We have come to the place in the Statement
of Faith where the two points mentioned in the first part of this series were removed. The
original numbers 28 and 29 were taken out and the last three–30, 31, and 32–were
moved forward. I will maintain the original numbering and briefly discuss the two removed
sections.
28. We believe that all life is sacred and that man should not kill or
be a party to the killing of animals for food; also that cruelty, war, and wanton
destruction of human life will continue so long as men destroy animals.
Harry Church was a Seventh Day
Adventist who worked with the Fillmores in Unity’s early days. He had great influence
concerning the practice of vegetarianism. After this section was removed, the
Correspondence School course material stated: "Charles and Myrtle Fillmore believed
in vegetarianism from the standpoint of love and mercy, believing that the commandment,
‘Thou shall not kill’ (Exodus 20:13), applied not only to man but to all of
God’s creatures.... However, Unity teaches that abstaining from meat is a matter for
individual guidance, according to inner convictions." (Series 2, Lesson 12,
Annotation 10)
Toward the end of Charles
Fillmore’s days he had a change of awareness regarding meat-eating. He felt that his
body needed a little fish for health. It must have been a remarkable day at Unity Inn on
the corner of 9th and Tracy when he called to say that for lunch today he felt like having
some fish! The Inn had never served meat and what a change for the man who, many years
earlier, at a Unity picnic, is said to have taken a wiener that someone had brought and
nailed it to a tree!
God-life is the only life there is; we
have no separate life of our own. We are all God-life in expression. If we do not respect
the sacred origin of all life, how can we respect the sacred origin of any life.
In the early days at Unity Inn, diners
could read that no creature gave its life to satisfy their animal appetites! Certainly
strong words. Again, the Correspondence School course material stated: "We should
exercise great wisdom and judgment in selecting the food which we eat, even as we do in
selecting the thoughts and words that we allow to find place in our minds.... If the flesh
body becomes low in its vibration, it requires the work of consciousness in continued
contemplation to raise the vibrations of the body.... Meat will eventually cease as
man’s consciousness becomes wiser and purer. Even now the race is being educated to
know that a vegetarian diet is wholesome and completely nourishing when well-balanced and
followed with wisdom and good judgment.... Just to abstain from the outer act of eating
meat does not guarantee spirituality."
29. We believe that the misuse of the generative function is
responsible for the majority of human ills. Therefore we believe that purity and control
of sex are essential to health and the final overcoming of death.
Ernest Wilson, one of Unity’s
great ministers, once said, "Remember, when Charles Fillmore said this he was an old
man with three children!" If Mr. Fillmore had intended the complete abstinence from
sexuality, he would have condemned Unity people to the same fate as the Shakers, a
celibate religious sect which originated in 1747 England and got its name from the dance
movements which formed a part of their worship. Obviously a celibate religious group will
grow smaller with the passing years. However Charles Fillmore did not say "Thou shall
not" but rather "rule it instead of letting it rule you and watch your
motives."
We have only one life center as the
inlet through which life-energy flows into and through us. It may be used in physicality
or in prayer. Used in sexuality, it can be used several ways. Some of them have nothing to
do with love or the experience of oneness but with negative thinking, control and
manipulation, or use and abuse. It is not what you do that can be the problem but the
thought and intent behind it.
30. We believe in the final resurrection of the body, through Christ.
We believe that we do free our minds and resurrect our bodies by true thoughts and words,
and that this resurrection is being carried forward daily and will ultimate in a final
purification of the body from all earthly errors. Through this process we shall be raised
to the consciousness of continuous health and eternal life here and now, following Jesus
Christ in the regeneration of "new birth."
Earlier we discussed reincarnation and
its gospel of the "second chance." However, reincarnation is not the goal but a
process on the road to regeneration. Jesus said, "You, therefore, must be perfect, as
your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) We are created with perfection
within us, but we are yet to express the fullness of that perfection. We are uncovering
that perfection in stages and one of the tools is reincarnation. But the goal is to stand
forth in all the perfection with which we were created. As a three-fold being–spirit,
soul and body–all aspects of our nature must eventually be regenerated or elevated to
spiritual or Christ consciousness.
Though this regenerated state of
awareness seems to happen in a single lifetime, it is the product of spiritual evolution.
