OUR METHODS
WE ARE glad to have you with us praying for divine guidance, and understanding, and righteousness in all our ways. We do not want anything of the nature of personal ambition to creep into our work or to hinder us in doing that which we feel the Father would have us do. But we cannot always depend upon the personal opinions and desires of our students to guide us aright in our handling of the affairs of Unity School. There are matters of universal importance to be considered; and we consider that this body, which has drawn together in a spirit of love and desire to serve, is best able to see and decide and do that which is for the ultimate and highest good of all concerned. Consecration to Truth is one necessary phase of spiritual development. The ability to make practical use of the law is another necessary phase of development. In Bible times Ezra caused his people to repent and turn to God. But he was not the practical business man and leader who could cause them to go in and rebuild their city, Jerusalem. Nehemiah knew how to direct men, and how to get them to pool and use their funds to best advantage; and he it was who caused the Israelites to rebuild Jerusalem. We are endeavoring, in Unity, to be both consecrated to Truth and practical in our handling of all matters coming to our attention, and in our use of all funds coming to us through love. We are praying daily for guidance, for the truly unselfish use of all that is given. We appreciate the prayers and the co-operation and the letters of counsel that our fellow students offer. And we are willing to have all our efforts that do not measure up to the standard of righteousness fall and come to naught. Sonship in Christ is the goal, and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven in the earth is our aim. If in our immaturity we make mistakes, the law will reveal it, and the love of the Father will forgive (will “give for” the mistakes a better understanding of the things needful) and lead us in a better way. We are not looking for evil or punishment. We are endeavoring to see the Christ in all humanity, and to call attention to and encourage the development of the Christ in all who are receptive. And we are assured that the Christ mind in us is working in our consciousness to cast out all that does not measure up.
Your frequent crying out in letters for personal help implies lack of faith in God and in us and tends to break up the spiritual consciousness we are helping you to establish. The secret of our power to help others lies in our refusing to be moved by the appearances and the apparent lacks that are reported to us, and in our standing steadfastly holding to the Truth of being and declaring the working out of the constructive thoughts and words we have sent forth, in which we ask those who identify themselves with us to co-operate. No matter what you tell us of sorrow, or lack, or failure, or illness, we do not believe it, we do not let it take hold in our mind and heart. If we should do such a thing, we should become powerless to help you. If we should receive and dwell upon all the troubles that dear ones feel they have and that they want to impress upon us, we should soon believe that the world was full of such things and that God was unable to work out His plan of life. So we just keep declaring that the things you write are not true, and we shall continue this until you too believe them not true and cease to give your thought to them, and open your mind and heart and eyes to the glorious Presence in which you live and which is seeking perfect expression through you.
We do not promise to say a prayer of words and have the saying work a miracle in another individual. Our work is to call attention to the true way of living and to inspire others to want to live in that true way. Our prayers are for the purpose of encouraging those who are making the effort to lay hold of Truth and prove it.
There is much more to living and being healthy than saying one’s prayers and reading good books. One must study one’s every interest, and inclination, and reaction, and desire in relation to the real Christ wisdom, and love, and power, and life, and substance. The real teacher and healer then is the one who not only has faith in God but who understands and makes practical application of the enlightening, and freeing, and healing truths. To heal a man is to free him from the errors that caused his need of healing and to present to him the helpful words and the loving propositions that enable him to be happy and satisfied and eager in applying the Truth as it comes.
We don’t always know just how our efforts at helping others seem until we are in much the same position and are receiving the same consideration and help ourselves! And I suppose it is well that we do have these various vantage points, else how should we ever arrive at the true Christ way of making use of the Father’s good and of helping others? We think it quite wonderful to be able to lend a hand financially, or even to restore health. But we shall presently know that the ideal is to radiate such a consciousness of the omnipresence of God that we bring others to a realization of health, and ability, and supply, and the order of the kingdom without anything more from us than our simply being the expression of Christ ideas. Then none of us will care to be bothered with more supply than the day calls for. There will be abundance for all. And the individual aim will be for the most worth-while occupation and self-expression!
We’re coming to that place swiftly, praise the Light that is for all!
It is my daily joy to bless those who are seeking the way of life more abundant and to offer myself as the hand into which may be placed the message that the heart of the individual is really writing to God.
You remember the spiritual inspiration that Paul had, and this inspiration is also ours as we claim the light and power and love that are God’s expression through us:
“If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Rom. 8:11)
It isn’t individuals at Unity who quicken and heal. It isn’t the human desire of the individual’s own heart that makes the life to flow through his organism more freely. It isn’t the thing that we usually think of as Christianity that brings us into the quickening, healing currents of Christ life. It is the stirring in us of the same Spirit of Christ that was and is in Jesus Christ—the Spirit of God—standing forth in the individual as the expression of divine ideas from the mind of Being. It is the soul’s willingness and effort actually to live, in daily thinking and acts, the Spirit of Christ, that same Spirit which made Jesus to forget Himself in doing the good and perfect will of His Father. He adored the Father, and sought constantly to glorify Him in making the things of His Spirit manifest in the lives of His children. Jesus was eagerly discovering the real purpose of life and fulfilling it, not for Himself alone but for all of us. He said, “I am the light of the world.” “Ye are the light of the world.” (Matt. 5:14)
We confer titles on no one, we use no titles ourselves, and we take no account of those which other persons use. We are privileged to use the title “Reverend” if we so desire.
We explain in our literature and from our platform that the real baptism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. No person or group of persons can give this spiritual baptism——it is a matter between the individual soul and the divine source of all light and life and power and love. When the individual is baptized by the Holy Spirit, that individual knows it, and power from on high is felt and expressed, and is seen by others.
So when you read of those who are using such titles as “Reverend” or “Doctor,” or when a center demands such a title of the speaker who is welcomed to its platform, just know that spiritual vision will enable you to look beyond all those outer signs and to discern the real character and ability of the leader or minister.
Our best Unity workers and leaders use no frills. It is their consciousness that draws to them the students they can help, and not their names or the list of books and lessons they have read.
To those who pass satisfactorily the examinations given on the Unity correspondence course we grant a certificate. Those who complete this course and who prove in other ways that they are capable of ministering from platform, classroom, healing room, and who have demonstrated that they are trusting to God’s divine law of giving and receiving, the law of prosperity, for their success and support—those in whom we have faith and those whom we feel to be loyal Unity workers—may be ordained by us. But after this ordination we expect them to go out and stand on their own feet and build their own work.
Those who know the true purpose of this work are not so much concerned with titles or positions. They are intent upon expressing the Spirit of Christ.
