Who Is Your Brother’s Keeper?
Neil H. Bowles, C.S.B., of
Failure in human relationships
underlies much of the world's serious health troubles, disappointment, and
frustration, said a Christian Science lecturer, Neil H. Bowles, C.S.B., on
Thursday, Dec. 1.
He told a public audience in The
First Church of Christ, Scientist, in
Referring to the Bible story of Cain
and Abel, Mr. Bowles said that Cain's problem was not maladjustment to society
but lack of spiritual understanding.
"Cain didn't know God. He
didn't know God as the absolute all-inclusive Principle of man and the universe,
divine Love."
"When Jesus taught that a man
should love his neighbor as himself," added the lecturer, "he was
trying to show us what our real spiritual natures are like and how to behave
as sons of God."
Mr. Bowles described Jesus' teaching
as the divine Science which underlies everything real and good in life. He
said each individual has a responsibility to contribute his share to the world
"on the spiritual side," on the side of love and healing.
Mrs. Rose M. Henniker-Heaton,
Second Reader of The Mother Church, introduced Mr. Bowles, of
Following is a partial text:
Divine rules solve problems
I'm sure most of you are familiar with
the Bible story of Cain and Abel in which Cain killed his brother because he
envied him. It highlights our need to understand one another. We're all aware
that failure in human relationships can result in many kinds of evil - unhappy
personal situations, serious health troubles, mental tensions, disappointment
and frustration in our careers.
Today, in trying to analyze human
relationship problems, some people will tell you that men with Cain-like
natures aren't well adjusted to society, or to their environment, or to
themselves. But that's not the basic problem.
What was wrong with Cain is what's
wrong with the world today. Cain didn't know God. He didn't know God as the
absolute all-inclusive Principle of man and the universe, divine Love.
Naturally, then, Cain didn't know anything about the brotherhood of man, or the
divine rules of maintaining a right relationship with Abel. No one will ever
be really well adjusted until he knows something of these divine rules. But
those who do know and practice them can solve the problems resulting from
discordant human relationships, and all other problems, too.
Because of the growing interest in
mental causes, it's important to distinguish clearly between differing
viewpoints in this area. Christian Science doesn't concern itself with the
study of the human mind or observation of human behavior. On the contrary, it
is the Science of divine Mind, God, Spirit. It shows that what best produces
right human relationships is an understanding of man's spiritual nature and
behavior as the child of God, divine Love.
You remember in the Bible story,
that, after Cain killed Abel, God asked him, "Where is Abel thy
brother?" And Cain replied, "I know not: Am I my brother's
keeper?" (Genesis 4:9.) Well, ever since Cain was asked that question most
of the people of the world have gone right on saying, in effect, "Why
should I be concerned about my brother's welfare? I'm not my brother's
keeper." And even though Christ Jesus taught his followers that they
should love their neighbor as themselves, mortal natures haven't been impelled
to follow his teachings on this point. Why is this so? Because they haven't
learned that Jesus' teachings explain and demonstrate divine Science.
Spirit recognized as cause
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer
and Founder of Christian Science, with inspired spiritual vision, saw beyond
the age-old doctrinal views held of Jesus and his teachings. She revealed the
full purpose of his mission. She writes in "Science and Health with Key to
the Scriptures," "Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that
ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and
found the spiritual cause" (Page 313). So Mrs. Eddy didn't regard Jesus'
teachings as a form of human psychology. She saw that his teachings were
Science derived from divine Spirit, God, and from his recognition that Spirit
or God is the only cause.
To be our brother's keeper and to
love our neighbor as ourselves are one and the same thing. They're not just
pleasant philosophical attitudes toward life. They're not a man-made formula
devised from observations of human behavior. Divine Science is involved in both
of these teachings. They're basic to the law of spiritual healing with which
Christ Jesus met all human problems. They're indispensable scientific rules
for correcting discordant human relationships and the ills arising from these
discords. So they have to be practiced in spiritual healing today.
Spiritual healing is an essential
activity of the Church of Christ, Scientist, founded by Mrs. Eddy. In the spirit
of love and brotherhood she met the resistance of long established systems of
medicine and religion. She revealed and established the most effective and
radical healing method of all time, a method that is wholly spiritual. She saw
and proved in her healing work that the divine Love which Christ Jesus taught
and scientifically demonstrated is what heals all ills. And this Christliness,
this Christ-power, when practiced today, is still the only real healing agent.
