Animosity? Personal attachment?

In an Extract from a letter in Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy (reprinted on the page preceding the Table of Contents in the Church Manual is this description of the value and necessity of its Rules and By-Laws:

           They ... [are] a help that must be supplied to maintain the dignity and defense of our Cause...

Students of Christian Science have given proof of those sentiments.

A recent article in the Christian Science Sentinel (October 28, 2024) shares a shift in focus away from a "personal sense of ourselves and others" (Discard the label, p. 7) -

...I held to the first sentence of the By-Law "A Rule for Motives and Acts" from the Manual of The Mother Church (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston): "Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment should impel the motives or acts of the members of The Mother Church" (Mary Baker Eddy, p. 40).

The By-Law continues, "In Science, divine Love alone governs man; and a Christian Scientist reflects the sweet amenities of Love, in rebuking sin, in true brotherliness, charitableness, and forgiveness."

The writer continues:

But I kept questioning whether my expression of this Love, if not motivated by a personal sense of affection, could be cold or unfeeling. The focus on me continued to be the stumbling block. I had been seeking to express God's love as though it were some possession to be acquired by me and then bestowed on another rather than basking in the divine Love that shines on all of God's children impartially -- like the sun.

This writer found their freedom as they realized that "unselfed love ... was never to be found in physical distancing but within..." 

Back in 1885, the writer of A Squirrel Story (The Christian Science Journal, May 1885) wrote about not getting on well with a squirrel, who was the “one blot on the summer morn.” A “most unchristian animosity” developed, and revenge ensued until “a vindictive little paw thrust itself quickly through the wires and scratched” the writer’s hand.

But a sweet friendship developed when amusement replaced animosity. “One can hardly be wrathful and amused at the same moment”. The article shares that “After I grew fond of the squirrel, I lost my fear of him” and he returned that loving fearlessness with gentleness and trust.

Julie Swannell