|
Dynamics for Living
Practical Christianity
[<- Go back to Foreword]
[Dynamics for Living]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
PEOPLE everywhere on earth are now realizing as never
before that the well-being of this world rests with its
inhabitants. It is no longer a religious dogma or a
philosophical theory that the destiny of the race is in the
hands of man.
Humanity has built age after age only to find that its
structures do not endure. They are faulty because the
divine plan has not been consulted by the builder. Our
Bible plainly teaches that God implanted in man executive
ability to carry out all the creative plans of the Great
Architect.
The great and most important issue before
Page 10
the people today is the development of man's spiritual mind
and through it unity with God. The taproot of all confusion
is our failure to use our minds intelligently. Religion and
all that it implies in prayer and recognition of God in
idea and manifestation is the one and only way out of the
chaos in which we find ourselves. We must therefore begin
at once to develop this unity with the Father mind by
incorporating divine ideas into all that we think and speak.
People in this atomic age civilization ask why God does not
reveal Himself now as He did in Bible days. The fact is
that God is talking to people everywhere, but they do not
understand the message. We need to divest ourselves of the
thought that wise men of the Bible were especially inspired
by God, that they were divinely appointed by the Lord to do
His work. Everything points to their spiritual insight as
the result of work on their part to that end.
Thus, practical Christianity is the only system of
religions before the people today that, because of its
universal appeal to the pure reason in man, can be accepted
and applied by everyone and every nation under the sun.
Revival
Modern metaphysics is merely a revival of the philosophies
taught by an almost forgotten past. The principles that
Page 11
underlie existence are being again brought to the attention
of men. The race is again entering the cycle of knowledge.
We catch once more the light of pure reason and honest
logic.
Few people have come into the light. Pure reason is almost
an unknown quantity. When strict deductive methods are
introduced into religion, and logical conclusions are
reached from a stated premise, the average believer is at
sea. People have been taught that certain relations exist
arbitrarily no matter how opposed these relations may be to
the logic necessary to cause and effect.
In order to arrive at a mutually harmonious and correct
conclusion, the result of a logical argument, we must have
a premise or point of beginning upon which we can all
agree. Logic in its strictest sense is the only accurate
method for arriving at truth. That system of philosophy or
religious doctrine which does not admit of the rules of
perfect logic in reaching its conclucions from a stated
premise must be outside the pale of pure reason and in the
realm of manmade dogma.
To know accurately about the reality of things we must
disregard all appearances as indicated by the five senses
and go into pure reason--the Spirit from which was created
everything that has permanent existence.
Page 12
The Difference
Practical Christianity and Truth stand upon the same
foundation and are interchangeable terms. Practical
Christianity is not a theory having origin in the human
mind; nor is it a revelation to humanity from some prophet
whose word alone must be taken as unquestionable authority.
It is in this respect totally different from the other
religious systems of the world because it does not in any
respect rest its authority upon revelation. It has no
dogmas nor creeds, nor are its students expected to believe
anything which they cannot logically demonstrate to be true.
It takes as the basis of its doctrine a fundamental truth
that is known alike by savage and civilized, and from that
truth, by cold, deductive reasoning, arrives at each and
every one of the conclusions which are presented. Thus it
does not in any manner partake of the popular concept of
religion, as a vague something which has to be accepted on
faith, and believed regardless of its consistencies. On the
contrary, it invites the closest mental scrutiny. The
analytical logician will find a new world open to him in
following the sequential deductions which this science of
pure reasoning evolves.
Truth of the Ages
This system of deductions from intuitively
Page 13
ascertained facts is not new, nor are its conclusions new,
for the historian tells us that similar methods of arriving
at the fundamental truth of things were in vogue thousands
of years ago. Long before the historical period, legend and
tradition report the existence of temples where pure reason
was taught. History also tells of similar schools that
existed five thousand years before Christ.
Faithfulness
You will find, if you are faithful in following the line of
argument here presented, that a principle will be disclosed
to you which will demonstrate itself in an unmistakable
manner. The logical deductions from the premise stated may
not come to your full comprehension at once because of
certain intellectual limitations into which the race has
plunged itself. Men have been so long divorced from logic
and pure reason that they are confused when a clear-cut
proposition is stated and carried to a conclusion along the
lines of perfect sequence.
Independent Thought
To think in an independent, untrammeled way about anything
is foreign to the habit of the races of the Occident. Our
lines of thought and act are based upon precedent and
Page 14
arbitrary authority. We boast much of our freedom and
independence, but the facts are that we defer to custom and
tradition. Our whole civilization is based upon manmade
opinions. We have never thought for ourselves in religion,
consequently we do not know how to think accurately and
consecutively upon any proposition. We have not been
trained to draw conclusions each for himself from a
universal pivotal truth. Consequently, we are not competent
to pass judgment upon any statement so predicated. Our
manner of deciding whether or not certain statements are
true or false is to apply the mental bias with which
heredity, religion, or social custom has environed us, or
else fly to some manmade record as authority.
