Impersonalizing Error

On page 71 of Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “Evil has no reality. It is neither person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense.” I am very grateful for how Christian Science teaches us to impersonalize error and evil.

Learning to do this has allowed me to truly forgive past events to the point where those things, which used to really bother me, have now essentially faded away. I realized this recently when I was going over my past testimonies just to remember all the good that God has done for me, and encountered one that for many years I looked on as the cruelest thing anyone had ever done to me. This time, the memory had no sting of betrayal to it any longer. What a healing!

There have been times here in Plainfield where I have failed to handle animal magnetism, and been most grateful that those affected were able to impersonalize the error while helping me to get right. It is so humbling to experience other people truly being able to forgive, while still going after the error with both barrels, so to speak.

I remembered my mother, who had some bit of Christian Science throughout her life, but in the end she was unable to impersonalize error and truly forgive others. I think she felt it would have been like she was giving up her past, but by continuing to hold the error to her family, she essentially gave up her future. This has been a powerful warning to me.

This makes me even more grateful for all I have learned here, and for practitioner support, which has helped me to learn to live this Science and to feel the freedom that the teachings of Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy bring to my life. What a blessing it is to be a member of this Church!