Chapter 6
THINKING
Charles Fillmore
Dynamics For Living
TO MAN is given the highest power in the universe, the conscious power of
thought. There is a universal, creative force that urges man forward to the
recognition of the creative power of his individual thought. This thought is
elemental, and all its attributes come under the dominion of man. When he
cooperates with Principle, man sits on the throne of his authority and the
elemental force is subject to him.
Thinking is the formulating process of mind. The thinking faculty is the
inlet and the outlet of all your ideas. It is active, zealous, impulsive, but
not always wise. Its nature is to think, and think it will. The thinking faculty
in you makes you a free agent, because it is your creative center. In and
through this one power you establish your consciousness--you build your world.
Thought
Thought is a product of thinking. It is a mental vibration or impulse. Each
thought is an identity that has a central ego around which all its elements
revolve. Thoughts are capable of expressing themselves. Every thought clothes
itself in a life form according to the character given it by the thinker. The
form is simply the conclusion of the thought. The mind of man marshals its
faculties and literally makes into living entities the thoughts that it
entertains.
Energies (thought vibrations) are sent out by the force and power of thought.
Thought power is the moving force within an idea that gives it expression. All
structures are built by thought power. This power is transmitted from mind to
mind and from mind to body in all living forms. The omnipresent, invisible
substance (thought-stuff) is ever ready to take form in accordance with one's
mental pattern. The thought-stuff of the universe is more sensitive than a
phonograph record. It transcribes not only all sounds, but even the slightest
vibration of thought.
Thought Aggregation
Like attracts like. A thought will take up its abode in our consciousness
with thoughts of like character. This law of attraction continues until combined
thoughts make a colony. This colony of thoughts expresses itself in the cells of
the body--for good or ill. This collection or aggregation of ideas in the mind
is a thought center. They build organs through which they manifest. The
surrounding mental climate or thought atmosphere is created by each person in
accordance with the character of his thinking. Thoughts of negation build a
discordant atmosphere. Thoughts of love, prosperity, health, and faith create a
harmonious mental atmosphere.
Thought Control
Thought is controlled by the right use of affirmation and denial--by the
power of the mind to accept and reject. This power of the mind is the I AM, and
it is through the avenue of I AM expression that thought control, dominion, and
mastery are obtained. Thoughts are controlled by the mind through its power to
say "yes" or "no." To "hold a thought" is to affirm or deny a certain
proposition both mentally and audibly until the logic of the mind is satisfied
and spiritual realization is attained.
Denial
Human consciousness is made up of a multitude of false personal and race
beliefs. Denial is the mental process of erasing from consciousness the false
beliefs. It clears away belief in evil as reality and thus makes room for the
establishing of Truth. Through it we get rid of the shadows. We cleanse the
mind. A denial is a relinquishment and should not be made with vehemence. Make
denials as though you were gently sweeping away cobwebs.
Affirmation
When we poise ourselves in Divine Mind our denials and affirmations will be
made in right relation. We will know just when to let go of a thought and when
to lay hold of another.
The purpose of affirmation is to establish in consciousness a broad
understanding of the divine principles on which all life and existence depend.
By affirming Truth we are lifted out of false thinking into the consciousness of
Spirit. An affirmation is a positive statement of Truth. By the use of it one
claims and appropriates that which is his in Truth. It is the mental movement
that asserts confidently and persistently the Truth of Being in the face of all
appearances to the contrary. The sum total of thought in all its positive
aspects composes the affirmations that bring ideas into form. They do not have
to be made in set terms, words, or statements.
Affirmations of words of Truth realized in consciousness bring the mind into
just the right attitude to receive light, power, and guidance from Spirit. Words
are the vehicles through which ideas make themselves manifest. Words that have
in them the realization of perfect, everywhere-present, always-present divine
life, and our oneness with this life, are dominant in the restoration of life
and health. When spiritual words abide in man's consciousness, the word or
thought formed in the human mind must give way to the higher principles of
Being.
The Decree
To decree is to command or to ordain. To decree with assurance is to
establish and to fix an ideal in substance. The force behind the decree is
invisible. It binds with invisible power the one who makes it. We have only a
slight conception of the strength of the intangible. Affirmations are far
stronger than the strongest visible thing in the world. Words charged with power
and intelligence increase with use.
Thought and Word
Man cannot know how the thought or word work except through his own
consciousness. He must understand, control, and put in order his own thought and
word. Our most important study is our own consciousness. By a right
understanding, and by using right thoughts and words, man will experience the
kingdom within him.
Thoughts are capable of expressing themselves. They think. Man thinks. He
thinks into his thoughts all that he is. There is a difference between the
original thinking and the secondary thought. One has its animating center in
Spirit; the other, in thought. One is Son of God; the other is son of man. If
man conformed to the divine creative law, his word would make things instantly.
