THE Unity Correspondence School Department was established several years ago, in order to give our friends the advantage of having a home study course in Truth that would be easily understood, that would include all points of interest to a student of Christian healing, and that would constitute an efficient help to those who wish to learn to heal and to teach Truth. Before asking to be enrolled, a student should have a good understanding of the principles taught in Unity publications, such as Unity Daily Word, Weekly Unity, and Unity, that he may understand the metaphysical terms used in the regular lessons.
Hints as to How to Study
In order to study intelligently you should have at hand a good-sized Webster's dictionary, at least the Collegiate size, and refer to it often. Words have a way of hiding their meaning, and often are very vague in our mind. We should know clearly and definitely what a word means and be able to state its meaning lucidly. Some of the most common words that we use daily may be found difficult to define clearly. The dictionary is a recognized authority from which we can get the accepted signification. Sometimes examining the root meaning of a word helps us to get an insight into the idea that is back of the word, and in the study of metaphysics we are often dealing with ideas that are hidden in words. Man being the "living Word," it behooves him to know the meaning of the words with which he is constantly working. Every earnest Truth student should own a Bible in which there is a concordance. He should look up Bible quotations given in the textbooks that he is studying, examine their setting, familiarize himself with the Scriptures, and become acquainted with the newer and richer understanding that they hold for him. Unity School uses and recommends to its students Nelson's American Standard Edition of the Revised Version of the Bible. One should begin each study period with a prayer for illumination, thus calling on Divine Mind to be present to throw the light of Spirit on the pages that one is studying, that one may fully understand.
Lessons in Truth
As Lessons in Truth, written by H. Emilie Cady, is our fundamental textbook, you begin the Correspondence Course by a thorough study of this book. This study precedes all other lessons. Each chapter is taken up with the student, who is expected to give written answers to questions on each chapter. Learn to analyze the questions; seek to find the principal point that is to be brought out, and then stick to that point when making your answer. Discipline your mind so that it does not wander away from the main point of the question when you come to write the answer. If you have never known Lessons in Truth, begin by reading it through from start to finish to get the general purpose of it. Then turn back to the first lesson and make a careful and systematic study of it as outlined previously in our "Hints as to How to Study," digging deep into the meaning of what is written there. As there is only one Mind, seek the same consciousness that the author was in when she wrote the book, and thus get below the surface and into the real spirit that prompted the writing of the words on the page. Endeavor each day to make practical use of its teachings in your own affairs. When the student has completed his study of this first textbook, he should write to this Department so that instructions may be given him as to the preparation of his first lesson. We like to have papers prepared in a uniform manner, as it facilitates our handling of them. Only one lesson is to be prepared at a time, and no further papers should be written until the preceding one has been returned with the approval of the instructor. The same plan applies to both series of lessons that follow the study of Lessons in Truth; each lesson must have the approval of the instructor before any other lesson is assigned.
FIRST SERIES — SIX LESSONS
Lesson 1. The Silence.
Prayer, its true character and application in daily living—Finding the "secret place of the Most High"—Conscious union with God through prayer—Interpretation of the Lord's Prayer—God as Father—Man's identity with God through I AM—Concentration—Meditation.
Lesson 2. Healing.
Health our natural inheritance—All causation in Mind—Man's power to forgive sins—Righteous judgment—Relation of righteousness to health—How to heal others—God the one presence and the one power—The body, the temple of God.
Lesson 3. Prosperity.
What true prosperity is—Understanding necessary in demonstrating prosperity—Reality of substance—Unreality of matter—The substance of true words— Establishing a consciousness of substance through affirmation—Faithfulness in service—Seeking first the kingdom of God—Laws governing increase.
Lesson 4. The Body of Christ.
The threefold application of the term "body of Christ"—Restoration of man—Restitution of the earth—Spirituality the basis of unity—Jesus as Savior of race —The Lord's Supper and its spiritual significance—The true sacraments—Preserving the harmony of the life idea in all creation—The true Sabbath.
Lesson 5. Overcoming.
Man's inherent power and dominion—The power of my thought to bless or to injure me—Realms of mind—Understanding and redeeming the subconscious realm—Overcoming sense consciousness —Establishing the Christ consciousness —Overcoming belief in heredity—Growth dependent upon ideals held in mind.
Lesson 6. The Great Demonstration.
Attaining the consciousness of eternal life—Man's power to unite consciously with the life idea—Identification with the Christ self—Death not the will of God—Jesus' teachings of life—Redemption of the body through overcoming sin—Love as a factor in the great demonstration.
SECOND SERIES — TWELVE LESSONS
The foregoing six lessons as well as the twelve lessons of the Second Series are supplied by the School. Only one lesson is sent at a time, and the twenty questions that accompany it should be answered in a satisfactory manner before the succeeding lesson is furnished. After a student receives his graded paper on the lesson, he then writes an essay or lecture on it, taking up all the essential points.
Lesson 1. The True Character of God.
