“A great woe came upon the people, because they spake not the word of the Lord.”
“He sent his Word and healed them.”
THE WORD AND THE SPOKEN WORD
In the Beginning, God created the Heaven and the earth through the power of speech, and down through the ages, the “God said” has reverberated as ...loving power or the great motor of the universe.
It is the Initial Impulse, the power behind the throne, for it is Almightiness uttering Itself. Balzac says, “Speech created the universe, and ‘God said’ moves it.” The Word is Mind, or Spirit in motion. God moved, and the result or direct product of this activity is spiritual man, the primal effect of First Cause. In the Beginning, the “Beginningless Beginning” was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Thought and words are two sides of one thing. The “God said” and what may says, the two are inseparable, for they are united by the Law of Cause and Effect, and so speech is just the outer crust of thought. All the words which go to make up the nature of God are also constituent parts of the “Word.”
Because God is active, man being like unto his Creator is also necessarily active, and furthers the purpose of creation by furnishing shapes and forms or moulds through which that awaiting manifestation may be made visible. Balzac again says, “There is a mysterious spirit hidden in human speech.” This power which is a projection in human speech, is the “God said” and brings us to the consideration of that which vitally concerns every living soul. “God said” and in consequence, “man says” which shows that the power to think or man’s activity is compelled by the motion of this Cause, so the fact that man is a thinking being is evident. He has nothing to do with the power back of thought, but at the same time he is wholly responsible for how he thinks or the way he uses the power to think.
Man’s words derive their force from the Creative Source, and are therefore productive, whether we will it or not. The Word is creative by nature, for it is like unto a seed, and like the seed, produces after its kind. Just as the apple seed so such words as Love and hate create after their kind. The speaking of the Word is the implanting of the seed. Hence the admonition, “Take heed to thy words.” Because we think continuously, we are constantly sowing seed thoughts or words in our soul-soil which will bear fruit according to their nature. Ignorant, error words fruit in disease and failure, and condemn the soul, while Truth words enrich, uplift and justify the consciousness. In view of the inherent power of the Word and the unchanging Law of Cause and Effect which brings to pass that which a man sayeth.
In view of this, let us guard our thinking, lest we sow seed we do not wish to harvest. Because of what the Word is, in itself, and its relation to the soul that speaks it, we in self-protection must weed our soul gardens, uprooting and casting out everything that is not of God’s planting. David said. “Let the meditations of my heart, and the words of my mouth be acceptable unto Thee, my Strength and my Redeemer” (Psalms 19:14).
The meditations of the heart are the thoughts we think, and the words of the mouth are simply these thoughts voiced, so we perceive that the “spoken Word” is the symbol of our meditations and that which we meditate upon, becomes established in our texture, or is made flesh. If our innermost thoughts are such as would prove acceptable unto the Spiritual Self, or our Lord, they will prove to be such as we would wish to see take form in bodily conditions or environment. We must not, however, condemn ourselves, because at times, unwelcome, startling thoughts intrude themselves, for the sin is not in being tempted, but lies in entering or harboring error thoughts.
Inherent soul was planted “wholly a right seed” but in the process of evolution, soul through mixed thinking opened the way, for error seed sowing. We need not however, because of this, sit idly down, and suffer out our karma, but rather “rise up” in the might of the inner man, assert our dominion and use the Law instead of being used by It.
Thought is the inherent action of Mind, the producing Power, not productive from choice, but from divine necessity. Let us re-iterate that thought and words are two sides of the same thing, — the one involves the other for they are one in essence, nature and purpose. They are both far reaching in effect and make or mar, construct or tear down, according as they are used or viewed, by existent soul. The Word of Truth is dynamic, and because of this, what we meditate upon or send out in thought comes back to us actualized in conditions. The Divine Power and Presence is within and all about us, awaiting recognition and appropriation which shows that we have something to do. We have to eat, digest, assimilate or make it our own by volitional action our part. Thought is the greatest Force in the universe, and to misuse It is like playing with electricity which is also a powerful agency for good or ill, according to whether it is wisely or unwisely used. All our blessings or seeming ills are the natural result of the thoughts we think, for thoughts are plastic, and soul, the user, stamps them with the true or false idea of self, and thus qualify them. It is a law that we become like our Ideals. The True Word will image forth according to the Truth of Being, while, by error thinking we generate and accrete error forms, so we see that our own words are our only burden, then clearly the way to lift the burden is to change our thinking and conserve our words. “Life and death are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21) for we create the fruit of our lips, and have to eat our own words.
