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The Revealing Word
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[The Revealing Word]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
sabachthani--In sabachthani we find the root idea of
loosening, setting free; letting alone and forsaking are
secondary developments. The real root idea of the word
expressed the cutting loose of bondage, or freeing from
slavery.
On the cross Jesus cried, "Eli, Eli lama sabachthani?" that
is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt.
27:46).
Metaphysically, sabachthani is the cry of the soul at the
darkest hour of crucifixion. When the sensual is passing
away it seems as though man were giving up his life,
including every good. The sensual looms so large at this
hour that, for the time being, it shuts God from the
consciousness of the individual who is going through the
experience. But God never forsakes His children; there can
be no real separation from the divine, and a glorious
resurrection into a greater degree of spiritual life than
was ever realized before always follows each letting go of
the old.
Sabbath--The true Sabbath is that state of spiritual
attainment where man ceases from all personal effort and
all belief in his own works, and rests in the consciousness
that "the Father abiding in me doeth his works" (John
14:10). When we understand the true spirit of the Sabbath,
we cease following prescribed rules laid down by a church
and open our mind to God's rest and peace. We rest from
outer work, cease daily occupation, and give ourselves up
to meditation or the study of things spiritual.
The Sabbath is kept any time we enter into spiritual
consciousness and rest from thoughts of temporal things. We
let go of the external observance of days, because every
day is a Sabbath on which we retire into Spirit and worship
God.
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sacrifice--A refining process that is constantly going on
in consciousness; the renunciation of old beliefs that seem
good for new ideas that are more of the nature of Christ.
salt of the earth--The thoughts in man that understand,
love, and obey Truth as Jesus taught and demonstrated it.
salvation--The restitution of man to his spiritual
birthright; regaining conscious possession of his God-given
attributes. It comes as the result of redemption; the
change from sin to righteousness. Salvation comes to man as
a free gift from God. It embodies a knowledge of God that
frees one from all limitations and points the way by which
mind and body may be lifted up to the spiritual place of
consciousness.
The belief that Jesus in an outer way atoned for our sins
is not salvation. Salvation is based solely on an inner
overcoming, a change in consciousness. It is a cleansing of
the mind, through Christ, from thoughts of evil.
sanctification--The putting on of the nature of God and
rising to the plane of dominion that gives man peace and
satisfaction; the purity and holiness of the Christ
consciousness. "This is the will of God, even your
sanctification" (I Thess. 4:3).
sanctuary of the soul--The secret place within man's being
where he has a rendezvous with God.
Satan--The Adversary, the great universal negative whose
power is derived from the unlawful expression of man's own
being. The serpent as "Satan" is sensation suggesting
indulgence in pleasures beyond the law fixed by creative
Mind.
Saviour--The Christ Mind is our Saviour. Through the Christ
Mind we find salvation from poverty, sickness, sin, and
death.
sayings of Jesus--To keep the sayings of Jesus is to
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take the spiritual principles that He enunciated and square
our own life by them, that is, use them as a working basis
in all the life processes.
science, spiritual--Science is the systematic and orderly
arrangement of knowledge. Spiritual science, which is the
orderly arrangement of the truths of Being, does not always
conform to intellectual standards, but it is still
scientific. Spiritual science treats of absolute ideas,
while mental science treats of limited thoughts.
scribes--Scribes represent the thoughts that come to us
from the outer world; Spirit inspires us from within. When
Spirit speaks, no person can be quoted as authority--the
Truth itself is authority, and it bows to no human exponent.
"For he taught them as having authority, and not as the
scribes" (Mark 1:22).
Scriptures--Although the Holy Scriptures are almost
universally considered to be the printed Bible only, the
real Scriptures are the book of life within our own
consciousness. The written word, however, is meant as a
clue to a more vital part of the Scriptures than appears,
since there is both a literal and a spiritual significance
to them.
The Scriptures are not like other books. They have an
enduring life, because of the spiritual quality given them
by the writers. They are a profitable source of instruction
in righteousness, as they set forth the principle, or law,
of eternal life.
