Chapter 1
THE WAY TO
PERFECTION
Charles Fillmore
Keep a
True Lent
I AM GOD ALMIGHTY; walk
before me, and be thou
perfect."
In prayer we need to be
deeply conscious that God is the
almighty One, the supreme Creator the
ruler of the universe, that He is
infinite and eternal; we need to know
that God is the underlying,
unchangeable Truth, "with whom can be
no variation, neither shadow that is
cast by turning."
God as principle is the
absolute good expressed in all
creation. When we know God and "worship
him in spirit and truth" we recognize
Him as this great goodness, which is
omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent,
ready and willing to guide, to bless,
and to uplift.
To walk with almighty
God is to walk with Truth and to affirm
the power of Spirit within mind and
body as the dominating mind force; it
is to walk in the light and thus to
apply in our daily living the wisdom
that is from above, acknowledging the
Father as the source of all our
knowing, as the mainspring of all our
actions.
This leads us to the
truth that our knowing God brings
peace, the serene abiding that never
wearies, never questions, never strains
for results. He created and controls
the whole universe. In God "we live,
and move, and have our
being."
Mind is the common
meeting ground between God and man, and
it is only through the most highly
accelerated mind action, as in prayer,
that we can consciously make union with
God, the one and only
Creator.
Prayer is the language
of spirituality and improves the
quality of man's being. Prayer makes
man master in the realm of creative
ideas. The inner silence of prayer is a
great source of spiritual power. There
is no exception to this rule in all the
evidence of life. "Be still, and know
that I am God."
The living Word of God,
the creative idea in Divine Mind, may
be expressed by man when he has
fulfilled the law of expression. To
keep the Word is to revolve it in mind,
to go over it in all its aspects, to
believe in it as Truth, to treasure it
as a saving balm in time of need, and
above all, to obey the law it sets
forth.
The Christ is God's
divine idea of man, the embodiment of
all divine ideas existing in the mind
of Being. The Christ is the "Messiah,"
the "anointed one." The Christ is the
living principle working in man. "Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living
God."
"Know ye not that ye are
a temple of God, and that the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you?" Under the
direction of the Christ a new body is
constructed by the thinking faculty in
man. The materials entering into this
superior structure are spiritual
substances, and the new creation is the
body of Spirit. It breathes an
atmosphere and is thrilled with a life
energy more real than that of the
manifest man. When we come into the
realization of our true Christ body we
feel the stirring within us of the
indwelling Spirit. We know what Paul
meant when he said, "There is a natural
body, and there is also a spiritual
body." The true temple in the "body" of
Christ is a state of consciousness. In
the inmost center of every man the
indwelling Christ resides.
Would you meet your God
in this sacred place? Then quietly
enter this holy of holies in the name
and through the power of Jesus Christ.
Here reality reigns supreme. Neither
doubt nor fear can enter. You will be
conscious only of the great
omnipresence of God, where the light,
joy, peace, and satisfaction of His
Spirit abide, where Truth reigns
supreme.
In this inner realm you
will find the spiritual ethers heavily
charged with ideas that turn to
spiritual substance. As your
consciousness (awareness) expands, you
touch the everlasting truths and you
find that every blessing is abundantly
added. What seems new is but the
unveiling of that which has been
forever.
It is of this high
realization of oneness with Spirit that
Paul wrote in II Cor. 12:4, when the
man was "caught up into Paradise, and
heard unspeakable words, which it is
not lawful for man to
utter."
In this realm, attention
is given to concentrating the mind on
Truth; the I AM, or inner entity is
focalized on God's word until the inner
meaning is realized and man is aware of
a definite spiritual uplift.
Persistent meditation on
the Truth contained in the Word of God
opens the mind to a greater inflow of
Spirit. Then all words become
quickening life and nourishing
substance in both mind and body. "Let
the word of Christ dwell in you
richly."
Your thinking Truth
zealously and affirming it audibly will
dissolve error in consciousness and at
the same time reveal greater spiritual
illumination. In this consciousness
appropriate words of Truth. "Eat them,"
so to speak. Partake of that with which
you form the spiritual substance and
which will manifest itself in the
Christ, or perfect body. Let "Christ be
formed in you." Know that the Holy
Spirit is filling your being with its
illuminating, resurrecting power and
that the all-knowing One shines in you
as it did in Jesus and that you
manifest greater and greater spiritual
understanding.
When man praises the
Spirit of wisdom within he expands and
deepens and enriches his consciousness.
As the Christ radiance lights man's
mind, he sees with the inner eye and he
finds that Truth is a never-failing
light that makes straight his
way.
In this high state of
consciousness he knows that the divine
perfection that exists in the universal
God-Mind is brought into direct contact
with its image and likeness, the Christ
Spirit that was implanted in him by the
Creator from the beginning.
The resurrection of
Jesus takes place in us each time we
rise to the realization of the
perpetual in-dwelling life that
connects us with the Father. The
graveclothes of mortal sense, which are
thoughts of limitation and inevitable
obedience to material laws, are left in
the tomb of matter.
True resurrection within
us lifts up all the faculties of mind
until they conform to the absolute
ideas of Divine Mind. This mental
renewal makes a complete transformation
of the body, so that every function
works in divine order and every cell
becomes incorruptible and
immortal.
For the perpetuation or
the renewal of youth in mind and body
it is well to affirm often:
"Bless Jehovah, O my
soul;
And all that is within me, bless
his holy name.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul,
And forget not all his
benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine
iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases:
Who redeemeth thy life from
destruction;
Who crowneth thee with
lovingkindness and tender
mercies;
Who satisfieth thy desire with good
things,
So that thy youth is renewed like
the eagle."
