The Revealing Word, by Charles Fillmore, [1959], at sacred-texts.com
The Revealing Word, by Charles Fillmore, [1959], at sacred-texts.com
race consciousness--The human race has formed laws of physical birth and death, laws of sickness and physical inability, laws making food the source of bodily existence, laws of mind that recognize no other source of existence except the physical. The sum total of these laws forms a race consciousness separate from and independent of creative Mind. When creative Mind sought to help men spiritually, the mind of the flesh opposed it and made every effort to solve its problems in its own way. The great need of the human family is mind control. Jesus showed us that mastery is attained through realization of the power of Spirit.
race errors--Erroneous race thoughts that bind mankind to sin, disease, poverty, war, calamity, and death.
race mind--Totality of beliefs, thoughts, memories, feelings, and experiences of the race. Man has built into the race mind a consciousness of corruptible flesh instead of the inherent incorruptible substance of God-Mind.
radiation--An extension of consciousness. Jesus' soul radiation or aura was so powerful that it perpetually stimulates to greater achievement, and thrills with new life all who enter its sphere of influence. (see aura)
rain--Metaphysically, an outpouring of Spirit that constantly
refreshes and enriches man's developing thoughts. The descent of potential ideas into substance. The rain that "watereth the earth" represents the love of God, which comes into mind when summoned and needed.
raising of Lazarus--The restoration in consciousness of the idea of youth, which is asleep in the subconsciousness.
rats--Represent destructive, undermining, gnawing thoughts.
raven, going forth of a--The raven's going forth represents the reaching out of the thought from within to connect with the outer world. There is an individual consciousness, which is the ark, and a universal consciousness, which is the heavens and the earth.
rays--All mental action radiates rays of light. Clairvoyants and psychics have long claimed that they can see these rays surrounding not only human beings, but animals, plants, and even stones. Their claims have been considered chimerical until in the last few years, when science found that it can measure the force of these invisible rays. The character of the thoughts colors the emanations of these rays. If the thoughts pertain to the things of sense, the rays are dark and weak; if the affectional and intellectual nature is active, they become highly colored and forceful. When the mind is exalted in prayer, a dazzling light radiates from all parts of the body, but especially from the head.
rays, healing--Spiritual rays superior to the ultraviolet rays that come from the sun. They heal both mind and body.
reality--That which is abiding, eternal, and unchangeable, the same "yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever" (Heb. 13:8). The basic principles of mathematics and music are real, because they are not subject to change. A wrong application of their principles may produce discord, but the principles are not disturbed. God is the one harmonious
Principle underlying all being and the reality out of which all that is eternal comes.
All causes are in mind. Error thoughts produce the mental and physical inharmonies called disease. These effects are not enduring and eternal. Error can be erased from the mind and be made to disappear from the body.
realization--The deep inner conviction and assurance of the fulfillment of an ideal. It means at-one-ment, completion, perfection, wholeness, repose, resting in God. It is the dawning of Truth in the consciousness. When realization takes place, one abides in the light of God-Mind. It is the inner conviction that prayer has been answered, although there is as yet no outer manifestation.
The supreme realization is unity with God-Mind, complete oneness with the Christ consciousness. This highest realization is taking place more widely today among men than at any time in all history. Jesus fully attained this supreme realization.
realm, spiritual--The higher realm of consciousness built in accordance with the Christ ideal. The realm of Spirit is wherever God is working to express Himself. When man as principle becomes the perfect image and likeness of God, no other realm will appear to have being.
rebellion--Open defiance and resistance to an authority to which one owes allegiance. One rebels because he believes he is not being rightly governed, his conditions are not satisfactory. Man has been taught that God brought on him sickness, poverty, inharmony, and that these conditions are the will of God. While he recognizes that God is supreme ruler and governor of all things, man rebells at such conditions being imposed on him. As soon as a man comes into the understanding that his own thoughts and words are the cause of the conditions in his life, he no longer rebels and blames God. He uses his creative thought power, he sets the Word into right activity, and good comes into his life.
receiving--(see giving)
receptivity, spiritual--The attitude of mind that awaits the higher way as a little child awaits the helping hand of a parent. It is not the arbitrary disciplinarian, but the loving, tender, understanding heart that in visible life lightens the intricate problems that perplex the mind. When one who is receptive and obedient gives himself unreservedly to Spirit and receives without antagonism its guidance, he is delighted with the possibilities that are disclosed to him in caring for his physical and spiritual needs. He then begins to realize what Jesus meant when He said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt. 16:24).
recompense--The satisfaction and uplift that one feels after a realization of Truth.
re-creation--The process of redemption; a gradual transformation that takes place as man pays the price, gives up self, and allows Spirit to work in mind and body.
redemption--The process by which the life and substance of man's lesser self are brought to conform to the standards of his spiritual self. The body is redeemed from destruction by attaining spiritual consciousness on earth. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption" (I Cor. 15:53).
regeneration--A change in which abundant spiritual life, even eternal life, is incorporated into the body. The transformation that takes place through bringing all the forces of mind and body to the support of the Christ ideal. The unification of Spirit, soul, and body in spiritual oneness.