The Scriptures contain in symbol a most wonderful
description of the creative action of Divine Mind, and one
who studies the Bible merely as a historical record or as a
guide to morals fails to sound the depths of these ancient
writings.
Truth students recognize that Bible history is something
more than history. For example, they see in the journey of
the Israelites to the Promised Land, a picture of man's
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progress from sense consciousness to spiritual
consciousness.
season of fruits--Bringing forth of the various powers of
consciousness.
second coming--The second coming is the result of building
the principles of Being into the soul of man, where they
begin to express through him.
The events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth represent
certain stages of spiritual growth in natural man. Jesus
was the incarnation of the Son of God, and was the great
Example, the Way-Shower, and manifested the Mind of God. If
we are to attain full sonship we must follow His example.
The second coming is right upon us. The Spirit of the Lord
Jesus is here right now, and has been ever since He gave
His spiritual body and blood to the race consciousness.
"secret place of the Most High"--(see inner chamber)
sects--In the spiritual interpretation of fundamental
principles that underly the Scriptures, there are no sects,
no differences among Truth students. But when the Bible is
read according to the letter instead of the spirit, each
reader views it from his own personal standpoint. This
gives rise to a variety of opinions. Many a person who has
what he considers the right viewpoint, tries to gain a
following and convert others to his ideas, and in this way
sects have been formed.
seed--The creative idea inherent in the Word. Its nature is
inherited from its parent source, God. The "seed," that is,
"the word of God," is the real man--not the external
thinking personality that has consciousness of separation,
but the internal Spirit center. The seed is a generative
center through which intelligence manipulates substance and
produces form. In itself it is powerless to produce
anything, but it is the avenue through which interior
forces manifest in the outer. Man draws on the universal
forces
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within and without, just as the tree draws on the invisible
Spirit and earth, air, and water.
The illustration of the mustard seed is used to show the
capacity of the apparently small thought of Truth to
develop in consciousness until it becomes the abiding place
of a higher range of thoughts (birds of the air).
"seek the things that are above"--(Col: 3:1). Seek
spirituality, instead of materiality. Seek to unfold the
Christ Mind and to abide in spiritual consciousness. This
leads into the path of peace, joy, and abundance of all
good.
selah--Tranquil, secure, at rest, silence, pause, quiet.
Selah is that state of mind in which we relax from
affirming Truth and wait on God in the stillness. Then the
Holy Spirit may reveal more of its inspirations to us and
may establish us more firmly in divine harmony and good.
self-control--The capacity to direct one's behavior in
right ways.
One who tries to establish self-control through will power
and suppression never accomplishes permanent results.
Self-control is accomplished when all the forces of man
come in touch with the divine will and understanding.
self--Christ, the divine idea, is the true self of every
man. Adam, the natural man, is the incomplete self. The
fulfillment of self is accomplished as man puts on the
Christ.
selfishness--Overconcern for one's own interests or comfort
and disregard for the welfare of others. Selfishness leads
to strife, followed by anger and hate. These emotions
generate thought currents that burn up the body cells in
somewhat the way a live wire sears flesh. Selfishness is
often the cause of unhappiness.
self-love--Care for one's own happiness and well-being.
This care is entirely compatible with justice, generosity,
and love for others.
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
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and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with
all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself" (Luke 10:27).
selling one's birthright--When one denies his true
inheritance as a son of God, in thought, word, or deed, he
is to that extent selling his birthright.
sensation--A state of excited interest or feeling derived
from stimulation of the sense organs. Spirituality, lifts
up this divine creation and restores it to its pristine
beauty. Through cultivation of the spiritual nature,
sensation is crowned with purity, and the son of man
becomes aware of God's presence in his body as life, power,
love, and joy.
sense consciousness--A mental state formed from believing
in and acting through the senses. It is the serpent
consciousness, deluded with sensation.
