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Jesus Christ Heals
Chapter 7
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[Jesus Christ Heals]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Chapter VII
Indispensable Assurance
MAN CAN be what he determines to be. He can be master or he
can be serf. It rests with him whether he shall fill the
high places in life or the low, whether he shall serve or
be served, lead or be led, or be sickly or healthy. Of
course we understand that these distinctions are relative
only; in the sight of the Most High the servant may be
prized more than his master, but there is within every one
an inherent desire to be at the top, which desire has its
root deep down in our very nature and is consequently
legitimate. That it is frequently misdirected and used
toward base ends is no reason why it should be depreciated.
We all desire to excel. This desire is the inspiration of
Spirit, which ever forces us up through earth toward
heaven, and it should be encouraged and cultivated in the
right direction.
A man without ambition is like a ship afloat on the waves
without sails or power. Such a man simply drifts: if he
reaches port safely it is by chance.
But a ship under full sail or power needs one other
important thing and that is a rudder. Then it needs a man
to handle that rudder, and that man needs faith.
In considering the character of faith we must start, as we
do with everything else, in the one Mind.
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God must have had faith in order to ideate the universe
before it was created; and man, being like God, must base
his creations on faith. Faith is innate in man. A favorite
definition of faith is that of Paul: "Faith is the
assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not
seen." It is by works of faith that we develop our
consciousness and heal ourselves. The important question
with everyone of us is, How does faith work?
It is possible to have a reality and yet neither touch it
nor smell it nor see it nor in any way come into
consciousness of it in the outer realm. That is what faith
is. It is the consciousness in us of the realities of the
attributes of mind. Before we can have the substance of
faith we must realize that the mind creates realities. How
do we create realities without seeing them, or feeling
them, or smelling them, or tasting them, or in any way
coming into outer consciousness of them? Faith is the
wonderful power that builds these eternally real things.
Faith is a power of the spiritual mind, but in all the
realms of existence we find faith. The foundation of faith
is in the spiritual, but wherever you find the mind at work
you find faith. Faith in its highest form is an exalted
idea. And what is the most exalted idea that man can have?
That he is spiritual; that he is related directly to the
one great Spirit, and that through that Spirit he can do
mighty works by faith.
Jesus laid great stress on faith. He always tried to direct
the attention of the people to the invisible,
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the spiritual, by statements like these: "Believe ye that I
am able to do this?" "According to your faith be it done
unto you." "Thy faith hath made thee whole." All through
His works there runs a golden thread of faith. Jesus did
not advocate faith in material forces of any character.
Through faith He healed thousands. His command was "Have
faith in God."
We would not destroy anyone's faith in the lesser things,
but would give him a sure foundation for all faith by
directing his attention to the one and only source of
faith, Divine Mind. The question for us is how to increase
our faith in Spirit. You will find that you have plenty of
faith. All men have faith, but it is scattered here and
there and everywhere by being placed in lesser things, and
those lesser things finally fail us.
If you get a good strong perception of something that your
inner mind tells you is true, act upon it, and you will
find that it will come true.
In developing His apostles Jesus took Peter as the
representative of faith, and proclaimed that upon this
foundation (of faith) He would build the new man, His
"church" or aggregation of spiritual ideas. The faith
demonstrated by Peter in the beginning of his career was
not of a very high type. When Truth (represented by Christ)
was being tried, Peter denied Jesus: said that he did not
know Him and swore at Him, showing that Peter's faith must
have been at a very low ebb when put to the test. At the
very last Jesus tried Peter again and again, asking three
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times, "Lovest thou me?" Faith and love are very closely
related. You must love the Lord, and then you must have
faith in His spiritual power and continuity. Peter finally
unfolded a mighty healing power. Even his shadow healed.
Now this faith that we are all cultivating and striving for
is built up through continuous affirmations of its loyalty
to the divine idea, the higher self. You must have faith in
your spiritual capacity.
