The Revealing Word, by Charles Fillmore, [1959], at sacred-texts.com
The Revealing Word, by Charles Fillmore, [1959], at sacred-texts.com
faculty, spiritual--An individualized center of God consciousness. The twelve faculties or ideas in Divine Mind are: faith, strength, wisdom or judgment, love, power, imagination, understanding, will, order or law, zeal, renunciation, and life. Man takes control of his faculties through exercising the will.
There are two ways to develop the spiritual faculties: through the evolutionary law of experience and trial (the school of the twelve sons of Jacob); or by the direct power of the Word, or the I AM (the purifying of the twelve apostles of Jesus). The law of Moses and the experiences of the Children of Israel under the old dispensation represent the first; and the transforming power of the true Word, or gospel of Jesus Christ, as set forth in the New Testament, is the second. When Divine Mind is looked to as the one and only guide, the faculties of man are developed in an orderly manner through the power of the Word. "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14).
faculties, awakened--Faculties of mind that have been expanded until they function in harmony with Divine Mind.
failure--Inability, through a lack of power, to make a demonstration. Seeming failure is often a steppingstone to something higher.
faintheartedness--Uncourageous thoughts, lacking ability and efficiency.
faith--The perceiving power of the mind linked with the power to shape substance. Spiritual assurance; the power to do the seemingly impossible. It is a magnetic power that draws unto us our heart's desire from the invisible spiritual substance. Faith is a deep inner knowing that that which is sought is already ours for the taking.
"Now faith is assurance of things hoped for" (Heb. 11:1).
A close analysis shows that faith is the foundation of all that man does. Jesus spoke of a new condition for the upliftment of the race. He called it the "kingdom of the heavens." He said it must be built upon the foundation typified by Peter (rock), who represents faith. This is proof that faith is closely related to the enduring, firm. unyielding forms of substance. The development of the faith faculty is a key to spiritual realization. "According to your faith be it done unto you" (Matt. 9:29).
Faith in God is the substance of existence. To have faith in God is to have the faith of God. We must have faith in God as our Father and source of all the good we desire.
Faith is more than mere belief. It is the very substance of that which is believed. It works by love. Thoughts of condemnation, enmity, and resistance must be released and divine love declared; then faith will work unhindered.
Faith working in spiritual substance accomplishes all things. This is the faith that co-operates with creative law. When faith is exercised deep in spiritual consciousness, it finds its abode; and under divine law, without variation or disappointment, it brings results that are seemingly miraculous.
faith, blind--An instinctive trust in a power higher than ourselves. Because blind faith does not understand the principles of Being, it is liable to discouragement and disappointment.
faith, center of--The pineal gland, located in the middle of the brain, is the center of faith in the body of man. Concentration of thought on this center opens the mind of man to spiritual faith.
faith compared with trust--Trust is a weaker brand of faith, but better than mistrust. As a rule, persons who merely trust the Lord do not understand divine law. If they had understanding, they would affirm the presence
and power of God until the very substance of Spirit would appear in manifestation.
faith cure--Another name for spiritual healing.
faith, how cultivated--By studying the experiences of Peter (the apostle representing faith), we obtain suggestions on the development of this faculty. The vacillating allegiance of Peter to Jesus illustrates the growth of faith in one who has not developed this faculty. Faith is built up through denial of all doubt and fear and continuous affirmations of loyalty to the divine idea, the higher self. One must have faith in one's spiritual capacity and depend on it in the face of adverse appearances.
faith in oneself--The ground for man's faith in himself is the truth that he is a son of God and, as such, he inherits the divine nature. Man should have faith in himself because he cannot be successful in any line without such faith.
faith, intellectual--The faith that has its seat of action in the intellect only. Intellectual man has faith in his art, in his science, or in his philosophy, which answers his purpose for the time being.
faith of Jesus--Jesus did not claim an exclusive supernatural power, which we usually accredit to Him. He had explored the ether energy, which He called the "kingdom of the heavens"; His understanding was beyond that of the average man. However, He knew and said that other men could do what He did if they would only have faith. He encouraged His followers to take Him as a pattern for faith and to use the power of thought and word. Divine healing is due to the application of the same law that Jesus used. In most instances, He demanded faith on the part of those He healed; and with this faith as a point of mental and spiritual contact, He released the latent energy in the atomic structure of the ones in need of healing, and they were restored to life and health. "He that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do" (John 14:12).
faith, prayer of--The act of mentally taking that which is desired. Jesus said, "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24).