When Jesus taught that a man
should love his neighbor as himself, he was explaining something of the Christ,
Truth, or the Science of God. Yes, he was trying to show us what our real
spiritual natures are like and how to behave as sons of God. To live as God's
sons is the way to completely and permanently cast out the Cain-like elements,
the envy, hatred, and jealousy, that disturb human relationships, and to heal
the sorrows, diseases, tensions, and frustrations that arise from them. So this
is what we're going to think about here - what is needed to really love our
fellowmen - the Science involved in being our brother's keeper.
God is always just at hand
The basic reason people don't love
others as themselves is because they think of themselves and others as material
mortals. Cain slew Abel because he saw everything through the limited eyes of a
mortal. He didn't understand that there was enough of good for his brother and
himself. So the way for us to stop being Cain-like, to stop envying and hating
one another, is for each one simply to learn of his unlimited selfhood as an
immortal child of God. And then act like the child of God.
I'm sure you've asked yourself,
"Who am I?" and "What am I?" Well, the Bible tells us who
we are and what we are. As most of you know, it says in the book of Genesis,
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him" (
The study of Christian Science reveals
that God is the absolute Principle of the universe including man. He isn't
like a human being at all. But this doesn't mean that God as Principle is cold
or distant. On the contrary, He is divine Love, everywhere present, always
just at hand. He is infinite and eternal Life, the inexhaustible source of all
life. His living, loving presence is the ceaseless activity of good. He
perpetually governs and holds the whole of creation in uninterrupted harmony.
He is Soul, the source of all true capacities and capabilities. He is Spirit,
the indestructible substance of man and the universe, and the one Mind or intelligence
of all.
Man expresses freedom, harmony
When we comprehend that that's
what God is, we can let go of the mental picture of Him as being manlike. When
we gain this understanding of God, we can also comprehend our own real nature.
Mrs. Eddy writes: "God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and
boundless bliss" (Science and Health, Page 481); and elsewhere she says,
"Man is the expression of God's being" (ibid., Page 470). So he
isn't a corporeal mortal. He's the expression of "infinity, freedom,
harmony, and boundless bliss." He is the expression of all that God is. Then
he can't be a physical or finite personal mentality, but is the individual,
spiritual idea of all-inclusive Mind. He is the object and expression of
limitless divine Love.
Now it stands to reason that for
us to love our brother as ourselves and heal the sickness-producing frictions
and tensions between us, we have to admit his true nature to be spiritual and
loving like our own. In fact it's only through our own spiritual vision that we
recognize his true nature. Then we'll love him and want to be his helpful
keeper.
The scientific fact is that
infinite intelligence and substance can't be measured out in limited quantity
for just a few people. Substance and intelligence are inexhaustible and immediately
available for everybody. Indeed, as this is seen, men will begin to understand
that the capacities and capabilities of every individual, as the image of
divine Principle, Love, are unlimited. Then they'll realize the utter folly of
envy, rivalry, and hate. They won't be Cain-like thinkers any more; there'll be
no reason to even want to exclude others from their full share of good. And
they'll not fear there won't be enough of it to go around. They'll see the
Science of being their brother's keeper and gladly follow the rule of loving
their neighbor as themselves. And, finally, they'll understand that divine Love
alone is the only giver of good.
So you see there's a great difference
between the Christly rules of Jesus and the psychological approach to human
relationships on the basis of the human mind. Jesus' teachings are pure
Science. They're based on the spiritual facts of life. He possessed the
spiritual perception with which to discern these facts because of the Christ,
the divine idea of Truth and Love, which inspired him. Mrs. Eddy refers to
Jesus' teachings as the Christ, Truth. They show mankind what life is all
about. That's why Jesus was called Saviour. His teachings save or redeem us
from the material sense of life and its sufferings.
So Christ-healing differs widely
from all merely human forms of treatment. Christ-healing leads out of a
material sense of life; it does not accept a material sense of life and work
within it. Just forming new patterns of human thought and emotion isn't enough.
This doesn't eliminate the material sense of life that causes envy and hate to
churn within the human heart and produce the tensions which make people
quarrelsome and sick. We have to feel the love for our brother man that comes
from understanding the scientific fact that he, too, is in truth the unlimited
expression of divine Principle, Love. As
These days psychiatrists, medical doctors,
and even dentists advise patients to avoid mental tensions because of their bad
effects on the mind and body. Now, because they've seen this much, they're in a
position to do some good. But Christian Science goes much further. It shows
people how to be led right out of what it is that produces tensions, out of mortal
and material ignorance God.
