Chapter 12
OVERCOMING
THE THOUGHT OF LACK
Charles Fillmore
Prosperity
THE KINGDOM of heaven is
like unto a net, that was cast into the
sea, and gathered of every kind; which,
when it was filled, they drew up on the
beach; and they sat down, and gathered
the good into vessels, but the bad they
cast away."
The mind of man is like
the net catching every kind of idea,
and it is man's privilege and duty
under the divine law to separate those
that are good from those which are not
good. In this process the currents of
unselfish, spiritual love flowing
through the soul act as great
eliminators, freeing the consciousness
of thoughts of hate, lack, and poverty,
and giving the substance of Spirit free
access into the consciousness and
affairs.
In another parable Jesus
explained the same process as a
separation of the sheep from the goats.
When this divine current of love and
spiritual understanding begins its
work, we must make this separation. We
put the sheep, the good and obedient
and profitable thoughts, on the right,
and we put the goats, the stubborn,
selfish, useless thoughts, on the left.
Each must handle his own thoughts and
overcome them by aligning them with the
harmony and order of the divine
thought. There is an infinite,
omnipresent wisdom within us that will
deal with these thoughts and guide us
in making the discrimination between
the right and the wrong when we trust
ourselves fully to its intelligence. We
can establish a connection between the
conscious mind and the superconscious
mind within us by meditation, by
silence, and by speaking the
word.
The superconscious mind
within you discriminates among the
kinds of food you assimilate, controls
your digestion, your breathing, and the
beating of your heart. It "doeth all
things well," and it will help you do
this important work of directing you in
the thoughts you should hold and the
ones you should cast out. As you
develop this mind within yourself you
will find that you can gradually turn
over more and more of your affairs to
its perfect discrimination. Nothing is
too great for it to accomplish, nor is
anything too trivial for it to handle
with perfection and dispatch. This mind
of the Spirit will guide you in perfect
ways, even in the minute details of
your life, if you will let it do so.
But you must will to do its will and
trust it in all your ways. It will lead
you unfailingly into health, happiness,
and prosperity, as it has done and is
doing for thousands, if and when you
follow it.
It is just as necessary
that one should let go of old thoughts
and conditions after they have served
their purpose as it is that one should
lay hold of new ideas and create new
conditions to meet one's requirements.
In fact we cannot lay hold of the new
ideas and make the new conditions until
we have made room for them by
eliminating the old. If we feel that we
cannot part with the goats, we shall
have to do with fewer sheep. If we
insist on filling the vessels with the
bad fish, we shall have to do without
the good. We are learning that thoughts
are things and occupy "space" in mind.
We cannot have new or better ones in a
place already crowded with old, weak,
inefficient thoughts. A mental house
cleaning is even more necessary than a
material one, for the without is but a
reflection of the within. Clean the
inside of the platter, where the food
is kept as well as the outside that
people see, taught Jesus.
Old thoughts must be
denied and the mind cleansed in
preparation before the affirmative
Christ consciousness can come in. Our
mind and even our body is loaded with
error thoughts. Every cell is clothed
with thought: every cell has a mind of
its own. By the use of denial we break
through the outer crust, the material
thought that has enveloped the cells,
and get down into the substance and the
life within them. Then we make contact
with that substance and life which our
denials have exposed, and by it express
the positive, constructive side of the
law. When we consistently deny the
limitations of the material, we begin
to reveal the spiritual law that waits
within ourselves to be fulfilled. When
this law is revealed to our
consciousness, we begin to use it to
demonstrate all things that are
good.
That is the state of
consciousness that Jesus had, the
Christ consciousness.
Every man has a definite
work to do in the carrying forward of
the divine law of spiritual evolution.
The law is set into action by our
thinking and is continually supported
by our thought as it develops our soul.
Within us are the great potentialities
of Spirit that, put into action, enable
us to be, do, or have anything we will.
Science tells us that each of us has
enough energy within himself to run a
universe, if we knew how to release and
control it. We do this releasing by a
process of letting go and taking hold:
letting go of the old or that which has
done its part and is no longer useful,
and taking hold of the new ideas and
inspirations that come from the
superconscious mind. Jesus told Peter
that what he should bind in earth would
be bound in heaven and what he should
loose in earth would be loosed in
heaven. He was not talking about a
geographical earth or a definite place
in the skies called heaven. He was
explaining to Peter the law of mind.
