The Power of Oneself. Charles Fillmore
for the baptism that they received on the day of Pentecost.
"Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you." Power is essential to the work that Jesus Christ expects His followers to do in the great field of humanity. The command is: Go to every nation and preach the gospel. Man should apply the power of the word to his individual redemption, and he should speak the redeeming word of Spirit to the multitudinous thought people of his own soul and body.
Among the apostles of Jesus, Philip represents the power faculty of the mind. The word "Philip" means "a lover of horses." In physical activity the horse represents power; the ox, strength. Each of the twelve fundamental faculties of man has an ego that reflects, in a measure, the original man idea in God. In the body consciousness the twelve apostles, as egos, have twelve centers, or thrones, from which they exercise their power. The will expresses its dominion from the head; love, from the breast; and power (the ego whose character we are analyzing in this writing), from the throat. Power is one branch of the great tree; in Genesis it is named "life." The body of the life tree is the spinal cord, over which the motor system, with branches to every part of the organism, exercises its nervous energy.
The power center in the throat controls all the vibratory energies of the organism. It is the open door between the formless and the formed worlds of vibrations pertaining to the expression of sound. Every word that goes forth receives its specific character from the power faculty. When Jesus said, "The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life," He meant that through the spoken word He conveyed an inner spiritual quickening quality that would enter the mind of the recipient and awaken the inactive spirit and life. When the voice has united with the life of the soul, it takes on a sweetness and a depth that one feels and remembers; the voice that lacks this union is metallic and superficial. Voice culture may give one tone brilliancy, but every great singer has the soul contact. But higher and deeper still is the voice of one who has made union with Spirit and who can say with Jesus: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
When we understand this power of the word, we have the key to the perpetuity of sacred writings. According to tradition, all the writings of the Bible were destroyed but they were restored by Esdras, who, "remembered in his heart" and rewrote them. Modern discoveries in the realm of mind in a measure explain this mystical statement. We know now that every word that man utters makes an imprint in the astral ethers, and that, when there is consciousness of God life in the mind of the speaker, all his words become living identities and are perpetuated. Anyone who develops sufficient spiritual power may enter this book of life within the cosmic mind and read out of its pages.
The mind and the body of man have the power of transforming energy from one plane of consciousness to another. This is the power and dominion implanted in man from the beginning. According to Scripture, "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and they shall have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:26; Lesser translation). Paul corroborates this statement by calling attention to the glory of man's inheritance:
Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power towards who believe, according to that working of the strength of his mightwhich he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
In the kingdom of God within man's consciousness, the power faculty plays an important part in controlling the expression of the many emotions, inspirations, and thoughts. The voice is the most direct avenue of this expression, when man has dominion over the emotions and feelings from which the original impulse arises. The power of love makes the voice rich, warm, and mellow. Man can set love free in his soul by cultivating a loving attitude toward everybody and everything; he may add strength by silently speaking words of strength to each of the apostles sitting upon the twelve thrones within. Power swings open all the doors of mind and body. When one feels vital and energetic, the voice is strong and vibrant and brilliant. When one is sorrowful, the body weakens and the voice betrays its lack by its mournful intonation. Through the vibrations of power in the throat, one can feel the power of unity with the higher self more quickly than in any other way. This reveals that ideas rule the man, Jesus affirmed: "All power is given unto me in heaven [mind] and in earth [body]" (A.V.). When Jesus made this affirmation He undoubtedly realized His innate spiritual dominion, and when He consciously attuned His spiritual identity to mind and body, there was a conscious influx of power, and His hearers said that He "taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes."
In the process of regeneration the consciousness of power ebbs and flows, because the old and the new tides of thought act and react in the conscious and the subconscious realms of mind. However, when a disciple realizes his unity with Omnipotence, he is but little disturbed by the changes that go on in his mind and his body; he knows that his spiritual dominion is established, and that firm conviction expresses itself in firm words. Jesus said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Here is the evidence of spiritual power united with the idea of eternity. This union destroys the thought of years and declining power, and when awakened in those who have believed in age it will transform them and make all things new for them.
Every great vocalist has had inner spiritual power as an abiding conviction. This is strikingly illustrated in the indomitable persistency and power with which the famous singer, Galli-Curci, overcame obstacles. In the early stages of her career she was discouraged by opera critics. They told her that she could never make a success, but she persevered; and so she finally mastered every defect of her voice. This is a wonderful lesson to those who are apparently meeting with discouragements, who are tempted to succumb to circumstances and conditions in body and in environment. Take the words of Paul, "None of these things move me" (A.V.), and make unqualified affirmations of your spiritual supremacy.
Some metaphysical schools warn their students against the development of power, because they fear that it will be used in selfish, ambitious ways. It doubtless is true that the personal ego sometimes lays hold of the power faculty and uses it for selfish aggrandizement; we can readily see how what is called the Devil had origin. To be successful in the use of the power of Being, one must be obedient in exercising all the ideas that make man. If there is an assumption of personal power, Lucifer falls like "lightning from heaven," and the adverse or carnal mind goes to and fro in the earth. The casting out of these demons of personality formed a large part of the work of Jesus, and those who follow Him in the regeneration are confronted with similar states of mind and find it necessary to cast out the great demon selfishness, which claims to have power but is a liar and the father of lies.
No disciple can do any great overcoming work without a certain realization of spiritual power, dominion, mastery. Without power, one easily gives up to temporal laws, man-made. The psychic atmosphere is filled with thoughts that are not in harmony with Divine Mind. These psychic thoughts are legion, and to overcome them one must be on one's guard. Jesus said, "Watch." This means that we should quicken our discernment and our ability to choose between the good and the evil. "And why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?" This wisdom of Spirit is man's through the all-knowing and all-discerning power of Spirit within him, and he need never fear going wrong if he listens to his divine intuition. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." But man can never be free until he declares his freedom. Jesus said "I am from above." It is the prerogative of every man to make this declaration and thereby rise above the psychisms of mortal thought. Then do not fear to develop your power and mastery. They are not to be exercised on other people, but on yourself. "He that ruleth his spirit, [is more powerful] than he that taketh a city." Alexander cried because there were no more worlds to conquer, yet he had not conquered his own appetite, and died a drunkard at the age of thirty-three. Today men are striving to acquire power through money, legislation, and man-made government, and falling short because they have not mastered themselves.
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world," yet He set up a kingdom in the world greater than all other kingdoms. In