Many have learned how to hold the truth about health
steadily in faith even in the midst of the most adverse
appearances, and they clearly understand that they are not
telling falsehoods when they deny sickness right in the
face of the appearance of it. In the same way we achieve
our victory over sin. When ill temper, vanity, greed,
selfishness, and other sins of greater and lesser degree
come up, they should be denied; and the unselfishness, the
purity, the uprightness, and the integrity of the higher
self should be affirmed. Persons who are quickened
spiritually can do very much greater works through the law
of faith than those who are still in the material
consciousness; and once having discerned the power of
Spirit, we should be on our guard and send forth on every
occasion exalted ideas of the spiritual.
"I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if
any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever." Jesus
Christ raised people who had let go of the life idea and
brought them into such a consciousness of omnipresent life
that they came out of the tomb.
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This life consciousness that Jesus Christ quickens is as
greatly needed in our day as it was in the time when He
first worked in the souls of men. If you go to a medical
doctor and ask him the cause of your ills, he will tell you
that most of them come from lack of vitality, which means
lack of life. We all need vitalizing. The question is, How
shall we get life? What is the source of life? Those who
teach the use of material remedies point us to various
things as the source--food, air, water, and so forth; but
those who depend on these remedies are fast losing faith in
drugs and are reaching out to electricity and similar means
of gaining more abundant life. They are thus getting a
little closer to the healing system of Jesus, but they
still lack the all-important truth that God is life and
that they who worship Him must worship Him in the life
consciousness, that is, in Spirit. When we worship God in
His way, we are vitalized all at once; there is no other
way to get real, permanent life. We cannot get life from
the outer man or from anything external; we must touch the
inner current.
The life source is spiritual energy. It is deeper and finer
than electricity or human magnetism. It is composed of
ideas, and man can turn on its current by making mental
contact with it.
When Jesus came teaching the gospel of Spirit, people did
not understand Him. They did not know that universal Spirit
is Principle and that we demonstrate it or fail to
demonstrate it according to the character of our thinking.
It has taken the race two
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thousand years to find that we turn on the life current by
means of thoughts and words. We can have fullness of life
by realizing that we live in a sea of abundant,
omnipresent, eternal life, and by refusing to allow any
thought to come in that stops the consciousness of the
universal life flow. We live and move and have our being in
life, Mind life. You can think of your life as mental;
every faculty will begin to buzz with new life. Your life
will never wane if you keep in the consciousness of it as
Mind or Spirit; it will increase and attain full expression
in your body. If you have faith in the life idea in your
consciousness, your body will never be run down but will
become more and more alive with spiritual life until it
shows forth the glory of Christ.
We must think life, talk life, and see ourselves filled
with the fullness of life. When we are not manifesting life
as we desire, it is because our thoughts and our
conversation are not in accord with the life idea. Every
time we think life, speak life, rejoice in life, we are
setting free, and bringing into expression in ourselves
more and more of the life idea. Here is the place of
abundant life, and we can fill both mind and body, both our
surroundings and our affairs, with glad, free, buoyant life
by exercising faith in it. "According to your faith be it
done unto you."
In this way we enter into the same consciousness of
abundant, enduring, unfailing, eternal life that Jesus had,
and we can readily understand His proclamation that those
who believe in the indwelling
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Christ life will never die. If we are wise, we shall
cultivate faith in and understanding of omnipresent life.
I know a man who is a natural pessimist, and if anyone
mentions something that is not to be emulated he will say,
"Now, let us be careful about that." If you speak of
someone who has been doing a good work for the community,
he will always throw in a little depreciation. His whole
life has been like sodden bread. Everything falls flat in
his affairs, and he does not understand why it is. He says,
"I have been studying this Truth for years, and I do not
understand why I do not succeed." Intellectually he is a
Truth seeker, but it has not taken hold of his faith
substance. He doubts, and down he goes. When Peter tried to
walk on the water to meet Jesus, he went down in the sea of
doubt. He saw too much wetness in the water. He saw the
negative side of the proposition, and it weakened his
demonstration. If you want to demonstrate, never consider
the negative side. If mountains seem to oppose the carrying
out of your plans, say with Napoleon that there shall be no
Alps. The man who is grounded in faith does not measure his
thoughts or his acts by the world's standard of facts.
