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Christian Healing
Lesson 2
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[Christian Healing]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Lesson Two
Being's Perfect Idea
1. The foundation of our religion is Spirit, and there must
be a science of Truth. The science of Truth is God thinking
out creation. God is the original Mind in which all real
ideas exist. The one original Mind creates by thought. This
is stated in the first chapter of John:
2. In the beginning was the Word [Logos--thought-word], and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made through
him; and without him was not anything made that hath been
made.
3. Eadie's Biblical Cyclopedia says: "The term Logos means
thought expressed, either as an idea in mind or as vocal
speech."
4. An understanding of the Logos reveals to us the law
under which all things are brought forth--the law of mind
action. Creation takes place through the operation of the
Logos. God is thinking the universe into manifestation
right now. Even He cannot create without law. The law of
the divine creation is the order and harmony of perfect
thought.
5. God-Mind expresses its thoughts so perfectly that there
is no occasion for change, hence all prayers and
supplications for the change of God's will to conform to
human desires are futile. God does not change His mind, or
trim His thought, to meet the conflicting opinions of
mankind. Understanding the perfection of God thoughts, man
must conform to
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them; so conforming, he will discover that there is never
necessity for any change of the will of God in regard to
human affairs.
6. A key to God-Mind is with everyone--it is the action of
the individual mind. Man is created the "image" and
"likeness" of God; man is therefore a phase of God-Mind,
and his mind must act like the original Mind. Study your
own mind, and through it you will find God-Mind. In no
other way can you get a complete understanding of yourself,
of the universe, and of the law under which it is being
brought forth. When you see the Creator thinking out His
universe as the mathematician thinks out his problem, you
will understand the necessity for the very apparent effort
that nature makes to express itself; you will also
understand why the impulse for higher things keeps welling
up within your soul. God-Mind is living, acting thoughts.
God-Mind is thinking in you; it is pushing your mind to
grasp true ideas and carry them into expression.
7. It is therefore true, in logic and in inspiration, that
man and the universe are within God-Mind as living, acting
thoughts. God-Mind is giving itself to its creations, and
those creations thus are evolving an independence that has
the power to cooperate with, or to oppose, the original God
will. It is then of vital importance to study the mind and
understand its laws, because the starting point of every
form in the universe is an idea.
8. Every man asks the question at some time,
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"What am I?" God answers: "Spiritually you are My idea of
Myself as I see Myself in the ideal; physically you are the
law of My mind executing that idea." "Great is the mystery
of godliness," said Paul. A little learning is a dangerous
thing in the study of Being. To separate oneself from the
whole and then attempt to find out the great mystery is
like dissecting inanimate flesh to find the source of life.
9. If you would know the mystery of Being, see yourself in
Being. Know yourself as an integral idea in Divine Mind,
and all other ideas will recognize you as their fellow
worker. Throw yourself out of the Holy Trinity and you
become an onlooker. Throw yourself into the Trinity and you
become its avenue of expression. The Trinity is known
commonly as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; metaphysically it
is known as mind, idea, expression. These three are one.
Each sees itself as including the other two, yet in
creation separate. Jesus, the type man, placed Himself in
the Godhead, and said: "He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father." But, recognizing the supremacy of spiritual
Principle, which He was demonstrating, He said: "The Father
is greater than I."
10. Reducing the Trinity to simple numbers takes away much
of its mystery. When we say that there is one Being with
three attitudes of mind, we have stated in plain terms all
that is involved in the intricate theological doctrine of
the Trinity. The priesthood has always found it profitable
to make
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complex that which is simple. When religion becomes an
industry it has its trade secrets, and to the uninitiated
they seem very great. Modern investigation of the character
of the mind is taking away all the mysteries of Egyptian,
Hindu, Hebrew, and many other religious and mystical
systems of the past. Advocates of these systems are
attempting to perpetuate their so-called secret knowledge
through the occult societies springing up on every side in
our day, but they meet with indifferent success. The modern
Truth seeker takes very little on trust. Unless the
claimant to occult lore can demonstrate his power in the
world of affairs, people are suspicious of him. Religious
awe for the priesthood, which is prevalent in Oriental
countries, is lacking in the majority of Western people. In
India, a yellow-robed holy man is regarded with reverence
by both adults and children; in this country adults stare
and small boys throw stones until he seeks the protection
of the police. This seems irreverent, almost heathenish,
yet it is the expression of an innate repudiation of
everything that seeks to establish itself on any other
foundation than that of practical demonstration.
