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The Revealing Word
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[The Revealing Word]
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abate--To lessen; to moderate. In making a demonstration,
when we reach the point where the mind changes from the
negative to the positive state the troubled thoughts begin
to abate. A certain set of negative ideas has run its
course, and the restorative thought forces are in evidence.
Abba--A word of endearment signifying father. It is only as
we come to know our sonship, our true relation to God, that
we enter into the consciousness of love and tender
affiliation with Spirit, signified by the word Abba. (see
Mark 14:36)
abdicate--To let go; to relinquish; to renounce. The
ability to abdicate is twofold in action: it eliminates the
error, and it expands the good. When the ego consciously
lets go and willingly gives up its personal ideas and
loves, it has fulfilled the law of denial and is restored
to the Father's house.
abide--To continue in a fixed thought of God, the All-Good;
to dwell in the Christ consciousness. "If ye abide in me,
and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it
shall be done unto you" (John 15:7).
abiding--A conscious centering of the mind in divine
Principle within us by means of repeated affirmations of
our faith and trust in Principle.
abiding Presence--Christ, the presence of light, peace,
joy, love, life, and substance that is ever within, about,
before, and beside man. (see presence of God)
Absolute, the--Divine Mind; unlimited Principle; the
almighty One; the all-pervading Spirit; the Infinite; the
Eternal; the Supreme Being. The one ultimate creative Mind;
the Source of all things. That which is unconditioned,
unlimited, unrestricted, and free from all limitations. The
self-existent God.
Absolute, to place judgment in the--The metaphysician
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finds it necessary to place his judgment in the Absolute in
order to demonstrate His supreme power. This is
accomplished by first declaring that one's judgment is
spiritual and not material, that its origin is in God, that
all its conclusions are based on Truth, and that they are
absolutely free from prejudice, false sympathy, or personal
ignorance.
Absolute, treating in the--Treating in the consciousness of
the Spirit of God; affirming the absolute Truth of Being
for man.
Absolute, unification of man with the--Man unifies himself
with the Absolute through recognition that he is the son
and heir of the Father, in whose image and likeness he was
created. By realizing the Mind of Christ, he becomes one
with the Absolute.
abstract, the--The realm of pure ideas such as goodness,
purity, wisdom, and love.
abundance, spiritual--Ideas in consciousness of the
omnipresent supply and support of the one Mind; invisible
substance, with infinite capacity of expansion when held in
mind, affirmed, and praised. "All things whatsoever the
Father hath are mine" (John 16:15).
abundance, steps in demonstrating--First, we must recognize
abundance as an idea that is real and has the power to
expand. Then, we must talk abundance--choose words
representing abundance--and thus build up an invisible
world of substance. In this way, we build or form in our
mind that which draws to us an abundance of every good
thing. "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given" (Luke
8:18).
accident--An unfortunate event that takes place without our
conscious foreknowledge.
accidents, cause and cure of--The cause of all accidents
lies in sense consciousness. To be free from all accidents,
we must raise our consciousness, so that it is
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spiritually positive and Christlike. Then we shall attract
only good.
accuser--Opposer; hater; an enemy. (see Devil and Satan)
The accuser is overcome by casting him down in the name of
Jesus Christ.
achievement, universal desire for--The craving for
accomplishment, innate in every man. The universal desire
for worth-while achievement, giving a mighty impulse to all
things, is divinely good.
acquisitiveness--The desire to acquire. It is a legitimate
faculty of mind, but covetousness is the Judas trait. When
a man seeks to acquire from God only, acquisitiveness
builds up his consciousness, but when he oversteps the law
and seeks that which belongs to another his acquisitiveness
becomes a destroyer. (see covetousness)
activity, spiritual--Thoughts in relation to spiritual
Principle. Mind movement in accordance with the activity of
Divine Mind.
Adam--Red; reddish. The first movement of mind in its
contact with life and substance. Adam was created from the
"dust of the ground" (Gen. 2:7). Dust represents the
radiant earth or substance. When spiritual man (I AM)
enters into this substance and makes use of the God ideas
inherent in him, he brings forth the ideal body in its
elemental perfection. Adam was first perfect as an idea in
elemental divinity.
