Fairness

September 24, 1998

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Matthew

We chose to study and practice Fairness to help us address personal problems looming and  fit us for the unfolding events surrounding the Clinton tapes and the worldwide financial and economic crises.

On the world level problems, one member had a Jungian insight on the day the Clinton tapes appeared on TV — just as these were running in all their pornographic glory, representing Dionysus, the President was delivering meritorious speeches at the United Nations and at New York University, thus giving vent to Apollo.  This human version of completeness is the counterfeit for the divine harmony and balance which rule in the Heaven-earth complex.  The whole thing together with the Christian Coalition meeting the previous Friday appeared to  promote fairness among the public.

As for the frightening situation with financial derivatives (de=from; rivus=stream) this could be deconstructed into the "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God"  (Revelation 22:1).  Mrs. Eddy has some powerful insights into river symbolism (see the Glossary of Science and Health under "river", "Euphrates", "Gihon", "Hiddekel" and "Pison").  We're going to need to live the infinite stream of Love in coming days on this .

The golden rule of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us is a solid standard for behavior.  If one can have the patience and empathy to envision how he might feel if treated or even thought of in a certain way, this should lessen wickedness.   We had to admit that often we don't do this and barrel ahead consulting only our own sense of what's fair for me!  This is really no help at all — even Hitler thought he was in the right.

One attendee felt a higher octave of the golden rule would be to practice the divinity of the one I or Us as regards everyone.  This would form the basis for appropriate thought and action.  He showed us the difference between mere thought and bedrock knowing.

Other  matters bearing on our theme were:

1)  Christian Scientists must be very careful not to regard themselves as a spiritual elite but to evaluate all as divine ideas.  (See Mrs. Eddy's article "Little Gods" in Miscellaneous Writings, pg. 255.)

2)  The book "Ferocious Romance," by Donna Mankowitz, describes her tour through the Christian Coalition.  She did not let them know that she's Lesbian   and was able to  get a real feel for their religious fervor as well as paranoia.  She was struck by how similar it all  seemed to the way Gay people feel.  Hmm.

3) Some fairness issues facing the community  now are the upsurge in physical violence against us, the November 3 referendum in Hawaii on Gay marriage and the opening of Terrence McNally's play "Corpus Christi", making a case apparently for Jesus' homosexuality (the street outside the theatre is alive with religious protesters).   Thank God there's really only one Mind, delineating Its own harmonious disposition of events.

Healings:

One member recalled an instance of unfair treatment by a religious organization he was employed by.  He had had a disagreement with them about vacation pay but decided to go ahead with the trip and resolve the matter upon his return.  When he got back he found he'd been fired by letter.  As he worked on the injustice and hurt feelings through Christian Science he realized they had already paid him for some work not yet delivered.  He was tempted to keep this money but his  Christly sense came to the rescue and he sent them a check for the amount, which they cashed.  He felt this action on his part  greatly assisted his ability to move on without rancor.

Another member faced with a court appearance during the week, took his Lesson Sermon print-out with him and studied deeply to get a full sense of the actual presence of God right there.  A very aggressive lawyer for the other side tried to push him into   inappropriate and expensive actions which he was able calmly to deflect.   Later with the judge supervising they arrived at much more favorable terms.   He said once he felt connected to God his fear evaporated and he was able to say and do the right things instinctively.

Another member has had quite a few problems with apartment hunting but was helped by the thought that a life without problems is no life at all.  (Someone else pointed out that he was getting a crash course in Christian Science.) Yet   another member recalled his own house hunting experience several years ago.  He too was initially agitated but eventually saw the wisdom of just knowing the right place would appear, and that his human footsteps could be calm and minimal.  It was quite an adventure with protection from getting into a situation with an apartment tied up in litigation but eventually  he found exactly the right place at the right price.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy

From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and the product must be mental.

Finite belief can never do justice to Truth in any direction.

Such belief can neither apprehend nor worship the infinite; and to accommodate its finite sense of the divisibility of Soul and substance, it seeks to divide the one Spirit into persons and souls.

Through this error, human belief comes to have "gods many and lords many." Moses declared as Jehovah's first command of the Ten: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me!" But behold the zeal of belief to establish the opposite error of many minds. The argument of the serpent in the allegory, "Ye shall be as gods," urges through every avenue the belief that Soul is in body, and that infinite Spirit, and Life, is in finite forms.

Miscellaneous Writings, by Mary Baker Eddy

The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him ever the same,—at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen.

He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no mask to cover him, for he acts no studied part; but he is indeed what he appears to be,—full of truth, candor, and humanity. In all his pursuits, he knows no path but the fair, open, and direct one, and would much rather fail of success than attain it by reproachable means. He never shows us a smiling countenance while he meditates evil against us in his heart. We shall never find one part of his character at variance with another.

MALICIOUS REPORTS

^Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter^.—ISA. lix. 14.

When the press is gagged, liberty is besieged; but when the press assumes the liberty to lie, it discounts clemency, mocks morality, outrages humanity, breaks common law, gives impulse to violence, envy, and hate, and prolongs the reign of inordinate, unprincipled clans. At this period, 1888, those quill-drivers whose consciences are in their pockets hold high carnival. When newsdealers shout for class legislation, and decapitated reputations, headless trunks, and quivering hearts are held up before the rabble in exchange for money, place, and power, the vox populi is suffocated, individual rights are trodden under foot, and the car of the modern Inquisition rolls along the streets besmeared with blood. Would not our Master say to the chief actors in scenes like these, "Ye fools and blind!" Oh, tardy human justice! would you take away even woman's trembling, clinging faith in divine power? Who can roll away the stone from the door of this sepulchre? Who—but God's avenging angel!

In times like these it were well to lift the veil on the sackcloth of home, where weepeth the faithful, stricken mother, and the bruised father bendeth his aching head; where the bereft wife or husband, silent and alone, looks in dull despair at the vacant seat, and the motherless little ones, wondering, huddle together, and repeat with quivering lips words of strange import. May the great Shepherd that "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," and binds up the wounds of bleeding hearts, just comfort, encourage, and bless all who mourn.

Father, we thank Thee that Thy light and Thy love reach earth, open the prison to them that are bound, console the innocent, and throw wide the gates of heaven.

When will the world cease to judge of causes from a personal sense of things, conjectural and misapprehensive! When thought dwells in God,—and it should not, to our consciousness, dwell elsewhere,—one must benefit those who hold a place in one's memory, whether it be friend or foe, and each share the benefit of that radiation. This individual blessedness and blessing comes not so much from individual as from universal love: it emits light because it reflects; and all who are receptive share this equally.

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