11. The mind of God is Spirit, soul, body; that is, mind,
idea, expression. The mind of man is Spirit, soul,
body--not separate from God-Mind, but existing in it and
making it manifest in an identity peculiar to the
individual. Every man is building into his consciousness
the three departments of God-Mind, and his success in the
process is evidenced by the
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harmony, in his consciousness, of Spirit, soul, and body.
If he is all body, he is but one-third expressed. If to
body he has added soul, he is two-thirds man, and if to
these two he is adding Spirit, he is on the way to the
perfect manhood that God designed. Man has neither Spirit,
soul, nor body of his own--he has identity only. He can
say, "I." He uses God Spirit, God soul, and God body, as
his "I" elects. If he uses them with the idea that they
belong to him, he develops selfishness, which limits his
capacity and dwarfs his product.
12. In his right relation, man is the inlet and the outlet
of an everywhere-present life, substance, and intelligence.
When his "I" recognizes this fact and adjusts itself to the
invisible expressions of the one Mind, man's mind becomes
harmonious; his life, vigorous and perpetual; his body,
healthy. It is imperative that the individual understand
this relation in order to grow naturally. It must not only
be understood as an abstract proposition, but it is
necessary that he blend his life consciously with God life,
his intelligence with God intelligence, and his body with
the "Lord's body." Conscious identification must prevail in
the whole man before he can be in right relation. This
involves not only a recognition of the universal
intelligence, life, and substance, but also their various
combinations in man's consciousness. These combinations
are, in the individual world, dependent for perfect
expression upon man's recognition of and his loyalty to his
origin--God-Mind.
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Man is in God-Mind as a perfect idea. God-Mind is
constantly trying to express in every man its perfect idea,
the real and only man.
13. The perfect-man idea in God-Mind is known under various
names in the many religious systems. The Krishna of the
Hindu is the same as the Messiah of the Hebrews. All the
great religions of the world are founded upon spiritual
science, but not all of that science is understood by their
followers. The Hebrews had been told again and again, by
the spiritually wise, that a Messiah, or Christ man, would
be born in their midst, but when He came they did not
recognize Him, because of their lack of understanding. They
understood only the letter of their religion. A similar
lack of understanding prevails generally today. The Christ
man, or perfect idea of God-Mind, is now being expressed
and demonstrated by men and women as never before in the
history of the race. Those who claim to be followers of the
true religion should beware of putting the perfect-man idea
out of their synagogues as the Jews put out Jesus Christ.
The ancient Pharisees asked Jesus: "By what authority doest
thou these things?" Modern Pharisees are repeating the same
question. The substance of Jesus' answer was: "By their
fruits ye shall know them." (Read Mt. 21:23-46.)
14. This perfect-idea-of-God man is your true self.
God-Mind is, under the law of thought, constantly seeking
to release its perfection in you. It is your spirit, and
when you ask for its guidance and
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place yourself, by prayer and affirmation, in mental touch
with it, there is a great increase in its manifestation in
your life. It has back of it all the powers of Being, and
there is nothing that it cannot do if you give it full sway
and make your thought strong enough to express the great
forces that it is seeking to express in you.
15. A most important part of the law of mind action is the
fact of thought-unity. It is absolutely necessary to
understand the nature of this fact before one can
demonstrate the power of the superconscious mind. Among our
associates, we like and are attracted to those who
understand and sympathize with our thoughts. The same law
holds good in Divine Mind--its thoughts are drawn to and
find expression in the minds of those who raise themselves
to its thought standard. This means that we must think of
ourselves as God thinks of us, in order to appreciate and
to receive His thoughts and to bring forth the fruits. If
you think of yourself as anything less than the perfect
child of the perfect Parent, you lower the thought standard
of your mind and cut off the influx of thought from Divine
Mind. Jesus referred to this law when He said: "Ye
therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is
perfect."
16. When we go forth in the understanding of man's perfect
nature, we find a new state of consciousness forming in us;
we think and do many things not according to the
established custom, and
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the old consciousness rises up and asks: "By what
authority?" We have so long looked for man-made authority
in religious matters that we feel that we are treading on
dangerous ground if we dare to think beyond prescribed
doctrines. Right here we should appeal to the supreme
reason of Spirit and proclaim what we perceive as the
highest truth, regardless of precedent or tradition, mental
ignorance or physical limitation: I AM is the "image of
God," the "only begotten Son" (the expressed, or pressed
out, Mind) of the Most High. This is our true estate, and
we shall never realize it until we enter into it in mind,
because there it is, and nowhere else.
