The Revealing Word, by Charles Fillmore, [1959], at sacred-texts.com
The Revealing Word, by Charles Fillmore, [1959], at sacred-texts.com
lack--"Fact or state of being deficient or wanting" (Webster). In the great Mind of Spirit there is no thought of lack. Such a thought has no rightful place in man's mind. Deny all thoughts of lack; affirm God's ever-present abundance in all your affairs.
ladder, Jacob's--Represents the step-by-step realization by means of which man assimilates the divine ideas of Truth that come to him from Jehovah.
lamb--Represents innocent, guileless forms of life on the animal plane of consciousness.
lamb, killed and eaten in the night--Represents the giving up of the animal life propensity in the mortal body. The command is that the lamb shall be without spot or blemish, and be wholly eaten after being roasted with fire. This refers to the complete transmutation and surrender of the human life to Spirit after it has been purified by the fires of regeneration.
Lamb of God--The pure life and substance of Being. By His overcoming Jesus restored to mankind the consciousness of this pure life and substance, which flows into man's consciousness through the spiritual body. Its nature is to vivify with perpetual life all things that it touches. Jesus is called "the Lamb of God" (John 1:29).
language--An arbitrary arrangement of sounds used to express thoughts. Thus the same thought in the minds of two men may be beyond their power to communicate to each other because they are not familiar with the intellect's provincial dialect. If these men were conscious of the mental plane where images are the basis of language, they would have no trouble in communicating though they were born of diverse races. The image of a horse in one mind would be seen by the other mind instantly, and communication be easy. The common language of mankind is based
on thought images. We shall never realize the universal language that is the dream of the philologist until we have dropped the arbitrary word plane and ascended into the realm of thought images.
laver--Basin or bowl. The laver with water therein is the word of denial ever at hand ready to cleanse every impure thought that comes into consciousness.
law--The faculty of the mind that holds every thought and act strictly to the Truth of Being, regardless of circumstances or environment. Law is a mathematical faculty. It places first things first.
Laws of mind are just as exact and undeviating as the laws of mathematics. To recognize this is the starting point in finding God.
Man does not make the law; the law is, and it was established for our benefit before the world was formed. Back of the judge is the law out of which he reads. Laws, whether natural or artificial, are but the evidence of an unseen power.
The development of man is under law. Creative mind is not only law, but is governed by the action of the law that it sets up. We have thought that man was brought forth under the fiat or edict of the great creative Mind that can make or unmake at will, or change its mind and declare a new law at any time. But a clear understanding of ourselves and of the unchangeableness of Divine Mind makes us realize that everything has its foundation in a rule of action, a law, that must be observed by both creator and created.
law, all-providing--God is the all-providing law. He is the spiritual substance out of which is made everything the race needs; the Father who supplies all His children bountifully out of His own abundance.
God is Mind; man, the offspring of God, is mind. To know the law of God, man must adjust his mind to God-Mind. The first step in applying this law is recognition of
it as Truth. Unless God is known as the source of all supply, men look to the material world for support. This violates the law and breaks the connection with the one Source of all good.
law, divine--Divine law is the orderly working out of the principles of Being, or the divine ideals, into expression and manifestation throughout creation. Man, by keeping the law of right thought, works in perfect harmony with divine law, and thus paves his way into spiritual consciousness.
Divine law cannot be broken. It holds man responsible for the result of his labors. It is revealed to the mind of man through his consciously thinking on spiritual ideas.
The law that Moses laid down for the Children of Israel was one of denial and affirmation, principally denial. The law that Jesus gave was one of affirmation and love. So in taking control of the forces within, keep on the affirmative side. Let the preponderance of your thought be positive, and do not spend much time saying, "I am not." You may find it helpful sometimes to say, "I am not afraid," but more often you should say, "I am bold, fearless, courageous."
law, evolutionary--Upward trend of all things; in the individual the rising of man from sense consciousness to spiritual consciousness. This law is set into action by our thinking and is continually supported by our thoughts.
law, generic--The law that operates in each group; that from which anything springs; the germ seed that brings forth after its kind.
law, mortal--The law of limitation that man has made for himself.
law, natural--The law of seed, cultivation, and harvest that natural man is subject to for the provision of his wants.
law of attraction--The law that all conditions and circumstances in affairs and body are attracted to us to
accord with the thoughts we hold steadily in consciousness.
law of conservation--Building up a large reserve consciousness of substance, life, strength, and power, instead of laying up material treasures. This is done through prayer.