Judgments based on outer appearances--the senses--produce
discordant thoughts, jealousies, and a host of limiting
beliefs.
senses, how to develop the--By declaring our senses to be
spiritual and by speaking the increasing word of the I AM
to every one of them, we multiply their capacities and give
them a sustaining vigor and vitality. This is done through
the simple word of the I AM, backed up by the realization
of its spiritual power.
separation from God--Man, being the offspring of God, has
the power to create. He has used his privilege and created
a realm of error thought, which separates him in
consciousness from the Father.
separation of religion and state--Some statesmen and
politicians urge the separation of religion and state
because they do not understand the true character or
mission of religion. The clergy are responsible for this
misconception; they emphasize the saving of the soul, that
it may be prepared to dwell happily in heaven after death.
This teaching removes religion from its true field of work,
which is making people better and happier here and now. As
a result of this teaching that the greater rewards of
religion
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will come after death, Christianity has been robbed of the
major part of its power as a harmonizer of worldly affairs.
Jesus did not promise rewards after death, but on the
contrary, emphasized service in this world as the supreme
thing. Mortal man thinks leadership is evidence of
greatness, but Jesus taught that greatness is attained
through service.
seraphim--Ideas of purity; the cleansing power of exalted
ideas.
serpent--Sense consciousness or the desire of
unspiritualized man for sensation. He seeks satisfaction
through the appetite. By listening to the serpent of sense,
man falls to his lowest estate.
sheep--Harmless and innocent animals; they represent the
natural life that flows into man's consciousness from
Spirit. It is pure, innocent, guileless.
The separation of goats from sheep is a mental process
wherein the good, obedient, and profitable thoughts (sheep)
are retained (placed on the right hand). The stubborn,
selfish, useless thoughts (goats) are put away (placed on
the left hand).
Sheba--The Queen of Sheba indicates the ruling intelligence
of the whole consciousness pertaining to the part of being
that has to do with nature.
shepherds--The shepherds watching by night are the
protecting entities of God that watch over us. They are the
conservers and protectors. To affirm "Jehovah is my
shepherd" is to acknowledge that God (Spirit) is the source
of understanding and of all help.
seven--the number seven represents fullness in the world of
phenomena; seven refers to the divine law of perfection for
the divine-natural man.
seven golden candlesticks--Refers to the seven nerve
centers in the organism that have been quickened, purified,
and transmuted into spiritual intelligence.
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seven stars--The sevenfold powers of man in intelligent
action are represented by the seven stars.
shoes--Represent the words with which understanding (Truth)
is clothed. When holy ground, or substance in its spiritual
wholeness, is approached by man he must put off from his
understanding all limited thoughts about the Absolute--he
must put his shoes off his feet.
shortcomings--Mental transgressions, which must be mentally
denied. Many persons refuse to deny their shortcomings.
They hold that they are perfect in Divine Mind and that it
is superfluous to deny that which has no existence. But
they are still subject to the appetites and passions of
mortality, and will continue to be until they are "born
anew." The Pharisees refused to be baptized by John. They
did not consider that they needed the repentance that He
demanded. They thought they were good enough to take the
high places in the kingdom of God because of their
popularly accepted religious supremacy.
silence, the--A state of consciousness entered into for the
purpose of putting man in touch with Divine Mind so that
the soul may listen to the "still small voice" (I Kings
19:12).
When one goes into the silence he enters the "secret place
of the Most High," the closet of prayer within. He closes
the door and in the stillness of that meeting place he
prays to God, he communes with God, and he meditates on
Truth. Then he listens to what God has to say to him.
silver and gold--Symbolize love and wisdom.
sin--Missing the mark; that is, falling short of divine
perfection. Sin is man's failure to express the attributes
of Being--life, love, intelligence, wisdom, and the other
God qualities.
Sin (error) is first in mind and is redeemed by a mental
process, or by going into the silence. Error is brought
into the light of Spirit and then transformed into a
constructive
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force. "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind"
(Rom. 12:2).
Through the Christ Mind, our sins (wrong thinking) are
forgiven or pardoned (erased from consciousness). When we
have cast all sin (error thought) out of our mind, our body
will be so pure that it cannot come under any supposed law
of death or corruption.
singing--Singing, praising, and thanksgiving are the great
building impulses of man. Never repress the desire to give
thanks through happy songs and words of praise.