In the study of practical Christianity all such temporary
proofs of Truth are swept aside as chaff. We entertain
nothing in our statements of Truth that does not stand the
most searching analysis, nothing that cannot be practically
demonstrated.
Starting Point
In order to carry on an intelligent, rational line of
argument it is necessary to find a mutual starting point
which is universally accepted as true. There may be many
pivotal points chosen from an intellectual standpoint that
would doubtless
Page 15
be accepted as reasonably true. Upon close analysis they
will usually be found resting upon another and anterior
so-called truth. For instance, we might agree that
ponderable objects always fall toward the earth. Yet, the
question quickly arises, "What causes them to fall?" The
ready answer is, "Gravity, of course." "But what is
gravity?" Thus, we are led back and back until lost in
First Cause, or God.
In agreement upon a statement as the basis of an argument
of universal nature, we must be careful to get one that has
no anterior. There can be but one basis of being, and
consequently but one basis of being's movements and forms.
When we have fully agreed that everything of which we are
cognizant can be traced in its last analysis to God, and no
further, we have a basis upon which to rest a doctrine that
cannot be successfully opposed, if its deductions are
logical and can be demonstrated. This is exactly what is
claimed for this science of Christ. It is not only a system
of philosophy which cannot be disputed by the rational
mind, but it also demonstrates in the world of phenomena
that its conclusions are true.
Primal Cause
Having decided upon God, or Primal Cause, as the basis of
our system, the next step is to decide
Page 16
upon the nature of this Primal Cause. It is safe to assert
that in all the world not a single person of intelligence
can be found who would say that God is anything but good.
It requires no exhaustive reasoning to arrive at this
conclusion, for it is the ready response of the intuitive
faculty of all mankind, which it is always safe to count as
correct.
Having agreed that God, or the Primal Cause of all things,
is the only safe basis on which to predicate an argument
that deals with life in all its sinuous windings, and that
the nature of that First Cause must necessarily be only
Good, we can by logical deduction evolve a doctrine that
must of necessity be universal in its application.
It is sometimes thought by certain people that man should
not attempt to find out the nature of God because He is so
far above and beyond the comprehension of the finite that
such attempts are sacrilegious folly. Yet when carefully
analyzed it is found that the one aim and end of man's
existence is to find God. The source of life is the great
mystery which has commanded the closest attention and study
of men in all ages, and as that source must be the
Infinite, it is thus ever inviting man to comprehend it.
The Bible says, "No man has ever seen
Page 17
God," and our physical scientists all agree that primordial
life, or First Cause, is invisible or spiritual, exhibiting
itself as an intelligent force. Hence, as corollary to the
statement that God, or First Cause, is good, we assert that
He is also Spirit.
Value to Man
Having established a basis grounded in irrefutable truth,
from which deductions may be drawn in an infinite number of
directions, the next very natural question that presents
itself is, "What good can come to man from a study of God?"
The facts are that the only good that has come to this
world has been through the study of God, notwithstanding
that the preponderance of that study has been of a nature
to preclude the discovery of God or His mode of
manifestation. People have been taught that God is a
personal being who rules the universe much after the manner
of an arbitrary monarch. This erroneous and contracted
teaching has led to a belittlement of God in the concepts
of men and they have imaged a man-god, and have also formed
a "graven image" of God, who is Spirit.
The true concept of God is that He is the Intelligent
Principle of the universe, and, like all principles,
totally impartial in His expressions. This is the concept
of God which has
Page 18
come to us in this awakening age. It is not new. The wise
old sages of the Orient tell us that their ancestors
thousands of years ago, in secret temples dedicated to the
study of God, or the Primal Cause of all, found that in
certain stages of high understanding, the result of
systematic training, they came into such harmonious
relations with this primal principle, or First Cause, that
they were endowed with causing power themselves.
They did not seek God for the sake of the power over things
which might thereby accrue to them, but that they might
have wisdom and understanding of the good. They found that
by thinking right thoughts and living unselfishly, they
awakened new faculties within themselves. They sought the
good, or God, and in harmony with that law by which like
attracts like, the good, or God, sought them. They found
that when they came into right relations with the good,
they had apparently supernatural powers.
They discovered what Jesus Christ called "the kingdom of
God within," and all things were thereby added unto them.
They caused, so tradition and certain records say, rain or
sunshine, heat or cold, and produced at will all the fruits
and flowers of the field. These records state that they
could also fly through the air, having acquired an
understanding of that which
Page 19
lies back of gravity. They, in short, controlled all the
so-called forces of nature by word or thought, and proved
conclusively that we become like that which we study. They
studied cause and became masters of the world of effects.
