Will and Understanding

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10th Lesson
[TruthUnity note: 10th lesson refers to the 10th lesson in the Unity Correspondence School course, Advanced Series]

WILL AND UNDERSTANDING

By Charles Fillmore

The lesson today has to do with the dual subject, or the twins--the Will and the Understanding. These faculties of the mind have been the subject of a great deal of conversation, especially among theologians.

Great volumes have been written about free will, pre-destination, and all those subjects that have as their background religion; and the religion which man bears to His Maker.

Was he made an automaton and forced to do what God wanted him to do, or has he freedom of will, determining what his acts shall be?

That old idea that man, according to the Presbyterian doctrine, was under a complete law of fatality, has all been done away with by the modern theologians. Yet, there was a basis of Truth to it all. We find that to this day that, although we are beginning to think of these subjects logically and philosophically, we find the idea being constantly invoked, or injected, into their theology that God’s will is for man to suffer, or for man to die, or to do this or that or the other thing; that God made man and caused him to do what He wants him to do regardless of his own volition. For example, in medical science, one man is sick and calls for a doctor. The doctor gives him some medicine, and he gets well. Then people say, ’’The doctor healed him.” But if the doctor does not heal him, they say, ’’Well, God wanted him to die.” Here we have the conclusions of man has to what God’s will is.

We should know that there are other factors entering into the subject. God’s will for man is that he shall have freedom of will. We must get back to original principles so that we can understand this relation which man bears to his Source--God. It is necessary that we must make ourselves obedient to the Divine Will. John says, “As he wills it to do the will of God, he shall understand the teachings.” These must be then subjects of man’s will to the Divine Will. When that obedience or that agreement with this something within us, which is the Source of all our volition, it may act on a certain determination. Here psychologists are at a difference. They claim that there are those two wills, the objective will and the subjective will. We look upon this as an objective. We see in ourselves two poles of the same thing. It is based upon understanding. So according to the Bible allegories, we have the will and the understanding as joint workers. In the Old Testament will and understanding are spoken of as the off-shoots of some primal faculty.

We find that we analyze man and the front brain is the center of will and understanding. They are not directly located in any certain brain center but they flash back and forth all over the front brain, and then it has a central nerve leading right back to the gland. Will and understanding, coming out of imagination, work with the whole intellectual area. That is where Jesus was crucified. It is also called Golgotha, the place of the scar. It is the battle cry of the different issues that enter into man’s life. This is the consciousness, the seat of the conscious mind. This conscious mind really determines everything that takes place in man’s world. It is the outcome of the objective, or spiritual realm. The fact is that this understanding and this will that the natural man needs exercise authority direct offspring of the infinite mind. And man has complete freedom of will. There is principle back of that freedom. But this principle does not control man in the least. It simply lays down a certain law and in order to get perfect results and In order to express in the world about us this Kingdom of the Heavens within, we must agree with the Bible.

Jesus said, “If two of you shall agree in the earth concerning anything that they shall ask, it shall be done of them by my Father in the Heavens.” Earth is this three dimensional world, but heaven is that four dimensional world. Whatever we formulate, you first determine what you want to do; then, that determination goes into action. That is the Will.

As your Will and Understanding agree, you draw automatically upon this invisible force within you, for it has all adaptability of resources. You can draw out of the invisible anything that you want. Some nay think that these invisible things are not powerful.

We talk about strong men. We mean a man with big muscles, arms, and chest. That is not the real strength source. That is an organized strength but it is largely physical. What, then, would you say is strength, here on the earth? You would say, “Of course the earth is strong because it is something we can put our feet on, but the air we can’t see.” You can prove to yourself that the air is much stronger. Cyclones tear down houses and tear away the earth. Again the sunshine is stronger than the earth. Take the use of our explosives. If you discharge the stick of dynamite the air is so strong that it goes into the earth and destroys and breaks up the rocks. This air presses upon the earth at fifteen pounds a square inch. How about this Invisible force of the will?

Why, that is the most powerful thing that man knows anything about. The will is the man. Without the will there would not be any man. There would not be any outlook for the faculties of the mind if we had no will. How shall we train our will to express this wonderful power that it has? By a righteous use of the will. That is where these two faculties can be brought into conjunction.

The will has a quiet, silent power that we do not appreciate. We know that we cannot suppress the will any more than the action of that stick of dynamite. It may be bottled up for a time but sooner or later it will find vent. We are constantly creating a nerve energy, and there is a constant explosion in this nerve energy through the action of the mind, and the mind is the will based upon the amount of understanding you put into it.