Singing restores harmony to tense nerves because its
vibrations stir them to action, thus making it possible for
the ever-waiting, healing Spirit to get in. The organ of
the human voice is located right between the thyroid
glands, the accelerators of certain important body
functions. To a greater or lesser degree every word one
speaks vibrates the cells up and down the body, from front
brain to abdomen.
single eye--The single eye sees only God (good) everywhere.
This perfect vision heals all disease in mind, body, and
affairs. "The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore
thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light"
(Matt. 6:22).
six days of creation--The six great ideal projections from
Divine Mind, each more comprehensive than its predecessor.
The climax is reached when that phase of Being called man
appears, having dominion over the ideas that have gone
before.
sleep--Sleep is a great harmonizer of discordant thoughts.
It "knits up the ravell'd sleave of care." We do not know
the deep mysteries of sleep or what goes on in the soul
when the sense man is in repose. Those who go into the
"deep silence" produce a state of consciousness analogous
to sleep. All the outer thoughts are stilled, and the soul
listens to the "still small voice." It may also see
symbols, feel the inner forces, or catch divine ideas fresh
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from the Fountainhead. Those who are expert in
concentrating the attention on inner planes of Being find
that a great rest and peace comes to them. Upon emerging
from one of these sweet periods of communion with the Lord,
they feel as if they have had a night of refreshing sleep.
solar plexus--The vital center of the organism, through
which the subconscious mind connects with the physical
body. The solar plexus is a large nerve center lying back
of the pit of the stomach, and it controls the activity of
the stomach.
Solomon's Temple--With its inner and outer courts, it is a
symbolical representation of man's body.
Son of God--The fullness of the perfect-man idea in Divine
Mind, the Christ. The true spiritual self of every
individual. The living Word; the Christ idea in the Mind of
God.
The Son ever exists in God. Father and Son are one and are
omnipresent in man and the universe. Jesus represents God's
idea of man in expression (Son of man); Christ is that idea
in the Absolute (Son of God). The Christ is the man that
God created in His image and likeness, the perfect-idea
man. He is the real self of all men.
Son of man--That in us which discerns the difference
between Truth and error. When we get this understanding we
are in a position to free our soul from sin and our body
from disease, which is the effect of sin. The Son of man
must be lifted up, and there is no way to do this except
through prayer.
son, prodigal--The "two sons" of Luke 15:11 are the two
departments of the soul, or consciousness. The son who
stayed at home is the religious or moral nature; the son
who went into the far country is the human phase of the
soul, in which are the appetites and passions. Going into a
"far country" is separating the consciousness from the
parent Source.
The first step in complying with the law of return to
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the Father's house is repentance and confession. Confession
should be made to God. If we are truly repentant, the
Father will forgive; He will have compassion, and the
bounty of Divine Mind will be poured out on us.
When we make unity between the outer sense and the inner
Spirit (the return of the prodigal son to the Father's
house), there is great rejoicing; the outer is flooded with
the vitality (robe), unending power is put into his hand
(ring), and his understanding (feet) is strengthened. The
"fatted calf" is the richness of strength always awaiting
the needy soul. When all these relations have been
established between the within and the without, there is
rejoicing. The dead man of sense is made alive in the
consciousness of Spirit--the lost is found.
song--(see singing)
sonship--Man, through Christ within, is God's son. Man
reveals his sonship to himself and to others by claiming
it; by declaring that he is not a son of mortality but a
son of God; that the Spirit of God dwells within him and
shines through him; that this Spirit is Christ, Son of God.
soul--Man's consciousness; the underlying idea back of any
expression. In man, the soul is the many accumulated ideas
back of his present expression. In its original and true
sense, the soul of man is the expressed idea of man in
Divine Mind.
