The Power of Oneself. Charles Fillmore
all out at once, but little by little we cast out the specific thoughts that have accumulated and built up the false state of consciousness termed Judas. In the life of Jesus, Judas represents the false ego that error thought has generated. This "son of perdition" is so interwoven into the consciousness that to kill him at one fell swoop would destroy the mental entity, so he must be counted as one of the twelve, even while we know that he "hath a devil."
21. In the symbology of Jesus' life, Judas is represented as the treasurer; he "had the bag." This means that this ego has possession of the sex, or life, center in the organism and is using it for its own selfish ends. Judas was a "thief." The selfish use of the life and vitality of the organism for the gratification of sense pleasure robs the higher nature, and the spiritual man is not built up. This is the betrayal of Christ, and it is constantly taking place in those who live to fleshly, selfish ends.
22. A time comes, however, when Judas must be eliminated from consciousness. The agony of mind and the final crucifixion of Jesus represent the crossing out wholly of the false ego, Judas.
"I die daily," said Paul. The "I" that dies daily is personal consciousness, formed of fear, ignorance, disease, the lust for material possessions, pride, anger, and the legion of demons that cluster about the personal ego. The only Savior of this one is Christ, the spiritual ego, the superconsciousness. We cannot, in our own strength, solve the great, self-purifying problem, but by giving ourselves wholly to Christ and constantly denying the demands of the personal self, we grow into the divine image. This is the process by which we "awake, with beholding thy form."
Cleansing And Purifying Statements
(To be used in connection with Lesson Five)
1. God is good, and God is all, therefore I refuse to believe in the reality of evil in any of its forms.
2. God is life, and God is all; therefore I refuse to believe in the reality of loss of life, or death.
3. God is power and strength, and God is all; therefore I refuse to believe in inefficiency and weakness.
4. I am in authority. I say to this thought, "Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh." (Read Mt. 8:5-13.)
5. God is wisdom, and God is all! therefore I refuse to believe in ignorance.
6. God is spiritual substance, and God is all; therefore there is no reality in the limitations of matter.
7. God is inexhaustible resource, and God is all; therefore I refuse to believe in the reality of lack or poverty.
8. God is love, and God is all; therefore I refuse to believe in hate or revenge.
9. "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city."
Lesson Six
The Word
1. In pure metaphysics there is but one word, the Word of God. This is the original creative Word, or thought, of Being. It is the "God said" of Genesis. It is referred to in the 1st chapter of John as the Logos. It cannot be adequately translated into English. In the original it includes wisdom, judgment, power, and, in fact, all the inherent potentialities of Being. This divine Logos was and always is in God; in fact, it is God as creative power. The Divine Mind creates under law; that is, mental law. Man may get a comprehension of the creative process of Being by analyzing the action of his own mind. First is mind, then the idea in mind of what the act shall be, then the act itself. In Divine Mind the idea is referred to as the Word.
2. According to Genesis and all other mystical writings bearing upon creation, Divine Mind expresses its Word, and through the activity of that Word the universe is brought forth. Man is the consummation of the Word, and his spirit has within it the concentration of all that is contained within the Word. Jesus is called the Word of God. "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father)." God being perfect, His idea, thought, Word, must be perfect. The perfect Word of God is spiritual man. It is through spiritual man, or the Word of God, that all things are made, are brought into manifestation." "And without him was not anything made that hath been made." The Word is the "only begotten" of God, because there is but one idea of man in Divine Mind, and that idea is the perfect pattern of man's character.
3. In the 1st chapter of John it is implied that there are things made that are not after divine ideals, consequently not real. The creations of the Word of God are permanent and incorruptible. As an imitator of Divine Mind, man has power to form and make manifest whatsoever he idealizes; but unless his thought is unified with Divine Mind and guided in its operations by infinite wisdom, his thought forms are perishable.
4. Mental processes enter into all creations. Physical science has discovered that every atom has substance, force, and intelligence; these are the three constituent parts of mind. Mind is the one and only creative power, and all attempts to account for creation from any other standpoint are futile. The creative processes of mind are continuously operative; creation is going on all the time, but the original plan, the design in Divine Mind, is finished.
5. Man cannot know how the thought, or Word, works except through his own consciousness; consequently he must understand, control, and put in order his own word, for through it he comprehends the Word of God. Our most important study, then, is our own consciousness. The old Greeks recognized this and wrote over the door of one of their temples: "Man, know thyself." The self of man is spiritual, and when it is in direct conscious unity with the Father-Mind it has permanent formative power. Even in his ignorant use of thought, man's mind is forming conditions, even to the changing of the face of nature itself. Every thought that goes forth from the brain sends vibrations into the surrounding atmosphere and moves the realm of things to action. The effect is in proportion to the ability of the thinker to concentrate his mental forces. The average thought vibration produces but temporary results, but under intense mind activity conditions more or less permanent are impressed upon the sensitive plate of the universal ether, and through this activity they are brought into physical manifestation.
6. Every idea originating in Divine Mind is expressed in the mind of man; through the thought of man the Divine Mind idea is brought to the outer plane of consciousness. In the organism of man are centers that respond to the divinemideas, as a musical instrument sympathetically responds to musical vibrations. Then through another movement on what is termed the conscious, or most outer, plane of action, the thought takes expression as the spoken word. There is in the formed conscious man, or body, a point of concentration for this word; and through this point the word is expressed in invisible vibrations. For example, at the root of the tongue is a brain center, and through it the mind controls the larynx, the tongue, and all the other organs used in forming words. Following the creative law in its operation from the formless to the formed, we can see how an idea fundamental in Divine Mind is grasped by the man ego, how it takes form in his thought, and how it is later expressed through his spoken word. If in each step of this process he conformed to the divine creative law, man's word would make things instantly, as Jesus made the increase of the loaves and fishes. But since he has lost, in a measure, knowledge of the steps in this creative process from the within to the without, there are many breaks and abnormal conditions, with more failures than successes in the products.
7. However, every word has its effect, though unseen and unrecognized. Jesus said that a man would be held accountable for "every idle word," and a close observation of the power of mind in the affairs of the individual proves this to be true. What we think, we usually express in words; and our words bring about in our life and affairs whatever we put into them. A weak thought is followed by words of weakness. Through the law of expression and form, words of weakness change to weakness the character of everything that receives them.
8. The nerves are the wires that transmit the mind's messages to all parts of the body, and these parts,