Transformations
They found that by coming into interior relations with the
invisible Cause, they were moved by it to give expression
both in thought and speech to certain words. When those
words were so expressed by them, wonderful transformations
took place in their surroundings. The conditions which they
had always assumed to be impossible of variation from what
are known as the laws of nature, were in the twinkling of
an eye set at naught. They had always believed that
sickness, decay, and death were part of an immutable law.
Yet, they found that certain words, which are in harmony
with the pivotal truth that First Cause, or God, is Spirit
and All-Good, heal the sick, make happy the sorrowful, and
fill the coffers of the poor.
They found that this invisible Principle of pure
intelligence expresses itself only in the words or thoughts
that produce happy results. They also found that the words
which work such wonders in transforming their surroundings
always
Page 20
represent those qualities which by deductive reasoning they
found can originate only with a Being or Principle of
goodness.
The Real and Unreal
They not only knew God as All-Good through the intuitive
faculty, but they proved Him so by demonstrating that He
responds to those attributes only that are representative
of the good. Hence, these words they called words of Truth
or reality.
On the other hand, they found that certain other words or
thoughts that do not correspond to or harmonize with the
attributes of a primal cause of good produce conditions of
inharmony. Under their expression people become sick,
sorrowful, and generally unhappy.
Through spiritual illumination, by comparison, logical
deduction, and practical demonstration, they definitely
arrived at words of Truth and their opposites. They knew
that the words of Truth must proceed from the cause to
which they correspond and consequently must be the Real.
They could find no tenable point of origin for the
opposites or words of error. Thus, they necessarily
classified them as the unreal, the nothings, the dropping
away from the one Principle of the universe.
They arranged and classified their words of
Page 21
reality and unreality as the electrician of our day
classifies the positive and the negative poles of
electrical action. In the realm of mind the effect of the
expressed words of Truth is fully as forcible as is the
positive power of the battery in the realm of electricity.
The effect of words is an exact science. It can be
demonstrated as such by all who will study it assiduously.
It is the science of life. Upon its understanding hinges
the happiness or unhappiness of man's existence. It is not
a science whose laws were discovered and arbitrarily
classified by those metaphysicians of the past. On the
contrary, it is universal in its unfoldment and
application. Every man works in its laboratory every day of
his life and is using its principles with every thought he
thinks and every word he speaks. He uses the law whether he
knows it or not. Hence, no one should be ignorant of the
effects which the manipulation of these hidden forces
produce in the character and surroundings of each child of
earth.
Pure Christianity
Pure Christianity is a spiritual doctrine. It has no
opposite whatsoever. In its purity it is one with the
underlying cause of all that is. It admits of no
differences among those who understand it. The modes of
teaching it may vary,
Page 22
as do the characteristics of each teacher; but all its
teachers must necessarily present the same Truth, though
their words and illustrations may differ. Each individual
needs but to be given the key in order to unlock for
himself the entire metaphysical plan of the universe.
The Principle of Being is not only all good, but it is all
intelligent. It is the fount of your intelligence. When you
study it you will find yourself becoming one with the
principle of all wisdom. To be one with the principle of
All Intelligence is to know. When you know you will find
yourself so broad in judgment and understanding that you
will have charity for all who differ from you in religion,
metaphysics, and even politics.
This system of metaphysics is but another name for
universal Truth. It consequently covers the therapeutic,
ethical, and religious departments of life.
Therapeutics
Metaphysical therapeutics treats of healing by an
understanding of the reality of things. It does not in its
exact meaning teach how to heal diseases by the power of
thought. It teaches how, by the power of thought, false
conceptions may be eradicated and the divine Reality
brought into manifestation, showing forth in health and
harmony.
Page 23
This department attracts the majority of people because of
the great need of healing.
Ethics
Ethics in the curriculum of metaphysics shows the student
how the moral world may be reformed. It teaches him how he
may be wise and happy by holding in mind certain thoughts
that will bring about these conditions. It shows him how he
may attain his ideal ends in reforming society. It shows
him how a dull, stupid, or ignorant mind may be quickened
morally and brightened intellectually by the power of right
thinking.
Religion
The religion of metaphysics includes all these and adds to
them a certain and sure knowledge of man's immortality and
divine relation. The religion of metaphysics is its
crowning principle--it is this department that places it in
the category of science. Religion is a science--the science
of life. It will so demonstrate itself to the student, both
logically and practically.
When you understand it in its religious aspect you know
your true relation to the Creator, and just what that
relation must lead to. You get a revelation of your status
as a living soul that is impregnable in its logic, and you
are brought into such close relation with the divine
Page 24
Cause that you know intuitively that you are not of the
flesh, but of God.
