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Let us now look at the fourth thread,
which I would like to call the principle of right relationship. Take for
example traffic driving. We know that most people have tales of horrible
driving and narrow escapes, but the miracle is that there are so few accidents,
not that there are such awful ones. How does traffic work? Each man knows what
the principle of good driving is, and he individually watches his own
behaviour. Then the more everybody is doing that, the more likely we are to
have harmonious relationship on the road. It is like the symbol of the vertical
and the horizontal once again. If we get the vertical dimension right, then the
horizontal dimension tends to come right.
We are like members of an orchestra all
playing music together, each one playing something slightly different, a
different instrument with a different part on the score, but each one, while
listening to his own part, at the same time has to listen to the other players
in the orchestra. These two dimensions are brought into accord. If we are right
with the score, and are following the conductor, then we are bound to come
right with our fellow-players.
If we get into accord with the Principle
of being, then we are in accord with all other ideas of that Principle of
being, because we are part of a coordinated, articulated universe in which
everyone is governed by the same divine Principle. God is the head and we are
the body of that head. God is the God-head and we are the God-body. As Paul
explains, "it is from the head that the whole body, as a harmonious structure
knit together by the joints with which it is provided, grows by the proper
functioning of individual parts to its full maturity in love" (Eph 4:16 -
J.B.Phillips' translation). In this harmonious structure there are no
dislocated joints, no ruptures in the great body of man. The word harmony comes
from the Greek word harmos meaning a joint. So harmony literally means being
jointed flexibly and sweetly together. To be in harmony with our Principle is
to be in harmony with our neighbour. This does not allow room for personal
sense and personal will and personal ambition at the expense of our brother. It
means thinking in a more universal manner, in a more responsible manner about
everyone. Jesus stated this principle clearly when he said, "The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he
doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19). He was jointed to a
divine authority, he was acting under a divine law.
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Published by
Elmdon
Publications
Elmdon, Saffron Walden, Essex, England
1989
In
association with Christian Science Foundation, England |
