5. We believe in the supremacy and the eternity
of the good, as the one and only objective of man and of all things visible and invisible.
In order to discuss
"good," we have to look at the problem of evil. As man developed his concept of
God through experience and observation, God became the personification of good whose home
was called heaven. The same experience and observation caused man to see that sometimes
things happen which seem the opposite of good. This he called evil. Since God was the
personification of good, man believed that evil must be the result of something else,
something that was "not God." Evil was personified as Satan who was given a home
called hell. I enjoy the story in Jeremiah (24:1-3) about his vision of two baskets of
figs set before the temple. It is most colorful in the King James version: One basket
had very good figs...and the other had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they
were so bad. Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the
good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. In
Jesus’ language, Aramaic, the word translated as evil is bisha which means
"evil; unripe; immature." Those naughty, evil figs were green!
Charles Fillmore said that
evil is a parasite and has no permanent life of its own; it depends on the life given it
by the parent. What we call evil does not originate in God-mind but is a product of human
consciousness and error thought. I have heard evil described as the "absence of
good." But that is impossible. If the nature of God is absolute good and God is
omnipresent, good is also omnipresent. I prefer to think of evil as the frustration of
good in the same way that shadow is the frustration of light. Fillmore said,
"‘evil’ represents error thought combinations, that part of consciousness
which has lost sight of true principles." (Mysteries of Genesis p. 36) Evil
results from the immature use of a perfectly good power. It all starts with a sense
of separation from God—not realizing the one presence and power and our oneness with
it.
This sense of separation and
the belief in two powers result in three reasons for the appearance of evil. The first is
our failure to know that we are spiritual beings with innate divinity that gives us
dominion and authority. Without this realization we try in ignorance to improve our lives
by manipulating people and things in the world. The second is the lack of understanding of
the formative power of thought to produce either desirable or undesirable conditions.
Ignorant thinking or the ignorant use of ideas causes the appearance of evil in our lives.
Lastly, without spiritual understanding, we do not see the relation of cause and effect
and continue to attempt to change conditions without ever seeing and working with the real
cause.
6. We believe in the twelve Disciples, the twelve Powers of Man,
going forth into mind and body with authority to teach, preach, heal, and wholly save man
and the world from sin, sickness, and death.
Charles Fillmore said,
"The Grand Man, Christ, has twelve powers, represented in the history of Jesus by the
twelve apostles. So each one of us has twelve powers to make manifest, to bring out and
use in the attainment of his ideals." (Keep A True Lent p.113) Many years ago
a beginning Unity teacher wanted to schedule her first class. When I asked her what class
she wanted to teach she told me, "Twelve Powers." I thought, "My God! Even
I don’t understand them." The concept of the twelve powers can be one of the
more difficult topics in Unity to understand. An early teacher of mine said,
"It’s like dissecting an earthworm to see how it works. When you are through, it
doesn’t work anymore!"
I find it helpful to think
of the twelve powers as white light that is passed through a prism. The prism refracts
light into its various wavelengths which become visible as different colors. The
"Grand Man" or Christ within you expresses through several faculties of mind,
just as pure, white light is visible as any combination of its component colors. As we
develop the spiritual nature, we become more aware of their function and consciously call
them into action. The faculties include faith, which is the power of the mind to perceive;
strength, the power of the mind to endure; judgment, the power to discriminate; love, the
power to unify; power, the capacity to do or accomplish; imagination, the power to image;
the power to know is the faculty of understanding; will, the power to motivate or choose;
the power to harmonize is the faculty of order; zeal is the power to go forward or go
ahead; release is the faculty of elimination; and the power of activity, or to animate, is
the faculty of life.
Charles Fillmore saw the
human body as having places or nerve centers through which these faculties were expressed.
In the ideal, we might appear as a perfect sphere—all the faculties fully and equally
developed. However, in practice we may be more or less developed in the use of some of
these faculties. For example, one person may have developed a great expression of
strength. They may be able to endure much but not be able to let go of things, negative
experiences or outgrown beliefs. The ability to endure may be useful because of the
inability to let go. When we achieve full awareness of the Christ as our true Self, we
express all the faculties to the fullest. We are all in the process of learning and
unfolding. No one chooses the lessons for us; we choose. Each one brings us a little
closer to the full expression of our spiritual selves. All power is God-power, which is
ours to use to form and shape our world.
7. We believe that "God is spirit," as Jesus taught, and
that all of His Spirit is with us at all times, supplying every need.
To the Samaritan woman at
the well Jesus said, "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit
and truth." (John 4:24) His words were actually, "alaha ruha oo (God is
spirit)." And to worship God in spirit and truth means everywhere and with
understanding. Ruha means "wind; spirit; temper; pride;" and even
"rheumatism." God, as spirit, is the unseen, everywhere present "breath of
the almighty." It is the essence of all life and the cause of life, substance and
intelligence. God, as spirit, is also omnipresent—present at all points in time and
space. No matter where we are or what appears before us—regardless of whatever seems
to be making its presence known—all the life, substance and intelligence of God are
there to meet any need.
In the introduction to his
book, Prosperity, Charles Fillmore wrote, "It is perfectly logical to assume
that a wise and competent Creator would provide for the needs of his creatures in their
various stages of growth...The Father has provided a universal seed substance that
responds with magical power to the active mind of man...." It would not be an
intelligent act of an omnipotent Creator to place his children in an environment where
they had desires but no means for fulfillment, and where they had needs that could not be
met. In the early years of Unity, the Fillmores proved the principle of God as their
supply by building their work on this foundation which prospered Unity for almost
one-hundred years.
The following quotation is from Test Questions, Unity
Correspondence School course material:
Unity firmly believes that if we trust
God and give good service, all needs will be met abundantly and it will not be necessary
to have to ask for money or to make charges for a spiritual service or to charge high
prices for the literature . . . The true source of our supply and prosperity is God, and
if we look away from God to a personality for recompense we turn away from God…and
also place man in bondage by looking to him for pay…The entire Unity work has always
been based on the just and equitable law, "Give, and it shall be given unto
you." (Luke 6:38)
To be continued next month.