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Jesus Christ Heals
Chapter 11
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[Jesus Christ Heals]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Chapter XI
Healing Power of Joy
I REJOICE and am glad because Thy harmonizing love makes me
every whit whole. All healing systems recognize joy as a
beneficent factor in the restoration of health to the sick.
"The joy of Jehovah is your strength." This statement is
based on a principle recognized by all who help to bring
about strength of mind and health of body. An old country
doctor used to tell how he healed a woman of a large cyst
by telling her a funny story: at which she laughed so
heartily that the fluid broke loose and passed away.
The mind puts kinks in the nerves in ways beyond
description. A thought of fear will stop the even flow of
life in some nerve center deep down in the body, forming a
nucleus where other fears may accumulate and finally
congest the blood concerned in some important function. The
impast of energy of some kind is necessary to break the
dam. Physical exercise will sometimes do it, or massage, or
electricity; but these are temporary remedies. None of them
has touched the cause, which is mental: fear.
There are various methods of erasing fear from the mind and
preventing its congestions in the body. One of the most
direct and effective shatterers of fear is laughter. Laugh
your fears away. See how ridiculous they are when traced to
their source.
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Nearly all persons have some pet fear, and they give up to
it without trying to find its source.
The nerves surrounding the heart are most sensitive to
thoughts of fear, and when mind and body are strenuously
excited the fearfully charged nerve cells grab the heart
and hold it like a vise. Businessmen who live in a world of
sharp competition and constant risk of loss with few
exceptions are subject to this kind of fear.
Christian metaphysicians of course know that the only
permanent cure for the ailment is a heartfelt trust in God
as the one and only source of good to man. A daily prayer
for wisdom and divine guidance in the conduct of one's
affairs will restore peace and harmony to mind and body,
and health must of necessity follow.
I will sing unto the Lord a new song of harmony and health.
That there is an intimate relation between happiness and
health goes without question. When you feel good you sing
either audibly or silently. Singing promotes health because
it increases the circulation, and a good circulation is a
sign and promoter of health. If the blood stream were never
congested and all the nerves and pores were open and free
and were swiftly carrying forward their appointed work,
there would never be an abnormal or false growth in the
body. It follows logically then that we should cultivate
those mind activities which stimulate naturally the
currents of life in the body. One of these, and a very
important one, is joy.
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No one likes to take medicine even when sugar-coated,
because there is an instinctive feeling that it will do no
good. Besides it usually tastes bad. But nearly anyone can
sing a little song, and those who have tried it right in
the face of suffering will tell you that it is a marvelous
health restorer.
The reason that singing restores harmony to tense nerves is
that its vibrations stir them to action, thus making it
possible for the ever-waiting healing Spirit to get in. The
organ of the human voice is located right between the
thyroid glands, the accelerators of certain important body
functions. To a greater or less degree every word you speak
vibrates the cells up and down the body, from front brain
to abdomen.
The Spirit of health, or as the doctors call it, the
restorative power of nature, is always right at hand
awaiting an opportunity to enter in to make whole and to
harmonize all discords in the body. Back of every true song
is a thought of joy. It is the thought that counts in the
end, because it is the thought that invites the healing
Spirit. Consequently we should sing with the thought that
the Lord is right with us and that His joy is giving our
words the healing unction; as Jesus said, "that my joy may
be in you, and that your joy may be made full."
When men think a great deal about spiritual things and
especially about God as an indwelling spiritual presence,
both mind and body are thrilled with joy, a feeling of
satisfaction, and a tendency to break out in songs of
gladness. This is not confined to Christians; persons
everywhere, in every age, have
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told of an inner glory and happiness when they got into the
habit of concentrating their mind on God. The great
philosopher Spinoza wrote so much about God that he was
known as the "God-intoxicated man."
Pythagoras taught that the universe is God's symphony and
that all the suns and planets sing as they swing their way
through the heavens. All nature has a language and a song
for those who listen. Shakespeare says:
"And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
Shakespeare often quoted from the Bible, and he may have
got his idea that trees have tongues from I Chronicles
16:33: "Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy
before Jehovah."
"My mind is cleansed by Christ;
My life flows swift and strong;
The peace of God wells up within,
My soul bursts forth in song."
Some people think it almost a sacrilege to sing when they
feel bad. They think that that is the time to groan, and
they usually do. That is the way the mortal looks at it,
and that is the way you may happen to feel, but you can
quickly be released from the prison of pain or grief if you
will sing and praise and pray.
First sing in your soul--you can sing 'way down inside of
yourself--then you will soon be singing with your voice. So
we lay down the metaphysical
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law that everybody should know how to sing. Everybody can
sing. It does not make any difference what your previous
thoughts have been about your ability to sing, it does not
make any difference what you think about it at present, and
it does not make any difference whether you can sing or
not; cultivate the singing soul and you will some day break
forth into a singing voice.
This is a creative law, and it is a law that everyone
should know and use, because through the vibrations of the
voice joined with high thinking every cell in the body is
set into action, and not only in the body but out into the
environing thought atmosphere the vibrations go and break
up all crystallized conditions.