Adam man--Unregenerate sense man; antichrist: the man who
has fallen away from spirituality. Originally Adam was the
spiritually illumined man of God. The Adam man was
primitively identified with an infinite capacity for
expansion. When he recognizes his identity as spiritual he
expands in divine order and brings forth only good.
Adam man, ills of--The many ills of the Adam man grew out
of his belief that he could satisfy and nourish himself
with material food and drink alone. To feed the
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body is not enough. The spiritual man hungers for the bread
of life and thirsts for living water, even the Word of God.
Adam man, transformation of--We are not to erase Adam, but
we are to transform him by the renewing of our mind. "And
be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God"
(Rom. 12:2).
adjustment--The rearrangement of thoughts according to the
divine order of the Christ Mind; a bringing of man's
consciousness into exact correspondence with God's perfect
harmony, or heaven. "And the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough ways smooth" (Luke 3:5).
adultery--Mixed thoughts, errors that have their existence
in the unregenerated feelings; thoughts that have not come
under the dominion of the I AM.
Adversary, the--The vain imagination that there could, in
reality, be anything opposed to Divine Mind, or could be
any separation of man from it, led to the forming of a
state of mind that is described in the Bible as the
"adversary." We find that the various names--Satan; Devil;
Adversary; accuser; carnal mind; old man; man of sin; and
personality--all refer to the consciousness that man has
built up in his ignorance of his true estate.
affirm--To hold steadfast in mind or to speak aloud a
statement of Truth.
affirm the salvation of the Lord--To realize silently and
to declare audibly that the Christ within us is taking
charge of all our affairs.
affirmation--A positive statement of Truth. By the use of
affirmations we claim and appropriate that which is ours in
Truth. (see denial)
affirmation, act of--The "yes" action of the mind; the act
of affirming; the declaring of Truth; the mental movement
that asserts confidently and persistently the
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Truth of Being in the face of all appearances to the
contrary.
affirmation and denial--Two movements of the mind that
express power to accept or to reject, to lay hold of or to
let go. (see denial)
affirmation, how made--Affirmations do not have to be made
only in set terms such as, "I affirm my body to be
spiritual." The sum total of thought in all its positive
aspects composes the affirmations that bring ideas into
form.
affirmation, purpose of--To establish in consciousness a
broad understanding of the divine principles on which all
life and existence depend. By affirming Truth we are lifted
out of false thinking into the consciousness of Spirit.
affirmation, remedial effects of--All unrighteous
conditions may be adjusted through affirming the power of
the great universal Spirit of justice. Affirm: "The
infinite Spirit of love and justice is now operating in all
my affairs, and all is well."
age--A cycle or a dispensation. Jesus was acquainted with
cycles or ages of spiritual development of which the
natural man knew nothing. Jesus came at the end of an age.
Age to mortal man is the measurement of the life or
existence of a person or thing. It is based on the false
concept of time as reality. "What is the signal of Your
presence, and the completion of this age?" (Matt. 24:3,
Fenton.)
air--The deific breath of God. It symbolizes a purifying,
vitalizing power that revives and makes alive.
alchemy, divine--Transmutation; changing in action and in
character from the mortal into the spiritual. It has been
said that the mind is the crucible in which the ideal is
transmuted into the real.
alcoholism--A diseased condition brought about by one who,
thirsting for the true stimulation of Spirit, resorts to
the excessive use of false stimulants, such as
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alcoholic beverages. The way to demonstrate over this
condition is to turn wholeheartedly to Spirit and to
realize and to affirm that the desire for false stimulants
is dissolved and dissipated and that the pure spiritual
life of Christ satisfies and uplifts.
allegiance to the Father--The consciousness that divine
wisdom is guiding the universe and man, which gives man a
feeling of security. Allegiance to the Father signifies a
constant devotion to and trust in the Father.
allegory--A symbolical representation of Truth. "Which
things contain an allegory" (Gal. 4:24).
All-Good--Divine Mind; God; the principle of divine
benevolence that permeates the universe.
almighty--All-powerful; having all power or force to
accomplish anything. All things are possible with God,
because He is infinitely all-mighty. All the power, all the
force, all the might of the universe are God's; He is, in
truth, almighty God. "Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said
unto him, I am God Almighty" (Gen. 17:1).