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal" (Matt. 6:19, 20).
law of giving and receiving--The law of substance that equalizes all things. To realize and maintain divine order, substance must have both an inlet and an outlet in consciousness, and must be kept moving.
To demonstrate substance as supply, the law governing it must be recognized and kept. Those who, from pride or ignorance, do not open themselves to the inflow of substance do not demonstrate supply, and all who by selfishness refuse it an outlet, also fail. Everyone must receive freely and give as freely as he receives. Disregard of the basic principle of supply frequently hinders man's realization of the divine good. Readiness to give and readiness to receive are equally essential.
law of infinite expansion--The principle of never-ceasing growth and development toward the fulfillment of God's perfect idea that is firmly fixed in all creation.
law of justice--Many persons doubt that there is an infinite law of justice working in all things. Let them now take heart and know that this law has not worked in their affairs previously because they have not "called" it into activity at the creative center of consciousness. (see justice)
law of righteousness--The law of spiritual and mental growth that is raising man from sense consciousness to spiritual consciousness. The nature of the universe is purity and goodness. By abiding in the Christ consciousness, man
aligns himself with this divine law. He becomes the "light of the world" (Matt. 5: 14).
law of sin and death--A misnomer. Sin and death are contrary to the law of love and life. They are false beliefs endowed with power through man's erroneous thinking. This seeming law can be transcended by application of the higher and true law of immutable good. Law is Truth, and in Truth all is good. There is no Truth and no reality in sin.
law of thought purification--A rule of mind action whereby man overcomes "the world, the flesh, and the devil" by building the pure Christ consciousness.
law, transgression of--Thinking thoughts that violate the principle of harmony inherent in Being. Such transgression is followed by evil conditions. Through the strength, power, purity, and love that Jesus imparted to the race mind, we can rise superior to the penalty of transgressed law and live forever in our present body forms made glorious.
law written in our "inward parts"--A law either in or around the cells, that controls their formation and duplicates the pattern laid down ages ago in mother Eve and father Adam. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jer. 31:33).
"Lazarus, come forth"--(John 11:43). This refers to the power of the Word to arouse mind energy to such an extent that the physical becomes immersed in the healing life, enabling the spiritually perfect man to come into manifestation.
leaven--The leaven is the Truth. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened" (Matt. 13:33). When a word of Truth seems to be hidden in the mind, it is not idle but is quietly spreading from point to
point. This process continues until the whole consciousness is vitalized by Spirit.
"Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:15). In this case, the leaven represents limited thoughts. When we attempt to confine the divine law to the customary avenues of expression and scoff at anything beyond, we are letting the leaven of the Pharisees work in us. When we allow the finer forces of the body to fulfill lust and appetite, we are letting the leaven of Herod work to our undoing.
"Wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (I Cor. 5:8).
letting go of the old--Erasing from consciousness thoughts contrary to Truth. This is done by denial.
liberation--We are not to be liberated through suppression of sense or by violent overcoming; but through a steady, step-by-step demonstration over every error.
life--That expression of Being which manifests as animation, activity, vigor. Life and substance are ideas in Divine Mind. Life is the acting principle; substance is the thing acted upon. In the phenomenal world, life is the energy that propels all forms to action. Life is not in itself intelligent; it requires the directive power of an entity that knows where and how to apply its force in order to get the best results.
In order to give man a body having life in itself, God had to endow him with a focal life center, located in the generative organs. This center of activity in the organism is also the seat of sensation, which is the most subtle and enticing of all factors that enter into being. But these qualities (sensation and generation) are necessary to man's character, and without them he would not be the complete representative, or image and likeness, of God.
Life does not emanate from the mind; it is not a
psychic or purely mental quality, nor does it spring from the physical. Life is divine, spiritual, and its source is God, Spirit. The river of life is within man in his spiritual consciousness. He comes into consciousness of the river of life through the quickening of Spirit. He can be truly quickened with new life and vitalized in mind and body only by consciously contacting Spirit. This contact is made through prayer, meditation, and good works.
life, crown of--Living eternally in the presence of God. Its attainment depends on the understanding of the science of right thinking.
life, higher--The higher life is a higher state of mind. We know it when we realize I AM the Son of God.
lifted up in consciousness--Resurrected. One who has discovered the Truth of Being is raised, lifted up in consciousness, resurrected daily out of his old, subconscious, negative thought condition into the one positive Reality.
light--The understanding principle in mind. In divine order it always comes first into consciousness. Light is a symbol of wisdom. When Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12), He meant that He was the expresser of Truth in all its aspects.
