Divine Science Its
Principle and Practice
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Copyright 1957 by Divine
Science Church and College
Denver, Colorado
Made available here
by the ministry of
Rev. Lawrence C. Terry, M.Msc.,
D.Min.
P. O. Box 68324
Indianapolis, IN 46268-0324
www.DivineScience.net
Chapter 8 - Story of
Progress
Long has mankind been content to think of
himself as a human being born in this
world to experience the many vicissitudes
of life – some good, and some bad.
He has expected to live his life span,
then to have death overtake him. The goal
of the majority apparently has been to
provide the necessities for a comfortable
physical existence, to enjoy life, and to
submit to old age and inevitable death.
Man’s expectations of a future life
are according to his individual beliefs
and religious training or lack of it.
Thus he may expect to go out into
oblivion or to live on in a glorious
heavenly realm.
Now, new light of understanding is
dawning upon man’s consciousness,
and in that light man is beginning to see
life as something much bigger than
heretofore conceived. "Now we are the
Sons of God" living this portion of
everlasting life, which provides the
opportunity for unfoldment into that
sonship day by day. Life goes on
unendingly and each individual will have
the opportunity to achieve his sonship;
he will know that he is an individualized
center of God-Being, and that he shares
God-Life, God-Mind, God-Power, and
God-Love. His true purpose in life
becomes the discovery of himself as he is
in God, and his object is to express that
Self in everyday living. He understands
that he is born of God, is brought forth
into expression without ever getting
outside of God, and lives forever in the
omnipresence of God.
Jesus’ great achievement proves
that he realized his true Self, his
potentialities, and his divine heritage.
"As he is so are we in this world." 1
John 4:17 Man needs only to know and obey
the law by which Jesus achieved, to bring
about his own achievement as a Son of
God.
Chapter
8
Unfoldment
Till we
all come in the unity of the faith, and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto
a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ. Eph.
4:13
As He (Jesus) is, so are we in this
world. 1 John 4:17
Let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus. Phil. 2:5
Watch
For Answers As You Read
Give several proofs that man is capable
of growth and development.
1. Where is the pattern
for all creation to be found?
2. Name the three aspects
of man’s nature.
3. By what names is the
unfolding process of the consciousness
of man known?
4. Who is the perfect
example of man’s
potentialities?
5. What is the range of
man’s stages of
consciousness?
All of us have looked at a full-blown
flower and marveled that such beauty
could unfold from the tiny, brown seed,
or from the lifeless-looking bulb. But
we have seen this happen so often that
we have come to accept the fact that
the complete pattern of the perfected
plant and blossom is implanted within
the dormant seed or bulb, and that the
impulse for growth which will bring it
to fruition is also involved within its
very nature.
We have not always realized that the
same is true in the case of man, that
is, that the pattern of his beautifully
perfect Christhood is implanted within
his innermost nature. That the Spirit
of Life within him, as within the see,
acts as law to manifest the fullness of
its potentialities. Man's Christ-like
characteristics and nature will unfold
through the process of growth and
development until the consciousness of
the individual brings forth the
outpicturing of the Christ as his own
person. Just as Jesus became the
Christ, so this is the latent
possibility and destiny for the
individual - each one will become
Christed.
Divine Science acknowledges an infinite
Presence and Truth ever present with
all creation, but it also acknowledges
the process by which the creature
grows, unfolds, and comes into a
full-blown, conscious realization of
himself and his place in the cosmic
order of life. This process is called
spiritual evolution, unfoldment,
increasing awareness of Truth, or the
law of spiritual maturity. To
substantiate the process of unfoldment
is the fact that all creation proceeds
from the Infinite, but before visible
creation could possibly appear there
must have been first the spiritual
pattern for it in God-Mind. Thus we see
that greater by far is the God-Idea or
prototypal man implanted within us than
is our present human expression of it.
Man is the Son of God, but as a son of
man he has not yet put on that
completeness which is latently his in
God-Mind.
Within the thought of evolution is the
recognition of a persistent urge in all
living things to move on, to progress
to new things and new experiences.
Emerson says, "The creation is on
wheels, always passing into something
else, streaming into something higher."
There is something in the very nature
of life itself that compels it and its
creatures to move on. There is an
innate urge that speaks in every soul;
aspirations in every human heart which
indicate the evolutionary tendency of
the universe. The indefinable Spirit
which keeps us moving onward and upward
is the great guardian of humanity. It
forwards creation's spiritual evolution
for the purpose of ultimately bringing
out all the hidden wonders and beauties
of the God-Mind. For God holds all His
ideas within His consciousness and is
zealous for the development and
fulfillment of their every
potentiality.