"Faith is blind," say people who are not acquainted with
the real thing; but those who are in spiritual
understanding know that faith has open eyes, that certain
things do exist in Spirit and become substantial and real
to the one who dwells and thinks and lives in faith. Such a
one knows.
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Many Christians are like the woman who was on a ship during
a great storm. She went to the captain and said, "Now I
want to know just how bad it is." He told her plainly that
they were in a very desperate and helpless condition and
finished by saying, "We shall have to trust in God." She
exclaimed, "Oh, dear! has it come to that?"
A close analysis shows that faith is the foundation of all
that man does. The doctor knows that the patient's faith in
him and his method is essential to his success. I remember
a story told me by a lawyer: A certain attorney was subject
to periodical headaches. He had some capsules prescribed by
his physician that would cure these headaches almost
instantly. For emergencies he carried one of the capsules
in his vest pocket, and immediately upon swallowing it the
pain would disappear. Once when pleading a case he was
seized with a headache. He reached into his pocket, secured
the little antidote and swallowed it, and immediately the
headache left him. He went on with his argument, and after
he sat down he wished to make some corrections in his
notes, and felt in his pocket for a little rubber pencil
tip that he carried for that purpose. Instead of the rubber
tip he brought out a capsule, thus discovering that he had
swallowed his pencil tip instead of the capsule.
This was an exhibition of faith asserting itself unawares.
Suppose we should concentrate such faith on the invisible,
the real things, the things of Spirit, how wonderful would
be our demonstrations! How
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effective we should become in using the mighty working
power of Spirit!
Jesus told His followers (and we are all His followers) to
go forth and do His works--raise the dead and the like--and
that we should do even greater works than He did. How? By
exercising spiritual faith, by increasing our power through
exalted ideas. We must raise our faith to the very highest
in us and rest in the "assurance" or substance of its
reality.
Jesus had faith in God, and this gave Him faith in all men.
Spiritual understanding reveals the universality of all
things. When they brought to Him the lame man on the couch,
letting him down through the ceiling, "Jesus seeing their
faith," healed him, not because of the faith of the man
himself but because of the faith of those who brought him.
The faith of his neighbors in the power of Spirit did the
work for the sick man.
We believe that doctors are doing the very best they know;
but if they would only approach a little closer to the
spiritual, what a wonderful work they might do! They are
giving less and less medicine every year. They recognize
more and more that there is something back of medicine that
they call the healing power of nature.
Nearly every doctor of large experience will tell you that
he can get the same result with a little sweetened water
that he can with drugs if he has the confidence of the
patient. If the patient can be made to believe that the
drug is going to work in
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a certain way, he will carry out this belief to the letter.
Thus the word, the imagination, and faith work together.
Jesus had this high spiritual realization, and He healed
through the word. He is the Great Physician. He is the one
whom we are to follow, whom we are seeking to emulate; and
we do it through laying hold of Spirit. I would say to you
that if you want to do the works of God, you must follow
Christ. If you want to elevate yourself out of the
physical, you must have faith in God and must cultivate
that faith through affirmation of your spiritual power and
faith. The Lord's Prayer is continual affirmation from
beginning to end.
It has been our experience in developing the faculties of
mind that the more we affirm a certain thing the stronger
it becomes. But we must have the understanding that our
relation to God is that of a son to his father; that we
exist in the one Mind as an idea, and that this idea does
work in us as in a superman, even Christ.
