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Prosperity
Chapter 2
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[Prosperity]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Lesson Two
Spiritual Mind, the Omnipresent Directive Principle of
Prosperity
EVERYTHING that appears in the universe had its origin in
mind. Mind evolves ideas, and ideas express themselves
through thoughts and words. Understanding that ideas have a
permanent existence and that they evolve thoughts and
words, we see how futile is any attempted reform that does
not take them into consideration. This is why legislation
and external rules of action are so weak and transient as
reforms.
Ideas generate thought currents, as a fire under a boiler
generates steam. The idea is the most important factor in
every act and must be given first place in our attention if
we would bring about any results of a permanent character.
Men formulate thoughts and thoughts move the world.
Ideas are centers of consciousness. They have a positive
and a negative pole and generate thoughts of every
conceivable kind. Hence a man's body, health, intelligence,
finances, in fact everything about him, are derived from
the ideas to which he gives his attention.
Man has never had a desire that could not somewhere,
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in the providence of God, be fulfilled. If this were not
true, the universe would be weak at its most vital point.
Desire is the onward impulse of the ever-evolving soul. It
builds from within outward and carries its fulfillment with
it as a necessary corollary.
All is mind. Then the things that appear must be
expressions of mind. Thus mind is reality, and it also
appears as phenomena. The is-ness of mind is but one side
of it. Being is not limited to the level of is-ness; it has
all possibilities, including that of breaking forth from
its inherencies into the realm of appearances. Mind has
these two sides, being and appearance, the visible and the
invisible. To say that mind is all and yet deny that things
do appear to have any place in the allness is to state but
half the truth.
An idea is capable of statement as a proposition. The
statement is made in response to a desire to know
experimentally whether the proposition is capable of proof.
A number of elements are involved in the statement of a
proposition that are not integral parts of the proposition
itself but necessary to its working out. In the simplest
mathematical problem processes are used that are not
preserved after the problem is solved yet that are
necessary to its solution. The figures by the use of which
we arrived at the solution are immediately forgotten, but
they could not be dispensed with and it is to them we owe
the outcome. The exact outcome of each step in the solution
is a matter of experiment. The intermediate
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steps may be changed or retracted many times, but
ultimately the problem is solved and the fulfillment of the
desired result attained. If this is true of the simplest
problem in arithmetic it is equally true of the creation of
the universe. "As above, so below." Here is where many who
have caught sight of the perfection and wholeness of the
ideal fail to demonstrate. They deny the appearance because
it does not express perfection in its wholeness.
The student in the depths of a mathematical problem who
should judge thus would erase all his figures because the
answer was not at once apparent, though he may have already
completed a good part of the process leading up to the
desired answer. We would not say that a farmer is wise who
cuts down his corn in the tassel because it does not show
the ripened ears. Do not jump to conclusions. Study a
situation carefully in its various aspects before you
decide. Consider both sides, the visible and the invisible,
the within and the without.
The very fact that you have an ideal condition or world in
your mind carries with it the possibility of its
fulfillment in expression. Being cannot shirk expression.
To think is to express yourself, and you are constantly
thinking. You may deny that the things of the outer world
have existence, yet as long as you live in contact with
them you are recognizing them. When you affirm being and
deny the expression of being, you are a "house divided
against itself."
We have all wondered why we do not understand
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more truth than we do or why it is necessary to understand
at all, since God is all-wise and all-present.
Understanding is one of the essential parts of your I AM
identity. Man is a focal point in God consciousness and
expresses God. Therefore he must understand the processes
that bring about that expression. Infinite Mind is here
with all its ideas as a resource for man, and what we are
or become is the result of our efforts to accumulate in our
own consciousness all the attributes of infinite Mind. We
have learned that we can accumulate ideas of power,
strength, life, love, and plenty. How should we use these
ideas or bring them into outer expression without
understanding? Where shall we get this understanding save
from the source of all ideas, the one Mind? "But if any of
you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all
liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
In following the principles of mathematics we use rules.
There is a rule of addition that we must observe when we
add; other rules that must be followed when we subtract or
multiply. The ideas of Divine Mind can only be expressed
when we follow the rules or laws of mind, and these rules
require understanding if we would follow them intelligently
and achieve results. Man is given all power and authority
over all the ideas of infinite Mind, and the idea of wisdom
is one of them.
Closely associated with the idea of wisdom in Divine Mind
is the idea of love. These ideas are the positive and the
negative pole of the creative
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Principle. "Male and female created he them." The ideas of
God-Mind are expressed through the conjunction of wisdom
and love. God commanded that these two ideas should be
fruitful and multiply and replenish the whole earth with
thoughts in expression.