Regeneration begins its work in the conscious mind and completes it in the subconsciousness. The first step is cleansing or denial in which all error thoughts are renounced. This includes forgiveness for sins committed and a general clearing of the whole consciousness. After
the way has been prepared, the second step takes place. This is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
reincarnation--When a soul leaves the body, it rests for a season. Then innate desire for material expression asserts itself, and the ego seeks the primal cell and builds another body. This is reincarnation. Reincarnation will continue until the ego awakens to the Christ Mind and through it builds an imperishable body.
The law of Being is broken by sin and death. Resurrection or regeneration in this body here and now--not reincarnation--is the aim of overcomers. Reincarnation is the result of man's use of the great forces of Mind, enabling an ego or soul that has been separated from the vehicle of expression (the body) again to attract to it the necessary substance to reconstruct the body-consciousness and to have another opportunity for the demonstration of the Truth of Being, but reincarnation is not a part of the divine plan and does not lift man out of mortal limitations. It is not an aid to spiritual growth, but merely a makeshift until full Truth is discerned.
relaxation--A letting go of tenseness in mind and body. Abatement of strain. Loosening the tight mental grip we have on ourselves in order that the healing Christ life may flow freely through our being. "Come unto me . . . and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).
religion--A systematic exposition on the awareness of a deity who is the supreme ruler of heaven and earth; that which arouses reverence and love for a supreme being. There is a wide range of religious experience between the blindly groping faith that caused men to pass their children through the fire as sacrifice to their deities, and the divine consciousness of Jesus, who submitted His body to the purifying fire of the Spirit and came forth alive with a life that never dies.
In the study of things pertaining to religion we should keep in mind the three activities of consciousness: spiritual,
psychical, and physical. The spiritual is the realm of absolute principles; the psychical is the realm of thought images; the physical is the realm of manifestation. The well-balanced, thoroughly developed man, of which Jesus is the type, comprehends and consciously adjusts his spirit, soul, and body as a whole, and thereby fulfills the law of his being. Those who are on the way to this attainment have various experiences, which are symbolically set forth in the Scriptures.
renunciation--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. The center of renunciation, sometimes called elimination, in the lower part of the abdomen, carries forward the work of elimination of error thoughts from the mind and waste from the body.
repentance--A turning from a belief in sin and error to a belief in God and righteousness; a reversal of mind and heart in the direction of the All-Good. When we repent, we break with mortal thought and ascend into a spiritual thought realm, the kingdom of God.
The Greek word metanoia is translated "repentance," which has been interpreted to mean an admission to God of sorrow for past sin and a resolve to be good in the future. The field of action for that which has been assumed to be goodness in the sight of God has nearly always been in conduct.
There is always hope for the repentant sinner. A repentant state of mind is an exceedingly good state for one who has been on the error side. If you find yourself suffering the result of transgressed law, begin at once a righteous repentance. As soon as you repent and recognize that the way of Spirit is the way of pleasantness, your sins are forgiven you, and you are made whole and well.
repetitions, vain--When we rehearse affirmations just because they are given to us to hold, with no thought of their inner reality, or if we are in a doubtful state of mind, they become "vain repetitions." It is true that a declaration of Truth may not at first repeating find lodgment in consciousness and that we may repeat it over and over before it becomes a living word, but the attitude of mind as we go through this process is the seed that bears fruit, the assurance of the harvest. Nothing outside of man can affect him when he is in contact with his inner spiritual source.
resistance--The greatest disintegrating element in the human consciousness is resistance. Beware of every form of fighting, and of all thoughts of a destructive character. Thoughts build or destroy, and they will work in your mind and body in an adverse way and tear down the good you desire to build up if you do not form them with care.