It is a metaphysical law that there are three steps in
every demonstration; the recognition of Truth as it is in
principle; holding the idea; and acknowledging fulfillment.
Pray believing that you have received, and you shall
receive.
From the teaching of Jesus it is clear that He accepted
fully the proposition that God is our resource and that all
things are provided for us by our Father. It is necessary
to cultivate these ideas by considering them daily in all
that we do.
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It is recorded that a pupil of Socrates' once said to him:
"Master, when we read what you have inscribed we are
inspired; when we come into your presence we are moved to
love; when we hear your words we are charmed, and when we
touch your hand we are thrilled."
Socrates was a great soul, a master mind, and his soul
radiation was very powerful. But Jesus was still greater in
His soul radiation; He had through ages of discipline and
thought projection in word and deed made Himself a master
scientist in the mental and spiritual worlds. His soul
radiation or aura was so powerful that it perpetually
stimulates to greater achievement and thrills with new life
all who enter its sphere of influence. Thought transference
is an accepted fact to many persons, and it is sustained by
the recent tests in measuring the force projected in the
process of human thinking. Machines have been invented so
sensitive that they respond to the thoughts of men and
women under various emotions. The results are reported to
be so pronounced in their order and regularity as to
constitute a universal law in mind activity.
This power of the mind to project the results of thinking
gives us the key to the work of Jesus in resurrecting His
body and making it perpetually radiant in our mental and
spiritual atmosphere.
As there are dimensions above that in which we live so
there are levels of mind activity above and beyond the
intellectual. Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many
mansions"; that is, dwelling places
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in mind or consciousness: states of consciousness.
"I go to prepare a place for you. . . . that where I am,
there ye may be also."
The assertions by physical scientists that we have no
assurance of any power that will increase our moral stature
or save us from suffering and degeneracy is beyond
comprehension to one who has gone deeply into the study of
psychology and spiritual dynamics.
We may receive spiritual inspiration from within. By prayer
and meditation on words of Truth in the silence we may so
open our consciousness to the inner divine presence that
the necessary understanding, love, and power may be given
us to enable us to bring forth in our own lives the good
results that we wish to see manifest. This is much better
than waiting to see the demonstrations of others before
believing and before attempting to bring forth
demonstrations of our own.
After Thomas was shown the evidence he believed. After the
outer reason sees the works accomplished by the I AM by
means of faith and the word it accepts Truth. But there is
a quicker way to grow in faith and in spiritual
understanding, a way that has nothing to do with
intellectual reasoning and belief. Jesus said, "Blessed are
they that have not seen, and yet have believed." That way
is the quickening of our innate spiritual faith.
True faith in God separates itself from all negative belief
in the body as material, impure, transient.
With the growth of faith in the mind of the individual
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there comes a quickening of all his thoughts by the influx
of Truth. "The word of God" increases.
God is never absent from you. He is constantly taking form
in your life according to the exact pattern of your words,
thoughts, and actions. Just as soon as you really bring
your words and your expectations up to the measure of God's
love for you, just that soon you will demonstrate.
Thoughts are seeds that, when dropped or planted in the
subconscious mind, germinate, grow, and bring forth their
fruit in due season. The more clearly we understand this
truth the greater will be our ability to plant the seeds
that bring forth desirable fruits. After sowing the plants
must be tended. After using the law we must hold to its
fulfillment. This is our part, but God gives the increase.
You must work in divine order and not expect the harvest
before the soil has been prepared or the seed sown. You
have now the fruits of previous sowings. Change your
thought seeds and reap what you desire. Some bring forth
very quickly, others more slowly, but all in divine order.
The law of spiritual healing involves full receptivity on
the part of the one under treatment. God does not do things
in us against our will, as will acts in both the conscious
and subconscious realms of mind. However much it may appear
that the word is thwarted in its original intent, this is
never true; it goes on, and it enters where reception is
given it. In this way men are quickened, and whether we see
the result with our physicial vision
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or not, the process is as sure as God Himself.