Resentment overcome heals illness
Here's an actual example of how
the scientific understanding of divine Love healed suffering produced by
tension. A man I know suffered from childhood with very painful liver attacks.
They grew more severe as time went on. He'd get quick relief when he would turn
to Christian Science treatment for help, but he didn't get a permanent healing
until he realized that he had to love his neighbor as himself.
One time he was in a meeting with some
businessmen and there was much hatred being expressed. He found himself
becoming very resentful. He began to feel ill and was gripped with fear. But
he tried to think scientifically about those present. Then it dawned on him
for the first time that he developed this illness only when he became upset
over personal relationships. This was a turning point in his life. He saw that, instead of just using Christian
Science as a remedy, he had to live its teachings. He had to be willing to love
people who expressed hatred toward him. He needed to be permanently redeemed from
hate by practicing Christliness. This healing took place a good many years ago
and that was the last of those attacks. You see, the harmonizing influence of
divine Love brought him mental tranquility. Then its ceaseless healing action
restored normal action to his system. This was a spiritual healing, not a human
adjustment.
Each one of us has the choice of
meeting hatred either with hatred or in a Christlike way. The Christlike way is
to pray for those who despitefully use us, as Jesus said we should, to admit
into our consciousness only loving thoughts about them. It's saddening to see
hatred met with hatred and the painful experiences following. But they who
think lovingly of those who hate them are being truly Christian. In a very real
sense, that's praying for them. They are on the side of Christliness and are
worthy of God's gift of grace that heals and blesses all. Furthermore, as we
give our brother mental elbowroom in which to grow out of his hatefulness, we
are responding to God's grace. Making mental elbowroom for others means that
we want to be guided by divine intelligence in dealing with them and not let
emotional reactions govern us. Those who reach this point of Christliness will
make compassionate decisions and won't be irritated by other people's problems.
And they'll not only prevent discordant human relationship problems from
arising, they'll keep themselves healthy.
Now physical healing is only one
benefit of maintaining sound human relationships on a spiritually scientific
basis. Another is right achievement that blesses ourselves and others.
Experience has proved that those
who would be successful in whatever they're doing have to get along with
people. But I want to stress again that we shouldn't merely adjust to other
people's thinking in order to get along. What we need is to lovingly make
mental elbowroom for them in which to grow and expand. But this doesn't mean
we have to accept imposition or injustice. No, indeed! It means that we refuse
to hate and condemn people who don't agree with us. Jesus said if we judge
others, we condemn ourselves.
Expectations of good fulfilled
Anybody who keeps a loving attitude
toward others because it's Christianly scientific to do so refuses to be
disturbed when mental conflicts appear. He refuses to become resentful or
afraid. He learns to hear the ceaseless voice of divine intelligence guiding
him. As the Bible says: "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee,
saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and
when ye turn to the left" (Isaiah 30:21).
Who can doubt that people feel our
thoughts toward them? How we see each other is a big consideration in
establishing sound human relationships. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health,
"The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and
ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image,
reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and
Godlike" (Page 200).
I once knew a lawyer, a Christian
Scientist, who really tried to correctly behold his fellowman. A noteworthy
thing about his practice of law was that he truly wanted divine Principle to
govern. Other lawyers were amazed at his honesty and fairness. His serenity,
born of loving his brother men as himself, was impressive. He put trust in
them and expected good from them, and he got it. He didn't classify people as
good or bad. He looked to behold the Godlike man. Was he a successful lawyer?
Indeed he was, and highly so. But that wasn't all. He was one of the most
respected men in his community. His views on civic and educational subjects
were sought and valued. Later, as a Christian Science practitioner and teacher,
he had another successful career in the healing work. He certainly had given
the right answer to Cain's question, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
(Genesis 4:9.)
I've already spoken of God's grace
that heals and blesses. This same divine grace enables us to love our brother
as ourselves. It is Christliness on our part - that is, the expressing of
unselfishness, forgiveness, mercy, and the like - which opens the way for the
grace of God to work in us. And it's God's grace operating in us that enables
us to express this Christliness and resist the temptation to see our brother as
Cain-like.
