"Water... represents material cleansing" (MBD/Water).
"When the baptizing power of the word [affirmations and denials] is poured on a center in consciousness, it dissolves all material thought, and through this cleansing, purifying process, the individual is prepared to see and discern spiritually" (RW/Baptism)
"He [John the Baptist] signifies a high intellectual perception of Truth, but one not yet quickened of Spirit. John represents that attitude of mind in which we are zealous for the rule of Spirit. This attitude is not spiritual, but a) a perception of spiritual possibilities and an activity in making conditions in which Spirit may rule" (MBD/John).
"John the Baptist came making straight the way of the Lord; in other words, we open up in our mind these new thought areas, and that makes us receptive to still higher planes of thought. As we hold the spiritual ideal, there is a descent into our consciousness of these spiritual ideas" (Unpublished Fillmore Jan 1 1928 18).
"Now it is found that in the denial or in this descent into the consciousness of the first baptism, the cleansing of that conscious mind, is a new state of mind. You begin to think about spiritual things in a different way, think about yourself in a different way" (Unpublished Fillmore May 16 1923 25).
"After a rain the air seems so pure and we open our lungs and breathe it. Has there been a washing? Certainly. Did you see it? You saw the rain descend, but you didn't see how the atmosphere was cleansed. That is a parallel of just how this wonderful descent of the Spirit into the mind washes and cleanses and purifies it, and you are an entirely different being so far as your thought is concerned, so far as your mental atmosphere is concerned, if you receive this baptism of John, but there is another baptism following" (Unpublished Fillmore May 16 1923 24).
"This quickening of the intellect is the John-the-Baptist or intellectual illumination that precedes the awakening of the ideal, the Christ understanding. Some Truth students become so enamored of the revelations that they receive through the head that they fail to go on to the unfoldment of the One who baptizes in 'Holy Spirit and in fire" (The Twelve Powers of Man 88).
Charles Fillmore is emphasizing the transformation of the conscious mind that takes place during the first baptism. Affirmations and denials are important tools for cultivating fertile soil in consciousness raising. They setup new conditions in mind which are receptive to spiritual truths and ideas. The individual begins to see himself-herself and the world around them taking on new life. Mr. Fillmore implies here, however, that there is more to come.
