The Power of Oneself. Charles Fillmore
judging others, even in the most insignificant matters of daily life, must be discontinued. "Judge not, that ye be not judged," said Jesus. The law of judgment works out in a multitude of directions, and if we do not observe it in small things, we shall find ourselves failing in large.
9. Judging from the plane of the personal leads into condemnation, and condemnation is always followed by the fixing of a penalty. We see faults in others, and pass judgment upon them without considering motives or circumstances. Our judgment is often biased and prejudiced; yet we do not hesitate to think of some form of punishment to be meted out to the guilty one. He may be guilty or not guilty; decision as to his guilt or innocence rests in the divine law, and we have no right to pass judgment. In our ignorance we are creating thought forces that will react upon us. "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you." Whatever thought you send out will come back to you. This is an unchangeable law of thought action. A man may be just in all his dealings, yet if he condemns others for their injustice, that thought action will bring him into unjust conditions; so it is not safe to judge except in the Absolute. Jesus said that He judged no man on His own account, but in the Father; that is, He judged in the Principle. This is the stand which everyone must take--resting judgment of others in the Absolute. When this is done the tendency to condemn will grow less and less, until man, seeing his fellow man as God sees him, will leave him to the Absolute in all cases where he seems
10. The great judgment day of Scripture indicates a time of separation between the true and the false. There is no warrant for the belief that God sends man to everlasting punishment. Modern interpreters of the Scripture say that the "hell of fire" referred to by Jesus means simply a state in which purification is taking place.
11. The word hell is not translated with clearness sufficient to represent the various meanings of the word in the original language. There are three words from which "hell" is derived: Sheol, "the unseen state"; Hades, "the unseen world"; and Gehenna, "Valley of Hinnom." These are used in various relations, nearly all of them allegorical. In a sermon Archdeacon Farrar said: "There would be the proper teaching about hell if we calmly and deliberately erased from our English Bibles the three words, 'damnation,' 'hell,' and 'everlasting.' I say--unhesitatingly I say, claiming the fullest right to speak with the authority of knowledge--that not one of those words ought to stand any longer in our English Bible, for, in our present acceptation of them, they are simply mistranslations." This corroborates the metaphysical interpretation of Scripture, and sustains the truth that hell is a figure of speech that represents a corrective state of mind. When error has reached its limit, the retroactive law asserts itself, and judgment, being part of that law, brings the penalty upon the transgressor. This penalty is not punishment, but discipline, and if the transgressor.
12. Under our civil law, criminals are confined in penitentiaries where it is intended that order, regular habits, and industry be inculcated, and that what seems punishment may prove to be educational. Men are everywhere calling for broader educational methods in our prisons, and this demand is an acknowledgment of the necessity of purification through discipline and training in morals. This purifying process is the penalty taught by Jesus--the judgment passed on sinners--the "hell of fire." When it is received in the right spirit, this fire burns up the dross in character and purifies mind and body.
13. Metaphysicians have discovered that there is a certain relation between the functions and organs of the body and the ideas in the mind. The liver seems to be connected with mental discrimination, and whenever man gets very active along the line of judgment, especially where condemnation enters in, there is disturbance of some kind in that part of the organism. A habit of judging others with severity and fixing in one's mind what the punishment should be causes the liver to become torpid and to cease its natural action; the complexion becomes muddy as a result. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus . . . who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This statement held in mind, and carried out in thought and act, will heal liver complaint of that kind. Another form of thought related to judgment is the vacillating of the mind that never seems to know definitely what is the proper thing to do: "A double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." There must be singleness of mind and loyalty to true ideas. Everyone should have definite ideas of what is just and right, and stand by them. This stimulates the action of the liver, and often gives so-called bad people good health, because they are not under self-condemnation. Condemnation in any of its forms retards freedom of action in the discriminative faculty. When we hold ourselves in guilt and condemnation, the natural energies of the mind are weakened and the whole body becomes inert.
14. The remedy for all that appears unjust is denial of condemnation of others, or of self, and affirmation of the great universal Spirit of justice, through which all unequal and unrighteous conditions are finally adjusted.
15. Observing the conditions that exist in the world, the just man would have them righted according to what he perceives to be the equitable law. Unless such a one has spiritual understanding, he is very likely to bring upon himself physical disabilities in his efforts to reform men. If his feelings come to a point of "righteous indignation," and he "boils" with anger over the evils of the world, he will cook the corpuscles of his blood. Jesus gave this treatment for such a mental condition: "For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son." This Son is the Christ, the Universal cosmos; to its equity, man should commit the justice that he wishes to see brought into human affairs. Put all the burdens of the world upon the one supreme Judge and hold every man, and all the conditions in which men are involved, amenable to the law of God. By so doing, you will set into action mind forces powerful and far-reaching.
16. If you think that you are unjustly treated by your friends, your employers, your government, or those with whom you do business, simply declare the activity of the almighty Mind, and you will set into action mental forces that will find expression in the executors of the law. This is the most lasting reform to which man can apply himself. It is much more effective than legislation or any attempt to control unjust men by human ways.
17. Jealousy is a form of mental bias that blinds the judgment and causes one to act without weighing the consequences. This state of mind causes the liver to act violently one day and to be torpid the next, finally resulting in a "jaundiced eye" and yellow skin. We speak of one "blinded by jealousy," or "blinded by prejudice." We do not mean by this that the physical eyes have been put out, but that the understanding has been darkened. Whatever darkens the understanding interferes in some way with the purifying processes of the organism, and the fluids and pigments are congested and the skin becomes darkened in consequence.
18. The remedy for all this is a dismissal of that poor judgment which causes one to be jealous, and a fuller trust in the great all-adjusting justice of God. In this there should be active trust, which is a form of prayer. The disturbing elements that come into life should be definitely placed in the hands of God. This is much more than mere doubtful trust, or negative expectancy that things will be made right. The Spirit of justice should be appealed to and prayed to with the persistency of an Elijah, or of the Gentile woman whose importunity was rewarded. When the metaphysician sits by his patient with closed eyes he is not asleep, but very much awake to the reality and mental visibility of forces that enter into and make the conditions of the body. This spiritual activity is necessary to the demonstration of the law.
19. Success in the world is largely dependent on good judgment. A prominent businessman was once asked what he considered the most valuable trait of mind in an employee, and he replied: "Good judgment." Everywhere businessmen are looking for people who have judgment equal to the making of quick decisions, on the spur of the moment. Years ago a passenger train was wrecked near a little town in Texas. The station agent in the little town showed his good judgment by settling, right on the spot, with the injured. He did this without authority from headquarters, but he showed such excellent judgment that his ability was recognized and he was rapidly advanced until he became president of one of the largest railroad systems in the United States.
20. By clearing your understanding and acknowledging the one supreme Mind in which is all discrimination, you can cultivate the ability of your mind to arrive quickly at right conclusions. Take the stand