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Twelve Powers of Man
Chapter 9
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[Twelve Powers of Man]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Chapter IX
The Will Is the Man
OUR CAPTION is quoted from an ancient metaphysical
teaching, the origin of which is lost in antiquity. The
idea is that the development of the will is possible only
through the development of the mind as a whole, and as man
is mind, "the will is the man." This conclusion is reached
because the will moves to action all the other faculties of
the mind and seems to be the whole process.
However, a careful analysis of the various factors entering
into an action reveals other equally important attributes
of man, and we cannot wholly admit that "the will is the
man." The will is undoubtedly the focal point around which
all action centers, when there is harmony of mind; but the
rule has been accepted by schools of philosophy from most
ancient times down to the present that the will and the
understanding are very closely related--the understanding
comprehending all our speculative, the will all our active,
powers. This close relationship is symbolically taught in
the Bible, and it appeals to man's reason and is confirmed
by his observation.
Jacob, representing the I AM (I will be what I will to be),
had twelve sons, one of whom was Joseph, "the dreamer."
Joseph represents the imagination,
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by which all forms and shapes are brought into
manifestation. In the development of the mind, certain
faculties are given prominence. After they run their race,
other faculties that have been held in reserve come
forward. When the period of rest comes, the Scriptures
recite that a certain one "died, old and full of days." As
man goes forward in his unfoldment, there is sometimes a
tendency toward the surface of consciousness, or the
phenomenal, and a gradual loss of interest in the original
sources of action. The phenomenal phase of creation is so
interesting that man sometimes becomes bewildered in its
study or its pleasure, and the originating cause may be
ignored to the point of forgetfulness. This cessation of
creative activity by the imagination (Joseph) is described
in these words: "So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten
years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a
coffin in Egypt." This means metaphysically that when the
imagination in a life span has fulfilled its mission as a
creative power it falls asleep, but it is preserved in the
realms of darkness (Egypt).
Joseph's number is eleven. He was the eleventh son, and his
age when he stopped active work and fell asleep (110)
represents the completeness of the dispensation of that
faculty's activity; the cipher indicates an endless
capacity for expression. The figure given as the age of a
Biblical character usually represents the subject's place
in his evolution. Joseph completed his evolution to the
eleventh degree plus. The cipher means that he has more to
demonstrate.
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Jesus' number is twelve. He was wise at the age of twelve.
Adam was third in the Godhead (God, Christ, man). He lived
930 years, according to scriptural chronology. This number
tells us that he is third in the trinity, has the capacity
of the twelvefold man, but has unfolded only three of the
twelve faculties. The order of the numbers indicates the
harmony of his unfoldment. In this instance it was
orderly--the naught denotes future progress uninterrupted.
Seth, the son whom Adam begat "in his own likeness, after
his image," represents the awakening of spiritual
consciousness. "Then began men to call upon the name of
Jehovah." Seth's years were 912. Here the trinity and the
twelvefold man are eptiomized, and we see that Seth was the
birth, in Adam, of Adam's own original character, even the
image and likeness of Elohim. In the figure nine the
trinity is repeated three times, once for each of its
identities, God, Christ, man; then the twelve powers of man
are added. Again the total of the digits is twelve, the
number of divine man demonstrated.
We have called attention to the metaphysical meaning of the
chronology of these Biblical characters in order to
illustrate more fully the manner in which the faculties are
developed. It will be seen that in man is implanted the
likeness of God, which man develops in a long series of
personalities. The process of forming a soul may be
compared to the development, in a photographic negative, of
the image that has been imprinted upon the sensitive
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plate but cannot be seen until it has been put through a
regular developing process. When Adam had a spiritual
awakening he perceived the truth of his identity in God,
and thereby begat Seth, the original image and likeness of
spiritual man, imprinted upon him by the Word of creative
Mind. Then the worship of Jehovah was restored in man's
whole consciousness, for a time at least.
Coming down the chronological stream, we find that Joseph's
place was taken by two sons. "And Joseph called the name of
the first-born Manasseh: For, said he, God hath made me
forget all my toil, and all my father's house. And the name
of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath made me
fruitful in the land of my affliction." The mother of these
sons was Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, Egyptian priest of
On. Asenath means "peril." She represents the feminine or
love side of the natural man. From this intricate symbology
we discern that two faculties of the mind were given birth.
The eldest son, Manasseh, had power to forget, to erase by
denial, through an understanding of Truth, all the
accumulated burden of thoughts, even to that of heredity,
"all my father's house." The other son, Ephraim, could add
to by affirmation and make fruitful the land that seemed to
be a place of affliction. These two sons of Joseph
inherited his allotment in the Promised Land, which
symbolizes the perfected body. The front brain is the field
of operation for these closely related
faculties--imagination, understanding, and will. When man's
will is working
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strongly he corrugates his brow, and his quick
understanding causes his eyes to flash.