A mental state of resistance indicates an unyielding personal will. Evil has no power except that which man gives it by his thought. Resisting evil is a way of affirming its power. A positive, fearless attitude in facing the appearance of evil overcomes it, and this attitude comes from the understanding that evil has no power.
restitution--The resurrection of man to the divine image and likeness in mind and body and to the dominion that has been his from the beginning. The restitution work also includes the earth, which is to be redeemed from the curse that fell on it through sin. It is to blossom and bring forth and be a paradise, a fitting home for redeemed man.
restlessness--The unsatisfied longing of a man for God. Restlessness cannot be satisfied by change of climate or environment or by travel or by any other outward change. Only by a man's finding his center in God can restlessness and discontent be satisfied.
restorative power of nature--The term given by doctors to the Spirit of health, which is always right at hand awaiting opportunity to enter in to make whole and to harmonize all discord in the body.
resurrection--The restoring of mind and body to their original, undying state. This is accomplished by the realization that God is Spirit and that God created man with power like that which He Himself possesses. When man realizes this, his mind and body automatically become immortal. "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:11). The word resurrection also suggests that there has been a falling short of the divine standard; therefore, the necessity of being restored and revived. Through resurrection man becomes an inhabitant here and now of "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev. 21:1).
Jesus was raised from the dead. He overcame death in the body. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Physical death is not necessary. "We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed" (I Cor. 15:21, 51).
The power of the resurrection is the Christ. "I am the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25). This resurrection is not of the future, "but hath now been manifested by . . . our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light" (II Tim. 1:10).
Christ, absolute Principle, the God-idea man, is the true resurrecting power and life in each of us here and now. Jesus resurrected His body through the spiritual I AM dwelling in Him.
The resurrection takes place in us every time we rise to Jesus' realization of the perpetual indwelling life that is connecting us with the Father. A new flood of life comes
to all who open their minds and their bodies to the living word of God.
revelation--An unveiling, a disclosure of Truth, making known that which is hidden. The revelation of Christ to all men is the ultimate revelation.
Divine revelation is much more common than is understood. The Spirit of truth is revealing the hidden wisdom to thousands on every hand. Poets and writers of Truth are being inspired of the Most High. Quiet citizens in every walk of life are the recipients of the divine word. Every man who has earnestly asked for divine guidance, or who has earnestly desired to do right in the sight of God and man, is being taught by the Holy Spirit.
reverence--The attitude of reverence is an important feature in developing the Christ consciousness. Without it the mind loses a certain necessary connection with Spirit and lacks that central poise of faith that gives a religious tenor to the process.
rich young man--(Mark 10:17-27). Personality; the state of consciousness in man that lays hold of the world of form, seeking satisfaction in personal possessions and in fulfilling the letter of the law.
righteousness--A state of harmony established in consciousness through the right use of God-given attributes. It leads directly to eternal life. Truth working in consciousness brings forth the perfect salvation of the whole man--Spirit, soul, and body--and righteousness (right relation) is expressed in all his affairs.
right side--The "right side" (John 21:6) is always on the side of Truth, the side of power. Whenever you, the master, are there, the nets are filled with ideas, because you are in touch with the infinite storehouse of wisdom.
rites--The rites and ceremonies of the priests in the tabernacle or temple represent the action of spiritual forces in developing the body. The great object of man's existence in planetary consciousness is to build a body after the
ideals given by the Lord. The physical body is the tabernacle or temporary structure in and through which the enduring body is formed, and regeneration is a combination of chemical, mental, and spiritual processes.
river of life--The source of the natural healing impulse that constantly reconstructs the organism. When a man in faith makes intimate connection between his mind and the Father's, he enters into the river of life. And he has the ability to take others with him into the waters that cleanse, purify, and vitalize.
rod--Metaphysically, the power of the I AM in spiritual consciousness; I AM mastery and dominion.
roll, burning of--The burning of the roll (Jer. 36th chapter) represents a denial by the spiritual thought working in consciousness. To go forward to more advanced demonstrations, we must give up the present ruling ideas.
When we reach a point in our ongoing where there is necessity of greater spirituality, our own meditations reveal to us that the way is through reforming our methods of thought and life. This is the intuitive perception of the progressive trend of all things, which is symbolized in the burning of the "roll" by the king. The lesson is that we shall read out of the "roll" of the higher wisdom the new revelations of Truth that are being constantly presented to us and be open and receptive to divine evolution.
room, upper--The storehouse of ideas. The I AM center is in the crown of the head and dispenses the substance and life and intelligence of Spirit.
rulership--In personal rulership the great ones exercise authority; he who rules lords it over his subjects. In spiritual rulership he who serves best is greatest and is ruler through true merit. (see Matt. 20:25-28)
Jesus is the greatest ruler the world has ever known because He served humanity best, even to overcoming death itself; through His demonstration the way to eternal life was opened to humanity.