Alpha and Omega--The beginning and the end; the Son of God;
all in all. "I am the Alpha and the Omega" (Rev. 22:13).
altar--Stabilized place of worship. A fixed, definite
center in consciousness; the place in consciousness where
we meet the Lord and are willing to give up our sins, to
give up the lower for the higher, the personal for the
impersonal.
The altar mentioned in Rev. 11:1 symbolizes the
consciousness of full consecration that takes place first
in the temple of worship within: "Present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service" (Rom. 12:1).
altar, brazen, of temple worship--Represents the generative
life.
altar, golden, of incense--Symbolizes the establishing of
permanent resolutions of purity and covenants with the
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higher law of obedience, although it may entail daily
sacrifice. (This applies to the altar of the burnt
offerings also.)
altar, to an unknown God--A yearning to know the unrevealed
Spirit and a reaching out for a fuller realization of its
source.
alternate between good and evil--To swing the mind from
good to evil and vice versa, with consequent variation in
the application of Truth principles. Alternation is fatal
to realization. "For let not that man think that he shall
receive anything of the Lord; a double-minded man, unstable
in all his ways" (James 1:7,8).
ambition--A subtle mental force that drives men toward
their goals. If it is dedicated wholly to Spirit and acts
from Principle, it will work for good. If its motto is,
"The end justifies the means," it is a menace.
ancestors--Forefathers. Those who think of themselves as
descended from human ancestors are in bondage to all the
limitations of those ancestors, regardless of their claims
to the contrary. It is a falling short of the full stature
of man to regard himself as descending from the human
family. This is the sin that keeps the majority of men in
bondage to sense consciousness.
angel--A messenger of God; the projection into
consciousness of a spiritual idea direct from the
Fountainhead, Jehovah. "And there appeared unto him an
angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar"
(Luke 1:11). The word of Truth, in which is centered the
power of God to overcome all limited beliefs and conditions.
angel, of Jehovah--The quickening thought of God appearing
in the form of light or divine intelligence, intuition, and
understanding.
angels, ascending and descending--The imaging power of the
mind receiving divine ideas and reflecting them into the
consciousness.
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angels, office of--To guard, to direct, and to redeem the
natural forces of the body and mind, which have in them the
future of the whole man.
anointed of God, the--One who is conscious of the real
spiritual outpouring from the source of his being; a
consecrated person, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he anointed me" (Luke 4:18).
anointing--A symbolical expression of the pouring out of
the spirit of love on one who has faith in God. Rubbing
with oil; consecrating the body with the living Spirit of
Christ. "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and
wash thy face" (Matt. 6:17).
antichrist--That which denies or opposes the idea that the
Christ dwells in and is the true self of each individual.
The active effort in the world to exalt death and to delude
men into believing that death is the way to eternal life is
an instance of work that is antichrist. Such a thought is
opposed to Christ. Jesus came to deliver the human race
from death and to fulfill in man God's perfect will,
abundant life. The antichrist thoughts must be persistently
denied. The perfect will of God for all men is abundant
life, not death.
anxiety--A form of fear; a negative mental attitude that
keeps God's good from man.
apostles--Those sent forth; messengers; ambassadors; active
spiritual thoughts. Jesus conferred this title on the
Twelve whom He sent forth to teach and to heal.
In order to command our powers and to bring them into unity
of action, we must know what they are and their respective
places on the staff of Being. The Grand Man, Christ, has
twelve powers of fundamental ideas, represented in the
history of Jesus by the Twelve Apostles. So each of us has
twelve faculties or fundamental ideas to make manifest, to
bring out, and to use in the attainment of his ideals.
There are innumerable other ideas, but each one stems from
some one of these fundamental ideas.
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Jesus' twelve apostles were: Peter (faith); Andrew
(strength); James, son of Zebedee (wisdom or judgment);
John (love); Philip (power); Bartholomew (imagination);
Thomas (understanding); Matthew (will); James (order);
Simon the Cananaean (zeal); Thaddaeus (renunciation or
elimination); and Judas (life conserver). (see disciple,
calling of)
appetite--Either the craving of the sense man for
fulfillment of his fleshly desires or the hunger and thirst
of the spirit for its divine inheritance. "But he awaketh .
. . and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite"
(Isa. 29:8).
appetite, carnal or sensual--A hunger and thirst for
sensual pleasures; misdirected effort to obtain
satisfaction through feeding the insatiable sense man. All
indulgence of such appetite must be denied out of man's
consciousness before Christ can be manifested.
appreciation--The act of appreciating; esteeming.