faith thinking--The most important power of man is the original faith-thinking faculty. All of us have the thinking faculty located in the head, from which we send forth good, bad, and indifferent thoughts. If we are educated and molded after the average pattern of the human family, we may live a lifetime and never have an original thought. The thinking faculty is supplied with the second-hand ideas of our ancestors, the dominant beliefs of the race, or the threadbare stock of the ordinary social swim. This is not faith thinking. Faith thinking is done only by one who has caught sight of the Truth of Being and who feeds his thinking faculty on images generated in the faith center. Faith thinking is not merely an intellectual process based on reasoning. The faith thinker does not compare, analyze, or draw conclusions from known premises. He does not take appearances into consideration; he is not biased by precedent. His thinking gives form, without cavil or question, to ideas that come straight from the eternal fount of wisdom. His perception impinges on the spiritual, and he knows.
faith, understanding--Faith that functions from Principle. It is based on knowledge of Truth. It understands the law of mind action; therefore, it has great strength. To know that certain causes produce certain results gives a bedrock foundation for faith.
faithless generation--A generation that lacks the spiritual faith and power to do the works Jesus would have it do, such as healing the sick and making the blind to see.
fall--A retrogression in consciousness from the pristine
Christ Mind to the personal and sense mind of the Adam man.
false claims--Those who make the indwelling Spirit of truth their guide and authority will not be deceived by false claims made either by other persons or by institutions. The safe way is to trust the Spirit of truth continually for protection from false beliefs.
family, the Christ--Jesus said: "Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother" (Mark 3:33-35).
family, the universal--If God is the Father of all, then all men and women are brothers and sisters in a universal family. In the Christ consciousness we are all one.
famine--Lack of faith in God's power to prosper.
fasting--Denial; abstinence from error thoughts, to the end that we may meditate on Truth and incorporate it into our consciousness of oneness with the Father.
fate--"That which is destined or decreed; appointed lot. Fate suggests inevitability and immutability in strict use, but usually carries no clear implication of whether it is good or evil" (Webster). Man, through his thought, is working out his own salvation; he is created in the image and likeness of God and is finally to reach "the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).
Father--God through His Holy Spirit is the Father.
Father and Son--The Father-Mind is the living Principle, the Absolute, the Great Unlimited. The Son is the living Word.
Father and Son, result of knowing both--When we are quickened in spiritual understanding, we experience a renewal of mind and a transformation of body. The
mortal becomes immortal, the corruptible becomes incorruptible. It is the resurrection into eternal life.
Father of lights--Source of profound understanding, illumination, wisdom. Through our realization of and meditation on spiritual illumination, we open the way for these spiritual gifts to be showered upon us.
Father-Principle--The exact and immutable Principle of Being, lying back of all existence as cause, and approachable only along lines of perfect law. It is omnipresent and is not subject to change or open to argument.
Father's house, the--The Christ consciousness. It is the center of man's consciousness and is made manifest to him by mind processes alone.
favor of God--Good realized through faithful obedience; the orderly unfoldment in mind and body that results from meditation and prayer; a blessing that comes to us through obedience to Spirit. The bringing about of an inner spiritual strength, resulting in the development of all parts of mind and body.
fear--"Painful emotion marked by alarm; dread; disquiet" (Webster). Fear is one of the most subtle and destructive errors that the carnal mind in man experiences. Fear is a paralyzer of mental action; it weakens both mind and body. Fear throws dust in our eyes and hides the mighty spiritual forces that are always with us. Blessed are those who deny ignorance and fear and affirm the presence and power of Spirit.
fear, how to overcome--Fear is cast out by perfect love. To know divine love is to be selfless, and to be selfless is to be without fear. The God-conscious person is filled with quietness and confidence.
fear of God--"Only fear Jehovah, and serve him in truth with all your heart" (I Sam. 12:24). In this scriptural passage the word fear is used with Webster's meaning: "Awe; profound reverence, especially for the Supreme Being."
fearfulness--State of mind that is full of fear. Fearfulness is a parasite; it drives away divine guidance and produces weakness of the heart.
feast--Appropriation in a large measure; that is, laying hold of divine potentialities.
feast in Jerusalem--A receptive state of mind toward all spiritual good. It is the realization of the unfailing substance of Divine Mind. A great peace is there--"the peace of God, which passeth all understanding (Phil. 4:7)--and a welling up of an indescribable substance that fills the whole being with satisfaction.
feast, marriage--Conscious union between spirit or mind and body in the silent influx of substance; the union of man with Spirit. A thirsting for things of Spirit is necessary before one can come to the spiritual marriage feast. Great desire for the light and purity of Spirit is the power that prepares man for this greatest of feasts. (see Matt. 22:1-15)
feast, Sabbath--The inflow of spiritual substance that we realize when we enter the silence.
feeding the five thousand--In the universal Mind is a substance that Jesus called the "Father," which is also the seed of all visible substance. It is the only real substance because it is unchangeable, while visible substance is in constant transition.
