Dominion

There is no subject closer to the hearts of men than that of dominion. Men are constantly reaching out for an understanding of it, that they may gain the advantages which all recognize must accrue from its possession. That dominion implies power goes without saying; and the important questions to be decided are, What is its nature? How is it to be gained? Where is it to be exercised? In the Bible we learn that God gave man dominion. It is therefore a faculty which He must have intended all His children to express equally; hence the desire to possess and use it must be natural and right. Since dominion is the gift of God, it must be like Him; it must partake of His qualities and of His alone. All Christians unite in attributing power to God, naming Him Omnipotence, All-power. Then any true dominion which men may exercise must of necessity be that which is the reflection of the power of God, good.

Christian Science, in its revelation of God as infinite, divine Mind, also shows that all dominion must be mental and must consist of the activity of right thinking in each individual consciousness. In “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 106) we read, “Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love.” Then for man to express perfect dominion he must be governed alone by God, divine Mind. In other words, the only way men can ever express dominion is by reflecting the thoughts of divine Mind to the exclusion of all other so-called thinking.

It is in Christian Science that we learn to know what God’s thoughts are, and it is consequently in Christian Science that we learn to distinguish between right and wrong thinking,—learn to cling to and utilize the thoughts of God, divine Mind, with all their inherent power, and thus prove all other thinking to be evil, false, useless, unreal. In “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 252) we read: “Christian Science classifies thought thus: Right thoughts are reality and power; wrong thoughts are unreality and powerless, possessing the nature of dreams. Good thoughts are potent; evil thoughts are impotent, and they should appear thus.”

Now having once accepted the above statement as true, it would seem as though nothing could ever induce one to overlook the desirability of exercising his God-given ability to think always with the divine Mind, good, and so refuse to think according to the carnal, mortal mind, evil. This is the standpoint from which the beginner in the practice of Christian Science always starts out. To continue his work from this standpoint is the problem which confronts every Christian Scientist. In order to do this it is necessary to recognize that the field of activity for each one is his own consciousness. The place where each one must exercise dominion is in his own thinking. It is there his battles with evil must always be fought; there all his victories must be won. It is in his own consciousness that he must ever be on guard against all evil suggestions, whether aggressive or otherwise; there he must prove that the dominion God has given him is sufficient to vanquish every lie of evil, be it apparently small or great.

All evil thinking is a base, usurping claim of power denying God, the one only Mind, and thus exposing its own arrogance and falsity. The study of Christian Science is the only way of salvation from this belief of an evil mental influence. Christian Science is the only teaching which so explains the nature of God, divine Mind, and of His suppositional counterfeit, as to enable the student of it to detect instantly the nature of what is knocking at the door of his thought, whether it be good or evil, Truth or error.

Because each one has complete and absolute dominion in his own thinking, he need never yield this dominion, and he can never blame anyone else for his own wrong thinking. If an evil thought is presented to one’s consciousness, wherever it may claim to originate, he is free, and can reject it if he will only exercise his God-given dominion to do so. If he accepts it, he then becomes responsible for it, and he cannot blame anyone else either for his acceptance of it or for its consequent evil effect upon him. This is really one’s only salvation; for were it possible to shirk the responsibility for the evil which one may accept and to blame another for it, one would thereby lose dominion and would become a mere puppet for the claims of minds many to play upon.

In proportion as one awakens to the great necessity of taking his own responsibility in regard to his thinking and of proving thereby his own mental dominion, he will cease to fear false mental influence. He will understand that he has before him the goal of complete purification which Jesus had attained when he said, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” He will see that it will make no difference to him how many mortal minds may be claiming power to induce him to think evilly. If he has already proved the undesirability and consequent unreality of the evil thought presented, it will not tempt him for a moment from his allegiance to good. If the thought presented is an error which he has not yet proved unreal, he will be grateful for the opportunity to handle the error and so prove yet again his own dominion.

The constant endeavor to dwell with Mind, in the glorious activities of divine thinking, will bring an ever increasing inspiration and understanding of divine power, which must result in the destruction of all the beliefs of fear, disease, and sin. As the Christian Scientist thus learns to distinguish between right and wrong thinking, he will realize that every good thought originates in God, divine Mind, remains in this Mind, and cannot be divorced from the power of this Mind. He will evidence his own dominion through actively using these divine thoughts and thereby proving in constantly ascending ratio the allness of good and the nothingness of evil. Then he can claim as his the promise of Christ Jesus, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”