Man is Spirit, soul, and body. Spirit is the I AM, the
individuality. The body is soul expressing, and soul
includes the conscious and subconscious minds. Soul makes
the body, the body is the outer expression of the soul, and
bodily health is in exact correspondence to the health of
the soul.
soul development--The unfoldment of divine ideals in the
soul, or consciousness of man, and the bringing of these
ideals into expression in the body.
soul, duality of the--That phase of the soul named
subconsciousness, which draws its life from both the earthly
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side of existence and the spiritual; it answers to both
good and evil, light and darkness.
soul, food for the--The soul is fed by thought; the true
soul food is the Word of God. The Word of God when properly
appropriated makes the soul immortal.
source of all good--God is the source of all good. All good
things flow to us from Him through love and grace. "All
that is mine is thine" (Luke 15:31).
sowing--Every thought is a seed and brings forth after its
kind. Every carnal thought, or thought of selfishness in
any form, is seed sown to the flesh. It brings forth error
and builds up flesh consciousness. The fruit of this sowing
is death and corruption. Every spiritual thought is a seed
sown to the Spirit. Spiritual thoughts feed and nourish and
build up the spiritual man. The result is life and
immortality to the whole man: Spirit, soul, and body.
Spirit--God as the moving force in the universe; Principle
as the breath of life in all creation; the principle of
life; creative intelligence and life.
We sometimes discover within ourselves a flow of thought
that has been evolved independently of the reasoning
process and we are puzzled about its origin and its safety
as a guide. In its beginnings this seemingly strange source
of knowledge is turned aside as a day-dream; again it seems
a distant voice, an echo of something that we have heard
and forgotten. One should give attention to this unusual
and usually faint whispering of Spirit in man. It is the
development in man of a greater capacity to know himself
and to understand the purpose of creation.
When one concentrates all the faculties on Truth ideas, the
conscious mind and superconscious mind blend, and there is
a descent of spiritual energies into soul and body. Then
the faculties receive new power to express Truth and the
body is renewed.
Spirit of truth--The Mind of God in its executive capacity;
it carries out the divine plan of the originating
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Spirit. It proceeds from the Father and bears witness of
the Son.
The Spirit of truth is God's thought projecting into our
mind ideas that will build a spiritual consciousness like
that of Jesus. The Spirit of truth watches every detail of
our life, and when we by affirmation proclaim its presence,
it brings new life into our body and prosperity into our
affairs.
Spirit of wholeness--The Holy Spirit of the New Testament.
In Greek mythology the Holy Spirit is symbolized by the
goddess Hygeia. Modern medical men call it the restorative
power of nature. (see Holy Spirit)
spiritual cosmogony--Spiritual interpretation of the
creation of the universe. When science admits that the
ether is moved by omnipotent Mind, the Bible will show
forth a complete spiritual cosmogony.
spiritual discernment--Intuitive knowing of that which is
true of God, or Spirit.
spiritual healer--One who helps man reform so that bodily
healing follows as a natural consequence. In order to have
bodily perfection it is necessary to bring the mind to a
state of righteousness. This is the work of the spiritual
healer.
spiritual quickening--Making active according to spiritual
standards, by being linked to the activity of God-Mind.
spirituality--The consciousness that relates man directly
to his Father-God. It is quickened and grows through prayer
and other forms of religious thought and worship.
"spears into pruning-hooks"--(Isa. 2:4). Sharp, penetrating
thoughts of cruelty turned into helpful ways.
stand--To hold fearlessly to the truth that Spirit is doing
its perfect work and that there is no cause for alarm.
Endurance is necessary to a soldier, and everyone who
aspires to win the good fight of self must be able to stand
against whatever comes. But before we can stand we
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must be prepared to meet adverse thoughts and overcome
unworthy desires.
standards--Man's intellectual standards are determined
according to the judgments of the senses. The one true
standard of thinking is absolute Truth.
star--Represents man's first awakening before he realizes
his Christ wisdom and power. The morning star heralds the
coming of light and the glory of the sun. In like
progressive unfoldment, the mind has its star of promise,
which leads on to wisdom, then to final glory in the sun of
righteousness, which is the Son of God.
star of Bethlehem--Symbolizes our inner conviction of our
divine sonship. This inner conviction of our ability to
accomplish whatever we undertake calls forth the very best
in us and helps us to succeed where others of equal ability
fail. The accumulated wisdom and experience of a man (the
Wise Men from the East) rejoice when faith in one's destiny
to do the will of God begins to rise within, and all the
riches of wise experience, such as gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh, are bestowed on the young child.