Divine Science teaches that this
creative drive is the God-idea, an
infallible truth moving throughout all
the created realms, and calls it the
Christ principle. The Christ principle
is the essential part of human nature.
It is the fundamental God-idea of MAN
embedded within the spiritual
constitution of that which appears to
us as a human being. Christ is the
truth that reveals and expresses the
life, purity, perfection, and power of
the perfect Mind. In the heart of all
humanity are stirring dreams,
ambitions, visions which are of a
higher order than man's present
material environment. The source of
such dreams and visions is the Christ
principle stirring within him to make
him aware of his true Self which is yet
to be realized and manifested. This
Christ within is the motive power which
constantly pushes man toward higher
evolvement.
When things move along very well,
objectively speaking, man may deny or
even fear the deeper intuitions of his
soul and continue to live by false
values. He may still work for outer
goals, but if these goals, when
achieved, turn out to be disappointing,
in that they do not give the inner
peace and satisfaction he had
anticipated, he is not happy. By this
very fact he should realize that he is
being urged to progress: "Be not
conformed to this world, but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your
mind." Rom. 12:2 He is now ready for a
new state of consciousness and will not
be happy until he adjusts himself to
becoming more nearly his real Self in
thought and practice.
We are to understand that man is a
threefold being with three distinct
aspects to his nature. First, there is
the physical aspect in which he seems
to be primarily a body - a body which
is "fearfully and wonderfully made."
But man discovers that his body is
subject to his mental states, so the
mental is man's second aspect. These
two, the physical and the mental, are
referred to as the human personality
and many people live a lifetime and do
not realize that there is still a
deeper and more fundamental side to
their being, the spiritual aspect, the
true Self of every man - the Christ.
The true Self is that part of man which
speaks, unfolds, and expresses, not
from a world sense, but from a divine
awareness. It knows beyond logic. It
lives not under the confines of time
and space limitations but functions in
the freedom of Spirit. In the early
periods of unfoldment this true Self,
the Christ, is so buried beneath mental
concepts and sense training that it has
to be literally unearthed or
resurrected and brought up to its
rightful place in our lives.
As individuals journeying through life
from a purely natural and objective
vision of life to the Christ
Consciousness, or purely spiritual
viewpoint, we seem for a long time to
be deadened by the material sense of
things and to live mainly at the level
of physical sensation. Man begins his
path of individual experience and
unfoldment in the material order of
life where self-preservation comes
first. Moral, intellectual, and ethical
values come along at higher stages of
natural and human development. Sooner
or later the intuitive urge for growth
arouses the soul of man to be aware of
a need for something higher than his
present material concept. He begins to
realize that he is destined for
something more than the worldly life
about him.
Eventually the Christ, the higher than
the human or the natural, begins to
dawn, and a spiritual order is
perceived, a rebirth occurs and a new
set of values comes to consciousness.
As man is able to silence the personal
and material senses, the spiritual
aspect of his nature as it comes to
conscious level and makes itself known
as an active presence within his very
soul. For a man to accept the spiritual
reality of his being evokes
inspiration, mighty strength, and an
awareness of his true talents and
abilities which spring out of the Son
of God, the Christ, within him.
With growth comes faith in our
God-nature, in the Christ, the
potential man within us. We begin to
believe in it, to declare it, and wait.
"For ye have need of patience, that
after ye have done the will of God ye
might receive the promise." Heb. 10:36
"First the blade, then the ear, after
that the full corn in the ear." Mark
4:28 So is the order of creation, or
unfoldment; there is first the
Universal (Cause), then the individual
(effect). At first we discover "the I
Am that I am" and faintly realize it
– "the blade," but as revelation
is received thought expands –
"the ear," until we recognize the All
as all – "the full corn in the
ear." Babyhood of understanding first,
gradually more and more perception,
then finally, realization or conscious
possession of Truth, thus does the
individual evolve.
It is scientifically true to teach that
the Infinite expresses what it is and
neither does nor can express that which
it is not; that there are no qualities
inherent in man except God qualities,
no attributes in man’s nature
that are not attributable to God. The
way we grow and release ourselves from
our limited experiences is by the
changing of our thought patterns. Each
unfoldment of thought is a
resurrection. Out of some dead concept
our mentality rises to a greater
realization of the living Truth. The
more conscious we are of the Truth of
Life, the fuller our understanding of
the forms of life. It is man’s
thought of life that awakens in
consciousness to fuller comprehension
of what is. The revelation of truth by
which man sees more and more clearly is
evolution. We ascend to realize our
perfect Self, the Christ. All things
await man’s recognition and
acceptance.
