Set high ideals and follow them

May 25, 2021 | 18 comments

If you want to advance, stay healthy, and live free, set high ideals and follow them.

From a spiritual point of view, there is no such thing as an ideal that is too high.

When I was a piano student, and my teacher assigned me a new and difficult piece to play, she would play a recording of that piece played by a master pianist. What I heard would become my ideal to follow. It may have taken months, or even a couple of years, to approximate the ideal, but it became my inspiration that guided my practice. As I was faithful, my playing would get closer and closer to the ideal until I was playing the piece masterfully too.

The same rule works in life. We follow our ideals. We consult them regularly, and make decisions accordingly. The higher the ideal, the further we go.

What ideals are you following today? Are they filled with abundance, health, strength, expectation of good, faith in good, overflowing love and care for others, unselfish action, and gratitude?

The ideal of Christian Science is perfect God, perfect man, and perfect universe. Anything less is not good enough.

Go for the best, and prosper beyond anything you thought possible.

The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as the basis of thought and demonstration” Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 259.

The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal” Science and Health, p. 260.

18 thoughts on “Set high ideals and follow them”

    1. Thank you Angie for this great article on the belief of aging. Just what I needed this morning.

    2. Thank you Angie for lovingly including such helpful articles that really resonate. So grateful.
      Thank you Evan. It’s inspiring that you never expressed any doubt or fear that you would reach your high ideal of mastering a piano piece. You only expressed confidence and an expectation that you would get there. Wonderful qualities to exemplify as we persevere on our spiritual journey.

  1. Thank you Evan, “The ideal of Christian Science is perfect God, perfect man, and perfect universe. Anything less is not good enough.” So very helpful, and thank you Angie for the Article. I read and or listen to all you post always so helpful.

  2. Just setting up the keyboard and recording equipment and it all looked quite overwhelming. Opened the email and there was the reminder.
    Thank you indeed.

  3. “The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it.” —Science and Health, page 426.

  4. We must keep ‘in tune ‘ to the Divine Mind! Thank you Evan , very helpful for me today…and everyday. Thanks also to Angie. Your links are truly appreciated. Enjoy today everyone❣️

  5. “We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives” (Science and Health, p. 248). Christ Jesus always had this perfect model in his thought. He knew God made all that was made, and that it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

  6. Thanks all! Just what I needed this morning. “Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man’s dominion over the whole earth.” Science and Health page 14: 25-28.

  7. Evan….just wanted to say “thanks” for this and all your “Views” that I endeavor to read and ponder their message each morning. They just always seem to fit the need of the the moment.

  8. Absolutely, thank you for making it a subject of you post. As a coach and a person who works with young adults, this is a masterful concept to deploy with each individual want to learn a new skill or achieve a higher level of understanding.

  9. Thank you Evan for the encouragement to keep thought on upward wing focused on the higher truths. We need many reminders of this (I know I do).

    The quotes from S&H were perfect, they’re from the chapter ‘Creation,’ a wonderful, fairly short chapter which I looked at again today because Evan’s quotes directed me to it.

    In setting high spiritual goals I do have to watch for the tendency to think of a mortal “me” humanly struggling or striving to attain them. That can cause overwhelm or disappointment. But if I turn to God sincerely I can recognize His hand guiding everything and moving me (His child), and all of us at all times, gently in right ways.

    My goals are to see that Humility and Trust and expectancy of Good are my natural states of being.

    Another good quote from that chapter (p. 260), “Through many generations human beliefs will be attaining diviner conceptions, and the immortal and perfect model of God’s creation will finally be seen as the only true conception of being.” -Sending gratitude and love to all of you.

  10. Thank you, Evan, for keeping the Lights on our path well-lit, and this message was just what I needed this morning. “Onward Christian soldiers…”! I am re-enlightened and can wash away the hurts of yesterday, and re-light my path with God’s Truth about Reality, not the seeming illusion. Thank you!

  11. Thanks Evan for sharing your experience. Mine was quite different. I had a deep love of music and when I was young and took piano lessons, I would learn a new piece the way it was written, then play it the way I felt it. This was very frustrating to my teacher.
    I still love music and get much comfort and inspiration from our hymns.

  12. Thank you, Evan, for your inspired words that illuminate my day. Thank you, Angie, for sharing this article. Thank you all for your comments. Thanks God and His Christ for everything!!

  13. Can relate to this one, as I too am a piano player. Thank you!!! Interestingly, I have been trying to brush up on my sightreading too. This will help when I order Thompson’s Beginner piano . Thanks again.

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