Many times I have walked in a big city neighborhood, observing and evaluating the various architectural styles, noting my likes and dislikes. One day I realized that I didn’t have to decide which houses I liked and didn’t like – I didn’t need to judge or evaluate them. I wasn’t going to buy any of them, and certainly no one had asked my opinion of them. I could simply enjoy each building for its uniqueness while understanding that it wasn’t my house.
“It’s not my house!” This fresh thought has become important to me beyond its literal meaning. It stops me from trying to evaluate – and possibly offer corrections to – situations that are not mine to resolve. If I’m tempted to give an unsolicited opinion, I remind myself, “It’s not my house. Let it go!”
I reached this conclusion through something deeper than a simple dismissal of personal opinion. It came from a growing awareness that I had to gain a better understanding of what my “house” – my true identity – is and to be fully conscious of who I am as God’s loved, cared-for child. This “house,” this spiritual identity, is complete, furnished with all that I need to fulfill my unique, God-given purpose. And because the source of everyone’s life is God, who is infinite, the expression of our own completeness is distinct from that of anyone else, so there’s no reason for comparison.
This new way of thinking from a spiritual perspective really woke me up and exposed some hidden and even malicious thoughts I’d been harboring. I found it much more satisfying to contemplate the completeness, fulfillment, and joy of my true identity as coming from my Father-Mother God than to compare my experience with others’, with either pride or envy.
When the discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, was healing others, teaching Christian Science, and founding a church, many people admired and almost worshiped her, often looking to her for personal guidance. Mrs. Eddy spoke very specifically about turning only to God, divine Mind, for guidance and an understanding of one’s true identity. She explained, “Every human thought must turn instinctively to the divine Mind as its sole centre and intelligence. Until this be done, man will never be found harmonious and immortal.
“Whosoever looks to me personally for his health or holiness, mistakes. He that by reason of human love or hatred or any other cause clings to my material personality, greatly errs, stops his own progress, and loses the path to health, happiness, and heaven” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” pp. 307-308).
I reasoned that just as it was important for Mrs. Eddy’s students not to look to her personally – or in my earlier analogy, to her “house” – it must also be important for us not to look at, compare, or evaluate anyone else’s life to find what we need in our lives. Instead, we need to go directly to God.
The desire to understand and recognize God, Mind, as both the creator of all and the architect, maintainer, and sustainer of our being is key to our spiritual growth. From that standpoint, we see only what is true in our own and others’ experiences. Recognizing the spiritual nature of each one of us as the idea of divine Mind lifts thought above a material view, including the evaluation of personal situations or actions, to joyously recognize spiritual evidence of God’s, Spirit’s, goodness. The result is a consciousness filled with love for ourselves and our neighbor. That love-filled consciousness is my house! As Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual interpretation of Psalm 23 says, the house we forever dwell in is “[the consciousness] of [LOVE ]” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 578).
When another’s decision disagrees with what I think is right, I’m learning to step back, tend to my own relationship to God, and recognize my identity and everyone else’s as His child. Then, if anything needs to be corrected, I can trust that adjustment to divine Mind, which may sometimes even inspire me to offer a helpful word where appropriate. God, divine Love, stirs human consciousness until it yields to God’s way.
These prayers have supported my ongoing journey of letting go of the perceived need to have an opinion about how others are going about their daily lives and keeping my thought focused on everyone’s spiritual identity as God’s expression. Tending to our own house, our own consciousness, is all that is needed.
Originally published as an article in the May 6, 2024, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