light, inner--The illumination of Spirit resident in the center of every man's being.
lightning--Represents force, light, power. Jesus said, "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matt. 5:17); that is, He came to demonstrate that natural and spiritual law are one. He foresaw this very period when "the powers of the heavens shall be shaken" (Matt. 24:29)--that is, the mental realms were to be broken up--and He attributed this phenomenon to the coming of the Christ as "lightning."
limitation--Thoughts in consciousness that are narrow or restricted and which keep one in bondage to error. Belief
in lack, illness, sin, or death are limitations in consciousness.
lion--"And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the book and the seven seals thereof" (Rev. 5:5). The lion symbolizes courage, fearlessness, initiative, life. We must have the courage to enter fearlessly into the overcoming life and into the understanding of things. But courage alone will not do. We must have reverence of spiritual things--a devotional attitude--in order to receive spiritual inspiration. The phrase, "of the tribe of Judah," bespeaks this reverential nature and attitude.
lips, sinful--Lips that utter faultfinding words, condemnatory words. The law is, "The lips of the wise shall preserve them" (Prov. 14:3).
logic--(derived from the word Logos, which see). A rational relation or connection between idea and expression. Logic in its strictest sense is the only accurate method of arriving at Truth. Any system of philosophy or religious doctrine that does not admit of the rules of perfect logic in reaching its conclusion from a stated premise, must be outside the pale of pure reason and in the realm of man-made dogma. Logic and Logos are almost synonymous terms, and the highest scriptural authority tells us that all things were made by the Word. Hence, the word of reason or the reasonable word is the very foundation of the universe. Therefore, to know accurately about the reality of things we must disregard all appearances as indicated by the five senses, and go into pure reason--the Spirit from which was created everything that has permanent existence.
Logos--The Word of God; the divine archetype idea that contains all ideas: the Christ, the Son of God, spiritual man in manifestation. Divine Mind in action. This supreme
idea is the creative power, the Christ consciousness formulated by universal Principle.
Logos, law of the--The law of divine creation produces the order and harmony of perfect thought. Law puts first things first. It is a rule of action.
An understanding of the Logos reveals to us the law under which all things are brought forth, the law of mind action. Divine Mind creates by thought, through ideas.
Lord--The activity of the spiritual I AM as the ruling consciousness. The Lord God of the Scriptures is Christ, the Spiritual Man; our divine consciousness; the creative power within us.
Lord, absence from--A state in which both mind and body are functioning in carnality.
Lord is One, the--Oneness of thought and purpose in the individual, as well as the one Presence and one Power--the omnipotent good, which man must know and consider in his contact with the world without. The principle of oneness controls life.
Lord, wrath of the--(see wrath of God)
Lord's Prayer--A series of ideas illustrative of man's relationship to his Creator.
Lord's Supper--(Matt. 26:26-30). Metaphysically, God's covenant with mankind, through His perfect idea, Christ Jesus. This compact was completed through Jesus' breaking the bread and blessing the cup. The bread symbolizes spiritual substance, or the body. The wine symbolizes the blood of Jesus, or spiritual life.
We eat the body of Jesus by affirming the one spiritual substance to be the substance of our body and we drink His blood by affirming and realizing our oneness with the one divine, omnipresent life of Spirit.
love--The pure essence of Being that binds together the whole human family. Of all the attributes of God, love is undoubtedly the most beautiful. In Divine Mind, love is the power that joins and binds in divine harmony
the universe and everything in it; the great harmonizing principle known to man.
Divine love is impersonal; it loves for the sake of loving. It is not concerned with what or who it loves, nor with a return of love. Like the sun, its joy is in the shining forth of its nature. "Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up" (I Cor. 13:4).
Love is an inner quality that sees good everywhere and in everybody. It insists that all is good, and by refusing to see anything but good it causes that quality finally to appear uppermost in itself, and in all things.
Love is the great harmonizer and healer. Whoever calls on God as Holy Spirit for healing is calling on divine love. Divine love will bring your own to you, adjust all misunderstandings, and make your life and affairs healthy, happy, harmonious, and free, "Love therefore is the fulfilment of the law" (Rom. 13:10).
luck--All things come about through law. Men sometimes blindly keep the law or part of it for a time, and it works for them. Not understanding the cause that produced their success, they call it "luck" and build up a belief in "chance."
lust of the flesh--Sense consciousness, which causes man to be tempted. So long as he is ruled by the serpent of sense, man is not fulfilling divine law. The activity of the cleansing, refining process of Spirit is hindered in man when he lets lustful desire enter the love consciousness.