A healing response to group mentality

Our daughter was thrilled to be selected to play on her high school varsity volleyball team. However, after the team lost a hard-fought match against a rival school, she came to me in tears because of hateful remarks and name-calling that had been exchanged between the teams. I had heard similar remarks from the players’ parents. The environment was emotionally toxic.

My daughter and I began to talk about how we could correct this situation with Christian Science. We started by acknowledging that everyone involved – the teams, coaches, officials, and parents – are all God’s children, reflecting the qualities of their divine Father-Mother.

Love, not anger or meanness, is the nature of God and therefore of God’s offspring. We talked about how seeing everyone in this true light enabled us to replace false characteristics such as aggressiveness and hatred with divine qualities, such as goodness and kindness. We prayed to obey Christ Jesus’ command “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39).

As our thinking about the situation grew more spiritual, we both felt inspired to take simple actions to improve the atmosphere at the volleyball matches. For example, my daughter would compliment opponents when they made a great play; then after the matches she would visit with them. I did the same with parents of the opposing team’s players. Other players and their parents began to express more kindness, too.

The environment at the school’s volleyball tournaments completely changed! By the end of the season, opposing teams were hugging each other, and parents were looking forward to seeing each other the next season.

This experience has a lesson for us on a broader scale, as well. While much of the discussion in the online world can be helpful, interesting, and educational, there seems to be a growing element of meanness. Then, group mentality can embolden individuals to carry their message to more personal engagements, often with hurtful effects and sometimes very serious repercussions.

Group mentality is not new. In fact, there are numerous biblical accounts in which individuals are attacked, maligned, or crucified as the result of crowd influence.

For example, in the Gospel of John, a woman caught in an adulterous relationship is brought to Jesus (see 8:3-11). Jewish law at that time would have required that both the woman and the man (who was apparently not accused in this instance) be put to death. From the account, we get a sense of the accusers’ indignation and their contempt for the woman.

However, when they asked Jesus what he thought they should do to the woman as punishment for her crime, he didn’t engage in hatred or argue against their position. When pressed on the matter, he simply said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” His words disarmed the situation by shining a light on the self-righteousness being expressed by the accusers. One by one, they left the scene. Then Jesus turned to the woman and, without condemnation, urged her to stop sinning.

The Christ spirit – the divine message, which Jesus embodied – dissolved the violent scene and helped to free the accusers from indulging in anger and condemnation. Not only was the woman freed from her accusers, but Jesus’ compassion and his rebuke of sin also gave her the opportunity to move forward.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, wrote in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “When speaking of God’s children, not the children of men, Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of God is within you;’ that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God’s image is unfallen and eternal” (p. 476).

How can Jesus’ example help us to dissolve divisive group mentality today? His spiritual discernment of what was true about God’s creation led to the persuasive words he spoke that defused the situation. His approach showed that he knew that all have one God, one Mind, and that that Mind is good, loving, compassionate, and forgiving. And this understanding gave Jesus the authority and the means to resolve the conflict harmoniously.

When faced with a situation involving negative or confrontational group mentality, like Jesus, we can refuse to be swept up in the current of popular thought and instead listen to God’s – divine Love’s – direction. Recognizing both the instigators and the object of their action as loving, pure, and unselfish will reveal the means to dissolve hatred, cruelty, and fear in favor of a harmonious and natural exchange.

Adapted from an article published in the July 20, 2023, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.