The conscious mind is but the negative
pole of a very positive realm of
thought. That positive realm of
thought, Jesus called "the kingdom of
the heavens." It is not a place at all
but is the free activity of the
superconscious mind of man. Whatever we
bind or limit in earth, in the
conscious mind, shall be bound or
limited in the ideal or heavenly realm,
and whatever we loose and set free in
the conscious mind (earth) shall be
loosed and set free in the ideal, the
heavenly. In other words, whatever you
affirm or deny in your conscious mind
determines the character of the
supermind activities. All power is
given unto you both in heaven and in
earth through your thought.
We must carefully choose
what thoughts we are going to loose in
the mind and what thoughts we are going
to bind, for they will come into
manifestation in our affairs. "As he
[man] thinketh within himself, so is
he" and "whatsoever a man soweth [in
the mind], that shall he also reap [in
the manifestation]." We must loose all
thoughts of lack and insufficiency in
the mind and let them go, just as Jesus
commanded be done with the wrappings
that held Lazarus: "Loose him, and let
him go." Loose all thoughts of lack and
lay hold of thoughts of plenty. See the
abundance of all good things, prepared
for you and for all of us from the
foundation of the world. We live in a
very sea of inexhaustible substance,
ready to come into manifestation when
molded by our thought.
Some persons are like
fish in the sea, saying, "Where is the
water?" in the presence of spiritual
abundance they cry, "Where will I get
the money? How will I pay my bills?
Will we have food or clothes or the
necessities?" Plenty is here, all
around, and when you have opened the
eyes of Spirit in yourself, you will
see it and rejoice.
We mold omnipresent
substance with our mind and make from
it all the things that our mind
conceives. If we conceive lack and
poverty we mold that. If we visualize
with a bountiful eye we mold plenty
from the ever-present substance. There
is perhaps no step in spiritual
unfoldment more important than the one
we are taking here. We must learn to
let go, to give up, to make room for
the things we have prayed for and
desired. This is called renunciation or
elimination, sacrifice it may even seem
to some people. It is simply the giving
up and casting away of old thoughts
that have put us where we are, and
putting in their place new ideas that
promise to improve our condition. If
the new ideas fail to keep this
promise, we cast them away in their
turn for others, confident that we
shall eventually find the right ideas
that will bring that which we desire.
We always want something better than we
have. It is the urge of progress, of
development and growth. As children
outgrow their clothes we outgrow our
ideals and ambitions, broadening our
horizon of life as we advance. There
must be a constant elimination of the
old to keep pace with this growth. When
we cling to the old ideals we hinder
our advance or stop it
altogether.
Metaphysicians speak of
this eliminative work as denial. Denial
usually comes first. It sweeps out the
debris and makes room for the new
tenant that is brought into the mind by
the affirmation. It would not be wise
to eliminate the old thoughts unless
you knew that there are higher and
better ones to take their place. But we
need not fear this, because we know the
divine truth that God is the source of
all good and that all good things can
be ours through the love and grace of
Jesus Christ.
None of us has attained
that supreme place in consciousness
where he wholly gives up the material
man and lives in the Spirit, as Jesus
did, but we have a concept of such a
life and His example showing that it
can be attained. We shall attain it
when we escape the mortal. This does
not mean that we must die to get free
from mortality, for mortality is but a
state of consciousness. We die daily
and are reborn by the process of
eliminating the thought that we are
material and replacing it with the
truth that we are spiritual. One of the
great discoveries of modern science is
that every atom in this so-called
material universe has within it
superabundant life elements. God is
life and Spirit, and He is in every
atom. We release this spiritual life
quality by denying the crust of
materiality that surrounds the cells
and affirming that they are Spirit and
life. This is the new birth, which
takes place first as a conception in
the mind, followed by an outworking in
body and affairs. We all want better
financial conditions. Here is the way
to obtain them: Deny the old thoughts
of lack of money and affirm the new
thought of spiritual abundance
everywhere manifest.
Every lesson of
Scripture illustrates some phase of
mental action and can be applied to
each individual life according to the
need that is most pressing at the time
of its perception. If you do not look
for the mental lesson when reading
Scripture, you get but the mere outer
shell of Truth. If however you have the
proper understanding of the characters
in the narrative, knowing that they
represent ideas in your own mind, you
can follow them in their various
movements and find the way to solve all
the problems of your life. This does
not mean that a study of the written
Scriptures will itself solve your
problems unless you come into the
apprehension of the real Scriptures,
the Bible of the ages, the Book of Life
within your own consciousness. But a
study of the outer symbols as given in
the written Scriptures can and should
lead you into the understanding of the
Truth of Being.