God as Spirit, Principle, Father, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Mind—Man's relation to Divine Mind— Kingdom of God within man—Man's power to manifest divine ideas—The one reality—Nearness of God—Quickening of the Spirit.
Lesson 2. Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father.
Christ, the perfect-man idea—Distinction between "Christ" and "Jesus"—The perfect-man idea demonstrated in Jesus Christ—Christ, the Word of God—Man's identification with Christ—Christ, the Son of God—Alive in Christ—Asking in the name of Christ—Transformation of mind and renewal of body through Christ.
Lesson 3. Man, the Image and Likeness of God.
Creative action of Divine Mind—The Trinity—I am man—I will man—The "tree of life"—God's manifestation through man—The purpose of man—Acknowledging God—The term "man" in Scriptural texts rightly applied—Discerning the Christ—Son of God—Son of man.
Lesson 4. The Formative Power of Thought.
Thought power—Three realms of mind—Action of the conscious and subconscious realms of mind—The relation of the subconscious to the bodily organism—Redemption of the subconscious through true thinking—Unifying the conscious and subconscious realms of mind with the superconscious—Atonement—Ideas of the Christ mind established in consciousness—Righteousness of body established through thought, meditation, and prayer.
Lesson 5. Denials and Affirmations.
The "yes" and "no" of mind-Thoughts either constructive or destructive—Denying the false—Affirming the true—Effects of denials and affirmations on bodily structures—Absolute Truth the one standard of thought—Faith, the accumulation of affirmations of Truth—Denials and affirmations as attitudes of mind—Jesus' temptation in the wilderness and its application in man's consciousness—Overcoming personality.
Lesson 6. The Word
The Word of God—All potentialities of Being contained in the Word—Man's power to speak the creative Word—Spiritual man, the Word of God—True words are enduring—Divine ideas established in consciousness through the Word—Realization of the power of the word precedes demonstration—Abiding in Jesus' words—Redemption of the body through living words.
Lesson 7. Spirituality, or Prayer and Praise.
Bible symbology—Twelve faculties of man—Man's conscious union with God through prayer and praise—Spiritual substance—The upper room—The effect of praise on the bodily organism—Praise an important factor in demonstrating Truth—Effectual prayer—The true object of praise.
Lesson 8. Faith.
Development of faith—Faith as a power—Union of faith and love in demonstration—Faith a living reality—Man's faith in God and his own inheritance—Success through faith—Faith in our Christ self—Faith in humanity—Righteousness established through faith in the supreme good.
Lesson 9. Imagination.
How imagination creates—Imaging divine ideas—Effects of imagination on body structures—Imaging the perfect body—Man's power to control imagination—Importance of correct mental images—Suggestion—Activity of the imagination in the subconsciousness—Transforming the character.
Lesson 10. Will and Understanding.
Man's freedom of will—Blending individual will with the divine will—Man's perfect freedom in divine understanding—Control of faculties through exercising will in understanding—The will of God always harmony—Overcoming willfulness —Spiritual realization through understanding—Action of the will upon the organs of the body—Will, the directing faculty of mind—Self-control.
Lesson 11. Judgment and Justice.
Eternal law of justice—Cooperation with divine law of justice necessary in expressing harmony—The day of judgment—Discipline not punishment—Various meanings of "hell"—Purification by "fire" a daily process—The unpardonable sin—The supreme Judge—Power and poise the result of being established in divine judgment.
Lesson 12. Love.
Love, the harmonizing power of the universe—The true character of love is spiritual—Love in the regeneration—Mercy a manifestation of love—Perfect love casts out fear—Consciousness of love overcomes all destructive agencies— Union of love and wisdom—Divine love and human love.