We have access to the divine realm from which all thoughts
are projected into the world. We are constantly taking
ideas from the spiritual world and forming them into our
own conception of the things we desire. Sometimes the
finished product does not satisfy or please us. That is
because we have taken the idea away from its true parents,
wisdom and love, and let it grow to maturity in an
atmosphere of error and ignorance.
In the matter of money or riches we have taken the idea of
pure substance from the spiritual realm, then have
forgotten the substance idea and tried to work it out in a
material atmosphere of thought. It was a wonderful idea,
but when we took it away from its spiritual parents wisdom
and love, it became an unruly and disappointing child. Even
if without love and understanding of substance you
accumulate gold and silver, your store will not be stable
or permanent. It will fluctuate and cause you worry and
grief. There are many people who "don't know the value of a
dollar," with whom money comes and goes, who are rich today
and poor tomorrow. They have no understanding of the
substance that is the underlying reality of all wealth.
To have adequate supply at all times, an even
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flow that is never enough to become a burden yet always
enough to meet every demand, we must make union with the
Spirit that knows how to handle ideas as substance. Men
have the idea that material substance is limited, and they
engage in competition trying to grab one another's money.
Divine Mind has ideas of substance as unlimited and
everywhere present, equally available to all. Since man's
work is to express substance ideas in material form, we
must find a way to connect ideas of substance with ideas of
material expression, to adjust the ideas of man's mind with
the ideas of Divine Mind. This is accomplished by faith
through prayer.
That part of the Lord's Prayer which reads, "Give us this
day our daily bread," is more correctly translated, "Give
us today the substance of tomorrow's bread." By prayer we
accumulate in our mind ideas of God as the substance of our
supply and support. There is no lack of this substance in
infinite Mind. Regardless of how much God gives, there is
always an abundance left. God does not give us material
things, but Mind substance--not money but ideas--ideas that
set spiritual forces in motion so that things begin to come
to us by the application of the law.
It may be that you solve your financial problem in your
dreams. Men often think over their problems just before
going to sleep and get a solution in their dreams or
immediately upon awakening. This is because their minds
were so active on the intellectual plane that they could
not make contact
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with the silent inner plane where ideas work. When the
conscious mind is stilled and one makes contact with the
superconsciousness, it begins to show us how our affairs
will work out or how we can help to bring about the desired
prosperity.
This is the law of mind. The principle is within each one
of us, but we must be spiritually quickened in life and in
understanding before we can successfully work in accord
with it. However we must not discount the understanding of
the natural man. The mind in us that reasons and looks to
the physical side of things has also the ability to look
within. It is the door through which divine ideas must
come. Jesus, the Son of man, called Himself "the door" and
"the way." It is the divine plan that all expression or
demonstration shall come through this gateway of man's
mind. But above all this are the ideas that exist in the
primal state of Being, and this is the truth of which we
must become conscious. We must become aware of the source
of our substance. Then we can diminish or increase the
appearance of our supply or our finances, for their
appearance depends entirely on our understanding and
handling of the ideas of substance.
The time is coming when we shall not have to work for
things, for our physical needs in the way of food and
clothing, because they will come to us through the
accumulation of the right ideas in our mind. We will begin
to understand that clothing represents one idea of
substance, food another, and that every manifest thing is
representative of an idea.
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In the 2d chapter of Genesis this living substance is
called "dust of the ground" in the Hebrew, and Adam was
formed from it. We find that the elemental substance is in
our body. The kingdom of the heavens or the kingdom of God
is within man. It is a kingdom of substance and of Mind.
This Mind interpenetrates our mind and our mind
interpenetrates and pervades our body. Its substance
pervades every atom of our body. Are you giving it your
attention, or do you still look to outer sources for
supply? Are you meditating and praying for an understanding
of this omnipresent substance? If you are, it will come,
and it will demonstrate prosperity for you. When it does,
you are secure, for nothing can take that true prosperity
from you. It is the law that does not and cannot fail to
operate when once set in operation in the right way.
This law of prosperity has been proved time and time again.
All men who have prospered have used the law, for there is
no other way. Perhaps they were not conscious of following
definite spiritual methods, yet they have in some way set
the law in operation and reaped the benefit of its
unfailing action. Others have had to struggle to accomplish
the same things. Remember that Elijah had to keep praying
and affirming for a long time before he demonstrated the
rain. He sent his servant out the first time, and there was
no sign of a cloud. He prayed and sent him out again and
again with the same result, but at last, after repeated
efforts, the servant said he saw a little cloud. Then
Elijah told them to prepare for
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rain, and the rain came. This shows a continuity of effort
that is sometimes necessary. If your prosperity does not
become manifest as soon as you pray and affirm God as your
substance, your supply, and your support, refuse to give
up. Show your faith by keeping up the work. You have plenty
of Scripture to back you up. Jesus taught it from the
beginning to the end of His ministry and demonstrated it on
many occasions. Many have done the same thing in His name.