The whole universe is in vibration, and that vibration is
under law. Chaos would result if the law were not supreme.
Each particular thing has its rate of vibration. Heat,
light, and color are different rates of vibration in one
field of primal energy. Different colors are caused by the
different frequencies of the vibrations as they strike the
eye. But what causes vibration? We answer Mind.
The cells of the body are centers of force in a field of
universal energy. There are no solids. That which appears
solid is in reality the scene of constant activity. The eye
is not keyed to the pulsations of this universal energy and
is therefore deceived into believing that things are solid.
All energy and life are governed by laws of spiritual
harmony. If the mind that receives sound vibrations is in
spiritual
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consciousness, the body responds to the higher activity. If
our mind were trained to think thoughts that harmonized
with Divine Mind, we could hear the music of the spheres.
You can drive away the gloom of disappointment by
resolutely singing a sunshine song. I believe that we could
cultivate the power of music in connection with the
understanding of Truth and thus rend all the bonds of sin,
sickness, and death. The world needs a new hymnal, with
words of Truth only and music so strong and powerful that
it will penetrate to the very center of the soul.
Our body is now tuned to the divine harmony; we shall find
the keynote by listening in the silence to the singing soul.
The new life in Christ fills me with zeal to live, and I am
healed.
In putting on Christ--that is, developing the
supermind--every faculty has to be raised to supermind
proportions. The exact mathematical degree of power
necessary to "synchronize" oneself with the "kingdom of the
heavens" in which the supermind functions has not been
revealed to human consciousness, if indeed it can be. An
eminent British astronomer says that he has discovered that
God is a great mathematician, and the logical conclusion of
all wise philosophers is that everything in the universe
both seen and unseen is under mathematical law. "The very
hairs of your head are all numbered," said Jesus.
Jesus also said that He came to bring more life
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to slow-moving humanity. More vital force now is and always
has been the crying need of people everywhere. Disease
germs run riot in anemic persons. The cause of such
conditions is mental: there is a lack of vital interest in
life and a disinclination to assume its responsibilities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that no great work was ever
accomplished without enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is another word
for zeal, and zeal is a great stimulator of man. You cannot
think of or repeat the word zeal without evoking a certain
mental thrill that spurs you to action in some direction if
you repeat it over and over. This brings us back to the
point we mentioned about everything having a mathematical
infusion; that is, everything is impregnated with
mathematics. Every word we speak goes forth from our mouth
charged with atomic energies that vibrate at a definite
numerical rate. According to science every atom is composed
of protons and electrons, the number of electronic elements
in an atom determining the character of the substance. Now
we see that modern science is proving the truth of Jesus'
statement that we shall be held accountable for every word
we speak. Our minds determine the character of our words
and what the mind determines the mouth obediently utters,
its words loaded with constructive or destructive electrons
all mathematically arranged to build up or blow up both
ourselves and our aims and ideals. We are perfectly aware
that some persons are overzealous, that they consume their
vitality by talking and acting without
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wisdom: "The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up." Such
persons are so enthusiastic in externals that they lose
contact with the source of things, the inner mind, and they
destroy the body, the temple of the living God. However
these are the minority. The great majority lack zeal in
doing even the most ordinary things, and even the
overzealous would find a much-coveted and needed poise by
linking their minds with the Christ.
The beginning of the culture of the mind that enables it to
make contact with the realm of creative ideas is faith, and
faith is superenthusiasm. You must have such confidence in
your ability to make union with creative Mind that you fuse
the two and the invisible elements melt and fall into the
mold you have made for them.
When we know that every word is mathematically linked with
certain creative ideas and that Divine Mind has made it
possible for every one of us to draw upon these ideas
mentally, we have the key to all creative processes.
"Whosoever . . . shall not doubt in his heart, but shall
believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have
it." Here in a nutshell Jesus has stated the law and its
fulfillment. The one and only reason that we do not always
succeed in our demonstrations is that we do not persist in
our mental work. If we have never tested our faith in God
and His mathematical laws, we must begin to discipline our
minds and raise our thoughts to the point where they
abandon the slow inertia of the natural man for the speed
and spring
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of the spiritual man. This is accomplished by prayer,
meditation, and the repetition of true words. It is not the
vain repetition of words over and over, parrotlike, but the
quiet realization that there is a listening Mind and a
ready host of great ideas at all
times waiting for us.
I am at peace because I trust divine justice to regulate my
mind, body, and affairs.
The mind may be compared to the sea, which is calm or
stormy according to the wind that moves it. Thought
utilizes the substance of the mind and forms that which man
ideates.
A restful state of mind is greatly to be desired because of
its constructive character. When the mind is lashed by a
brain storm the cells of the whole organism are shattered
and exhaustion ensues. Nervous prostration is the result of
exhausted nerve force.
Man's whole character is determined by the thoughts for
which he allows a place in his mind. A strong man or a weak
man is what he is because of repeated thoughts of strength
or weakness. Steadfast affirmations of peace will harmonize
the whole body structure and open the way to attainment of
healthy conditions in mind and body. The reason that
prayers and treatments for health are not more successful
is that the mind has not been put in a receptive state by
affirmations of peace.