In every person we find
the conflicting ideas represented by
the Children of Israel and the
Philistines. They are pitted against
each other in a conflict that goes on
night and day. We call these warring
thoughts Truth and error. When we are
awakened spiritually we stand on the
side of Truth, knowing that Truth
thoughts are the chosen of the Lord,
the Children of Israel. But the error
thoughts sometimes seem so real and so
formidable that we quake and cringe
with fear in their presence.
We know that Truth will
eventually prevail, but we put the
victory off somewhere in the future and
say that the error is so large and
strong that we cannot cope with it
now--we will wait until we have
gathered more strength. Then we need to
stand still and affirm the salvation of
the Lord.
Ideas are not all of the
same importance. Some are large and
strong; some are small and weak. There
are aggressive, dominating ideas that
parade themselves, and brag about their
power, and with threats of disaster
keep us frightened into submission to
their wicked reign. These domineering
ideas of error have one argument that
they always use to impress us, that of
the fear of results if we should dare
to come out and meet them in open
opposition. This fear of opposing
ideas, even when we know them to be
wrong, seems to be woven into our very
mental fabric. This fear is symbolized
by the spear of Goliath which, as the
story relates, "was like a weaver's
beam."
What is the most fearful
thought in the minds of men today? Is
it not the power of money? Is not
mammon the greatest Philistine, the
Goliath in your consciousness? It is
the same whether you are siding with
the Philistines and are successful in
your finances from a material
viewpoint, or whether you are with the
Israelites and tremble in your poverty.
The daily appearance of this giant
Goliath, the power of money, is
something greatly feared. Neither the
Philistines nor the Israelites are in
possession of the Promised Land,
neither side at peace or happy in any
security, so long as this domineering
giant parades his strength and shouts
his boasts. This error idea claims he
is stronger than the Lord of Israel. He
must be killed before all the other
error thoughts will be driven out of
your consciousness and you can come
into the consciousness of plenty, the
Promised Land of milk and
honey.
The whole world today
trembles before this giant error idea,
the belief that money is the ruling
power. The nations of the world are
under this dominion because men think
that money is power. The rich and the
poor alike are slaves to the idea.
Kings and great men of the earth bow
and cringe before the money kings. This
is because man has given this power to
money by his erroneous thinking. He has
made the golden calf and now he falls
before it in worship. Instead of making
it his servant he has called it master
and become its slave. The rule of this
mad giant has been disastrous, and the
end of it is rapidly
approaching.
The first step in
getting your mind free from this giant
bugaboo is to get a clear perception of
your right as a child of God. You know
that you should put no other gods or
powers before the true God. You know
also that you should not be under the
dominion of anything in the heavens
above or the earth beneath, for you
have been given dominion over all. You
will never find a better time to come
into the realization of the truth of
who and what you are and what your
rights are. Never was a more propitious
time to seek a new and better state of
consciousness. If you are in fear of
the boasting Philistine giant, as so
many around you are, begin now to seek
a way, as did David, to give his "flesh
unto the birds of the heavens." There
is a way, a righteous way, that cannot
fail, and it is your duty to find it.
Follow each step of the way that is
symbolically and beautifully set forth
in the 17th chapter of I
Samuel.
The name David means
"the Lord's beloved," and David
represents your righteous perception of
your privileges as the child of God.
You are not a slave to anything or to
anybody in the universe. The threat of
this Goliath, the power of money, holds
no terrors for you in this
consciousness. You have a smooth
perception of Truth and you sling it
straight to the center of his carnal
thinking, his forehead. The weight of
his shield and his armor does not
intimidate you, for you see them for
what they are, empty and meaningless
show, vulnerable in many places to the
true ideas with which you are
armed.
Even the most ardent
defenders of the money power will admit
that it is a tyrant and that they would
not have it rule their world if they
could help it. It nearly always
destroys its friends in the end. Any
man who becomes a slave to money is
eventually crushed by it. On the other
side are whole armies of righteous
people, Christians, who like the army
of Israel think that this giant cannot
be overcome. They are waiting for
reinforcements, something larger and
stronger in a physical way, with which
to overcome this enemy. They forget
that "the battle is
Jehovah's."
Do you cringe before
this giant when he comes out daily to
impress you with his boastings and
threats? It does not have to be so. You
need not continue to fear. There is a
little idea in your mind that can slay
him. You perhaps have not considered
this little idea of much importance.
