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Dynamics for Living
Praise and Thanksgiving
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[Dynamics for Living]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
IN SPIRIT, praise accumulates. In sense consciousness this
faculty is called acquisitiveness. It accumulates material
things. Praise opens the portal of the mysterious realm
called the superconsciousness where thought is impregnated
with an uplifting, transcendent quality. Every lofty ideal,
all the inspiration that elevates and idealizes in
religion, poetry, and art, originates here. It is the
kingdom of the true and real in all things.
Praise is the complement of sight and hearing. It is the
redemption of weariness. From it issues the Savior of the
world. Instead of a supplication, prayer should be a
jubilant thanksgiving. This method of prayer quickens the
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mind miraculously. Like a mighty magnet, it draws out the
spiritual qualities that transform the whole man when they
are given expression in mind, body, and affairs.
Spirituality
Spirituality (prayer and praise) is one of the foundation
faculties of the mind. It is the consciousness that relates
man directly to the Father-Mind. It is quickened and
enlarged through prayer and through other forms of
religious thought and worship. When we pray we look up from
within, not because God is off in the sky, but because this
spiritual center is in the top of the head and becomes
active and our attention is naturally drawn to it.
Prayer
Prayer is natural to man. It should be cultivated in order
to round out his character. Prayer is the language of
spirituality. When developed, prayer makes man master in
the realm of creative ideas. In order to get results from
the use of this faculty, right thinking should be observed
here as well as elsewhere. To pray, believing that the
prayer may or may not be answered at the will of God, is to
miss the mark. It is a law of mind that every idea is
fulfilled as soon as conceived. This law holds true in the
spiritual realm.
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In the light of our knowledge of mind action, the law
expressed in these words is clear. Moreover, the faith
implied is absolutely necessary to the unfailing answer to
prayer. If we pray asking for future fulfillment, we form
that kind of thought structure in consciousness, and our
prayers are always waiting for that future fulfillment
which we have idealized.
If we pray thinking that we do not deserve the things for
which we ask, these untrue and indefinite thoughts carry
themselves out, and we grow to look upon prayer with doubt
and suspicion.
God's Will
It should not be inferred that the will of Divine Mind is
to be set aside in prayer. We are to pray that the will of
God enter into us and become a moving factor in our life.
The Father does not take our will from us. He gives us the
utmost freedom in the exercise of the will faculty. He also
imparts an understanding of the law, through the operation
of which we can make any condition that we desire.
Aggregation
One of the offices of spirituality is to aggregate divine
ideas. Through this action man draws absolutely true ideas
from the universal Mind. Thus prayer
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is cumulative. It accumulates spiritual substance, life,
intelligence. It accumulates everything necessary to man's
highest expression. When we pray in spiritual
understanding, this highest realm of man's mind contacts
universal, impersonal Mind; the very Mind of God is joined
to the mind of man. God answers our prayers in ideas,
thoughts, words; these are translated into the outer
realms, in time and condition. It is therefore important
that we pray with understanding of the law, important that
we always give thanks that our prayers have been answered
and fulfilled, regardless of appearances.
With understanding and realization of the relation between
the idea and the fulfillment of the idea, Jesus quickened
the slow processes of nature, and the loaves and fishes
were increased quickly. We may not be able to attain at
once such speedy operation of the law, but we shall
approximate it, and we shall accelerate natural processes
as we hold our beliefs nearer to the perfection of the
realm of divine ideas.
Response
Praise is closely related to prayer. It is one of the
avenues through which spirituality expresses itself.
Through an inherent law of mind, we increase whatever we
praise. The whole creation responds to praise, and is glad.
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Animal trainers pet and reward their charges with
delicacies for acts of obedience. Children glow with joy
and gladness when they are praised. Even vegetation grows
best for those who praise it. We can praise our own
abilities, and our very brain cells will expand and
increase in capacity and intelligence when we speak words
of encouragement and appreciation to them.
Thought Stuff
There is an invisible thought-stuff on which the mind acts,
making things through the operation of a law not yet fully
understood by man. Every thought moves upon this invisible
substance in increasing or diminishing degree. When we
praise the richness and opulence of our God, this
thought-stuff is tremendously increased in our mental
atmosphere. It reflects into everything that our mind and
our hands touch. When common things are impregnated with
our consciousness of divine substance, they are transformed
according to our ideals.
Through persistent application of praise, a failing
business proposition can be praised into a successful one.
Even inanimate things seem to receive the word of praise,
responding in orderly obedience when, before, they seemed
unmanageable.
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A woman used the law on her sewing machine, which she had
been affirming to be in bad order. It gave her no trouble
afterward. A linotype operator received a certain spiritual
treatment given him by a healer at a certain hour, and his
linotype, which had been acting badly, immediately fell
into harmonious ways. A woman living in a country town had
a rag carpet on her parlor floor. She had for years hoped
that this carpet might be replaced by a better one. She
heard of the law and began praising the old carpet. Greatly
to her surprise, inside of two weeks she was given a new
carpet from an unexpected source. These are a few simple
illustrations of the possibilities latent in praise.
Whether the changes were in the inanimate things, or in the
individuals dealings with them, does not matter so long as
the desired end was attained.
