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Twelve Powers of Man
Introduction
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[Twelve Powers of Man]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
JESUS prophesied the advent of a race of men who would sit
with Him on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. This book explains the meaning of this mystical
reference, what and where the twelve thrones are, and what
attainments are necessary by man before he can follow Jesus
in this phase of his regeneration. Regeneration follows
generation in the development of man. Generation sustains
and perpetuates the human; regeneration unfolds and
glorifies the divine.
It is not expected that beginners in the study of
metaphysical Christianity will understand this book. It
deals with forces that function below and above the field
of the conscious mind. The average religious thinker knows
nothing about the subconscious mind and very little about
the superconscious; this book presupposes a working
knowledge of both.
This book aims to clear up the mystery that ever envelops
the advent, life, and death of Jesus. To the superficial
reader of the Gospels His life was a tragedy and, so far as
concerns the kingly reign that was prophesied, it was a
failure. Yet those who understand the subtlety of the soul
and supremacy of Spirit see that Jesus was conqueror of a
psychic force that was destroying the human race.
Jesus was the star actor in the greatest drama ever played
on earth. This drama was developed in the celestial realm,
its object being to inject new life into
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perishing men. The full significance of this great plan of
salvation cannot be understood by man until he awakens
faculties that relate him to the earth beneath and the
heavens above.
It had long been prophesied that the time was ripe for the
advent on this planet of a new race, and there had been
much speculation as to the character and advent of the
superman. Herein is set forth the metaphysical idea of the
spiritual quickening of man on the human plane and his
transformation into the divine: not by a miracle or the
fiat of God, but by the gradual refinement of the man of
flesh into the man of Spirit. As Paul taught, "This
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality."
Jesus was the "first-fruits" of those who are coming out of
the mortal into the immortal. He was the type man, the
Way-Shower, and, through following His example and taking
on His character as a spiritual-minded man, we shall come
into the same consciousness.
Spiritual discernment always precedes demonstration,
consequently more is taught in this book as a possibility
of attainment by man than has been demonstrated by any man
save Jesus. Those who feel that they are ready for the
great adventure in the attainment of eternal life in the
body here and now should not be deterred because there are
no outstanding examples of men who have risen to this most
exalted degree. Through mental energy, or the dynamic power
of the mind, man can release the life
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of the electrons secreted in the atoms that compose the
cells of his body. Physical science says that if the
electronic energy stored in a single drop of water were
suddenly released its power would demolish a six-story
building. Who can estimate the power stored in the millions
of cells that compose the human body? The method of release
of this body energy and its control are mystically taught
by Jesus. He was transfigured before His apostles, "and his
face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as
the light." Before His crucifixion He had attained such
mastery over His body cells that He told the Jews that they
might destroy His body and "in three days" He would "raise
it up." He demonstrated this in the resurrection of His
body after it had been pronounced lifeless. When He
disappeared in a cloud He simply unloosed the dynamic atoms
of His whole body and released their electrical energy.
This threw Him into the fourth dimension of substance,
which He called the "kingdom of the heavens."
The dynamic energy that man releases through prayer,
meditation, and the higher activities of his mind is very
great, and if not controlled and raised to the spiritual
plane, may prove a source of body destruction; if carried
to the extreme, it may even prove a cause of soul
destruction. "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell." This one who
is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna is the
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personal self or selfish ego that is in man.
The electronic energy in man is a form of fire, which is
represented by Gehenna. This electronic fire must be used
unselfishly. If used to further the selfishness of man it
becomes destructive, through the crosscurrents that it sets
up in the nervous system.
We do not encourage those who still have worldly ambitions
to take up the development of the twelve powers of man. You
will be disappointed if you seek to use these superpowers
to gain money (turn stones into bread), control others
("the kingdoms of the world . . . All these things will I
give thee"), or make a display of your power ("If thou art
the Son of God, cast thyself down"). These are the
temptations of the selfish ego, as recorded in the 4th
chapter of Matthew, which Jesus had to overcome, and which
all who follow Him "in the regeneration" have to overcome.
Unspeakable joy, glory, and eternal life are promised to
those who with unselfish devotion strive to develop the Son
of God consciousness. All the glories of the natural man
are as nothing compared with the development of the
spiritual man. The things of this world pass away, but the
things of Spirit endure forever. In his flesh body man may
be compared to the caterpillar that is the embryo of the
butterfly. In its undeveloped state the caterpillar is a
mere worm of the earth, but it has, infolded within it, a
beautiful creature awaiting release from its material
envelope. Paul visualized this when he wrote in Romans
8:22, "For we know
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that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also,
who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, . . . the
redemption of our body."
Jesus, the Great Teacher, gave many lessons for our
instruction, the greatest and most mystical being The
Revelation of John. Here He showed Himself to John as He is
in His redeemed body. He stood in the midst of seven
lights, which represent the seven ideas of Divine Mind
ruling in the restored earth. "One like unto a son of man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at
the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and his hair
were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were
as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto burnished brass,
as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as
the voice of many waters. And he had in his right hand
seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp
two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth
in his strength."
This description of the appearance of Jesus is partly
symbolical, because John did not himself understand the
full import of the powers that were being exercised by the
spiritual man, whose words were so clean-cut that they
appeared to John as a two-edged sword; whose eyes were so
discerning that they seemed a flame of fire; whose voice
was like the rippling of many waters. Language is poor and
bare when one seeks to describe the glories of
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the spiritual state. Comparisons within the comprehension
of the reader are necessary, and they but tamely tell of
the superhuman man and his powers.
However, this pen picture by John of what he saw when he
was lifted up "in the Spirit on the Lord's day" gives us a
glimpse of what the redeemed man is like, and what we shall
attain when we "awake, with thy likeness."
It should be thoroughly understood that this sight of Jesus
that was given to John was not a vision of a man who had
died and gone to heaven up in the skies, but it was the
opening of John's eyes to existence in what may be termed
the fourth-dimension man. We use this term fourth dimension
because it is the name given to a state of existence that
popular material science says must be, in order to account
for the effects that are being expressed on every side. It
is also called the interpenetrating ether, which is not to
be understood as something material, or as being matter,
but as something having properties far more substantial
than matter. Through the application of mathematical
principles scientific men are proving the existence of the
spiritual side of Being. This does not refer to the
psychical realm in which undeveloped souls rest while
awaiting reincarnation. Many people take it for granted
that soul realms and spiritual realms are identical. But
these stand to each other as moonshine and sunshine. Jesus
called the interpenetrating state of being the kingdom of
heaven, or, in the original Greek, "the kingdom of the
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heavens." He said that it was like a treasure hid in a
field, which, when a man discovered it, he would sell all
that he had to buy. The majority of Christians believe that
they are going to this heaven when they die, but Jesus does
not teach that the dead go first to glory. On the contrary,
Jesus teaches that death may be overcome. "If a man keep my
word he shall never see death." Paul taught that Jesus
attained victory over death. "Christ being raised from the
dead dieth no more." "Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: neither
present your members unto sin as instruments of
unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God."
The Psalmist writes:
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him but little lower than God,
And crownest him with glory and honor.
Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy
hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet."
With the mind of the seer, Ralph Waldo Emerson says:
"Great hearts send forth steadily the secret forces that
incessantly draw great events, and wherever the mind of man
goes, nature will accompany him, no matter what the path."
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Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed me, in the
regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of
his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left
houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a
hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.
--JESUS
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[Twelve Powers of Man]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
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