Dare to act unselfishly
Even though we may feel we love
him, we have to resist the common tendency to classify him humanly and thereby
limit him. Loving him also means protecting him. Wanting to protect him, we
won't saddle him with any limiting classification such as "hateful,"
"selfish," "stupid," or "difficult." And divine
Love will speed our own reformation, too, and help us to grow in mental stature
and spiritual vision. There's great joy and contentment in seeing all mankind
in a Christianly scientific way. There's no happiness or satisfaction in
downgrading others.
The way to attain the Christliness
that willingly makes mental elbow-room for others is through the pathway of
unselfishness. Because mortal inclinations seem to resist unselfishness, it
has to be cultivated. Through God's grace we can do this. We have to dare to
act unselfishly, and not fear the loss of good. The Apostle James wrote,
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning" (James
Mrs. Eddy is rightly recognized as
a scientific discoverer and religious pioneer of unique stature. But she worked
always under the impulsion of divine Love. So, unlike many persons of
outstanding ability and genius, she was throughout her life a sublime example
of unselfishness. From the very start of her ministry, there were people who
tried to shut her out. However, she impartially loved everybody. She prayed for
all mankind, and instructed her followers to do likewise. She truly understood
the Science of brotherhood! So there was room in her love for those who tried
to shut her out. She refused to exclude them or to war with those who ridiculed
her and her teachings. Under the impulsion of God's grace, she refused to deny
good, even to those who hated her. Making strong demands on love, she writes:
"We must love our enemies in all the manifestations wherein and whereby we
love our friends" (Miscellaneous Writings, Page 11); and she concludes the
paragraph, "When smitten on one cheek, I have turned the other: I have but
two to present."
This is but one incident in her
life that illustrates her great love for her fellowman. When certain persons
with malicious intent tried to gain control of her affairs and went to court to
prove that she was too elderly and incompetent to handle them, they failed.
The suit was widely publicized by those who wanted to destroy the growing influence
of Christian Science. They thought by discrediting Mrs. Eddy they could
accomplish this end. They didn't succeed.
Long before this suit was started,
Mrs. Eddy's followers had come to
call her Leader, and not without good reason. After the suit was over, many friends urged Mrs. Eddy to have a
book written that would preserve for all time a history of the treachery of
her attackers. The book was prepared, but after reading it she never permitted
it to be sold or circulated. Aware of her obligation as keeper of her brother,
she refused to shut out from her love those who had attempted to destroy her.
She remained true to her understanding of God's impartial love. Here was
leadership of the highest order. She was practicing what she taught. Years
before, she had written to one of her students, "Love unselfed, love of
one's enemies, humility, moderation, strength, are the cardinals of Christian
Science." She exemplified to the world what it means for us to be our
brother's keeper. She saw forgiveness as an essential part of the Christly law
of loving our neighbor as ourself.
The time to forgive is now
Forgiveness is an activity of
divine Love. It is divine Love that supplies the impulsion to forgive. So our
ability to forgive indicates some measure of our stature as Christians.
Forgiveness is the willingness to let our brother man correct his mistakes. It
is a willingness to affirm his perfect image in God and to lift error's load of
condemnation from him by denying as real anything about him that isn't
Godlike.
Now forgiveness works two ways. It
blesses both the forgiver and the forgiven - and the forgiver even more. It
sweetens his nature; it broadens his outlook; it widens his spiritual horizons;
and above all, it makes him more Christlike. And surely this must be the
supreme desire of every Christian. The Apostle Paul says: "Love worketh
no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law"
(Romans
Well, the fulfilling of the law is
most important if we wish to heal scientifically. We have to conform to the law,
the law of divine Principle, Love, for our prayers to be answered. Knowing this
we must refuse to be hurt or to take on the role of a martyr. And we have
prayed aright if the unworthy pride and self-righteousness that keep people
from forgiving real or imagined wrongs are wiped away. Then we're saved from
self-imposed suffering.
Can we ever be reminded too often
of Jesus' prayer on the cross when he prayed, "Father, forgive them; for
they know not what they do" (Luke
Some years ago a dear lady came to
my office with what she said was a very difficult physical problem. As she
talked, it wasn't hard to see that she was full of hurt and resentment. Finally
I told her that her whole problem could be solved if she was willing to
forgive. After a bit she said, "Yes, I see that's the answer, I must
forgive." "Well," I said, "then your problem is
solved!" "Why," she said, "you don't expect me to forgive
all at once, do you? This has been going on for a long time." I never saw
her again, but I hope she decided to do it right then.
