The Revealing Word, by Charles Fillmore, [1959], at sacred-texts.com

name--An arbitrary appellation received in the language of the intellect describing a mental image or thought picture.

In the English language we have a very careless way of expressing the recondite meaning of words, but in the Hebrew the name of every person or thing represents its character. Every name in the Scriptures has an inner meaning. For instance, Bethlehem means "house of bread," and indicates the nerve center at the pit of the stomach through which the universal substance joins with the refined or spiritualized chemical products of the body substance.

The Scriptures give much importance to the naming and numbering of the prophets and peoples. The Lord always gave the wise men and leaders new names when

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they achieved some signal victory. The record abounds with such examples. When the great Jehovah sent Moses to bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt He gave the name by which He was to be known: "I AM THAT I AM."

name, God's--To describe God is to give Him limitation, hence He could not be given a fairer designation than "I AM THAT I AM." This is without confines or bounds and it allows unlimited expansion in every direction.

Metaphysicians have found that this name held in mind persistently gives the mind freedom from narrow beliefs. It lets the imagination soar away from its dimensional concepts of God, and there flows into the mind in consequence a whole flood of expanded ideas.

name of Jesus--Spiritual understanding proves that the name of a great character carries his name potency and that wherever his name is repeated silently or audibly his attributes become manifest. Jesus knew this, and He commanded His disciples to go forth in His name. The marvelous healing works that they did in His name prove the great spiritual power resident in His name.

napkin--Represents that in which something is hid. Too often we keep concealed a bit of Truth or a talent that should be taken out and put to some good use. (see Luke 19:20)

narrow door--The open mind that measures all things by the gauge of Truth. This way is "straitened" because it requires that only Truth be recognized, and it rules out untruth or evil.

nations--Aggregations of thoughts in the mind that are to be instructed through the faculties.

nature--The intellect's name for God. Men fall short when they seek to find God by studying nature. Instead of molding and animating the cells of their bodies, they project thought outward in speculating about the universe and its law.

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Nature is the servant of mind, and when lawful thoughts are enthroned in consciousness nature restores the natural harmony existing between Spirit, soul, and body. When man asserts his divine supremacy he dominates nature.

nature, animal--The undisciplined nature in man or that phase of his being which has been allowed to express according to the desires of sense.

nature, restorative power of--This is the name given by doctors to the Spirit of health, which is always right at hand awaiting an opportunity to enter in to make whole and to harmonize all discords in the body.

neck--The seat of the power faculty in man.

necromancy--An activity of man's mind used adversely in which he is in league with hidden forces such as mesmerism and black magic and uses them in selfish ways.

negation--The unreal; that which has no basis in reality.

negative--The state of consciousness that repels good and attracts its own likeness, lack. Poverty is the negative side of plenty; sickness is the negative side of health; death is the negative side of life. These states result from the mind's being allowed to image anything contrary or adverse to the one almighty resource, God.

negative, dealing with--Denial of error thoughts and beliefs.

nerve fluid--A spiritual fluid that God is propelling throughout man's whole being continually, as the electromagnetic center of every physically expressed atom. This wonderful stream of nerve fluid finds its way over all the nerves in man's body temple, giving him the invigorating, steadying power of the Holy Spirit.

nerves--"Cordlike or filamentous bands of nervous tissue that connect parts of the nervous system with the other organs of the body, and conduct nervous impulses to or away from these organs" (Webster). The nerves have

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been described as wires over which messages are sent to and from the brain. Every emotion and every feeling that is transmitted over the nerves to the brain is registered and translated into thought, which may be expressed through the spoken word.

net--Man's mind is the net that catches thoughts, which are the basis of external conditions. This net works hard and long in the darkness of human understanding and gains but little, but once the Christ Mind is perceived and obeyed the net is cast on "the right side," and success follows.

new birth--The realization by man of his spiritual identity, with the fullness of power and glory that follows.

A birth is a coming into a state of being. Man first is born, or comes into a state of physical being; he thinks of himself as flesh, material. The "new birth" is the coming into a higher state of being that is alive to the fact that man is like God, one with God.

newness of life--Understanding of the spiritual facts of being.

new race--The race of men expressing the perfection of God as typified in Jesus. All men are potential members of this new race; they can become a part of it by following and demonstrating the Christ principle.

New Thought--A mental system that holds man as being one with God (good) through the power of constructive thinking.

night--Represents human understanding in which man's thought net works long and hard with little gain.

nonresistance--A passive state of mind. The law of nonresistance as taught by Jesus is demonstrated only by erasing from the individual consciousness every thought of personal rights.

nostrils--Represent openness to the inspirations of Divine Mind.

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numbered--To be numbered is to be especially designated as having place, relation, importance, and necessity. If you are numbered you are one of the factors that enter into the great problem of life. To number and to name mean one and the same thing. If you are numbered you are therefore recorded in the annals of heaven and the omnipresent Father knows you by a name peculiar to Spirit.