Bodily conditions depend upon the amount of restriction you put upon their functions. Bodily functions can be restricted by a narrow concept of my volution, my freedom. If you think you are bound in any way by the circumstances that made you, you restrict the will and do not have that freedom that you should have.

If you think I am ______ you restrict some of the muscles in the body. You will have a constriction or a restriction of something in your consciousness by the thought in your mind of these things. The remedy? Realize that the will of God is now being done in you. You are the perfect outlet of an infinite will. That is what Jesus Christ taught, that the will of God can be done in any of us. Only we have to realize that God has given every one of us perfect freedom. It does not matter how many books have been written saying that God opposes man. If your muscles are tied up, you are tying up in your mind the will of some idea. But you can release that and you will find that your muscles will be released. Arms and legs have shut up in their consciousness some idea concerning the bodily action of the mind. Mind works through the body.

Any limited idea that man has likely to work on his body. This brings us again to the point that man would never die if he continued to believe and affirm that he could live. Will to live, and you can live on and on and on.

We have an endless power in the will and we should be careful how we restrict our will. How we get that idea in our mind that we have not perfect freedom of will, or that somebody can will a little stronger or better than we can.

Mesmerism is not done according to the Divine Law. Never submit to mesmerism. This is your body, and your mind acts on this body, and your will is the central activity of your body. Suppose you let some other identity come into your body and heal you. That will weaken you. Do not give up to hypnotical control. It may be that under mesmeric control you can have that pain deadened. Will that heal the pain? No. It does not take away the cause, but merely deadens the action.

“All we have to do is to go to sleep and stay in a trance,” some way. That is not very likely. No one was ever healed by being in a trance. You must understand how you can control your body through the better adjustment of your will. That is your need--a better adjustment of the will.

How do you get that? By acquiring a deeper and a better understanding. Thomas represents the understanding, or the reason and Matthew, the will.

Understanding frequently wants proof of what is true. That is the external world. Thomas said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” And Christ showed him the prints.

“This is the same body that was crucified.” Then he understood. “My Lord, my God.”

Most of us are working just here in the brain cells. Isn’t there a deeper source. Think about yourself as mind, not as brain cells. Form ideas into mind. Think of yourself as having an understanding mind. Through this understanding mind you can see the Real Man. Delve into the mind for this Real Man. Do not put yourself to sleep, but get yourself awake. Do not try to dominate yourself through sheer will power. No two people see things exactly alike. See things as they really are.

We want a better understanding of fundamental truth and a better understanding of ourselves. We want to know that within every one of us is an innate ability, an executive ability, understanding and power to accomplish anything. Jesus said that nothing should be impossible unto us. But in order to make these things possible, we must awaken to the truth of our understanding and this awakening must be followed by action. Some people let the will, the activity of the man, run away with their understanding. They do not look before they leap. They plunge through their desire to accomplish into situations before they have consulted the inner wisdom. If you are going to do a thing, I would advise that you think about it, take it to the Lord, and be sure it is the right thing to do. After you get that inner conviction, then go ahead and do it. God does not push you into it, nor does God do it for you# but the way is open. We hold that there is always this fine energy of the mind going out all the time removing mountains. Jesus said that if we have the faith as a grain of mustard seed, we can remove mountains. He did not mean that you were going to push down the Rocky Mountains and throw them into the sea, but He meant that right within your consciousness you had the power to remove every obstacle. We are all carrying mountains of opposition which we might drop. In “Pilgrim’s Progress”, Pilgrim found a great many things he would like to drop, but he put them into a sack. He filled it up until the sack began to get so full it was about to swamp him. He was then forced to drop it and forget all about it. That is what we are to do. These things that we are carrying along in our memory should be dropped, Paul said, “Forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” You will find that you are so free and new energy will come to you if you drop from your mind these things that are opposing you. Sometimes it is stubbornness within us that is binding us. That is the action of your will. You may have your mind set upon something that you are going to carry through and you become stubborn and obstinate. Say, “I am not going to be stubborn any longer. I am not going to will to do things. I am going to be reasonable.” We all need to listen to reason. The whole world today is settled around certain ideas in regard to finances and economical conditions and they are clinging to them. Thus they are building in a false foundation. The Scriptures are full of these things which are for our benefit.

Bible Reading.

“Counsel is mine and sound knowledge. I am understanding. I am might.”

We must follow Jesus Christ. Let the Christ Mind be formed in us. We would never make a mistake if the understanding and will were harmoniously united in us. This day we are perfectly unified in our understanding and in our wills. If you feel sure something is the thing to do, nothing can daunt you.

Copied 2-18-57 CEB