The Word only held to steadfastly, will unveil every seeming mystery in creation. Held in solution in the mental atmosphere, is everything the heart can desire and we make these invisible things our conscious possession by recognition of this truth, or speaking into visibility that which awaits appropriation. Occult forces are ever at work, and we act upon or mould them by our words for every word is the prophecy of its own fulfillment as it contains within itself the power that brings to pass. Our real breathing is our thinking; the mental atmosphere is made up of mental germs. We breathe in, and out, these thought emanations and thus incorporate then. Every disease is the result of contact with unhealthy mental germs. Joy and sorrow, fear and courage, plenty and poverty, health and sickness, are mental states that are infectious and take fora in the realm of the actual as either desirable bodily conditions, and environment, or the opposite.
“God is that boundless sea whose shore is speech” while the “spoken Word” is the link which connects theory and practice, or the bridge which spans the chasm between the invisible and the visible. The Word only is the Word of Truth spoken through us, which lifts the soul out of darkness into Light and puts us on our spiritual feet.
Our ignorant, unprofitable sowing and reaping is done in the Adam dream while we are under the law. In ignorance, we dissipate our forces through idle, frivolous, negative words, not realizing that “according to our word, it shall be unto us” (Luke 1:38) Positive forceful words, are the natural outcome of thinking according to Principle, or the Truth of Being, and as such, must ultimate in health conditions and desirable surroundings while promiscuous, idle words, go forth and gather after their kind, returning to add to the burden of him who uttered it. Jesus recognized the law of re-action when he said, “Take heed of your words for by them ye are justified and by thy words thy art condemned” (Matt. 12:37). Again, Jesus said, “Neither was any guile found in his mouth.” The unbridled tongue is full of deadly poison. “The words of your lips shall b3 created for you.” “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life.” “The tongue of the wise is health.”
Emerson said, “Send forth your word, and though it may take ages, it will come back laden with its kind.” Because we are magnets, to draw back to us our words, every thought we send out will rebound and be mirrored in the flesh. Every word has in it a dynamic force which makes it creative. “They to whom the Word of God shall come, shall be as Gods.” The prophet Jeremiah said, “Man’s burden is his word” and Jesus voiced the same when he declared: “It is not what entereth in, that defileth, but that which proceedeth out of the heart” for from the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 15:11). If we pronounce upon another, we condemn ourselves, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. One reason we outpicture change and decay is because of our inconstancy, our fluctuating resolutions, wavering attitude, and negative words. Most of the Scripture premises, hinge upon steadfastness of purpose, abiding in the Truth, dwelling in the House of the Lord, and waiting patiently upon the Lord.
TruthUnity note: Every word has in it a dynamic force. Explore the greek word Dunamis on Wikipedia. Dunamis (Ancient Greek: δύναμις) is a greek philosophical concept meaning "power", "potential" or "ability", and is central to the Aristotelian idea of potentiality and actuality. Note that in Unity's Twelve Powers of Man, the speaking faculty in humanity is known as power.
There is not a condition or situation that confronts us in the round of daily living, not a problem in existence, which may not be met, and happily solved by the application of the Word of Truth.
