Teach Us to Pray, by Charles Fillmore, [1941], at sacred-texts.com
Teach Us to Pray, by Charles Fillmore, [1941], at sacred-texts.com
THE FIRST step of a Truth student in handling the psychic forces of consciousness is the same as that in handling any other, and that is to realize that God is the one and only power; to declare with Byron: "There is no god but God!--to prayer--lo! God is great!"
The name psyche, which figures in Greek mythology, means breath, life. Psyche is represented as one of the three daughters of a king. These three "daughters" are spirit, soul, and body. Psyche is the soul in its many earthly experiences, in its failures and its successes.
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and His law is for the use of all alike. Man interprets His law and operates in accord with it to the best of his ability in his endeavor to grow and prove his mastery over the many events that take place in his life.
If man would become expert in handling scientifically the psychical forces, he should first get a thorough understanding of just what these forces are, and above all he should know that like other forces they are subservient to God's law. The psychic
or soul realm includes the sum total of consciousness, all that the individual has experienced.
In analyzing the soul realm we have first the animal soul. The animal soul comprises all sensations and all thoughts that we entertain with reference to animal life. Through man's thought the animal soul forms the animal man.
The second element in the soul realm, the human soul, is one step higher than the animal, and comprises all the thoughts and emotions we entertain on the human plane of consciousness: thoughts of family, of friends, of business associates, or personal possessions.
The third and highest element of soul is the spiritual. This phase of the soul is the depository of all thoughts and aspirations we have ever had about God and things spiritual. Here also we find a consciousness that relates us to God and forms the connecting link between the human and the divine. When through prayers, meditations, and good works man has built spiritual qualities into his soul to the point of dominance over the animal and human natures, he is ready for the regeneration with Jesus Christ.
It is true that through the animal and human departments of the soul we are in sympathy with all nature, which includes the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and as these are all ensouled, their reactions affect us when there is no higher power in evidence. But there is a higher power in us every one: Spirit. In Genesis it is stated that spiritual
man, the image-and-likeness man, was given dominion over all creation. As Shakespeare aptly says,
In our ongoing we endeavor always to bear in mind that God is the one and only power. We must know and realize that the great intelligence of God works in every conceivable way to lead us into the light, thus aiding us in avoiding error conditions. The indwelling Christ will "neither slumber nor sleep"; with the Holy Spirit it is teaching us the great truth that we are "Gods in the making" and that as such we have dominion over every thought and condition.
When Jesus was born in the manger in Bethlehem the star appeared in the east and pointed the way for the Wise Men to the spot where the young child lay. A mighty soul had been incarnated and had come to do a mighty work on the earth. So great was the occasion that the whole heavenly universe sang with joy. This to the individual means that a speck of light shone in the east, the within, revealing to the illumined soul what was taking place. The star is a symbol of potentiality; it represents expanding possibilities. The saving I AM had at last made its spiritual power manifest in the earth. But was the star seen by those who were not spiritually illumined? No. They had eyes but saw not. Only the illumined, the awakened, could perceive
the star of Bethlehem. So the spiritual I AM is often doing a great work in a man, and the man knows it not. This scripture also reveals the way in which Spirit often uses the so-called psychic to do its bidding, to reveal its power.
Today men are breaking into the psychic realm as never before and, not being consciously unified with Spirit, are becoming entangled in their own mentality, in addition to the psychic vibrations of the whole race. Often this leads to very unpleasant experiences.
In fact all people are being quickened, and in the absence of an understanding of Truth erratic states of mind are formed that cause fantastic notions about many things. Persons in this condition often become supersensitive and imagine that they are being criticized, that others are talking about them, and a thousand and one other things. Very often this condition is the result of trying to communicate with the dead through mediums and spiritualistic seances.
There is a realm in which the souls that have left the body are functioning feebly. Spiritualists call it "spirit land" or "the home of the soul." The early Christians taught that those who had passed away were asleep. This is not true of all persons, but those who have lived a long, strenuous life and are weary want rest and fall asleep. Paul said, "Because you have not discerned the Lord's body you have fallen asleep." Others who have lost their body early in life are ready for immediate action
in reincarnation and do not find sleep necessary.
Eventually all souls reincarnate on the earth as babes and in due time take up their problems where they left off at death. But before they do reincarnate they sometimes try to communicate with their loved ones here on earth. This is never satisfactory and leads nowhere. Persons who sit in seances are taking a great risk. Instead of really getting in touch with their loved ones they are apt to make contact with psychic forces of a low order that tend to weaken their faith in God.
Paul said, "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
When a person is established in the Christ power and dominion, he finds that Spirit often uses the mental realm to reveal to him some message that is of vital importance to him. Such messages are imparted through dreams and visions. When the soul is still, as in sleep, the Spirit of truth throws the message on the screen of the mind in the form of thought pictures. One only has to read the symbols in order to receive the message. If the message is constructive, it is well to praise God and give thanks. If it is of a destructive nature, take the message into the silence and place it before God. Hold the thought for light until you have the realization that the illumination of Spirit permeates and penetrates the whole condition. Spiritual light transforms, reconstructs,
and makes beautiful. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was an expert at interpreting dreams and visions. However many of the patriarchs of old were well versed in the art of deciphering the visions of the night.
Again the psychic realm is the realm in which primitive man (Adam and Eve) first functioned. Instead of listening to the Lord they listened to the serpent (the sense man) and learned to indulge in sensation until it depleted divine substance. Disintegration of the body followed. This is physical death. For this cause the human family lost their original estate in the ethereal or heavenly kingdom and descended into earthly fleshly consciousness.
We are now, through Christ, listening to Jehovah God, through whom we are learning the law of life, and we are being restored to the understanding that all the factors that enter into life are here all the time and are ours to use. Through Christ man has dominion. Through Christ it is possible for us to make the perfect union between soul and body, and enter into the consciousness of Almightiness, thus being restored to the paradise of God from which we originally came forth.
We should not think of the psychic realm as evil or be afraid of it. Through Christ we possess mastery and dominion over all realms. Through our own Christ dominion we develop spiritual powers to handle the psychic realm to great advantage. And that this is a realm in which tremendous forces are present is being discovered by the investigations of
physical science. Jesus often referred to the "kingdom of the heavens" or the kingdom of God, which He said was very nigh unto us and even within us. This kingdom is above the psychic, awaiting our appropriation of it through prayer. Jesus told His followers that after His ascension they were to go into the upper room in Jerusalem (a high, peaceful state of consciousness), where the Holy Spirit would come upon them with power. Science says the ether possesses dynamic power beyond anything we can imagine. Sir Oliver Lodge is quoted as saying that there is energy enough in one cubic inch of ether to run a forty-horsepower engine for forty millions of years. This is beyond all human conception; but many of the stories that science is telling us about the power of the ether are fully equal to this, and if they were in the Bible skeptics would point to them as examples of the credulity of the Christians.
Jesus says that all power should be given to us, which carries with it the idea of unlimited capacity.
For mastery and dominion over all conditions affirm:
I AM THAT I AM.
Through Jesus Christ I am the master of every realm of consciousness in my being.
Through Jesus Christ I enter into a full and complete understanding of how to handle all states of consciousness to the glory of God.
I am illumined with the light of Spirit, and I bring "every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
I commit all my works unto Jehovah, and my purposes are established.
Every plane of consciousness in me is transformed by the renewing of the mind.