As students of Divine Science we have
continuously been taught to affirm the
reality of the I Am, the indwelling
Christ, the true Self. Now, we can
better understand the reason for this,
for since our lives are unfolding
states and stages of our spiritual
Selfhood, as we let the Christ
enlighten the conscious levels of our
being, we are renewed, inspired, and
prospered by the divinity within us. As
we grow in consciousness of our unity
with God and develop power to express
the Christ in our daily living, the
blessings of the Most High, which are
our inalienable rights, come into our
experience more easily and naturally.
In the cosmic order of the universe it
is intended that God should express
through man, or that God’s will
be done through the consciousness of
His son, the individual. "To this end
was I born, and for this cause came I
into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth." John
18:37
The wonderful experience of awakening
to the truth that we ourselves
incorporate the God-idea of MAN, Christ
the Son, must come to everyone at some
time in his unfoldment. All through
life we, as individuals, do the things
we do according to the general tenor of
our understanding, our level of
unfoldment, our growth in
consciousness. Each individual life is
a journey in consciousness, and many
changes and adjustments will be
necessary as we grow. Each adjustment
affords new growth and opens new
vistas. Each understanding of God and
His overwhelming generosity in the
manifestation of His Spirit in the life
of the individual brings new concepts
with lift the soul into higher levels
of consciousness.
When our life and behavior rise from a
spiritual basis, we see life as
something greater than a
birth-and-death arrangement. We begin
to think in terms of a spiritual
universe, rather than of a material
world; we think in terms of eternal
life and the immortality of the
individual soul. We then understand
that since God is infinite perfection
and creates perfection, we are all
potentially perfect in Christ, the
perfect pattern of MAN. As the
soul’s evolution is realized in
daily living, we begin to take on the
likeness of the God-image within us. We
begin to see that even during this
period of gradual development, we are
nevertheless innately perfect; our
perfection is the spiritual truth of
us, and we look up to this omnipresent
and indwelling nature as our true
being. "We have this treasure in
earthen vessels." 2 Cor. 4:7 Strict
adherence to principle and faithful
practice bring out what is potential
within. We unfold the fullness of what
is within us.
The law of growth and unfoldment is the
law of Self-expression, or God acting
and revealing Himself; God creating
within and unto Himself. The process of
calling forth that which is potential
within is true education. The only true
growth is the unfoldment of the powers
and possibilities that we are. All
unfoldment is the work of an Unfolder,
God. All growth reveals the effect of
the activity of God. Therefore, direct
expression of God in creation by means
of divine activity is the law of growth
and unfoldment. We, as individual
expressions of this divine activity,
are accountable for our actions as we
grow and unfold in consciousness. We
may often "miss the mark" as we feel
our way while growing; even so we
always reap as we sow and thus we learn
our lessons in life with law as our
schoolmaster until our motives coincide
with God’s purpose of All Good.
"Be not deceived; God is no mocked; for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." Gal. 6:7
Human life, objectively considered, is
a growing unfolding, progressive
process. It never remains static. As we
grow and unfold our individuality (that
which we innately are) it is a
satisfaction to know that only that
which is involved into the Christ
pattern of man by the Creator can be
evolved or unfolded into permanent
manifestation. Reason tells us that
there must be a basic consciousness, or
first mind, out of which this
continuous unfoldment takes rise. As
God alone is, it is God who is
manifested in an ever-present creation.
The rule of the creative process is
that all proceeds out of the infinite
All; visible creation appears according
to the spiritual pattern for it, the
image in the mind of the
Infinite.
The Bible presents the history of this
gradual unfoldment of the race into
more and more consciousness, from the
awakening of its mentality in Adam to
its great perception by Jesus. The
Bible is the story of man’s
unfolding consciousness of his God and
of his own innate divinity, his
Christhood. As we study the Bible,
giving special attention to the life
and teachings of Jesus, we find there
the evidence that he came to a higher
understanding of life; that he became
aware of his own divine nature and
lived in accordance with its guidance.