Health and Supply
Turn the power of praise upon whatever you wish to
increase. Give thanks that it is now fulfilling your ideal.
The faithful law, faithfully observed, will reward you. You
can praise yourself from weakness to strength, from
ignorance to intelligence, from lack to affluence, from
sickness to health. The little lad with a few loaves and
fishes furnished the seed that,
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through prayer and thanksgiving of Jesus, increased
sufficiently to feed five thousand people.
All causes that bring about permanent results originate in
Spirit. Spirituality, faith, and love are God-given
faculties. When we are raised in consciousness to their
plane they act naturally under a spiritual law that we may
not comprehend. If we make proper connection with Divine
Mind in the kingdom of heaven within us, the Father will
surely answer our prayers. No good thing will He withhold
from us if we comply with the law.
We all need a better understanding of the nature of God if
we are to comply with the laws under which He creates. We
must begin by knowing that "God is Spirit." Spirit is
everywhere--the breath of life and the knowing quality of
mind active in and through all. The highest form of prayer
is to open our mind and quietly realize that the one
omnipresent intelligence knows our thoughts and instantly
answers, even before we have audibly expressed our desires.
This being true, we should ask and at the same time give
thanks that we have already received. Jesus expressed this
idea. When we think or silently speak in the all-potential
substance of Spirit, there is always an unfailing effect.
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"Always praise the cooking of the cook" is the instruction
of the veteran hobo to the novice. Experience has taught
the gentlemen of the road that praise and thanks melt the
hardest heart and often open the door to amazing
hospitality. Tradespeople have found that "Thank you" has
commercial value. The prophets of old knew the power of
increase inherent in thanksgiving. "Praise ye the Lord" is
repeated again and again in the Psalms.
Increase
We increase our vitality by blessing and giving thanks in
spirit. To bring about this increase efficiently we must
understand the anatomy of the soul and mind centers.
It has been found by experience that a person increases his
blessings by being grateful for what he has. Gratitude even
on the mental plane is a great magnet. When gratitude is
expressed from the spiritual standpoint it is powerfully
augmented. The custom of saying grace at the table has its
origin in man's attempt to use this power of increase.
A woman who had been left with a large family and no
visible means of support related how wonderfully this law
had worked in providing food for her children. In her
extremity she had asked the advice of one who understood
the law, and she had been told to thank
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God silently for abundant supply on her table, regardless
of appearances. She and her children began doing this, and
in a short time the increase of food was so great at times
that it astonished them. Her grocer's bill was met promptly
and in most marvelous ways the family was supplied with
food. Never after that time did they lack.
A simple word of blessing poured out upon that which we
have or that which we can conceive as possible for us as
sons of the all-providing God will at least begin to
release the superabundance of Spirit substance, and we
shall have an inner confidence and faith in the providence
of our Father.
Jesus warned us not to be anxious about temporal needs but
to pray, believing, and to bless and give thanks; then
right in the face of seeming insufficiency we should be
enabled to demonstrate plenty.
Get Ready
When we commune with the Spirit within and ask for new
ideas, they are always forthcoming. When these ideas from
within us are recognized, they go to work and come to the
surface. Then all the thoughts we have ever had, as well as
the thoughts of other people, are added to them and new
things are quickly produced. Let us
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quit depending slavishly on someone else for everything and
become producers, for only in that direction lies happiness
and success. Let us begin to concentrate on this inner man,
this powerful man who produces things, who gets his ideas
from a higher-dimensional realm, who brings ideas from a
new territory.
What kind of character are you giving to this inner
substance by your thoughts? Change your thought and
increase your substance in the mind, as Elisha increased
the oil for the widow. Get larger receptacles and plenty of
them. Even a very small concept of substance may be added
to and increased.
The widow had a very small amount of oil, but as the
prophet blessed it, it increased until it filled every
vessel she could borrow from the neighbors. We should form
the habit of blessing everything that we have.
It may seem foolish to some persons that we bless our
nickels, dimes, and dollars, but we know that we are
setting the law of increase into operation. All substance
is one and connected, whether in the visible or the
invisible. The mind likes something that is already formed
and tangible for a suggestion to take hold of. With this
image the mind sets to work to draw like substance from the
invisible realm and thus increase what we have in hand.
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Elisha used a small amount of oil to produce a great amount
of oil. So when we bless our money or other goods, we are
complying with the divine law of increase that has been
demonstrated many times.
Blessing and Curse
The Israelites set great store in blessing. Rightly
understood, a blessing is a great source of inspiration. It
lays a firm foundation in the mind. It brings out the good.
A curse sees the evil and emphasizes it. A blessing sees
only the good and emphasizes only the good. He who uses his
mind to curse gets the curse in return, while the mind that
blesses receives blessings in return. Blessing imparts the
quickening spiritual power that produces growth and
increase. It is the power of multiplication.
Praise is the positive pole of life. If you depreciate your
life you decrease your consciousness of life. All who have
reached heights in things spiritual have been noted for
their devotions. Jesus spent whole nights in prayer. He
seemed to be asking the Father and thanking Him in almost
the same breath on every occasion where He did a great work
or expounded a notable truth. Praise is an active principle
in our spiritual thoughts and should be given first place
in all our thanksgiving.
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[Dynamics for Living]
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