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Mysteries of John
Foreword
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[Mysteries of John]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
METAPHYSICAL BIBLE students recognize in the Gospel of John
a certain spiritual quality that is not found in the other
Gospels. Although this is not true of all Bible readers, it
may be said that those who look for the mystical find it in
the language of this book. The book is distinctive in this
respect and is so successful in setting forth metaphysical
truths that little interpretation is necessary. Only in a
few instances does the original writing conceal the deep
truths that the student seeks to discern. Written language
is at best a reflection of inner ideas, and even though a
teacher couples ideas and words as adroitly as Jesus does,
elucidation is sometimes difficult.
Nevertheless ideas are catching, and this may be the best
reason for publishing another book about this
spirit-arousing Fourth Gospel. We are all heavily charged
with ideas, and when these ideas are released they spring
forth and pass from mind to mind, being "recorded" as they
fly, and when they are expressed the whole race is lifted
up--if the idea is charged with the uplifting Spirit. Jesus
was God's idea of man made manifest in the flesh; so He was
warranted in making that dynamic assertion, "I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself."
Nowhere in all literature has this truth of the unity of
God, man, and creation been so fearlessly expressed and
affirmed by man as in the Book of John.
Here the question arises as to God's responsibility
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for all that appears in the flesh, both good and evil,
which seems to confound our logic and understanding. We are
in human consciousness the fruit of a tree that stemmed
from the soil of Being. The laws instituted in the aeons
and ages of the past still prevail in the present.
Interpreting Being from a personal standpoint, we have
ignored the principles and laws at the very foundation of
all creation and substituted a personal God, and many
contradictions have followed. Now through the unfoldment of
the spiritual man implanted in us in the beginning we are
discerning the unchangeable laws of the good and the
absolute necessity of conforming to them.
So we see that Jesus taught plainly that God functions in
and through man and nature instead of being a person
somewhere in the skies; also that we demonstrate God by
making His Spirit manifest in our life. "He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father." Socrates was asked, "What is a
good man?" He replied, "A man who does good." Again he was
asked, "What is good?" " What the good man does," he
replied.
No extended definition of good is necessary to those who
follow Jesus; even converted savages understand good and do
it. The universal desire among awakened Christians to love
God and man is part of the law constantly operating through
man when he finds his right relation to God.
The status of evil is that of a parasite. It has no
permanent life of itself; its whole existence depends on
the life it borrows from its parent, and when its
connection with the parent is severed nothing remains.
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Apparent evil is the result of ignorance, and when the
truth is presented the error disappears. Jesus called it a
liar and the father of lies.
Men personalize good and evil in a multiplicity of gods and
devils, but Truth students follow Jesus in recognizing the
supreme Spirit in man as the "one God and Father of all."
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[Mysteries of John]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
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