| Dated: Mar. 7/00 | Page edited by
Bob Russell |
CLASS 3
The Nature Of Man Is Essentially Divine
| Thought | "One of the laws of mind is that
man becomes like that which he identifies himself [with]. Christ is the
one
perfect pattern . . . each should therefore, be wise and identify himself
with The Christ."
. . . Charles Fillmore
. . . Mother Theresa
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| Agenda |
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12 POWERS DRILL
12 POWERS MEDITATION (Opening) There is one presence and power in the universe, God. I am one with God. My attention goes to the Crown of my head, the Christ centre. I sense the light of Christ pouring in through my being. I am one with that light, and the light of God surrounds me. Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Faith awakens in me now. I affirm my faith in God the good. I trust in God, knowing God's will is for my highest good. I give thanks for the gift of Faith awakened in me now. (Peter, Deep Blue ) Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Imagination awakens in me now. I see creative and new ways to do what is mine to do. New opportunities to experience God's good are coming into my life now. I see beauty and richness in my life and I give thanks for the gift of Imagination awakened in me now. (Bartholomew, Light Blue) Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Life awakens in me now. Every cell in my being is charged with the pure, restorative life of God. I feel God's love and life are moving through me now. I give thanks for the faculty of Life awakened in me now. (Judas, Red) Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Love awakens in
me now. Through love, I am loving and loved. I am guided and moulded by
Divine Love. I draw harmony into my
Through the power of the Christ my faculty of Order awakens in
me now. Divine timing and order are now established in my life. My spiritual
path unfolds in its proper sequence. I am in harmony as I put God
first in my life. My life is harmonious and my spiritual path unfolds in
its proper and progressive evolution. I give thanks for the faculty of
Order awakened in me now.
Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Power awakens in me now. My thoughts and words vibrate with spiritual power. The words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart are acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord. Dominion and mastery are established in my mind and body. I give thanks for the faculty of Power awakened in me now. (Philip, Purple) Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Renunciation awakens in me now. I release all that is a distraction to my spiritual unfoldment. I am free of the past. I release all false and useless attitudes, emotions and reactions. I am free! I am whole, at one with God and with life. I give thanks for the faculty of Renunciation awakened in me now. (Thaddeus, Russet) Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Strength awakens in me now. Strength surges through me, giving me energy and vigour: bringing endurance and stability to my life. I stand by my convictions. I am strong and unafraid, and I give thanks for the faculty of Strength awakened in me now. (Andrew, Light Green) Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Understanding
awakens in me now. I see to the heart of things and I know what to do.
The perfect outworking of every situation is being revealed to me now.
God is present in all situations and in every relationship. There is only
one presence and power, God. I give thanks for the faculty of Understanding
awakened in me now.
Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Will awakens in me now. I willingly surrender to the Christ and seek to do God's will. Not my will but yours be done in my life. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mould me and use me after Thy will for I am yielding and still. I give thanks for the faculty of Will awakened in me now. (Matthew, Silver) Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Wisdom awakens in me now. I perceive beyond appearances. I evaluate every situation, making wise and proper decisions. I am guided by Divine intuition into wise and perfect ways. I give thanks for the faculty of Wisdom awakened in me now. (James, Yellow) Through the power of the Christ, my faculty of Zeal awakens in
me now. I am enthusiastic and excited about life. I feel good pouring through
me and motivating me. I experience miracles in my life, and I give thanks
for the faculty of Zeal awakened in me now. (Simon, Orange)
(Closing) There is only one Presence and Power, God the good, omnipotent.
I am one with the Presence and Power. The Father and I are one. The Light
of God surrounds me, the Love of God unfolds me, the Power of God protects
me, the Presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is.
THE TWELVE POWERS The Twelve Powers "Inherent in the Mind of Being are twelve fundamental ideas, which in action appear as primal creative forces. It is possible for man to ally himself with and to use these original forces. . ." (TM/52) The twelve powers are the twelve fundamental aspects of our divine nature,
the twelve components of God's "image and likeness" in humankind, the twelve
disciples of our Christ mind. They comprise the pattern for perfection
within us. At our present level of spiritual evolution these powers are
incomplete in their development and expression. As we come to a fuller
realization of our true nature we become more able to fully demonstrate
our divine potential.