An idea is purely spiritual and can be apprehended only by the mind. It is never visible to the eye but can be sensed by man through any of his spiritual functions. When the attention has been centered on the idea of substance long enough and strongly enough, a consciousness of substance is generated; and, by the powers of the various faculties of the mind in right relation, visible substance is formed. In this way, Jesus brought into visibility the loaves and fishes to feed the five thousand.
feeling--Feeling is external to thought; behind every feeling or emotion there lies thought, which is its direct
cause. To erase a feeling, a change of thought is required.
feet--Represent the phase of the understanding that connects us with the outer or manifest world and reveals the right relationship toward worldly conditions in general. We can take possession of all substance that we comprehend and understand, in the name of I AM. This is the meaning of Josh. 1:3: "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses."
feet, washing of--The denial of materiality is illustrated in Jesus' washing of the apostles' feet (John 13:5-10). Even Peter (who represents faith) must be cleansed from belief in the reality of material conditions. To wash another's feet seems a menial thing, but in this humble way Jesus taught and exemplified the willingness of divine love to serve, so that man may be redeemed from the pride of the flesh.
feminine--The divine feminine in man is the mother phase of Being. God, through His Holy Spirit, is the Father.
field--Outside the house of God. "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; and the field is the world" (Matt. 13:37-38).
fiery furnace--A state of mind in which one goes through a purifying process, and evil and error are destroyed.
fire--Symbolizes cleansing and purification, but it is more than a symbol. Material fire is the symbol, and the fire of Spirit is the reality. The whole universe is alive with a divine, living, spiritual energy that consumes all the dross of sense and materiality. It is a fire that burns eternally. Because this is true, some have assumed that disobedient, sinful persons are to live forever in everlasting torment. But if the fire is eternal, the dross is not, and when the error is consumed the burning stops. The fire consumes only when it meets anything unlike
itself. In purified man it is manifested as his eternal life.
fire of God--The Word of God in action. It burns out the dross of negative consciousness and reveals the Christ.
fire, tongues of--Illumination of thought, in demonstration of Spirit's presence and power.
firmament--Faith in mind power, a firm, unwavering place in consciousness. The firmament in the midst of the waters is an idea of confidence or faith in the invisible.
first-born--The "first-born" of every state of consciousness is the personal I. When the flood of light from the universal is let in through our declaration of the one wisdom and one love, this I of every mortal state of consciousness is slain, and there is a "great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead" (Exod. 12:30).
fish--Represent ideas of multiplication and fecundity. Accounts in which Jesus figures as a party to fish eating are symbolical of the mental side of eating, which is the appropriation of ideas.
The reason Jesus so often used fish to illustrate His teaching is that He was a living demonstration of ideas, and all that He did was in the realm of ideas rather than in the realm of effects. Fish represent ideas in which there is great possibility of increase; Jesus used these ideas to represent the inexhaustible, everywhere present abundance.
fishers of men--Spiritually quickened men who are strongly fortified in Truth and able to help others to find the light.
flame of fire--Light of understanding that flames up in the heart, yet does not consume substance. (see burning bush)
flash of intelligence--The musical genius says he hears
the music in a flash and is often at his wit's end to transcribe it fast enough. Many an immortal poem or prose work has been flashed from the mind of the author without any apparent effort on his part. But if all the prayers and mind efforts of literary geniuses were inquired into, it would be found that there had been heroic mental effort somewhere at some time. The realization of perfection takes root in the mind and may come forth in a flash.
flesh--Mortal consciousness expressing itself through appetite. It is overcome by denying that appetite is physical and by affirming it to be spiritual.
flesh, carnal or sensual--A malformation of the substance idea of Being. It must be transformed by right conception of divine perfection before the mortal can put on the immortal.
fleshpots of Egypt--The pleasures of sense.
flocks--Symbolical of thoughts. "Tend the flock of God which is among you" (I Pet. 5:2).
food--A symbol of appropriation. Bread represents the flesh; it is an outer form of the inner substance. (see drink of the cup)
All food is primarily mental, and in the process of digestion and assimilation it becomes part of the body structure, making cells like itself in character. If we wish to bring into manifestation the perfect spiritual body, we should feed on words of Truth--foods that are spiritual in character--avoiding all that carry with them into the system a mental atmosphere of sensuality, fear, or any other discord.
foods, solid--The deeper truths that require much study, meditation, prayer, and concentration in order that they may be appropriated and assimilated by the mind.
food, spiritual--Thoughts and words of Truth; the word of God.
