Explosiveness: stilled by Christ

A widely held theory assumes that some people are like volcanoes. Underneath an apparently stable surface, emotional forces seethe, ready to explode at the slightest provocation. It is even thought that "letting off steam" or "blowing one's top" can be a good thing, preventing the forces from injuring the person.

Homes and offices have needed a great deal of repair after emotional explosions, however, and many people have regretted their inability to control and overcome them. Do we have to accept the theories that justify these eruptions?

"The pent-up elements of mortal mind need no terrible detonation to free them ," writes Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. "Envy, rivalry, hate need no temporary indulgence that they be destroyed through suffering; they should be stifled from lack of air and freedom." n1

n1 Miscellaneous Writings,m p. 356;

to stifle something is to snuff it out, not let it smolder until it bursts into flames again. How can disruptive emotions be put out and not just buried in consciousness? By recognizing that they are counterfeits of the true and harmonious spiritual feeling with which God has endowed man.

True motives forces are spiritual. They are positive and constructive and, when exercised, bring progress, peace, and harmony to every situation. They have their origin in, and are expressive of, divine Love, god, the source of man's individuality and identity. God expresses in man nothing unlike His own loving, intelligent nature. The gentle qualities of divine Love are the antitheses of anger, resentment, and self-will. They bring healing and harmony instead of discord and dismay.

Another Biblical name for God is Spirit. The creative, motivating forces of Spirit are manifested humanly in productive ideas and better ways of doing things. It is natural for us to express these spiritual forces in our characters and unnatural to be governed by their opposites. Knowing this, and striving to conform our actions to our knowing, can make all the difference for us. It can overcome ultraconservatism based on a fear of inadequacy as well as disruptive radicalism stemming from a self-willed sense of ego.

The Bible also helps us understand man's creator as Soul. The harmony and grace of Soul are reflected in man, god's expression. Man governed by Soul can manifest no jarring elements, no lack of love. The exercise of Soul's harmonizing forces brings peace to institutions, and satisfaction and success to individuals.

Explosive forces are not the forces of true intelligence. They do not originate in the divine Mind, God. Rather, they are products of what Paul calls "the carnal mind." He writes, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." n2

n2 Romans 8:7;

But the carnal mind is not a real mind or force; it is the counterfeit of the one infinite Mind, god -- the only true power. The carnal mind is not an evil power or a personal mind, but a denial of the ever- presence of Mind and its perfect expression, man. It is a negation.

Yielding to the Christ, Truth, and it insistence on the impotence of the carnal mind, is an important step in destroying disruptive emotioanal tendencies. Another is to understand Love as the true origin and motivator of man. Persistent effort on our part, and sometimes mighty struggles, may be needed to gain the victory. But explosives forces, since not of God, must ultimately give way to the spiritual forces that govern His universe.

Isaiah writes, "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." n3 this righteousness can be ours, and we can feel its peace in our lives now.

n3 Isaiah 32:17.

DAILY BIBLE VERSE If ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. . . . For where envying and strife is, there is every evil at work. James 3:14, 16