Spiritually, man's mind esteems to a great measure the
loveliness and power of omnipresent God, All-Good. "I will
give thee thanks with my whole heart" (Psalms 138:1).
appropriation--The act of taking possession of something.
To appropriate the word of Truth is to take the substance
of the word into one's mind and heart.
ark--A holy place; a sanctuary; a tabernacle; the Christ
center within wherein man is one with pure Being.
ark, Noah's--Symbolizes the spiritual part of oneself,
built in the midst of the flood of error. One builds one's
ark on the scientific understanding of the wisdom,
presence, and power of God and on the affirmations of what
one is in Spirit.
The only refuge from the Flood (see Gen. 6:18) was the ark
of Jehovah. The ark represents a positive, saving state of
consciousness, which agrees with or forms a covenant with
the principle of Being, with subconscious
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inspiration, with Christ. This ark is the product of "rest"
(Noah) in the spiritual part of us, right in the midst of
the flood of error.
Ark of the Covenant--Represents the original spark of
divinity in man's being, which is a sacred and holy thing.
On its development depends man's immortality. The original
spark (Ark of the Covenant) occupies the most holy place in
the body temple and must be cared for with great devotion;
otherwise, the spiritual forces are scattered.
No human hand is allowed to touch this ark of the covenant.
No human thought can enter the sacred precincts, which are
kept veiled from all eyes.
armor of God--The robe of righteousness. Error cannot enter
the consciousness that is strongly fortified with the
light, life, power, and substance of Spirit.
ascension--The ascending or progressive unfoldment of man
from the animal to the spiritual. It is measured by three
degrees or states of consciousness: first, the animal;
second, the mental or psychical; and third, the spiritual.
Jesus first manifested Himself as the man on the physical
plane, from which He was resurrected to the mental or
psychical; from thence He ascended to the spiritual.
asceticism--The practice of severe self-denial; the attempt
to deny the body itself as an evil thing instead of
beholding it as the sacred temple of the living God to be
revered, respected, and loved.
aspirations--The deep longing of man for union with his
source, with his Father-Mother, God.
"As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
So panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God"
(Psalms 42:1, 2).
ass--In Oriental countries in Bible times kings and rulers
rode the ass, and it was the accepted bearer of
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royalty. The animal part of the human consciousness is
typified by the ass, and the purpose of Jesus' riding an
ass into Jerusalem was to portray the mastery by the I AM
of the animal nature and its manifestation (colt).
Jerusalem is the city of peace or spiritual consciousness.
The characteristics of the ass are stubbornness,
persistency, and endurance. To ride these is to make them
obedient to one's will.
association, spiritual--Living in an uninterrupted
relationship with ideas that come into consciousness from
God.
astrology--"The pseudo science which treats of the
influence of the stars upon human affairs, and of
foretelling terrestrial events by their position and
aspects" (Webster). Astrology represents the belief in man
that his good depends wholly on something outside
himself--his ruling star, fate, providence--instead of
depending on the power of his own thoughts to establish
within himself and his world what he wills.
It is true that we are in sympathy with all nature, which
includes the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars. These
are all ensouled, and their actions can affect us when we
do not believe in a higher power. But there is a higher
power in everyone: Spirit. In Genesis it is stated that
spiritual man, the image-and-likeness man, was given
dominion over all creation.
astronomy--"The science which treats of the celestial
bodies, their magnitudes, motions, constitution, etcetera"
(Webster).
The material universe is only the outpicturing of the
spiritual universe. The pulsations of the spiritual forces
impinge on and sway men, nations, and planets according to
laws whose sweep in space and time is so stupendous as to
be beyond the ken or comprehension of astronomy. But the
fact should not be overlooked that higher astronomy had its
votaries in the past. The Magi and the illumined
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sages of Chaldea and Egypt had astronomical knowledge of
universal scope.
There is evidence that proves that the sages of the distant
past knew a higher astronomy than do we of this age and
that they predicted the future of this planet through
cycles and aeons--its nights of mental darkness and the
dawn of its spiritual day--with the same accuracy that our
astronomers do its present-day planetary revolutions.