These gifts represent the subconscious reserve forces of
the organism that enter into and form the new man in Christ.
stiff-necked--Self-sufficient, obstinate; descriptive of
one who has attained a degree of spiritual dominion but is
not obedient to the Spirit of truth.
stillness--A mental state of infinite peace, rest, and
tranquillity where man's senses are hushed and he abides in
God. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10).
"still small voice"--The voice of Spirit speaking within
the depths one's being. The "still small voice" is not an
audible voice. It comes from within as spiritual knowing.
stimulant--Any external element that excites activity not
characteristic of man's natural state.
stomach--The stomach stands for the meditative faculty
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of the mind--its ability to receive ideas, turn them over
and over, and get mental nourishment from them.
stone, white (Rev. 2:17)--When we redeem ourselves from
bondage to sense, we shall be sustained by the inner or
spiritual food ("hidden manna"), which is understanding of
Truth and which is the foundation ("a white stone") upon
which we build up and develop our true Christ self.
strength--The energy of God. Freedom from weakness;
stability of character; power to withstand temptation;
capacity to accomplish. Strength is physical, mental, and
spiritual. All strength originates in Spirit, the thought
and the word spiritually expressed being the manifestation.
stumbling block--Stumbling blocks at first may seem to be
in the physical environment, but closer discernment reveals
that they are primarily in the mind. Therefore, we should
not put additional weight into the already existing
obstacles by filling them with the thought-stuff of
condemnation. We should not judge others but should strive
to overlook their limitations. We should beware how we let
our zeal to help others interfere with their freedom of
choice.
subconscious mind--The memory mind; memory crystallized
into function and form. It is the home of our habits, the
storehouse of our past thoughts and experiences. It carries
on all the bodily functions such as circulation, breathing,
digestion, and so forth. We are not conscious of what goes
on in these processes, but divine intelligence works
perfectly in all of them unless man interferes through
ignorant thinking.
The work of overcoming is carried on largely in the
subconscious mind. All past thinking must be redeemed and
the whole man, conscious and subconscious, brought into the
harmony of the Christ consciousness.
substance--The divine idea of the underlying reality of all
things. Substance is everywhere present, pervades all
things, and inspires to action. It underlies all
manifestation
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and is the spiritual essence, the living energy out of
which everything is made. Through substance all the
attributes of Being are expressed. It sustains and enriches
any idea that is projected into it.
Divine substance is man's supply. Out of it he forms
whatever he will according to his faith and understanding.
By entering into the silence, acknowledging divine
substance, affirming his faith in and oneness with it, man
becomes conscious of substance.
Spiritual realization of divine substance enriches the soil
or thought-stuff of the mind. Jesus considered divine
substance the treasure field in which He could find the
fulfillment of His every need. Every demonstration over
mortal limitations is followed by a realization of infinite
reality. When man puts away the belief in the reality of
matter, there follows a realization of the presence of true
substance, of which matter is a mortal concept. Hence this
thought-stuff may be made active by holding an affirmation.
The rich substance of the kingdom of God is pouring its
plenty perpetually into my mind and affairs, and I am in
all ways prospered.
success--Attainment of a desired goal. Success comes as the
result of faithfulness and earnestness in the application
of God's law.
When success fails to crown our efforts, we sometimes
become discouraged and quit. Then we try to console
ourselves with the thought that it is God's will for us to
fail. Failure is not God's will, but man lays it to the
charge of God to excuse his own feeling of inadequacy and
defeat. God's will is health, happiness, and prosperity for
every man; and to have all that is good and beautiful is to
express God's will for us.
suggestion--A mental process by which one mind influences
another mind, or one's subconscious mind is influenced by
one's own efforts.
