerless and unreal because of the allness of God's power, is a very different thing. When this method, which is the only right one, is followed, then the belief of cause and effect in error is destroyed.          On the other hand, to deny the power of sin as a cause does not justify the conclusion that the cause must be found in the divine purpose, which is the interpretation too generally given to the phrase used by Jesus, viz., "That the works of God should be made manifest." Jesus did not say that God caused the blindness, for he knew that such a thing must be impossible. What he did say in substance was that the condition only appeared that it might be overcome and destroyed by the recognition of God's presence and power; in other words, that the appearance of error simply affords an opportunity to prove its unreality and the supremacy of the divine reality. What an aspersion on the goodness of a loving God would it be to think of His causing the man's blindness for the sheer purpose of displaying the divine power to heal him. The truth was that in the real man, of whom Jesus spoke, the glory of God had been manifested all the time, and Jesus' recognition of this healed the blind man; that is, it destroyed the false belief that there really could be such a thing as a blind man. On page 476 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."          The inquiry of the disciples showed how far they were from viewing conditions from the spiritual standpoint, and how little they comprehended the metaphysical position constantly maintained by their great Master and Teacher. So bound were they by their material limitations, human conceptions, and false theological training, that they failed to rise to the spiritual plane of thought to which he so patiently strove to lead them. These human measurements and selfish considerations were continually leading them into mistakes which resulted in confusion and trouble, and culminated in their forsaking him who had devoted his life to the welfare of mankind.          Just as Jesus kept pointing away from human discord to divine harmony, from trust in matter to faith in God, teaching his followers that "it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing," so Christian Science comes today to lead human consciousness away from its material, limited concept of life into an understanding of the ever presence of infinite Mind and its manifestation as all. This furnishes a means by which we can deal successfully with all of life's problems. However intricate or difficult they may seem, if we turn the light of Truth on them and look at them from the spiritual standpoint, they will cease to trouble or to frighten us and will soon vanish into their chaotic nothingness. A realization of Mrs. Eddy's statement in Science and Health (p. 471), "God is infinite, therefore ever present, and there is no other power nor presence," would leave no ground on which any form of error could stand. When any fear, anxiety, trouble, or discord presents itself we have but quickly to ask ourselves how it would appear from the standpoint of Christ Jesus, and we will soon find the discordant aspect disappear.   "The Right Standpoint" by Rev. James J. Rome Christian Science Sentinel, October 19, 1918

 

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