Every word has its effect, though unseen and unrecognized. What we think, we
usually express in words. Our words bring about in our life and affairs whatever
we put into them. A weak thought is followed by words of weakness. Through the
law of expression and form, words of weakness change to weakness the character
of everything that receives them.
Talk about nervousness and weakness produces corresponding conditions.
Sending forth the word of strength and affirming poise will bring about the
desired strength and poise. Every time we speak we cause the atoms of the body
to tremble and change their places. Not only do we cause the atoms of our own
body to change their position, but we raise or lower the rate of vibration and
otherwise affect the bodies of others with whom we come in contact. Thus, every
word brings forth after its kind.
Directive Word Power
The spoken word carries vibrations through the universe and moves the
intelligence inherent in every form, animate or inanimate. Man, the highest
emanation of Divine Mind, has great directive power and is really cooperator
with God in forming the universe. We should be speaking words of Truth to
everything. There are no secrets and no concealments.
The power of the word is given man to use. The better he understands the
character of God and his own relation to humanity, the more unselfishly will he
exercise this power. Some are using this power in selfish ways. This should not
deter others who have a better understanding of the law from using it in right
ways. When we need things necessary to our happiness, it is not sacrilegious to
set in action this higher law in attaining them. The word of one in authority
carries weight and produces far-reaching effects. If your word is selfish, that
which will come to you through its use will be unsatisfactory. Learn to speak
right words only. It is your duty as expresser of the divine law to speak forth
the Logos, the very Word of God, to manifest for you and in you its innate
perfection.
Thought and Act
Every act of man has its origin in thought, which is expressed into the
phenomenal world from a mental center that is but a point of radiation for an
energy that lies back of it. That point of radiation is the conscious I, which
in its correct relation is one with Cause, and has at its command all the power
potential in Cause.
The conscious I can look in two directions--to the outer world where the
thoughts that rise within it give sensation and feeling, which ultimate in a
moving panorama of visibility; or to the world within, whence all its life,
power, and intelligence are derived. When the I looks wholly within, it loses
all sense of the external. When it looks wholly without, upon sensation and
feeling, it loses its bearings in the maze of its own thought creations. Then it
builds up a belief of separateness from, and independence of, a causing power.
Man sees only form and makes his God a personal being located in a city of
dimensions. This belief of separateness leads to ignorance. When the soul thinks
itself something alone, it cuts itself off in consciousness from the fount of
inspiration. Believing himself separate from his source, man loses sight of the
divine harmony. The only walls of separation are those built by consciousness of
separation.
Thought Forms
Many factors enter into the process of thinking. The capacity of the thinker
to form thoughts, to give them substance and force, is the great factor. The
understanding of right and wrong, truth and error, substance and shadow, is
important. Many significant conditions enter into that mental process loosely
termed thinking.
Every mental process is generative. From thinking is evolved what is called
living. Thinking is formative. Thought clothes itself in a life form according
to the character given it by the thinker. Every thought produces a living
organism. Thought is creative and covers every phase of life. Every life
expression originated in some thought. All of the detestable thoughts that
mankind harbors, produce living organisms after their kind.
Error Thoughts
Error thoughts represent belief in thoughts and beliefs not of God. They are
untrue. They have no foundation in Truth. Error thought is a product of the
fallen human consciousness. It is negation or evil. Evil is a parasite. It has
no permanent life of itself. Its whole existence depends on the life it borrows
from its parent. When its connection with the parent is severed, nothing
remains. In Divine Mind there are no evil conditions. Such conditions have no
basis of reality. They are conjurations of a false consciousness. Apparent evil
is the result of ignorance. When Truth is presented, the error disappears.
Man has the privilege and freedom of using God-power as he will. When he
misuses it he brings about inharmonious conditions. These are called evil. Evil
appears in the world because man is not in spiritual understanding. He can do
away with evil by learning rightly to use the one Power. If there were a power
of evil, it could not be changed.
Experimentation
Man is a free agent. He can open his mind to divine wisdom and know creative
law, or he can work out his unfoldment through experimentation. Our human race
is in the experimental stage. In our ignorance we transgress the law to the very
limit, and then a great reaction sets in, a general condition that is negative
to the point of dissolution. Then that in us which always looks obediently to
God in an extremity is awakened, and we seek divine guidance. The human race has
formed laws of physical birth and death, laws of sickness and inability, laws
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 seeks to help men spiritually, the human mind
opposes it and makes every effort to solve its problems in its own way.
The great need of the human family is mind control. Mastery is attained
through realization of the power of Spirit.
