Yep, that’s right. You are never required to hate, resent, get angry, or be jealous or envious of your neighbor—ever! You can love them with ease. It’s the natural and normal thing to do as a child of God.
God created us to love, not hate.
Some people get so accustomed to thinking angry thoughts they think it’s normal. But it’s not. It’s not normal to hate. It’s evil, wrong, unspiritual, and very mortal to entertain spite and anger. It’s debilitating, demoralizing, and unhealthy. It leads to sickness, suffering, pain and a whole lot of unpleasantness. It’s no fun.
Life is so much better when fortressed and permeated by Love!
One practice I find helpful in defending myself from unwanted hate is to never internalize MAM.
MAM is an acronym for “malicious animal magnetism.” MAM is the evil of the carnal mind bent on killing the goodness and purity of God’s man. It wants to destroy, stop and prevent good from happening in our lives. It has no power, but seems to have power to the degree that we indulge it and allow it to use our thinking. So, it’s vitally important that we daily defend ourselves from its influence and not allow its evil thoughts to become our evil thoughts.
For instance, if a mental suggestion comes knocking, “I do not like that person,” and it continues to grow into anger and resentment toward that person, we’re internalizing MAM. We’re allowing the evil inclinations of the carnal mind to take over our mind and cause us to act contrary to our God-created inclination to love. Or if any hint of jealousy or envy start to germinate in thought and we do not check them immediately, MAM is at work pulling us down to a low place. We’re internalizing its evil selfishness rather than warding it off and keeping our thinking pure and enlightened.
It takes diligence, alertness and attentiveness to fend off the assaults of MAM. But it’s worth the effort. We are not helpless. Through understanding God’s omnipresent Love and our birthright to express it, we can say NO to any suggestion of MAM, refuse it mental entry and keep on loving, forgiving and leading a compassionate, kind, spiritually progressive life.
So, stay on guard today. Keep a high standard for your state of mind. Don’t internalize any evil suggestion from outside. Kill the unwanted intruder at the door and keep your mental home filled with truth and love. It’s a much happier way to live.
“Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more harm than one's belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen, from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.” Mary Baker Eddy