Developing Our Twelve Powers "Our work here now is to awaken to the divine powers with which God has endowed us, to encourage and develop them under God direction and to get about the business of becoming that which Jesus demonstrated in his life and told us we could become." (YGGP /23) "Within each person there is a new world awaiting discovery. a world in which there are capabilities of unlimited strength, perfect knowing, radiant life, and other latent abilities beyond our greatest present capacity to conceive." (YGGP /24.) Our increasing awareness of our twelve spiritual faculties will enable
us to call them forth into dynamic expression within us. This process requires
discipline, dedication, and a conscious recognition of ourselves as offspring
of God.
Regeneration "Mr. Fillmore's plan for the regeneration of 'man' was based on the individual development of innate powers and abilities expressing through . . . the human body. These centres are to be activated as the qualities are developed in mind, all under the supervision of the Christ or God-self of each person." (YGGP /25) Once the transformation in consciousness begins to occur, as the twelve
faculties are quickened within us, there are results in the manifestation
of purity and wholeness within our bodies as well.
Threefold Nature of the Twelve Powers "The following outline gives a list
of the Twelve powers, the faculties that they represent,
The twelve faculties exist spiritually as realities in our mind and
in God mind, symbolically as the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, and
literally as twelve centres of energy within the physical body of every
individual.
Faith "Faith is the perceiving power of the mind. . . It is spiritual assurance, the power to do the seemingly impossible, it is a force that draws to us our heart's desire right out of the invisible spiritual substance. It is a deep inner knowing that that which is sought is already ours for the taking, the 'assurance of things hoped for.' " (KL /148) "Faith is that quality in us which enables us to look past appearances of lack, limitation, or difficulty to take hold of the divine idea and believe in it even though we do not see any evidence of it except in our mind Through faith we know with an inner knowing the Truth that has not yet expressed in our manifest world." (YGGP/38.) Faith is our ability to perceive the reality of
Gods kingdom of good, despite evidence to contrary. It is the faculty of
positive expectation and definite assurance that the power, presence, and
promises of God are real, here and now.
Strength "In the Mind of God, Strength is an idea of enduring power which to us means the continuous and sustained energies with which Creation is projected and maintained" (PS /13) "Strength . . . Freedom from weakness: stability of character; power to withstand temptation: capacity to accomplish." (RW /186) Strength is the faculty of steadfastness, dependability, stability, and capacity for endurance. It is not merely a physical endowment, but a degree of spiritual awareness. It is not force, manipulation, or defensiveness. It is spiritual courage and confidence. Non-resistance is the highest expression of strength. Non-resistance does not mean non-action; it is an effective, calm, single-minded God - centred attitude of mind.
Judgement "Judgement.. .Mental act of evaluation through comparison or contrast . . . spiritual discernment." (RW /113). Judgement is the faculty by which we appraise, evaluate, and discriminate
in order to make correct decisions. It is our ability to maintain enlightened
objectivity about our life and our world.
Love "Love, in Divine Mind is the idea of universal unity. In expression, it is the power that joins and binds together the universe and everything in it. Love is a harmonizing, constructive power. When it is made active in consciousness, it conserves substance and reconstructs, rebuilds, and restores man and his world. "(KL /151) "Divine love is impersonal; it loves for the sake of loving. . .Love is an inner quality that sees good everywhere and in everybody. . . Love is the great harmonizer and healer" (RW125) Love is that attracting, harmonizing, unifying faculty of mind; it is
the constructive building force of Spirit. It is our power to comprehend
oneness. Spiritual love is the total, unconditional acceptance of everyone
and everything.
Power "From Divine Mind man inherits power over the forces of his mind: in truth, power over all ideas. A quickening from on high must precede man's realization of his innate control of thought and feeling." (TM /61) '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." (TM /63) "Power, we must understand, is not an end in itself, not a goal to
be sought. Rather it is simply a means that enables us to attain the end
of bringing forth God ideas on earth.. It is to be exercised not for the
purpose of controlling others, but for the purpose of taking dominion over
our own thoughts and feelings in order to come into a greater God awareness."
Power is the faculty that enables us to have authority over our thoughts
and feelings. Our greatest creative power is generated by our realization
of the power of God within us. Our spoken words are vehicles through which
this power is manifested in our lives.
Imagination "It will be found that every form and shape originated in the imagination. It is through the imagination that the formless takes form. (TM /71) The idea is first projected into mind substance, and afterward formed in consciousness. The mind of man sees all things through thought forms made by the imagination." (CH /103) Imagination is our conceiving, picturing faculty. It is the formative
power of mind which shapes thoughts into mental images which have colour,
variety, and dimension. The highest use of imagination is to shape thoughts
into images which most fully reflect the nature of the original divine
idea.
