How I Used Truth - Lesson 9 - Annotation 1
What is a "word"? To what do we refer when we write "Word" with a capital "W"?
1. A word is a group of letters representing some idea that names a person, a thing, a condition, or a state of mind. A word may be audible, silent, or written, and is a means of communication from one mind to another.
"Nothing in this world is so powerful as an idea whose time is come" (Victor Hugo).
Usually when the "time is come" for an idea it finds expression through words that eventually lead to some tangible form or action, such as an invention, a symphony or a song, a garden or a home, a sermon or a discussion.
When we use words as an affirmation of Truth in audible or silent language or in written form, we are seeking to convey Truth to our own consciousness or that of another.
"You need not always speak Christ words aloud, for they are also potent and effective when they are whispered silently" (Lowell Fillmore; Living Words).
When words clearly express Truth ideas, whether for health, harmony, abundance, illumination, we have gone beyond the "letter" of the statement into the very "spirit" that causes action and produces corresponding results. It is for this reason that we often refer to a Truth statement, comprising a number of words, as being a "word of Truth."
When we write "Word" with a capital "W" we are referring to God's creative power by which all things are made,
"And without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3, A.V.).
This is the first aspect of the Word, the "God said" of Genesis. It is the creative power inherent in God Mind. The other aspect is the Word emanating from God as spiritual man, the I AM, Christ, Son, Logos.
We might use this illustration: A writer has an idea in his mind for a book. He gathers the plot, the action, the characters on the mental realm. When he proceeds to do something about putting his book into manuscript form it is, in a sense, his "word" though it contains many words. The author could then look at the printed book and say "This is my word," for the book as the offspring of his own mind has been "spoken forth," as it were, into manifest form for others to read.
In God is the creative power that ideates the plan that He conceived "in the beginning." The whole Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) moving upon substance then brings forth every facet of the plan by His Word or creative power. The culmination of this "God said" is spiritual man, the complete Word of Divine Mind, containing all of the nature of God. The author can say of his book that it contains all of his nature at that particular level of his understanding; it is his word about the subject that he has covered. Charles Fillmore covers this same idea concerning the Word in remarks made in Teach Us to Pray, page 168, (quoted in Lesson Three, Annotation Three of How' I Used Truth) when he refers to the Word as "the idea that contains all ideas.
When God as Creator said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," this was His Word bringing forth the plan for man, and man in turn is that Word of Divine Mind spoken and brought forth. When we have an idea in our mind, nothing will come of it until we "speak" it. This means that we have to have a mental plan or picture made by our formative power of thought. We may not speak our word audibly -- and many times it is wiser if we do not divulge the plan to others until it has become more substantial. In any event the idea has to expand into a "spoken word" before there can be any manifestation.
"Man makes his world by his word, either silently or audibly expressed" (Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, page 680).
Study of the Holy Trinity (Annotations for Lesson Eleven, Lessons in Truth, and Annotations for Lesson Five, How I Used Truth) shows the Word to be, as Charles Fillmore terms it, "the working power of God" (Talks on Truth, page 68). We find our parallel here to the activity of the author: after he has gathered together all his ideas, his plots, and his characters, his book "works" for him in the sense of presenting to readers the gist of the story. Spiritual man, as the "working power of God," presents to creation God's plan of perfection, providing the creative power that makes manifestation possible. When we desire healing our word must be infused by the Word, the "working power of God, our own spiritual nature, in order that we may have authority to speak. Our word is the "letter" but it is only the Word, or "working power of God," ("spirit") that can give the life we desire to see made manifest in the body.
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Preceding Entry: What is peace? How is the consciousness of peace attained by the individual?
Following Entry: Name the days or steps (giving the metaphysical meaning of each) in the creative process as given in Genesis I, and the first three verses of Genesis II, culminating in the seventh day (step) or Sabbath. What follows these seven days or steps?