His teachings and works show how the
love of the Father causes life to
overflow with spiritual blessings;
prove the power of God to lead men into
all truth; and demonstrate the power of
spirit to heal dis-ease and to manifest
the wholeness of the body. Jesus taught
that Spirit is always affirmative;
taught that it is God’s will that
man should be whole and that when he
accepts and rejoices in the Wholeness
within him, he allows it to manifest.
He showed man’s ability to use
Truth would reveal the light of truth
regarding any circumstance or
condition; he showed that God is
all-sufficient in all things as He
gives the light needed to illumine the
way. Jesus literally became the Christ
made flesh; became the personification
of the Christ. By his resurrection
Jesus revealed that life is greater
than death and that death is but
life’s effort to free itself from
man’s self-imposed
limitations.
Jesus’ disciples accepted the
fact that Jesus knew that what was true
for him was also true for all mankind,
for it was John who said, "As he is, so
are we in this world." 1 John 4:17 The
indwelling Christ is the same creative
channel and quality of Spirit working
in us which worked in and through
Jesus. The same Christ principle which
evolved in Jesus is in each of us and
as wholly capable of guiding our
unfoldment to its destined goal. We now
see that Jesus is our wayshower because
his clear realization of the Fatherhood
of God and the sonship of man
demonstrated how the Christ manifests
in the flesh, when given opportunity,
until the man, the effect, become the
true embodiment of the Christ, the
indwelling Cause. In Jesus the inner
and outer became one and indivisible
– Jesus Christ! Jesus is the
perfect example of man’s
potentiality. Paul assures us that we
may accomplish our Christhood, when he
says, "For if the first fruit (Jesus)
be holy, the lump (mankind) is also
holy: and if the root be holy, so are
the branches." Rom. 11:16 Our work is
to find and prove our own divinity, to
unfold our own latent powers, and to
bring forth our own indwelling Christ
as the second coming.
Through the guidance of the Christ
Spirit within we are awakened to the
spirit of all Good. This Christ
Consciousness is the fullness of the
riches of divine Mind active in our
souls. The attainment of Christ
Consciousness is our goal. Christ
Consciousness is spiritual perception
in contrast to intellectual analysis;
it is awareness of the spiritual nature
and function of the universe.
Consciousness is the measuring stick of
our unfoldment. The levels of
man’s consciousness may vary from
the lowest and slowest to a cosmic
quality. Cosmic Consciousness, toward
which we are unfolding, is the
awareness of the cosmos, or the life,
nature, and beauty of the universe. It
is supreme intuitive knowledge of the
divine order that transcends the mere
intellectual faculty of comprehension.
Cosmic Consciousness gradually dawns;
we grow up into it. In this new
consciousness we willingly subscribe to
a wholly spiritual way of thinking,
acting and being.
Those of us living in the world order
are travelers on the path of
unfoldment. Our perfection is as yet
only a spiritual truth and not a
complete manifestation. When the
highest that we know seems show in
manifesting perhaps it is because we
are still accepting more of the old
order than we realize. Let us be
patient if there are seasons when we
seem to lack the power of perfect
demonstration in all ways. We are still
growing, but complete education along
spiritual lines comes slowly. When we
arrive we shall live in a spiritual
order of life here and now. When man
comes to that place in growth where he
discovers his real being and, living
from this viewpoint, will use the
natural order for greater
accomplishments rather than be used by
laws over which he seems to have no
control, he will have come to the place
where he knows that there is nothing to
fear. He will have overcome the former
bad habits of envy, jealously, hatred,
and revenge with their resulting
illness. Then shall peace come upon the
earth, for the true way of life will be
known and proven right here. We shall
eventually reach the stage of
development where we demonstrate with
the skill of the Christed man.
There are many ways in which we may
hasten the process of growth:
1.We can regularly be still and
know.
2. We can uphold that which we know to
be within us, for we have a living
example of it in Jesus Christ.
3. We can expect a coming forth of
this miracle-working power in the wake
of affirmation and realization of its
divine nature.
4. We can act from the basis of a
Son of God within ourselves and release
more and more of it through the
conscious and subconscious levels of
human personality until the outer takes
on the perfection of the inner. "Until
Christ be formed in you." Gal.
4:19
5. We can see that Jesus’
attitude brought him assurance of his
good. His attitudes can be our
attitudes:
a. Certainty of the
Father’s care.
b. Nonresistance to
conditions or appearances "Be no
overcome of evil, but overcome evil
with good." Rom. 12:21
c. Dependence upon
the Fathers guidance. "I can of mine
own self do nothing." John 5:30
1. We can practice seeing the
Christ within another. This means to
accept the divinity which is potential
within everyone and to uphold the
integrity, wholeness, and latent
possibilities that are there though
they are not yet manifested.