Understanding "Spiritual understanding is the ability of the mind to apprehend and realize the laws of thought and the relation of ideas one to another." (RW /202) "So we find that there is in man a knowing capacity transcending
intellectual knowledge."
Understanding is the faculty by which we receive enlightenment and insight.
It is our capacity to gain direct perceptions of Truth. It is our faculty
of spiritual intelligence.
Will "The will is the executive faculty of the mind, the determining factor in man. (RW /209) "The will moves to action all the other faculties of the mind. . ." (TM /97) Will is the decision making, directing, choosing faculty of the mind.
It is our capacity to say "yes" or "no" to opportunities and options. The
highest expression of will is willingness, conscious consent to the will
of God.
Order "Order in the Mind of God is an idea of harmonious progress, evolution. Order in man is his ability to perceive and cooperate with the law of growth. (PS /138) "The divine idea of order is the idea of adjustment, and as this is established in man's thought, his mind and affairs will be at one with the universal harmony." (RW /143) "To develop divine order in our life, we must learn to cooperate
with spiritual law."
Order is the faculty by which we establish harmony, balance, right adjustment,
and right sequence of action in our lives. Order is the one underlying
law of manifestation, and we must participate consciously in that process
which enables growth with struggle.
Zeal "Zeal is the great universal force that impels man to spring forward in a field of endeavour and accomplish the seemingly miraculous." (ASP /26) "To be without zeal is to be without the zest of living. Zeal and enthusiasm incite to glorious achievement in every aim and ideal that the mind conceives. Zeal is the impulse to go forward, the urge behind all things." (TM /130) Zeal is the faculty of enthusiasm, intensity, and exuberance. It provides
our inner urge to progress; it is our motivation to achieve. The highest
expression of zeal is in an unflagging, fervent interest in knowing, speaking,
and doing good.
Elimination "A letting go of old thoughts in order that new thoughts may find
place in consciousness. A healthy state of mind is attained when the thinker
willingly lets go the old thoughts and takes on the new. This is illustrated
by the inlet and outlet of a pool of water." (RW /l67)
"Thoughts are things; they occupy space in the mental field. A healthy state of mind is attained and continued when the thinker willingly lets go the old thoughts and takes on the new." (TM /144) Elimination is the faculty by which we release false beliefs and accomplish
a mental cleansing. Elimination enables us to surrender to Spirit any thought
that is not for our highest good so that transformation and purification
of consciousness can take place.
Life "In the phenomenal world, life is the energy that propels all forms
to action."
"Life in man is his increasing consciousness of his world, his inner
activities, the forces and movements about him. It is his power to express
the eternal activity of God."
Life is the faculty of movement, vitality, wholeness, and creativity.
It is the expression of the pure, eternal life of God within us.
Key to Reference Codes ASP Atom-Smashing Power of Mind, Charles
Fillmore
FAITH
STRENGTH
JUDGEMENT
LOVE
POWER
IMAGINATION
UNDERSTANDING
WILL
ORDER
ZEAL
ELIMINATION
LIFE
WHAT UNITY TEACHES ABOUT MAN "Man is the expression of God, and is ever one with His Perfect Life, Love, Intelligence, and Substance."To advance in our use of Unity principles, we must abandon every notion of man as being primarily a physical organism, composed of various physical organs, functions, fluids, and tissues. The organism is always subordinate to the Organizer, which is Spiritual Man, sometimes called the Christ, the Son of God, or God's Perfect Idea of Himself. What we physically see of man is only the effect of this Spiritual Presence; and the way we see a man depends on whether we expect this spiritual Presence to tell us the Truth about him, or expect his physical organism to do so. Certain principles taught by Unity help us to think of ourselves and one another in the right and helpful way: 1. Man is the expression of God. You and I did not create ourselves. We are the creation of God. And the "stuff out of which God created us is His own "Mind-Stuff", divine ideas! So we say that man is the expression or "pressing out" of divine ideas into individual "points" or "outlets". As someone has said, "Man is God masquerading on earth." When we peek behind the mass of flesh and bones and manners and customs, every man IS the presence of God-Perfect Life, Love, Intelligence, and Substance. We need to think about what and who we really are, and learn to identify ourselves correctly as spiritual (God-like) beings. Genesis 1:26 reveals that God made man in His own image and after His own likeness. So when we describe God correctly, we are describing our own nature correctly. When we describe ourselves correctly, we are describing God correctly. 2. Man is God's idea of Himself, manifest. You are an idea in the Mind of God. Logically, we cannot think of anything discordant, broken, weak, confused or lifeless existing in the Mind of God. Since you are an idea in the Mind of God, in Reality you cannot be discordant, broken, weak, confused or lifeless at any time or in any place! If you were, you wouldn't be in the Mind of God, and if you weren't in the Mind of God you would not exist. Nothing can exist without the support of God-thinking, and your existence is no exception. However, we go further with this concept. You are not simply a single idea mixed among many others in God-Mind. You, in unity with other men, are the sum total of God's idea of Himself. As God thinks of the qualities and character of His Being, this thinking manifests ("festers out") as Man. Nevertheless, no one individual man is God in His entirety. God is not a person, but becomes personal to us as we wake up to His life and action in us. The process is similar to the way the earth becomes "personal" to each thing growing in it, though every blade of grass is distinct from every other blade of grass. Thus it is that while all men are one with God, God is experienced and expressed individually, distinctly, and differently in each of us. 3. Man is a threefold being, a spirit-soul-body being.