Perhaps you have kept it off on a
lonely mountainside of your spiritual
consciousness, herding the sheep, which
are your innocent thoughts. Now let
this David come forth, this perception
of your rightful place in Divine Mind.
Get a clear idea of where you really
belong in creation and what your
privileges are. Do you think for a
moment that God has so ordained that
men cannot escape from the terrible
servitude of hard conditions? Of course
not. That would be injustice, and God
is above all just.
It is your privilege to
step out at any time and accept the
challenge of this boaster. The Lord has
been with you in the slaying of the
fear of sin and sickness (the bear and
the lion), and He will still be with
you in slaying the fear of poverty,
which Goliath symbolizes. "The battle
is Jehovah's," and He is with us to
deliver us "out of the hand of the
Philistines."
The weapons of the
Lord's man are not carnal. He does not
wage war after the manner of the world.
He does not use armor of steel or
brass, the protection of selfishness
and the weapons of oppression. He goes
forth in the simplicity of justice,
knowing that his innocence is his
defense. He uses only his shepherd's
sling and smooth stones, words of
Truth. This is the will and the words
of Truth that it sends forth. They are
disdained by the Philistines and many
people laugh at the idea of using words
to overcome conditions. But words do
their work, the work whereto they are
sent, and the great mass of materiality
goes down before their sure
aim.
We know that money was
made for man and not man for money. No
man needs to be a slave to his brother
man or cringe before him to obtain
money, which is the servant of all
alike. We are not bound to the wheel of
work, of ceaseless toil day after day,
in order to appease the god of mammon
on his own terms. We are children of
the living God, who as a loving Father
is right here in our midst, where we
may claim Him as our support and our
resource on such conditions as He
lovingly reveals when we have
acknowledged Him and denied mammon.
This day has Jehovah delivered this
proud Philistine into our hands, and
the victory is ours. Praise
God.
The five smooth stones
chosen by David from the brook
represent five irrefutable statements
of Truth. These statements sent forth
from a mind confident of itself, its
cause, and its spiritual strength will
crush the forehead of Goliath, error's
giant. The statements are the
following:
I am the beloved of the
Lord. He is with me in all my righteous
words, and they do accomplish that
whereto I send them forth.
My cause is just, for it
is my divine right to be supplied with
all things whatsoever that the Father
has placed at the disposal of His
children.
I dissolve in my own
mind and the minds of all others any
thought that my own can be withheld
from me. What is mine comes to me by
the sure law of God, and in my clear
perception of Truth I welcome
it.
I am not fearful of
poverty, and I am under obligations to
no one. My opulent Father has poured
out to me all resources, and I am a
mighty channel of abundance.
I selfishly own nothing,
yet all things in existence are mine to
use and in divine wisdom to bestow upon
others.
Do not hold yourself in
poverty by the fear of lack and by
practicing a pinching economy. If you
believe that all that the Father has is
yours, then there is surely no reason
for skimping. Nothing will so broaden
your mind and your world as the
realization that all is yours. When you
realize the boundlessness of your
spiritual inheritance, nothing shall be
lacking in all your world. See with the
bountiful eye; for "he that hath a
bountiful eye shall be blessed." This
passage states an exact law, the law of
increase.
Religious leaders in the
past have spread the belief that it is
a Christian duty to be poor and that
poverty is a virtue. This is by no
means the doctrine of Jesus. He
accepted the proposition fully, without
reservation or qualification, that God
is our resource and that the Father has
provided all things for His children.
He is often described as being poor,
without a place to lay His head, yet He
had a parental home at Nazareth and was
welcomed gladly into the homes of both
the rich and the poor all over
Palestine. He dressed as a rabbi, and
His clothing was so rich and valuable
that the Roman soldiers coveted the
seamless robe He wore and cast lots for
it. He found abundance in the kingdom
of God where everything needful becomes
manifest not through hard labor but
through the realization of
Truth.
Jesus seldom had need
for money, because He went back of
money to the idea it represents and
dealt with money in the idea realm. Our
government is back of all our paper
dollars, else they would have no value.
God is back of every material symbol,
and it is in God rather than in the
symbol that we should put our faith. He
is back of our call for food and
raiment and everything that we could
need or desire. Jesus says all we need
do is ask in faith and in His name,
believing that we receive, and we shall
have. And we should not hesitate to ask
largely, for God can give much as
easily as He can give a
little.
The End
* * * * *