2. We can practice keeping our
thoughts, actions, and reactions
positive so that they heal adverse
situations. In negative circumstances,
to do as we have been done by only adds
fuel to the fire.
3. We can remember that unkind,
untrue, childish, petty, angry, and
ugly remarks have no place in our new
vision of life.
4. We can prove for ourselves, as
did Jesus, that when human life is
lived in realization of the
omnipresence of God as Life, then
spiritual demonstrations bless our
human existence.
5. We can practice mentally to
come unto the Christ. The Christ within
speaks, saying, "I am the way, and the
truth, and the life." John 14:6
6. We can examine carefully the
undercurrent of our thought. Until
false opinions and beliefs based upon
human experiences are uprooted, we are
not free. Every new awakening in
thought is a birth on a new plane of
consciousness. This is the way to the
Christ Consciousness. "Be ye
transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that ye many prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect, will
of God." Rom.12:2
7. We can meditate regularly upon
the truth which we have already
accepted and more light will dawn upon
us.
8. We can "Be still and know that
I am God" – nothing less than the
Christ, the unlimited Spirit of
Truth.
Individual life, like the branching of
the tree, has a beginning in
consciousness that is the bud of the
coming branch and fruit. Its growth is
fuller unfoldment from within. This is
evolution, the becoming conscious of
what is. Each individual begins as
"Adam" in understanding; each shall end
as "Jesus" in full consciousness. Paul
says that we "may grow up into him in
all things." Eph. 4:15 or into his
understanding of divinity as man; the
revelation of truth by which we see
more and more clearly.
Again we turn our thought to the
dormant seed or the apparently lifeless
brown bulb and we "consider the lilies
how they grow." If we wish a beautiful
lily, how may we obtain it? Shall we
being by trying to make the flower? No,
we cannot reproduce the blossom in that
way. We must plant deep in the earth a
lily bulb which in due time will unfold
its stem, its buds, and its full bloom.
It is a natural process; all growth is
from within outward. All of us have the
perfect Christ implanted within
us.
Christ in you, your hope of glory.
Living from the basis of our spiritual
being, the true Self, the Christ
within, we are no longer prisoners to
the senses but glorious souls of
consciousness; each one a Christ mind
in a Christ body achieving the work of
the Christ. You are now prepared for
the wonderful experience of awakening
to the truth that you, yourself,
incorporate the God-idea, Christ the
Son. It will come to you, for it must
come to each one sometime in his
unfoldment. Only you can develop your
individual consciousness. No one can do
this for another.
A study of Divine Science brings new
light, new understanding, new purposes,
new goals, with new and accepting the
truth of our oneness with the Christ
within, we shall ascend from joy to
joy, from glory to glory until we, too,
have attained conscious Sonship and our
Christhood is demonstrated.
Statements of
Truth
I daily declare my true nature as that
of the Christ within.
The Divine Idea of me (the Christ) is
forever held in the Living
Consciousness in which I live and move
and have my being.
Since God is infinite perfection and
creates in perfection, I am potentially
perfect in Christ.
Direct expression of God in creation by
means of divine activity is the law of
growth and unfoldment.
I bless and praise the action of God
within me.
Man from the basis of his spiritual
evolution has not yet put on the
completeness which is latently his in
God-Mind.
Our human existence is our relative
degree of unfoldment of the Christ Self
within us.
Within the Christ are all the
potentialities of our being which God
works to unfold through spiritual
evolution.
As I silence my personal senses and
turn to the divinity within me, by
Christ Self, I receive new inspiration,
increased health and strength, and my
inheritance in God is made real to
me.
Question for
Review and Discussion
1. There is an Absolute viewpoint of
God, life, and man, but there is also a
viewpoint from the process side.
Explain.
2. Show how the acceptance of the
divine nature within us helps us to act
more like sons of God.
3. What is your true or real
Self?
4. What is one definite method by which
mankind grows? Explain it.
5. Why do Divine Scientists greatly
appreciate Jesus?
6. Are you earnestly endeavoring to
follow the suggestions given to help
you develop your consciousness? Discuss
your plan of using them.
Return to
Index
* * * * *
Divine Science - Its
Principle and Practice from the writings
of Nona Brooks and Malinda
Cramer
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