Forgiving means forgetting, too
Now forgiveness doesn't mean adjusting
or accommodating our convictions to anything that's wrong. We only need to
conform to divine Love's method of forgiving and be redeemed from hating. Then
we'll want to have our brother included in the Christly plan of liberation,
from all sense that men are Cain-like mortals. Don't most of us have to learn
as we go? Don't most of us need all the help we can get? The big question is
how willing are we to make living room for our brother, and do it right now?
If we're going to forgive, right
this minute is the time. If we think we have to gradually grow out of a hurt,
well, we're prolonging our own suffering. But how pleasant and warming it is
when misunderstandings are corrected in the Christly way. Then we have given
our brother the mental elbowroom in which to grow and expand as we want to.
Still another aspect of
forgiveness is that of forgetting wrongs by seeing them as nothing, seeing that
they never had any reality at all. How? By not holding people's errors over
them - by forgetting them and letting them be forgotten. Forgiving and forgetting
means realizing that sin and evil are not personal; they're only something
untrue that is believed to be true about somebody. They're ignorant, mortal
beliefs that are destroyed by the immortal facts of Life. The Christlike
understanding of God and man will always be bringing to the surface for
destruction the ignorant, evil, Cain-like beliefs of mortal existence. But
they're never part of man. Good is the fundamental fact of Life, and it always has
been. And Christian Science makes clear that evil is never a person. It's only
ignorance of good. The Christ, Truth, wipes it out. In the book of Ecclesiastes
the Preacher says that God requires the past. This means only the good of the
past is real. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health, "When we learn that
error is not real, we shall be ready for progress, 'forgetting those things
which are behind' " (Page 353).
So Christliness refuses to fasten people's mistakes on them.
This position is scientific as well as Christian. Again, it invokes the
all-powerful action of God's grace which heals the malice and sickness
resulting from attaching error to persons.
Parable shows God as Love
Jesus said, "Blessed are the
merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7). Being merciful is
still another aspect of true forgiveness, of being our brother's keeper. Mercy
is an attribute of divine Love. In Jesus' parable of the prodigal son you will
recall that the brother objected to the father restoring the erring one to his
full sonship. Here was hardness of heart, pitiless disregard for his brother's
well-being. He was attaching error to him. He was willing to shut him out from
good. Merciless is the word for it - unforgiving. But the father didn't make
any distinction between the brothers. He made room for the prodigal. The
father's forgiveness wasn't just a parental indulgence, either. He wasn't
just satisfying a human affection for his son. The parable was intended to
teach the nature of God as all-acting, all-inclusive Love. Christliness in us
exemplifies this Love in acts of mercy. A merciful attitude is a prayerful
attitude. Mercifully wiping out error or mistakes by declaring and spiritually
reasoning that divine Principle, Love, knows no mistakes is true prayer. It is
Christianly scientific prayer to expose evil, not as something, but as the
nothing which it has always been. Its divine impulsion heals the effects of
error. Then we see there's no such thing as a man of mistakes.
Forgetting error by wiping it out,
exposing its nothingness, or in other words being pure in heart and merciful,
increases the stature of our manhood in Christ. It lays hold of God's grace
which is waiting to lift us out of the mean, the petty, and the contemptible.
It opens our thoughts to the spiritual view so necessary for truly adjusted
human relationships and for a healthy, successful human experience.
Our sojourn in this human experience
will be a happier one as we take a larger view of what's going on in it. You
and I and all mankind are simply emerging from the belief in a finite, material
sense of existence into the recognition that Life is infinite, spiritual, and
eternal, and always has been. All that's really true of Life is good and
unlimited, and everybody is simply about the business of finding that out.
Seeing this will help us to understand that the ceaseless activity of divine
Love treats us all alike in its
bestowals of unlimited intelligence and substance. Eagerly then will we want to
love our brother as ourself and bridge over with unselfed love the gaps or divisions
between us. This higher, more expansive, more spiritual outlook prepares us to
gain a fuller understanding of the Science of being our brother's keeper, the
only Science that really heals.
The Christian Science Monitor
Under the headline "Right view of man brings individual
and world harmony"