When the imagination is subjective and spiritual and the
will and the understanding are objective and alert, we have
the creative artist. Then the understanding develops its
greatest freedom and originality. It is no longer bound by
the traditions of the past in literature, art, music,
drama, science, or religion, but launches out into the deep
and brings up the "pearl of great price," original creative
genius and life. Then the energetic will makes fruitful by
its activity all the inspirations of the awakened man.
These two closely related forces of the mind are dominant
in the race because their practicality is necessary in
man's free development. If the imagination were wholly in
command, it would eventually run into a riot of daydreams
or fanciful schemes that could not be worked out
successfully in a world where natural law is inexorable. It
is this "peril" (Asenath) that the mind considers, and
brings forth, in sequence, will and understanding. "The
highest and most excellent thing in man," says Goethe, "is
formless, and we must guard against giving it shape in
anything save noble deeds."
Man is a free agent in the possession and the use of the
faculty of will. Freedom of will has been variously
regarded and defined. It is the subject of volumes of
theological literature and also the rock on which
religionists have split. The theory of predestination
relieves man of all responsibility. If
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God has fixed every act of man's existence, then there can
be no mental or moral freedom. If man cannot determine the
character of his acts, he has neither understanding nor
will--he is a puppet.
The understanding and the will should be especially active
in one who would master the sensations of the body.
Potiphar's wife represents the sense consciousness that
tempts us to meet its desires, and, when we deny it, has us
imprisoned. This means that when a certain habit in the
sense consciousness is refused expression, it reacts and
for a time seems to prevent our expressing even the good.
But let us patiently bide our time; the higher will yet
show its God-given power.
The several visits of Joseph's brothers to Egypt for corn,
and the final reconciliation, are symbolical
representations of the manner in which we make connection
with the obscured vitality within the organism and finally
bring all our faculties into conjunction with it.
Volumes might be written with Joseph as a text. In his
history, as given in Genesis, some of the most interesting
processes of regeneration are symbolized. This hidden realm
within the subconsciousness is in an Egyptian, or obscured,
state to most of us. Yet it is a great kingdom, and its
king is Pharaoh, ruler of the sun, or the "brain" and nerve
center, which physiology names the solar plexus. This is
the brain of the physical man, and it directs the
circulation, digestion, assimilation, and so forth.
Students of mind have discovered that the solar plexus is
the
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organ through which a ruling thought in the head is carried
into the body. He of the "hard heart," who would not let
the people go, is human will, acting through the solar
plexus, or city of the sun.
The spiritual life in the subconsciousness (Children of
Israel in Egypt) is often prevented from expressing itself
by the opposition of the will. If the understanding decides
that what it conceives to be the natural law shall be the
limit of expression, there is further bondage and there are
harder tasks. Any hard, dictatorial, or willful state of
mind will harden the heart. This state of mind acts through
the solar plexus (the distributing station for building
forces of the body), and thereby brings its limitations
upon the whole system. Hardened arteries are the result of
hard thoughts, this hardness originates in the will.
Jehovah represents the law of the I AM in action.
The ambiguity in the term "motive" has caused much of the
controversy that has raged over free will. The champions of
free will commonly suppose that before performing an act a
man is affected by various motives, none of which
necessarily determines his act. Their opponents, on the
other hand, argue that there is no such thing as this
unmotivated choice. Some hold that free will proper
consists of choice only as between higher and lower good.
Some regard it as consisting in the power to do as one
pleases or chooses. Others define it as the power to do or
to choose as one should.
According to some academic metaphysicians, the freedom of
the will includes the power to act contrary
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to all of one's own motives or inclinations or tendencies,
this power being inherent in the will. It is readily seen
that this thing called "motive" is another name for
understanding, and that it is a necessary adjunct to that
faculty. But not all people use understanding as the
headlight for both motive and will. The undisciplined mind
feels the impulse that lies behind motive, and acts without
considering either cause or effect. This is partaking of
the knowledge of good and evil without heeding the voice of
wisdom--the sin of Adam, undeveloped man. Understanding may
be illumined by the Christ Mind, and thus receive the light
that "lighteth every man, coming into the world." Without
this light man breaks the law in nearly every act. The
divorcement of understanding from will has led to endless
controversies between those who have written and debated
about the necessity for man's having free will, and those
who, because of the evils that have come upon man through
ignorant willing, have advocated the utter effacement of
the will.
We do not need less will; we need more understanding. Jesus
(spiritual light) showed Thomas (intellectual
understanding) the wounds that ignorance had inflicted upon
the innocent body. Jesus' apostles represented His own
faculties of mind. When He called them they were ignorant
and undisciplined children of the natural world. But the
image and likeness of the creative Mind was on them, to
discipline them in the wisdom of the Christ (spiritual I
AM).
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As the executive power of the mind, human will is the
negative pole of spiritual decision. Right here is where
those who study man from a personal viewpoint fail in their
estimate of his power and his accountability. As mortal,
living in a material world, he seems circumscribed and
limited in capacity and destiny. Philosophers have studied
man in this cage of the mind, and their conclusions have
been that he is little better than a reasoning animal.