In the story of Jesus’ life, we see the final steps in the evolution to Christ
consciousness without knowing all that he experienced to bring him to that moment in which
he knew, "I AM the Christ, the expression of the living God." This change of
consciousness is so complete that even the physical body becomes unrecognizable. This we
can see in the story of Mary Magdalen’s early morning visit to Jesus’ tomb. She
mistook the man she saw for the gardener because Jesus’ physical appearance was so
altered by his growth in spiritual awareness.
"Resurrection is
the lifting up of man as a threefold being, spirit, soul, body, and restoring him to his
rightful place in God’s Kingdom, a consciousness of the omnipresence of God. It is
the lifting up of life from the human to the God-like, from the limited expression to the
unlimited expression of eternal oneness with God. It is the soul coming up out of a belief
in death to faith in life.... Resurrection is a constant, conscious understanding and
realization of oneself as a Son of God, created in the image and after the likeness of
God.... Resurrection is the ultimate fulfillment of the work of regeneration in man’s
threefold being.... Resurrection begins when man takes hold of the idea of his body as
being spiritual, the idea that his body is a body of divine ideas, (light), the life,
substance, and intelligence of God, and not subject to decay and death. (Correspondence
School course material Series 1, Lesson 6, Annotation 13)
The "new birth" is found in
Nicodemus’ discussion with Jesus which took place one night (John 3:1-21). Jesus told
Nicodemus that unless one was born anew, he could not see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus
did not understand. "How can a man be born when he is old?" (v. 4) Jesus told
him that unless a man was born of water and of Spirit, he could not enter the Kingdom of
God. The first birth of which we are aware is as a physical being, living in a physical
world. As infants we are concerned with getting our needs met for food and water and are
not afraid to let these needs be known even at high volume! We may spend years of our
adult lives concerned with what to eat and drink or what to wear and where to live. At
some point, in this lifetime or another, we begin to realize that we are spiritual beings
living in a benevolent spiritual universe. This change in awareness is the birth of a new
life experience and change of focus. Physical awareness takes a backseat to the Truth of
existence and the next step in our regeneration. Charles Fillmore said, "The second
birth is that in which we ‘put on Christ.’ It is a process of mental adjustment
and body transmutation that takes place right here on earth." (Christian Healing, p.
26)
31. We believe all the doctrines of Christianity, spiritually
interpreted.
It is important to neither take Christian concepts as literal and with
superstition, nor to dismiss them as unimportant and unnecessary. Spiritual things must be
spiritually discerned. Today, many people–including clergy–have mistaken symbols
for the spiritual reality that stands behind them. The membership covenant we use here at
Unity Church Universal, I found in a box in the archives of Unity School. The archivist at
the time had never seen it before and began a new file on Unity Church Universal. In that
covenant, Charles Fillmore said, "We recognize that there are spiritual principles
involved in all church ordinances, but the outer symbols are, in every case, merely signs
of an inward grace. But we go farther than this. We believe that the greater work promised
by Jesus to his followers is the ability to make tangible and real those underlying
principles. When, for example, it is universally recognized that the blood of Christ is a
symbol used to represent the vitalizing life principle within man and the universe and
that the body of Christ is the symbol of the virgin substance back of all visible things,
religion will become a science and not only all Christians, but all philosophers, will
accept the fact that it is based upon spiritual principles."
"An allegory is a description of one thing or event under the image of
another which resembles it in properties and circumstances. In the Bible it is the
presentation of abstract principles under the guise of concrete forms.... A symbol is a
visible sign, one that is conventional or traditional, of something invisible as an idea,
a quality, or an inner spiritual ideal that may not be adequately expressed in language or
form.... The word "Scriptures" has come to mean many sacred writings. Before
these sacred subjects were writings, they were handed down by word of mouth from one
generation to another. The symbols used became confused with traditions. The result is
symbolical allegories in which original ideas that were revealed to inspired men are mixed
with events, characters, and cities. These finally became "Scriptures." In these
allegories and symbols there is given a plan for man to follow in order that he may live
an enriched life religiously, economically, politically, and socially."
(Correspondence School course material Series 2, Lesson 3, Annotation 1)
32. Almighty Father-Mother, we thank Thee for this vision of Thine
omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, in us and in all that we think and do, in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen!
Copyright © 2001 by Greg W. Neteler
Used with permission.
Messages from previous months