There seem to be a lot of influences around these days, especially on social media. Sometimes these influences are conscious efforts to sway thought and attitudes in certain directions. Often they stem from good intentions, but other times they’re less beneficent and would steer thought in a direction that might not be helpful or productive.
Influence is a powerful tool. Whatever influences thought influences action, on both an individual and global scale. We could say the peace and well-being of humanity depend upon the influences at work in human thought. It behooves each one of us, then, to pay careful attention to what is influencing our day-to-day thoughts and how we respond to those impulses.
How can we keep our mental environment receptive to constructive influences alone?
I’ve found it helpful to look to a role model here. Christ Jesus lived in a time of daunting social, economic, and political influences. Yet, judging by his powerful healing message of God’s goodness and love, and the magnitude of healing he accomplished, it seems clear that Jesus was influenced solely by our heavenly Father-Mother God, who is all good, rather than by the politics and travesties of his time. We could say that he yielded to what Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, describes in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” as “the influence of divine Love which casteth out fear” (p. 180).
We are disposed to this same healing divine influence, which communicates to us the truth that our identity is not mere mortality. In reality, we are God’s spiritual offspring, included in the wholeness of His goodness. As children of God, “we have the mind of Christ,” as the Apostle Paul put it (I Corinthians 2:16). And with this spiritual consciousness as our baseline, we come to see that it’s natural for us to discern that Christly influence and to follow it – and to then see our experiences adjust for the better.
Jesus gave us some practical advice on how to prepare our thought to be receptive to the Christ-spirit. He encouraged us to live by two great commandments: to love God, and love our neighbor as ourself (see Matthew 22:37-40). We love God when we live up to our highest sense of God’s nature – i.e., as we strive to outwardly express God-given attributes of justice, wisdom, goodness, integrity, and so on. And we love our neighbor when we see and treat others as the blessed children of God that they truly are, created to express those same qualities, too.
When our thoughts are filled with genuine love for God and our neighbor, there is no room in our minds for subtle evil, such as selfishness, arrogance, or dishonesty, to creep in and obscure the holy influence of God, divine Mind.
Many years ago, my husband, as a young lawyer, took a job at a firm that he soon realized had a mistrustful, dark mental climate. He had to choose what influence to yield to: fear that expressing integrity might leave him without the needed resources to support his family, or trust in God’s provision.
As you can read in his account of this experience (Rich Evans, “When the mist lifts,” Christian Science Sentinel, June 4, 2018), he decided to leave that job. As he considered next steps, prayer fueled by a desire to love God, to live up to his highest sense of integrity, and to love his neighbor led him to a completely different line of work than what he had done before. This unexpected role enabled him to move forward in his career with a wider sphere of understanding and experience than he otherwise would have had.
When we stay mentally close to God, remaining open to the divine Mind’s influence and direction, we are guided every step of the way. The Christ, Truth, that Jesus embodied is still present today – “a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime” (Science and Health, p. xi). Heeding, then following, this divine influence, we can be assured we are on the path that best fosters peace and well-being.