But there is a higher and truer estimate of man, and that
estimate is made from what the academic school of
philosophy would call the purely speculative side of
existence. Failing to discern his spiritual origin, they
fail in estimating his real character. As a product of the
natural man, will is often a destructive force. Nearly all
our systems of training children have been based on
breaking the will in order to gain authority over the child
and obedience from him. We should remember that the right
to exercise freedom of will was given to man in the
beginning, according to Genesis, and that will should
always be given its original power and liberty.
It is possible, however, for man so to identify his
consciousness with Divine Mind that he is moved in every
thought and act by that Mind. Jesus attained this unity;
when He realized that He was willing not in the personal
but in the divine, He said: "Not my will, but thine, be
done."
Many sincere Christians have tried to follow in the way of
Jesus, and they have negatively submitted their will to
God. But they have not attained
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the power or the authority of Jesus by so doing. The reason
is that they have not raised their will to the positive
spiritual degree. Jesus was not negative in any of His
faculties, and He did not teach a doctrine of submission.
He gave, to those who went forth preaching the Gospel, the
power and authority of the Holy Spirit. In Mark 16:16-18 it
is recorded that Jesus says: "He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be
condemned. And these signs shall accompany them that
believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall
speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if
they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
We must believe in the higher powers and be immersed in the
omnipresent water of life. If we fail to exercise faith in
things spiritual, we are condemned to the prison of
materiality.
Some Christians believe that God's will toward men varies,
that His will changes, that He chastises the disobedient
and punishes the wicked. This view of God's character is
gained from the Old Testament. Jehovah was the tribal God
of the Israelites as Baal was of the Philistines. Men's
concepts of God are measured by their spiritual
understanding. The Jehovah, of Moses, is quite different
from the Father, of Jesus, yet they are spiritually one and
the same. "It is not the will of your Father who is in
heaven, that one of these little ones should perish," is
the teaching of Jesus. He bore witness that
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the will of God is that men should not suffer--that through
Him they should have complete escape from sin, sickness,
and even death. "God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish, but have eternal life." The sin, sickness,
suffering, and death that men experience are not punishment
willed by God; they are results of broken law. The law is
good; men have joy, satisfaction, and life in everlasting
harmony, when they keep the law. Creation would not be
possible without rules governing the created.
It is error for anyone to submit his will to the control of
any personality. The personal exercise of will by personal
understanding is short-sighted and selfish; hence it is
never safe to allow oneself to be led by the direction or
advice of another. Practice the presence of God until you
open your consciousness to the inflow of the omnipresent,
all-knowing mind, then affirm your unity with that mind
until you know and fully realize, through the many avenues
of wisdom, just what you should do. This acquirement of a
knowledge of the divine will is not the work of an instant;
it results from patient and persistent spiritual study,
prayer, and meditation. Even Jesus, with His exalted
understanding, found it necessary to pray all night. All
who have found the peace and the power of God have
testified to the necessity of using prayer in the soul's
victory.
One should not intellectually will to bring about results
for oneself or for another. The difference
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between the personal will and the universal will can be
known by one who practices thought control in the silence.
Affirmations made in the head alone are followed by a
feeling of tension, as if bands were drawn across the
forehead. When this state of mind sinks back into the
subconsciousness, the nerves become tense; if the practice
is continued, nervous prostration follows.
Stubborn, willful, resistant states of mind congest the
life flow; they are followed by cramps and congestion. The
will often compels the use of the various organs of the
body beyond their normal capacity, and the results are
found in strained nerves and strained muscles and in
impaired sight and impaired hearing. Disobedient children
have earache, showing the direct result that self-will has
on the nerves of the ear. Deaf persons should be treated
for freedom from willfulness and obstinacy. In the present
state of race consciousness, all people use the
intellectual will to excess. The remedy is daily
relaxation, meditation, prayer.
Will, as exercised by man, is the negative pole of the
great executive force of the universe. The recognition of
this in silent meditation opens the will to the inflow of
this mighty, moving principle, and the power that moves to
action the members of the body reaches into the invisible
realm of ideas and controls the elements. It was
comprehension of the will universal that enabled Jesus to
say to the wind and the waves, "Peace, be still."
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Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the
inalienable rights of man, and they should never be
interferred with. Hypnotism, mesmerism, and mediumship are
based on the submission of one will to another. The one who
desires control demands another's submission in mind and
body to his own willed thoughts and words of directive
power. The effect on the one who submits is always
weakening, and, if continued, results in a mental negation
that makes him the victim of evil influences too numerous
to mention.
"Not my will, but thine, be done" is one of the most
far-reaching affirmations of Jesus, and those who follow
Him and keep His sayings are finding great peace and
relaxation of mind and body.
Jesus, the mighty helper, is always present with those who
are earnestly seeking to be Christians and to keep the
divine law.
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[Twelve Powers of Man]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
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