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Teach Us To Pray
Intellectual Silence and Spiritual Silence
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[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Intellectual Silence and Spiritual Silence
IT IS MAN'S concept of God that makes prayer intellectual
or spiritual. There is a vast difference between mere
intellectual silence and that constructive silence which
always gives the victory within the soul. The intellectual
silence, which is limited in its power, is the silence
where one's whole attention is fixed on the intellect.
Herbert Spencer once said that he would gladly turn his
life over to anyone who would live it for him and relieve
him of its burdens. This no doubt can be said of hundreds
of other weary ones. It reveals however the fact that man
lacks the true vision of life and is not living it as God
intended. Man should lift his eyes "unto the hills, from
whence cometh" his help. He should dwell much on the truths
taught by Jesus and make them a part of his very nature.
Jesus ushered into the race consciousness a thought
atmosphere that we contact in the silence by just affirming
in spirit and in truth the name "Jesus Christ." There is
true magic in this name.
When He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest," He was mentally
freeing man from his many trials and
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tribulations, and leading him into the broad highway of
spiritual freedom, and joy, and abundance. To accept Jesus
Christ as Saviour means to take His way of thinking and
acting and make it ours.
There is a popular teaching that just accepting Jesus
Christ as one's Saviour will set into operation a spiritual
magic that will save the soul from all past and future
sins. The word "magic" implies accomplishing something with
the assistance of the supernatural. We find that in deed
and in truth there is magic in adopting the way of life
taught by Jesus. But this is not mysterious to those who
study the transforming power of thoughts and words. It is
all contained in the formula stated by Paul "Be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind." Instead of
doubting, distrusting, and hating man, which is the fruit
of the intellect, Jesus taught us to love man with all our
mind, soul, and strength. Instead of fighting life and
struggling to compete with millions of others in the same
foolish war, as the intellectual man does, Jesus taught man
to co-operate. Instead of wasting energy in tearing down,
Jesus taught man to conserve his energy in building up.
Jesus does not load on man's back all the burdens of
humanity; in fact He shows humanity how to love life, how
to love the Author of life, and how to love life's
activities. In this state of consciousness man
automatically drops the burdens of the intellect and enters
into the freedom of real living. In the past the intellect
has thought its power supreme. But while it is a wonderful
faculty, it is in truth the tool of Spirit,
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and as such it needs discipline if it is to be able to
perform its perfect work.
The intellect is always busy, jumping from one thing to
another, much of the time dwelling on the daily routine of
the workaday world or on conditions in the world at large.
The first step in scientific silence is simply to still
these outer intellectual thoughts so that the consciousness
may become subservient to the Spirit within.
In I Peter 2:2 we read, "As newborn babes, long for the
spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow
thereby unto salvation." Those who are seeking and
receiving spiritual understanding are born anew every day,
and every day the milk of the spiritual word continues to
feed and nourish the soul.
Moses was commanded by Jehovah to make all things after the
pattern shown him on the mount. In the heavens of the mind,
the spiritual center in the crown of the head, the Lord
keeps ever before man life's perfect pattern. But man must
have the spiritual ability to discern this pattern if he is
to fulfill the requirements of scientific prayer.
By quieting the mental man, by passing through the
discipline of intellectual silence, man arrives at the very
threshold of God's workshop, the threshold of Being. As he
passes into the inner chamber he finds he is entering the
holy of holies, where noiselessly, silently a mighty work
is always going on but where there is "neither hammer nor
axe nor any tool of iron heard." God works in the
stillness. As man comes into the presence of God with his
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prayer in the form of an affirmation of Truth, holding the
prayer steadily in mind and consciously unifying his mind
with the mind of God, he is aware only of the soundlessness
of God's word as it weaves itself in and out through the
whole soul and body consciousness, illumining, redeeming,
and restoring him according to his faith and trust,
according to his strength and power to receive. This is
quite different from mere intellectual silence that does
not know the way of spiritual unfoldment. In this spiritual
silence man's realization is established in his heart and
he has the assurance that his prayer is answered and that
the law of demonstration brings forth the fruit.
The realization is not only written in the soul but in the
intellect, whose seat of action is in the front forehead.
The intellect always perceives what has taken place within
and has power to retain its perception and to express
itself accordingly. Thus the intellect serves Spirit, and
as it unfolds it becomes more and more like Spirit, and it
becomes in deed and in truth the instrument of God.
Carlyle must have had an intellectual understanding as well
as a spiritual understanding of divine law when he wrote,
referring to the kingdom within: "Art not thou the living
government of God? O Heaven, is it not in very deed He then
that ever speaks through thee--that lives and loves in
thee--that lives and loves in me?"
Constructive thought force is a great and mighty power, but
when it is realized in the silence it becomes
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the one and only power in all the earth. The understanding
of this made Jesus an adept in the domain of scientific
prayer.
"The God that made the world and all things therein, he,
being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples
made with hands." Jesus was born down among the animals in
the manger at Bethlehem. There is a truth symbolized in
this; for not only the intellect in man is to be redeemed
through prayer but also the body; even every animal
propensity must be redeemed and lifted up through Jesus
Christ. "In the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . .
and . . . every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
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