"food which perisheth"--The race consciousness
strives for the things of sense, but one who has found the real substance and source of supply proclaims, "Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which abideth unto eternal life" (John 6:27).
forces, creative--Active physical or mental forces, having the capacity to produce or to create.
forehead--The seat of perception. The forehead is the center of consciousness, which the understanding of Truth seals; that is, it secretly unites the consciousness with Christ.
forerunner of Spirit--As symbolized by John the Baptist, the perception of Truth that prepares the way for Spirit through a letting go of old concepts and beliefs.
forgiveness--A process of giving up the false for the true; erasing sin and error from the mind and body. It is closely related to repentance, which is a turning from belief in sin to belief in God and righteousness. A sin is forgiven when one ceases to sin, and true forgiveness is only established through renewing the mind and body with thoughts and words of Truth.
Forgiveness really means the giving up of something. When you forgive yourself, you cease doing the things that you should not do. Jesus said that man has power to forgive sin. Sin is the falling short of divine law, and repentance and forgiveness are the only means that man has of getting out of sin and its effect and coming into harmony with the law.
It is through forgiveness that true spiritual healing is accomplished. Forgiveness removes the errors of the mind, and bodily harmony results in consonance with divine law.
The law is Truth, and Truth is all that is good. There is no power or no reality in sin. If sin were real and enduring, like goodness and Truth, it could not be forgiven but would hold its victim forever. When we enter into the understanding of the real and the unreal, a great light dawns on us, and we see what Jesus meant when He
said, "The Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins."
forgiveness, necessity of--Our first work in any demonstration is to contact God; therefore, we must forgive all men their transgressions. Through the divine law of forgiveness we cleanse our mind so that the Father can forgive us.
form--"The shape and structure of anything" (Webster). All forms are manifestations of ideas. Back of the universe are both the original creative idea and the cosmic rays that form into earthly things.
fornication--Debasement of the spiritual nature, caused by functioning in carnal consciousness.
fornication, abstaining from--Refusing to entertain mortal tendencies and dwelling in spiritual consciousness.
forsaking all for Christ--Giving up everything pertaining to the personal man, so that the Mind of Christ may be perfectly incorporated into consciousness.
fourth dimension--A transcendent realm that Jesus called the "kingdom of the heavens." Here one can discern the trend of spiritual forces and see with the spiritual vision of the Christ Mind.
The fourth dimension (which embraces and encompasses the other three dimensions) is also realization, the doing away with time and space and all conditions. The human mind, with its limited reasoning faculties, is bound by time, space, and conditions and can get no farther into the spiritual than reason will take it, but when we go beyond reason into the realm of realization, then we have attained the consciousness of pure being, the fourth-dimension mind.
frankincense--"A fragrant gum resin" (Webster). Metaphysically, it represents in man the transmutation of the material consciousness into the spiritual.
freedom--The quality or state of being without thought or restraint, bondage, limitation, or repression; having
a sense of complete well-being. It is a result of regulating one's life according to Principle, not according to what anyone else may think or say.
We can never know the full meaning of freedom until we abide in the Christ consciousness. Without prayer and spiritual meditation there can be no concept of spiritual freedom and, therefore, no demonstration of it. It is gained only through spiritual development gained in long hours of communion with God in the silence. Liberation from bondage comes as we seek first the perfect Mind of Christ. "If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
free will--Man's inherent freedom to act as he determines. There can be no perfect expression without perfect freedom of will. If man determines to act in accord with divine law, he builds harmony, health, happiness, and eternal life, which is heaven.
fruitfulness--The rich consciousness man develops as the result of high realizations of Truth.
fruit of the vine--The "fruit of the vine," which man drinks anew in the Father's kingdom, is the consciousness of spiritual life direct from the Fountainhead. (see Matt. 26:29)
fulfill--"To carry into effect; to realize or manifest completely" (Webster). To fulfill the law of his being, man must proclaim the true word and thought of unity with God.
fulfillment of righteousness--Attained through affirmation of Truth and denial of error. As man dwells "in the secret place of the Most High," "under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalms 91:1, 2), he will fulfill all righteousness.