Chapter 8
SPIRITUAL LAW
Charles Fillmore
Dynamics For Living
ALL SANE persons acknowledge the necessity of observing law in their daily
living. The great majority have a human standard. Now the whole race is
awakening to the knowledge of a higher source of existence. More people every
day are giving attention to the law of Spirit in their life.
We find in the Scriptures constant reference, in symbols and also in direct
language, to order as a fundamental law of the universe and of man. All peoples
have observed this, and especially the people of God. Paul said, "All things
should be done decently and in order."
Remedy
Suggestion is systematically used in the business world, and unless you are
strong in your own convictions as to what your needs are, you will be loaded up
with many things for which you have no use. The remedy is to establish yourself
in the spiritual law. You will come under one or the other of these laws, the
manmade or the spiritual, and it is for you to choose which is best.
Whatever there is in mind, body, or affairs that is out of harmony is easily
adjusted when you open the way in your mind for the manifestation of divine
order.
Jesus' Birth
The birth of Jesus was foretold and arranged beforehand. It was not left to
chance. His mother "magnified" the Lord before He was born. This illustrates the
truth that it is necessary to have order from the very beginning. The bringing
forth of John the Baptist is an example of the coming of another state of
consciousness and of the necessity of law and order in prenatal culture.
The same law holds good in our body and our affairs. The power of the word
should be expressed in our homes. We should surround ourselves with words
suggestive of spiritual things. If words count, and we know they do, we should
be careful of every belief taken into consciousness through the eye as well as
through the ear.
Suggestion
From their inception to their expression, words are important. The law is
fulfilled not only in mind but in manifestation also. Every suggestion that
enters the mind brings forth like expression in act. The time is coming when it
will be unlawful to print in the daily papers any record of crime or of anything
that will bring discord into the minds of readers.
Once I read of a man who committed a crime, and in his pocket was found a
newspaper clipping describing almost identically the same criminal act. His
crime was the fruit of suggestion. How many such suggestions does one large
daily paper carry to its thousands of readers in its recital of the daily
horrors that make up the news?
As the world comes more and more under the spiritual law editors and
publishers will not ask their readers what they want, but will give them what
they should have for mental food. And as the people are raised to higher planes
of consciousness they will demand reading of an uplifting character. They will
be just as careful as regards what they read as they are now beginning to be in
reference to food. There will be the same demand for pure reading as for pure
food. If it is against the law of the land to adulterate food, how much more is
it against the law of right thinking to adulterate the truth! We can see the
necessity of order and law according to Spirit. If we would demonstrate health,
every deleterious thought should be kept out of our mental atmosphere even more
carefully than harmful elements are kept out of our material food.
Food and Clothing
This spiritual law is operative in food and clothing. If we think about order
and harmony our taste in material things will change. We shall desire the purest
foods, and there will be more harmony in the colors we choose to wear. Man
stands above all creation. He has power to clothe himself in the richness and
glory of Spirit. Out of the air we may manufacture the things we eat and wear.
This is not a flight of fancy. It is not an assumption of theoretical
metaphysics that we may be able to make our food and clothing from the air, but
a logical conclusion that follows the understanding of God as the omnipresent
source of all that appears.
If you are disorderly and indefinite along any line, put yourself at once
under the order of Divine Mind by affirming daily that the same law that swings
the stars is operative in and through your life and your affairs.
One Law
All people who have studied metaphysics and understand somewhat the action of
the mind recognize that there is one underlying law and that through this law
all things come into expression; also that there is one universal Mind, the
source and sole origin of all real intelligence. First is mind, then mind
expresses itself in ideas, then the ideas make themselves manifest. This is a
metaphysical statement of the divine Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The
trinity Mind, the expression of Mind, and the manifestations of Mind are found
in simple numbers and complex combinations everywhere.
I Am
In the King James Bible the Hebrew "Jehovah" has been translated "Lord." Lord
means an external ruler. Bible students say that Jehovah means the self-existent
One, the I AM. Then instead of reading "Lord" we should read "I AM." It makes a
great difference whether we think of I AM, self-existence within, or "Lord,"
master without.
All Scripture shows that Jehovah means just what God told Moses it meant: I
AM. So instead of "Lord" say "I AM" whenever you read it and you will get a
clearer understanding and realization of what Jehovah is.