The Mind of Spirit is harmonious and peaceful, and it must
have a like manner of expression in man's consciousness.
When a body of water is choppy with fitful currents of air
it cannot reflect objects
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clearly. Neither can man reflect the steady strong glow of
Omnipotence when his mind is disturbed by anxious thoughts,
fearful thoughts, or angry thoughts.
Be at peace and your unity with God-Mind will bring you
health and happiness.
We all should practice delightful, happy, joyous states of
mind. It is such thoughts that open the way for the
ever-present Father-Mind to pour out its splendid resources
into our mind and through us into all our affairs.
Thou art my life unfailing, and I rejoice in Thy abundant,
buoyant health.
No one can understand the real character of God without a
metaphysical study and analysis of mind and its properties.
To think of God as an enormously enlarged man, as most
persons do, entangles one in a maze of wrong conclusions
concerning the nature and creative processes of Being.
Think of Being as an aggregation of ideas with potential
creative capacity but governed in its creative processes by
unalterable laws. Mentally see those ideas projected into
action in a universe evolving a self-conscious creature
possessed of free will called man. As man develops through
the combination of those original ideas, behold him
arriving at a place in his evolution where he realizes his
power of self-determination and consciously begins to
choose as his own field of action the many pleasant
activities of the universe and to combine them in his own
way.
This phase of man's development is symbolized
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in the Edenic allegory as Adam and Eve eating of the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree
that bears the fruit of pleasure in the midst of man's body
garden is the sympathetic nervous system. Satan, sensation,
tempts Adam and Eve--man--to appropriate or eat of this
tree without listening to the voice of wisdom, Jehovah God.
The result is unbridled and unlawful development of the
sympathetic nervous system with excess of pleasure (good)
followed by a corresponding reaction of pain (evil).
Jesus regained this lost Eden and showed us how to regain
it by likewise identifying our minds with God-Mind. His
prayer was "Not my will, but thine, be done."
Christ is the name of the God-Mind imaged in everyone. When
we identify ourselves with that image, we rise superior to
the Adamic man and become unified with the spiritual man.
It is in the strength of this supermind that we can say to
the man of flesh, "I will; be thou made clean." This is the
decree of the Christ in you to your conscious mind and its
visible body; it is the exercise of the authority given to
every child of God. "Decree a thing, and it shall be
established unto thee."
And manifest substance flows from a realm of light,
according to the most modern conclusions of physical
science. James says, "Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights."
God ideas are the source of all that appears. Accept this
mighty and all-productive
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truth and consciously connect your mind with the
Father-Mind, and you will realize abundant health and true
joy.
The Holy Spirit life heals me, and I radiate health to
everybody and everything.
Some persons think that when they quit lying they are
demonstrating Truth. To quit lying is commendable but falls
short of fulfilling the complete reformation of the Spirit
of truth. In chapter after chapter of the Gospel of John,
Jesus repeats the promise that He will send a Comforter,
whom He names "the Spirit of truth," to those who believe
on Him. In the 15th chapter we read, "But when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the
Father, he shall bear witness of me." In the 16th chapter
we find these words: "I have yet many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the
Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the
truth." "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you
another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, even
the Spirit of truth . . . for he abideth with you, and
shall be in you."
The Spirit of truth is the mind of God in its executive
capacity: it carries out the divine plan of the originating
Spirit. It proceeds from the Father and bears witness of
the Son. We have in the operation of our own minds an
illustration of how Divine Mind works. When an idea is
fully formulated in our minds and we decide to carry it
out, our thoughts
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change their character from contemplative to executive. We
no longer plan but proceed to execute what we have already
planned. So God-Mind sends forth its Spirit to carry out in
man the divine idea imaged in the Son.
It is very comforting to know that Spirit is cooperating
with us in our efforts to manifest God's law. God in His
divine perfection has seemed so far removed from our human
frailties that we have lost heart. But now we see that
Jesus taught that God is intimately associated with us in
all our life's problems and that we need only ask in His
name in order to have all needs fulfilled.
The Spirit of truth is God's thought projecting into our
minds ideas that will build a spiritual consciousness like
that of Jesus. The Spirit of truth watches every detail of
our lives, and when we ask and by affirmation proclaim its
presence, it brings new life into our bodies.
Again the Spirit of truth opens our minds to God's law of
supply and support, to the existence of a universal etheric
thought substance prepared for man's body sustenance by
infinite Mind. We have thought that in answer to our
prayers God in some mysterious manner brought about the
marvelous demonstrations that we had. Now we see that there
has been prepared from the beginning an interpenetrating
substance that, like a tenuous bread of heaven, showers us
with its abundance.
But we must not only ask but bring the Spirit into our
consciousness by affirming its abundance to
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be the source of all our good. Then perfection will begin
to be manifested right in the face of apparent negation.
Remember the invitation of the Master "Hitherto have ye
asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that
your joy may be made full."
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[Go forward to Chapter 12 ->]
[Jesus Christ Heals]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
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