Giving Your Support
The idea of love offerings, introduced by Unity School, is of such a character that it is very commonly misunderstood. The subject of compensation for Correspondence School lessons is one that many students ask about, and one that all need to understand, since, as students, we deal with the divine law and seek to know its operations. We set no price on the Correspondence School lessons, neither do we suggest the amount of the offerings that students should make, or the time for sending them. Everything used in carrying on the Correspondence School is charged to it as a Department of Unity School, and students' offerings are applied toward the cost. Sometimes extra time and materials are required when lessons have to be returned and regraded, or when for some reason a second lesson must be sent. A friend was shown that she did not need to be concerned about sending us a specific amount, but that if she desired to support our work, Spirit would open new channels of prosperity for her, and she would be able to make such offerings as her love and gratitude would prompt. She saw that she had not looked at the proposition wisely before, and began handling it from the standpoint of Truth consciousness and from the desire to be of service in disseminating Truth. She began to 'give thanks and to praise, to show appreciation and gratefulness. She wanted to send something with each lesson but her faith was tried to the uttermost at first. After a few months her consciousness became richer and the Correspondence School supervisor noticed that her lessons became "richer." The ideas that she had laid hold of in her lessons had worked out into her home and into her husband's business. Before finishing the course she was able to give generously. One of our students wrote that she had never given liberally at any church service, and consequently had not given generously to this work. It came to her that a year previously she had been paying large sums toward a doctor bill; that now her knowledge of Truth keeps her well and saves her the expense of a physician. So she decided to compensate for her lessons in proportion to her gratefulness for what the knowledge of Truth does for her. You will see that we cannot tell any one what compensation he should make for the lessons. When a student enters into the true consciousness of compensation and into the true desire to support Christ, the Truth, he will find the way made plain and easy. When one person sends in a generous offering, he helps us to carry another student until he, too, enters into a richer consciousness. We want all our students to be independent, to handle actively the law of prosperity as taught in Lesson 3, First Series, and to make their individual demonstrations. We know that this work will be amply supported, because it is handled by the law of love. No monetary value can be put on the lessons, because Truth is priceless; but we can appreciate in practical terms a compensation for the upkeep of an institution in which people are giving their best efforts to help humanity to become quickened to spiritual understanding. Unity has never attempted to take up the matter of giving and receiving in a personal way; it is best for the individual to let this come through his own understanding. There are some students who follow the plan of tithing, and are giving it hearty endorsement. The School has never set any time when students should send in their thank offerings, but we are earnestly in favor of our students cultivating the disposition to be regular, systematic, and orderly in all that they do. We never receive anything for nothing. We receive in the measure that we give; if we put nothing in, we get out of the lesson in the same measure. If a student finds himself unable to send in a gift to the Correspondence School with his first lesson, he can at least give his heartiest expression of love and good will for the work. If you continually affirm love for anything, you will find yourself able to do the loving thing. Every gift of money should be wrapped in love. "Divine love through me multiplies you" is a favorite affirmation of ours when blessing money. Some of our students continue to send in thank offerings, even after the course has been completed. Every gift is blessed through Spirit, and the giver receives his blessing in countless ways. Do not delay sending in your lessons because you do not have an offering at hand. If you are not demonstrating prosperity, that is all the more reason why you need to learn Truth and why we want the privilege of helping you on with your learning it. All our students should learn to give. Give generously to every good cause. Give wisely. Give your love offerings to that which is helpful and constructive. Give lovingly. With all your giving, expect to receive generously, because only through receiving can you give, and only through giving can you receive.
General Points for Students
It is necessary that each question on the application blank be answered fully. Lessons are to be sent to us in Correspondence School envelopes, which we supply. In sending in their work, students generally use paper that measures 8 1/2 by 11 inches. The average lesson when typewritten, single space, on one side of the paper only, requires from six to eight sheets. Answers are made from the standpoint of Unity teachings as brought out in the lesson, but in your own words. Learn to be original in expressing the ideas. "Personal doubts" should not be included in answers, as lessons are generally preserved long after personal doubts have passed away. Tracts are not sent out with lessons, as students are to procure these when they are ready to begin what is termed the "First Series—Six Lessons." The Correspondence School Department handles nothing but the grading of the lessons and matters related thereto. Remember that your gifts for the support of the Correspondence School work must be distinctly marked for the Correspondence School Department. The student should see that the acknowledgment of this offering comes from this Department. We make no rule as to when students should send in lessons. Students have found that it is decidedly to their advantage to keep in close touch with the School. Many students send in a lesson about every four weeks, and find that they maintain a contact with the work that helps them very much in their own demonstrations. However, if more time is required to enable you to instill the truths in your consciousness and work them out in your affairs, feel free to take the extra time. Do not neglect the daily study and application. Letters and lessons from students are sometimes delayed in transit owing to insufficient postage on envelopes. Postage on air mail is eight cents for the first ounce and thirteen cents an ounce for each additional ounce or fraction of an ounce. If money saved in a Prosperity Bank or money sent to Unity School as a tithe is intended for the Correspondence School Department, you should so specify. The correspondence course is not studied in classes or taught by teachers in the field as from a textbook. There is no objection to persons in the field studying together as a class and exchanging thoughts on the truths taught, but each student deals directly with Unity headquarters and is to write out his paper independently of others. As a new lesson is not sent to the individual student until his paper on the preceding one has been received it is important that students in classes keep together by writing out papers promptly when the class has finished with the lesson. Lessons are sent only to regularly enrolled students. Neither the application nor the examination papers should be signed by two people. The course is not given to children. When you notify the Correspondence School Department about change of address, it does not affect the address of your Unity periodicals unless you so specify. You can help very much by observing these points.
The Lord's Prayer
"Our Father in the Heavens; Your Name must be being Hallowed; "Your Kingdom must be being restored "Your Will must be being done both in Heaven and upon the Earth. "Give us today our tomorrow's bread; "And forgive us our faults, as we forgive those offending us, for You would not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from its evil."
Above is Ferror Fenton's translation of the Lord's Prayer from the original Greek. In the original it is in the passive imperative mood and is difficult to translate into English. As given by the Master it has the force of a "standing order" or something to be done absolutely and continuously. PRINTED IN U. S. A. C9-10M-3-35 ________________________ Following Entry: Unity Correspondence School Directions for Study Classes