God was known to the Israelites as Jehovah-shalom: "I am peace." You can
demonstrate peace of mind by holding the words "I am peace."
If we start any such demonstration and try to apply the I AM to personality,
we fall short. This is frequently the cause of lack of results in carrying out
the laws that all metaphysicians recognize as fundamentally true.
The mind does not always comprehend the I AM in its highest, neither does it
discern that the all-knowing, omnipotent One is within man. This recognition
must be cultivated, and everyone should become conscious of the I AM presence.
This consciousness will come through prayer and meditation upon Truth. In Truth
there is but one I AM, Jehovah, the omnipotent I AM that is eternally whole and
perfect.
If you take Jehovah-shalom into your mind and hold it with the thought of a
mighty peace, you will feel a consciousness, a harmonizing stillness, that no
man can understand. This consciousness is healing in itself. It must be felt,
realized, and acknowledged by your individual I AM before the supreme I AM can
pour out its power. Then you will know that you have touched something; but you
cannot explain to another just what it is, because you have gone beyond the
realm of words and made union with the divine cause. It is the quickening of
your divinity through the power of the word. This divine nature is in us all,
waiting to be brought into expression through our recognition of the power and
might of the I AM; to Jehovah-rapha, which is "I am he that healeth thee."
Inner and Outer
We should not fail to think always of the spiritual law under which the I AM
moves. It is possible for man to take I AM power and apply it in external ways
and leave out the true spiritual law. We are proclaiming that man can use I AM
power to restore health and bring increased happiness; in fact, that through
righteous, lawful use of the I AM he can have everything that he desires. But
some people are using this power in a material way, neglecting soul culture,
building up the external without taking the intermediate step between the
supreme Mind and its manifestation in the outer.
We should remember that the soul must grow as well as the body. For example,
a man was overtaken with physical disability and loss of eyesight some years
ago. In his extremity he turned to the spiritual law for help and was very
faithful in its mental application. Time passed before I saw him again; his
physical condition was unchanged, but there was a great change in his mind. He
had found the light and he was filled with inward rejoicing. He had become blind
that he might see. However his family thought all his dependence upon Truth had
been a failure because his physical sight had not been restored. During all
these years he managed his business, and it prospered, and his family was well
provided for. He was himself for a time disappointed and rebellious because his
eyes were not healed. Then he became glad, because through the prayers and
meditations he found the inner light. His physical sight will be restored when
he has made the complete connection between mind and body.
If you find yourself disappointed because you do not at once demonstrate
health or success, be at peace and know that your earnest prayers and
meditations are working out in you a soul growth that will yet become manifest
beyond your greatest hopes.
It is easier to seek the Truth willingly and be watchful and obedient than it
is to be forced by some severe experience. Hard experiences are not necessary if
we are obedient to the Truth that saves us from them. Time should be given to
prayer and meditation daily. We cannot grow without them, and no man who
neglects them will successfully develop his spiritual powers.
Unification
Before you can realize the mighty power of ideas you must unify them. All
must pull together. Get your ideas in divine order, and a mighty mind force will
begin to work for you right away. This divine order is necessary to the
upbuilding of both mind and body. This divine order is the "kingdom of heaven"
so often referred to by Jesus. To attain this unity and harmony of mind it is
necessary to have perfect statements of Truth and to adhere to them in thought
and word.
Ideas change the race thought atmosphere. Jesus had a grasp of divine ideas.
If we believe in and follow Him we shall come into the Christ state of mind. We
become like-minded by entering into the absolute Mind. In the absolute Mind
there is only harmony.
As man unifies his own mind forces in the one Mind his body is lifted up into
a new state of harmony. If he is not demonstrating this principle, it is because
he is not unified with the one great harmonious Mind. He is not expressing this
Mind as he should because he is not realizing his oneness with it.
Resolve to become one with God through Christ. Harmonize yourself with Him
and all your world will be in harmony. Be on the alert to see harmony
everywhere. Do not magnify seeming differences. Do not keep up any petty
divisions but continually declare the one universal harmony. This will insure
perfect order and wholeness. The Christ Mind is here as the unifying principle
of this race. We must believe in this mind working in us and through us and know
that through it we are joined to the Father-Mind. In the consciousness of the
Father-Mind the unity of God and man is demonstrated.