“A soft answer turneth away wrath, and a word fitly spoken, doeth good to the soul” (Prov. 15:1). A word once spoken in the mental atmosphere, is like an arrow shot in the air, we know not where it may lodge or what may come of it. The only thing we are sure of is that it will produce after its kind and return to the sender, actualized as a condition, either mental or physical, for it is bound to take form. Jesus, who taught in symbols, said, “The Word is the seed.” We knew the nature and possibilities of the seed. It is living and if implanted, grows and fruits. To implant it is to speak it. The speaking is ours to do. By this we free the stored up power, and having done our part, we are to leave results where they belong. The error word makes its circuit and comes to an end. But the Truth Word goes on and on, and does not die. Will Carleton says, “Unspoken words may sometimes fall back dead, but God himself, can’t kill them, when once said.”
Sound, form and color are a trinity in unity. Speech is a form of sound. We change our color, by changing our vibration, and change our vibration by changing our thinking, or words.
TruthUnity note: The primary effect of the spoken word is not in our outer affairs but in our inner state of consciousness. We use spoken words to establish dominion in our own mind. Note that all the affirmations at the end of this lesson refer to change of mind, not affairs.
The “Lost Word” is the Truth of Being. We must let it have free course that it may bring forth the Christ, the King that shall reign supreme throughout our consciousness as Lord of all. Through a positive mental attitude in the right direction and speaking the Word. The philio (error) The philosophy of a treatment is to declare the exact opposite of what appears. When evil makes its claim in any way upon your life, check it, by at once declaring the opposite good. When sorrowful, affirm that you are filled with the Joy of the Lord. When restless and dissatisfied, declare that you are filled with peace and divine self satisfaction. When beset with impure desire, affirm that you are a pure, holy child of God, and that your desires are now fulfilled in God. In the face of seeming inharmony, declare that perfect harmony reigns in and through your life. When angered, at once unify yourself with Divine Love. In following this method, do not feel that you are saying that which is untrue. Instead you are rejoicing in your good, and recognizing the truth of your being which always was, is now, and ever will be true. It is not enough to do this spasmodically, or just now and then. We must continue in well doing, and persist in speaking the truth of our divine Self until it becomes established in our consciousness, and puts to rout utterly the false self-idea. At first this may seem purely mechanical, but never mind, keep at it, and finally the speaking of the Word brings the feeling or realization, and you know that whereas you were blind to the Truth, you now see. Things are bound to fall into line and do our bidding, for subservient things acknowledge us, just in proportion as we realize and assert our spiritual mastery over them. So it hinges upon how we think, and speak, as to whether things serve us or vice versa. David knew that words were creative when he admonished man to “keep a watch over his lips.”
The soul is the servant that is to be healed, and we set the healing forces in motion when we speak the Truth of Being. Paul says, “If a man offend, not in word, the same is a perfect man” (James 3:2). Let us then order our conversation aright, by speaking only such words as we would wish to see externalized. Let us speak from the standpoint of true Being, and thus identify ourselves with God’s man which is spiritual, living, loving, intelligent, substantial, ideally whole and perfect. The Image and likeness of God is just waiting to be made real or perfected that the one may be like unto the beginning, and the great purpose of creation carried out.
Not one holy day but seven, worshiping not at the call of a bell,
But at the call of my own soul, singing, not at the baton’s sway,
But to the rhythm in my own heart, loving because I must, giving because I cannot keep, — doing for the joy of it.
“Tis easy enough to look pleasant when life flows along as a song.
But the man worth while is the man who can smile,
When everything goes dead wrong.”—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
“I may not overcome the inevitable, but Oh! it is mine to see that the inevitable does not overcome me”
“Not alone for that which is mine, will I rejoice, but for that which has been withheld, which was coveted and longed for but denied, for I am, what I am, for having had to rise superior to the need.”
“It is but common to believe in him who believes in himself, but Oh! if you would do aught uncommon, believe yet in him who does not believe in himself, and thus restore the faith to him.”
“Not all who die stay dead. Today an unappeased yesterday reached back, and struck me with her lash.”
“Say not that this or that thing came to thwart you. It came only to test you.”
“If thou dost but free thyself, thou art a world’s liberator.”
“But in the mud and scum of things, there alway, alway, something sings.”—Emerson.