17. Only through the superconscious mind can we behold and
commune with God. "No man hath seen God at any time; the
only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him." It is taught that Jesus was exclusively
the "only begotten Son," but He Himself said: "Is it not
written in your law, 'I said, Ye are gods'?" He proclaimed
the unity of all men in the Father. "I am the light of the
world." "Ye are the light of the world." Paul says, "As
many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of
God." We are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ."
18. In this matter of sonship is one important point that
we should not overlook; that point is the difference
between those who perceive their sonship as a possibility,
and those who have demonstrated it in their lives. "Ye must
be born anew," was the
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proclamation of Jesus. The first birth is the human--the
self-consciousness of man as an intellectual and physical
being; the second birth, the being "born anew," is the
transformation and translation of the human to a higher
plane of consciousness as the son of God.
19. The second birth is that in which we "put on Christ."
It is a process of mental adjustment and body transmutation
that takes place right here on earth. "Have this mind in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus," is an epitome of a
mental and physical change that may require years to work
out. But all men must go through this change before they
can enter into eternal life and be as Jesus Christ is.
20. This being "born anew," or "born from above," is not a
miraculous change that takes place in man; it is the
establishment in his consciousness of that which has always
existed as the perfect-man idea in Divine Mind. God created
man in His "image" and "likeness." God being Spirit, the
man that He creates is spiritual. It follows as a logical
sequence that man, on the positive, formative, creative
side of his nature, is the direct emanation of his Maker;
that he is just like his Maker; that he is endowed with
creative power, and that his very being is involved in
God-Mind which he is releasing by his creative thought. It
is to this spiritual man that the Father says: "All things
that are mine are thine."
21. Understanding of the status of all men in
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Divine Mind gives us a new light upon the life of Jesus of
Nazareth and makes plain many of His seemingly mysterious
statements. This spiritual consciousness, or Christ Mind,
was quickened in Him, and through it He realized His
relation to First Cause. When asked to show the Father,
whom He constantly talked to as if He were personally
present, He said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father." His personality had been merged into the
universal. The mind of Being and the thought of Being were
joined, and there was no consciousness of separation or
apartness.
22. Everything about man presages the higher man. Foremost
of these prophesies is the almost universal desire for the
freedom that spiritual life promises, freedom from material
limitations. The immortal perception spurs man on to invent
mechanical devices that will carry him above limitations.
For example, he flies by means external. In his spiritual
nature he is provided with the ability to overcome gravity;
when this power is developed, it will be common to see men
and women passing to and fro in the air, without wings or
mechanical appliances of any description.
23. The human organism has a world of latent energies
waiting to be brought into manifestation. Distributed
throughout the body are many nerve centers whose offices
are as yet but vaguely understood. In the New Testament,
which is a work on spiritual physiology, these centers are
referred to as
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"cities" and "rooms." The "upper room" is the very top of
the head. Jesus was in this "upper room" of His mind when
Nicodemus came to see Him "by night"--meaning the ignorance
of sense consciousness. It was in this "upper room" that
the followers of Jesus prayed until the Holy Spirit came
upon them. The superconsciousness, or Christ Mind, finds
its first entrance into the natural mind through this
higher brain center. By thought, speech, and deed this
Christ Mind is brought into manifestation. The new birth is
symbolically described in the history of Jesus.
24. "Verily I say unto you, that many prophets and
righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, and
saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and
heard them not."
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Statements For The Realization Of The Son Of God
(To be used in connection with Lesson Two)
1. I am the son of God, and the Spirit of the Most High
dwells in me.
2. I am the only begotten son, dwelling in the bosom of the
Father.
3. I am the lord of my mind, and the ruler of all its
thought people.
4. I am the Christ of God.
5. Through Christ I have dominion over my every thought and
word.
6. I am the beloved son in whom the Father is well pleased.
7. Of a truth I am the son of God.
8. All that the Father has is mine.
9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
10. I and my Father are one.
11. My highest ideal is a perfect man.
12. My next highest ideal is that I am that perfect man.
13. I am the image and likeness of God, in whom is my
perfection.
14. It is written in the law of the Lord, "Ye are gods, and
. . . sons of the Most High."
15. These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have
life in his name.
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[Christian Healing]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
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