Suggestion and realization differ in that spiritual
realization
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comes from consciously entering into the Truth of Being,
while suggestion may be either of Truth or error. The
results of suggestion are temporary; spiritual realizations
abide.
sun--The realm of consciousness that has been illuminded by
Spirit. "The greater light to rule the day" (Gen. 1:16).
superconscious mind--A state of consciousness based on true
ideas, on an understanding and realization of spiritual
Truth.
"Where there is no vision the people cast off restraint"
(Prov. 29:18). Men must see beyond matter and material
possessions, or civilization will perish from the earth. If
the superconsciousness, or the Christ Mind, is not
developed, the people will destroy one another in insane
warring for the fleeting things of the world. Preaching the
glories of heaven will not reach a mind that has no
capacity for the enjoyment of heaven.
The connection between the superconscious mind and the
conscious mind is established within--by meditation, by
going into the silence, and by speaking the word.
The superconsciousness is man's only sure guide through the
maze of the creative process. By trusting to the
infallibility of this guide, man opens himself to the
inspiration of the Almighty.
supermind--The Christ consciousness; the mind that knows
all and is able to accomplish all things because it is one
with the Mind of God.
superstitions--Beliefs of those who live on the mere
surface of things; beliefs that certain things or
occurrences are good or bad omens. Under all conditions and
circumstances declare the perfect law of Divine Mind. "Thou
shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God" (Deut. 18:13).
supplication--The earnest prayer or entreaty of the mind
for a way of escape from the dominance of sense.
supply--Spiritual substance. Supply often fails to flow
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to one whose faith is fixed in some outer source instead of
in substance. Jesus understood spiritual substance and
could make from it whatever He wished, whenever He wished.
Anxiety about supply can be overcome by a recognition of
the omnipresence of Spirit substance and the centering of
faith in it as the one source of supply.
supreme Mind--God-Mind. The universal storehouse of all
perfect ideas.
supreme voice--The voice of the Spirit of truth within each
man.
swaddling clothes--Bands of cloth in which it was customary
to wrap newborn babies. They represent confinement to the
limitations of the physical nature of this first emanation
of divine life, "because there was no room for them in the
inn" (outer consciousness).
sword--Represents any weapon that man may turn against his
fellow man. The tongue is called a sharp sword. Unloving
words pierce like a sword. We reap whatever we sow. As we
do to others so is it done to us. If we sow thoughts and
words of destruction we will reap them.
sword, flaming--I AM is the gate through which the thinker
comes forth from the invisible to the visible, and it is
through this gate that he must go to come into the presence
of Spirit. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life"
(John 14:6). Hence, we take words and go to God. We come
into His presence through the I AM gate and we return the
same way. On the inner side of the gate is the Garden of
Eden, but "the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword" are
there, "to keep the way of the tree of life" (Gen. 3:24).
swords into plowshares--Destructive thoughts transformed
into instruments of body culture.
symbols--Represent steps in the masonry of the soul. All
scriptural symbols have to do with the spiritual progress
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of man. In the Bible every name stands for an idea and has
a meaning that gives a due to the symbol.
A symbol loses its usefulness when man clings to it as the
reality and fails to see the Truth that it represents.
synagogue--Represents an aggregation of religious ideas
based on Truth, thoughts that have not yet received the
inspiration of the whole Truth. A synagogue also represents
a fixed religious state of consciousness.
A Jewish synagogue was a little chapel, where anyone could
hear the law read out of the Hebrew Scriptures; or if he
was a rabbi he could read out of the law himself. A
constant stream of people came and went in the synagogue,
and it fifty represents the mind of man, or a phase of
man's mind that is given over to religious thought. In the
new birth, or regeneration, the rebuilding of man's
consciousness begins in this synagogue or religious
mentality.
The synagogue of Acts 17:1, 2 in which Paul "for three
Sabbath days reasoned with them from the scriptures," is
the established religious thought bred in us by tradition,
education, and inheritance.
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