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“Throughout history there have been individuals who, by maintaining their integrity and resisting pressures to think and act like those around them, have changed the world for the better…

It takes courage to stand one’s ground against homogeneous thinking—thinking that simply melds into what everyone else is thinking. It’s easy to follow fads, believe what others are believing, and go along with the crowd. Standing out seems challenging! True spiritual individuality, though, cannot be homogenized. God causes us to be individual and to express Him in a unique way, yet in His likeness.

To get a better understanding of my own spiritual individuality, I have found it helpful to get a better understanding of God and how He expresses Himself. I often think of a handmade kaleidoscope I have sitting on my desk. It has feathers in it rather than glass pieces, and you pump it instead of turn it. With each pump, these feathers rearrange themselves into a new design, never to be exactly repeated. It’s amazing how the picture changes and yet is always unique, always fresh. The infinite variety of shape, color, and texture, formed from the same components, is an example of how all God’s ideas are present and yet are expressed uniquely, individually. This is how man is—how we are—each a new view of the same components. Thus, we are each innately special, one of a kind…

To be at one with God means to reflect Him in individual ways. It means to be able to think for ourselves, maintain our integrity, and refuse to be homogenized by the carnal, mortal thought that attempts to meld everyone together.”

Lynn Jackson, from the Christian Science Sentinel (here)

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