Jesus evidently understood this higher astronomy, and He
knew that His work as a teacher and demonstrator of
spiritual law was related to it, yet not controlled by it.
He co-operated with the "law . . . and the prophets," as
far as they went, but He knew the higher law of the Christ
man and affirmed His supremacy in the words, "All authority
hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth" (Matt.
28:18).
atmosphere--Individually, an extension of consciousness;
collectively, the pervading influence of the predominating
thoughts.
atom--"One of the small parts out of which any physical
quantity is built up" (Webster). A particle charged with
tremendous energy that may be released and made to give to
man powers beyond expression. Jesus used the dynamic power
of thought to break the bonds of the atoms composing the
few loaves and fishes of the boy's lunch--and five thousand
persons were fed. Material science says that each atom of
matter has force and intelligence and a certain
individuality; hence, it is a form of mind.
atonement--Reconciliation between God and man through
Christ; the uniting of our consciousness with the higher
consciousness. Jesus became the way by which all who accept
Him may "pass over" to the higher consciousness. We have
atonement through Him.
attainment, intellectual--Intellectual attainments are
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not in themselves of use in matters spiritual. They have
their end in teaching the student how to command his
faculties and to bring them into subjection. We must drop
them out of our mind as quickly as we can and be willing to
commence anew in the school of the higher life. Let us
affirm often: "I am meek and lowly of heart. I am led of
the Spirit."
attainment, spiritual--A laying hold of the high and lofty
ideas of the Christ Mind; the bringing of spiritual ideas
into manifestation in one's mind, body, and affairs.
attention--(see concentration)
attitude--The state of mind in relation to some matter or
situation; a mental position. Attitude of mind toward
environment determines the nature of man's environment. A
positive attitude draws the good; a negative attitude
brings its train of sin, sickness, poverty, and death. "For
as he thinketh within himself, so is he" (Prov. 23:7).
attributes of Being--That which is inherent in the twelve
powers of faculties.
augury--The blind following of the commands of some omen or
voice, not of Spirit.
aura--The thought emanation that surrounds every person. As
to whether it is an illumined aura, or medium, or dark and
cloudy depends on the dominant thought force of each
person. The aura around the bodies of sincere, honest
persons is usually bright blue or some modification of
blue. The aura is not visible to all persons, but only to
those who have their psychical nature quickened on the
spiritual plane.
There are in the world today men and women who have
followed the teaching of Jesus and developed in their
bodies a superenergy or life that not only permeates the
physical structure but envelops it in a luminous aura that
can be and is felt by both themselves and others. Spirit
reveals that spiritual thinking breaks open the physical
cells and atoms and releases their imprisoned
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life, which originally came from Divine Mind. Jesus carried
this process so far that His whole body was transformed and
became a conscious part of the Father's life and
intelligence. (see halo)
aura, how created--Prayer liberates the energies pent up in
the mind and body. Those who pray much create a spiritual
aura that eventually envelops the whole body. The bands of
light painted by artists around the heads of saints are not
imaginary; they actually exist and are visible to the sharp
eye of the painter. Luke testifies (9:29) that when Jesus
was praying "his countenance was altered, and his raiment
became white and dazzling." After Moses had been praying on
the mountain his face shone so brightly that the people
could not look at it, and he had to wear a veil.
authority--Rightful power; mastery; or dominion. "For he
taught them as having authority" (Mark 1:22).
authority, having--Inspired by Spirit within. The Spirit of
truth is the one and only authority in the study of Truth.
(see John 16:13)
authority, parental--Human parental authority is a thought
of bondage or slavery in mortal consciousness based on
desire of parents to domineer and to wield power. Divine
parental authority is child guidance based on love and
understanding. It includes willingness to grant freedom to
the child by helping him to know and to live Truth.
autosuggestion--The conscious impression of selected
thoughts on the subconscious mind by oneself.
avarice--Inordinate greed for material riches. (Symbolized
by "the money-changers.") The avaricious suffer most in
body and are the most difficult to heal, because of the
mental bias that prompts them to get all things as cheaply
as possible, including the kingdom of heaven.
avarice, how to be free from--Establish in consciousness
the idea of giving generously and freely, not from
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compulsion or for the sake of reward but from the pure love
of giving.
awakening, spiritual--Becoming conscious of the things of
Spirit, or God.
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