Jesus called the attention of His followers to the inner
realm of mind, the kingdom of God substance. He pointed out
that the lilies of the field were gloriously clothed, even
finer than Solomon in all his glory. We do not have to work
laboriously in the outer to accomplish what the lily does
so silently and beautifully. Most of us rush around trying
to work out our problems for ourselves and in our own way,
with one idea, one vision: the material thing we seek. We
need to devote more time to silent meditation and like the
lilies of the field simply be patient and grow into our
demonstrations. We should remember always that these
substance ideas with which we are working are eternal ideas
that have always existed and will continue to exist, the
same ideas that formed this planet in the first place and
that sustain it now.
A great German astronomer had worked the greater part of
his life with a desire to know more about the stars. One
night, quite suddenly and strangely enough--for he had
given but little
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thought to the spiritual side of things--he broke right out
into a prayer of thanksgiving because of the perfect order
and harmony of the heavens. His prayer was "O God, I am
thinking Thy thoughts after Thee." The soul of this man had
at that moment made the contact and union with infinite
Mind. But though this contact seemed to be made suddenly,
it was the result of long study and the preparation of his
mind and thought. Jesus expressed the same at-one-ment with
God at the moment of His supreme miracle, the raising of
Lazarus. His words were "Father, I thank thee that thou
heardest me. And I knew that thou hearest me always."
This gives us another side of the prosperity law. We open
the way for great demonstrations by recognizing the
Presence and praising it, by thanking the Father for
Spiritual quickening. We quicken our life by affirming that
we are alive with the life of Spirit; our intelligence by
affirming our oneness with divine intelligence; and we
quicken the indwelling, interpenetrating substance by
recognizing and claiming it as our own. We should meditate
in this understanding and give sincere thanks to the God of
this omnipresent realm of ideas because we can think His
thoughts after Him. We can thank the Father that His
thoughts are our thoughts and that our natural mind is
illumined by Spirit. We can illumine our mind any time by
affirming this thought:
I thank Thee, Father, that I think Thy thoughts after Thee
and that my understanding is illumined by Spirit.
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Spiritual thoughts are infinite in their potentiality, each
one being measured by the life, intelligence, and substance
with which it is expressed. The thought is brought into
expression and activity by the word. Every word is a
thought in activity, and when spoken it goes out as a
vibratory force that is registered in the all-providing
substance.
The mightiest vibration is set up by speaking the name
Jesus Christ. This is the name that is named "far above all
rule, and authority," the name above all names, holding in
itself all power in heaven and in earth. It is the name
that has power to mold the universal substance. It is at
one with the Father-Mother substance, and when spoken it
sets forces into activity that bring results. "Whatsoever
ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to
you." "If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I
do." There could be nothing simpler, easier, or freer from
conditions in demonstrating supply. "Hitherto [before the
name Jesus Christ was given to the world] have ye asked
nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your
joy may be made full."
The sayings of Jesus were of tremendous power because of
His consciousness of God. They raised the God ideal far
above what had ever before been conceived. These ideas so
far transcended the thought plane of the people that even
some of the disciples of Jesus would not accept them, and
they "walked no more with him." Until fairly recent times
most men have failed to grasp the lesson of the power of
the spoken word expressing spiritual
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ideas. Jesus has never been taken literally, else men would
have sought to overcome death by keeping His sayings. Few
have taken His words in full faith, not only believing them
but so saturating their minds with them that they become
flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone, being
incarnated in their very bodies, as Jesus intended.
The secret of demonstration is to conceive what is true in
Being and to carry out the concept in thought, word, and
act. If I can conceive a truth, there must be a way by
which I can make that truth apparent. If I can conceive of
an inexhaustible supply existing in the omnipresent ethers,
then there is a way by which I can make that supply
manifest. Once your mind accepts this as an axiomatic truth
it has arrived at the place where the question of processes
begins to be considered.
No one ever fully sees the steps that he must take in
reaching a certain end. He may see in a general way that he
must proceed from one point to another, but all the details
are not definite unless he has gone over the same ground
before. So in the demonstration of spiritual powers as they
are expressed through man, we must be willing to follow the
directions of someone who has proved his understanding of
the law by his demonstrations.