In treating others we are told to see our patients as
perfect. So in actualizing our ideals we must see them as
if they were part of our phenomenal life. We often hear it
said that the genius lives in a world of his own, separate
and apart from common minds. From the metaphysical
standpoint we see that the genius is merely one who has
caught onto the law of believing his dreams of health,
perfection, and success to be true, and whose dreams have
therefore become true.
A genius is one who lets the full Spirit within him speak
out, regardless of how different its utterances may be from
those of people who have posed as authority. He has
absolute faith in his spiritual revelations and fearlessly
proclaims them. He is a pioneer and a leader. He listens to
his own inherent genius and has faith in his God-given
ability. Not only must he listen but he must act. The world
is filled with original dreamers. They have ideas brilliant
beyond expression, but they do not clothe them in the
habiliments of action.
You must not only perceive and idea; you must also give it
form by infusing into it the substance of your living
faith. Daydreamers may be found by the score in physics and
metaphysics. They all fall short in failing to realize that
there are two sides to every proposition, the image and the
expression: and that the Lord God formed man out of the
ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
So each one of us must not only see the image
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of his desires as a theory, but he must also form it into a
living, breathing thing through every motive and act of his
life. That is, if we have an idea, we must act just as if
it were part of our life. We must be formed from the
substance of our world, whether it be the dust of the
ground or the ethers of the invisible. There must be an
actual imaging of them in our consciousness before we shall
ever see our ideas realized.
Here is where the dreamer and the divine scientist part
company. One says, "I admire your theories greatly, but
they can never be realized on this earth. Things are as
they are, and they cannot be changed. We are here, and we
shall just have to make the best of it."
He who has learned the meaning of man--who and what man
is--never allows himself to make any such admissions. He
knows that there is a way provided by which he not only can
lift himself out of the swamp of belief in sin, sickness,
and death but also through his efforts open the way for
many others to find the way to perfection. No man ever
demonstrated his God-given powers in even a small way who
did not help many others to do likewise. Preaching is good,
but practice is better. "I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto myself."
There is a work for everyone who will listen and obey the
Spirit. That work is important, because it is eternal and
brings results eternal in their nature.
If you have heard the voice of the Lord and are
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obedient to it at any cost, you are chosen. Your life is
hid with Christ in God, and the way into the kingdom is
assured you.
This is no fanciful sketch, nor does it refer to a
theoretical place or condition to be reached in some future
state or under circumstances more propitious. This kingdom
of God is now existing right here in our midst. It is being
externalized little by little.
Whoever has a high, pure thought and affirms his allegiance
to it as a part of his daily life is adding to the
externality of that kingdom among men. Whoever says, "I
will be upright and honest in all that I think and do," is
laying the foundation stones for one of the buildings of
the New Jerusalem.
Whoever affirms his allegiance to the good, regardless of
all appearance of evil, and in dealing with his brother
declares by word and act that only the good exists, is
building white spires to the one and only true God.
Whoever lays up in his mental storehouse the resolve "I
will do unto others as I would have them do unto me" is
paving the highways with pure gold in a heavenly city of
equity and justice.
There will be no need of the sun or the moon in the city of
the kingdom of God, because God, the good, will be the
light thereof.
We are the temples of God, of good, and through us is this
light to shine, which is so bright as to dim the rays of
those shining orbs of the night and the day. Herein is God
glorified that we love one another. Herein does the true
light shine that we let
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love and peace and kindness shine forth forever and always.
We are to be the very light itself and we can only be the
light by becoming so pure that it cannot help but shine
through us. This is possible to the highest and lowest in
the world's roster of respectability. We are all the chosen
of the Lord and we make the covenant that carries us into
His visible presence by laying down the personal man and
taking up the universal man. He it is that thunders in the
depths of our soul. "Who say ye that I am?"
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[Jesus Christ Heals]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
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