Upliftment
Nothing is too small or insignificant for God's uplifting
presence. God is not a theory of life. He is life itself.
He is the harmonious manifestation of life.
Those who have honestly studied metaphysics and applied its
rules in their daily work will tell you that it has made
them over physically, mentally, and morally. They will tell
you that they are better men and women; that life has new
zest for them, and that they can now do good and help
others where before they were helpless.
New and Old
Some will tell you that they were not able to make this
science fit into their old theories and incoherent vagaries
in matters religious and ethical. They will tell you that
its very simplicity stood in the way of their quick
acquirement of its power. They had listened all their lives
to learned and ponderous disquisitions of professors upon
the body and mind, man's relation to his Maker, etc., and
had long ago decided that only the very learned could ever
hope to fathom the depths of wisdom necessary to comprehend
even
Page 25
a very little of the subject. They will also tell you that
from childhood they have listened to flowery sermons by
learned ministers about God and man's duty to Him. Yet in
all this, the subjects were so encumbered with the
ponderous appearance of wisdom that they failed to connect
them with simple, everyday life.
Here we have a presentation of the deep things of God, so
simple and easy that the wise and mighty pass it by as a
religious vagary.
Problems of Life
The problem of life is getting into more and more of a
tangle among those who depend upon the material. There is
much running to and fro upon the earth by seekers for
satisfaction, yet no satisfaction is found.
Where will you find a person who will admit that he has
peace of mind, health of body, and a knowledge of Truth?
The rich admit that their possessions bring increased cares
and great mental disquietude. The poor long to be rich, not
knowing that happiness cannot be bought with money. The
learned are not satisfied with their acquirements because
when they just begin to get wisdom their bodies fail them.
So it goes among the denizens of this discontented world of
matter. Many lose faith in things ever being better.
Page 26
Happiness Here and Now
Happiness here and now is the beautiful part of Jesus'
teaching. He did not defer health nor salvation to a world
to come after death, but taught that it was attainable
right here. He taught that the kingdom of heaven is within
you. He proved by His works that it could be made to show
forth in the bodies and minds of those who follow the way
He pointed out.
Unprejudiced Mind
If you would get Truth in its purity you must listen to its
statements with the unprejudiced mind of the child. All
about you are potencies and power of which you do not
dream. Your philosophy has not grasped the faintest concept
of the wonderful, undiscovered country that lies right
within your reach, yet unseen and unknown to the mortal
senses because of their narrow range.
You live, move, and have your being in a realm elysian. Now
and then you may catch faint glimpses of its rare beauty in
your high moments of spiritual illumination. This realm is
not of matter but of Mind. It encompasses you on every side
and you contact its invisible glories, but know them not. A
false education has shut you away from God's creation.
Page 27
Do you say this is idealism? The illusions of imagination?
Here again you betray the mental congealing which
hereditary prejudices and race education have produced. Did
not that subtle fluid, electricity, exist in the invisible
before it was brought into manifestation? Does not the
modern analytical chemist tell us that our planetary
atmosphere carries in solution all the elements that go to
make up this visible world? It is rash for any man to
assert that anything is impossible.
New Era
A new era has dawned. The old is passing away. In the
advent of this new dispensation the heavens are rolled up
as a scroll, and in that process is revealed the
long-hidden realm of causes. Invisible forces are always
the most powerful. The dynamics of mind control the
universe. In mind originates all that is. By its actions
all things are moved. When man understands the laws of mind
he has solved the mysteries of the universe.
The New Testament is a sealed book to one who has no
knowledge of the laws of mind. It is a secret manual. It
reads like an ordinary narrative unless one has the key
that unlocks its hidden meaning.
Practical Christianity gives that key. He who knows all the
principles of its philosophy
Page 28
can enter the holy of holies of the Bible. He can penetrate
the mysteries of the sacred scriptures of all peoples.
There is no limit as to time, place, or personality in
Scriptural promises.
Study of Truth
In the study of Truth you are not under any circumstances
to listen to testimony of your external senses. You are
placed in the clear light of logic and reason, and are
expected to draw all of your conclusions from that
standpoint. From the premise of Spirit alone you shall
evolve the world of reality in which you live, and you can
demonstrate to your full satisfaction that you have been
deluded all these years in believing that which is not
true. You shall prove each for himself that all causation
is from Spirit, that you can make the world in which you
live conform to that which you know by clear reason to be
true.
The one Life-Intelligence is your life-intelligence. When
you let it freely flow into your consciousness, you know
that it is all good. As there can be but one Cause for all
that is, and as that Cause is All-Good, you have a pivotal
center from which you can draw conclusions that will settle
definitely all the debatable questions of existence.
Page 29
[Go forward to God ->]
[Dynamics for Living]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
|