We all know intuitively that there is something wrong in a
world where poverty prevails and we would not knowingly
create a world in which a condition of poverty exists. Lack
of any kind is not possible in all God's universe. So when
there is an appearance
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of poverty anywhere, it is our duty to deny it. Sorrow and
suffering accompany poverty, and we wish to see them all
blotted out. This desire is an index pointing the way to
their disappearance. As the consciousness of the kingdom of
heaven with its abundant life and substance becomes more
and more common among men, these negative conditions will
fade out of seeming existence.
Jesus said that all things should be added to those who
seek the kingdom of heaven. We do not have to wait until we
have fully entered the kingdom or attained a complete
understanding of Spirit before prosperity begins to be
manifest, but we do have to seek, to turn the attention in
that direction. Then things begin to be added unto us.
Thousands of people are proving the law in this age. They
accept the promise of the Scriptures and are looking to God
to supply their every need. In the beginning of their
seeking they may have little to encourage them to believe
that they will be provided for or helped along any
particular line. But they carry out the command to seek and
in faith act just as though they were receiving, and
gradually there opens up to them new ways of making a
living. Sometimes avenues are opened to them to which they
are strangers, but they find pleasant experience and are
encouraged to continue seeking the kingdom of God and
rejoicing in its ever increasing bounty.
Many such people today are wisely using their one talent.
They may not have seen the holy of holies in the inner
sanctuary, but they are getting
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closer to it. This is the step we must all take: begin to
seek this kingdom of God's substance. Trust in the promise
and see the result in the mental currents that are set in
motion all about us. You may not be able to see at just
what point success began, or what separate word of
allegiance to the Father first took effect, but as the
weeks or months go by you will observe many changes taking
place in your mind, your body, and your affairs. You will
find that your ideas have broadened immensely, that your
little limited world has been transformed into a big world.
You will find your mind more alert and you will see clearly
where you were in doubt before, because you have begun
thinking about realities instead of appearances. The
consciousness of an omnipotent hand guiding all your
affairs will establish you in confidence and security,
which will extend to the body welfare and surroundings.
There will be a lessening or entire absence of prejudice
and faultfinding in you. You will be more forgiving and
more generous and will not judge harshly. Other people will
feel that there has been a change in you and will
appreciate you more, showing it in many ways. Things will
be coming your way, being added unto you indeed according
to the promise.
All this is true not only of your own affairs. The effects
extend also to those with whom you come in contact. They
will also become more prosperous and happy. They may not in
any way connect their improvement with you or your
thoughts, but that does not affect the truth about it. All
causes are essentially
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mental, and whoever comes into daily contact with a high
order of thinking must take on some of it. Ideas are
catching, and no one can live in an atmosphere of true
thinking, where high ideas are held, without becoming more
or less inoculated with them.
Do not expect miracles to be performed for you, but do
expect the law with which you have identified yourself to
work out your problem by means of the latent possibilities
in and around you. Above all, be yourself. Let the God
within you express Himself through you in the world without.
"Ye are gods,
And all of you sons of the Most High."
The idea of God covers a multitude of creative forces. In
this case you are working to bring prosperity into your
affairs. Hence you should fill your mind with images and
thoughts of an all-providing all-supplying Father. The
ancient Hebrews understood this. They had seven sacred
names for Jehovah, each one of which represented some
specific idea of God. They used the name Jehovah-jireh when
they wished to concentrate on the aspect of substance. It
means "Jehovah will provide," the mighty One whose presence
and power provides, regardless of any opposing
circumstance. To quicken the consciousness of the presence
of God the Hebrews used the name Jehovah-shammah which
means "Jehovah is there," "the Lord is present." Realize
the Lord present as creative mind, throbbing in the ether
as living productiveness.
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Charge your mind with statements that express plenty. No
particular affirmation will raise anyone from poverty to
affluence, yet all affirmations that carry ideas of
abundance will lead one into the consciousness that
fulfills the law. Deny that lack has any place or reality
in your thought or your affairs and affirm plenty as the
only appearance. Praise what you have, be it ever so
little, and insist that it is constantly growing larger.
Daily concentration of mind on Spirit and its attributes
will reveal that the elemental forces that make all
material things are here in the ether awaiting our
recognition and appropriation. It is not necessary to know
all the details of the scientific law in order to
demonstrate prosperity. Go into the silence daily at a
stated time and concentrate on the substance of Spirit
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This
opens up a current of thought that will bring prosperity
into your affairs. A good thought to hold in this
meditation is this:
The invisible substance is plastic to my abundant thought,
and I am rich in mind and in manifestation.
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[Prosperity]
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