The Spirit in you is perfect, holy, and harmonious NOW. Your soul (which
includes all reasoning, feeling, choosing) is that part of you which is
GRADUALLY AWAKENING to the Spirit in you. Your body is the result or effect
of your soul's consciousness (inner awareness) of the Spirit. A perfect
consciousness of the Spirit results in a perfect body. We learn from our
own experience that what we think and feel strongly does get into bodily
expression. The effect of intense anger or fear has an instantaneous effect
on the body. So does intense love and deep faith. So we must always
be choosing what kinds of thoughts and feelings we will allow to make themselves
at home in our minds! To practice UNITY is to UNITE our souls with our
Spirit, and then our bodies will automatically reflect the harmony and
perfection of the Spirit.
4. Man is a thinking being. Charles Fillmore said, "Thought moulds form." In other words, the way we think shapes the way or form in which life will come to us. We have been asleep most of our lives, letting outer conditions and events dictate the kind of beliefs we will accept. When we come into a study of Unity we are beginning to awaken, and find that the Real World is very different from the imaginary world which most people assume to be real. So we need to train ourselves to think in a different way. This is very difficult but very essential. How difficult it must have been some 400 years ago to train oneself to think of the world as round, when "everybody knew" it was flat! Or to train oneself to remember that the sun doesn't rise and set, when "everybody knew" it did! In metaphysical training, we use thought-shapers to bring our thinking into line with God-thinking. These thought-shapers are called affirmations (positive statements of Truth) and denials (renouncing the erroneous beliefs about Life and Reality). You will find Unity literature filled with both types of thought-shapers. Just reading them is of little value. To memorize them and think them over and over will reeducate both your conscious and subconscious mind until your reactions become more and more automatically true and constructive. Denials will help you cleanse your thinking, and affirmations will help you to build your thinking in a divine pattern. It is an important rule of thought-action always to follow a denial with an affirmation. It is not enough to get rid of destructive thoughts and feelings; we need to build in constructive thought habits. 5. Man's original and most natural state of mind is found in prayer. Prayer is the attitude of looking to God, depending on God the Good under all circumstances. Prayer is the practice of thinking God's thoughts after Him, listening with our inner sensitivities to the whispers of His love and wisdom. Prayer is the highest form of thinking. Therefore, we do not resort to negative begging or wishful thinking in prayer. Instead, we declare that the Good we desire is already present in Reality (i.e., in Mind or Consciousness). What we really accept as present in Mind organizes all outer activity and attracts to us the outer conditions which correspond with our trend of thought. "Prayer is raising the consciousness above the level on which you found the difficulty," says Emmet Fox. So if we have found a problem in our finances, we stop thinking about finances as such altogether, and think about God! As we think about God, we come to the conclusion that God has no financial problems, no lack, and no shortage EVER! Since what is true of God is also true of our Spiritual Being, we accept it as truth that "In the Presence of God we have financial security, and no financial lack." Then we just stay in the Presence of God (i.e.. remember that God is in us, with us, and around us) until BEHOLD! Something happens outwardly that PROVES this is true. This proof is called a "demonstration." "Prayer is conscious intercommunion with God," states Alma Morse. This statement emphasizes the fact that prayer is much more than talking to God. It is also talking WITH God, and listening silently to His answer. What God has to say to us is infinitely more important than anything we may have to tell Him. If we are ever going to grow up spiritually, we have to get beyond the
point where we are constantly trying to get God to "bail us out" of some
difficulty. When we learn how to get out instructions from God FIRST we
will have less and less need for getting "bailed out. Meanwhile, we learn
how to do this by asking God for the ideas and
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| Next Chapter is: Class 4
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2
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