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Transcript
The spirit of truth is with us. I am open and receptive to God’s living spirit of truth. Together. I am open and receptive to God’s living spirit of truth. Father, we are grateful. Amen.
Charles Fillmore, like many good, successful Unity authors, did not care much to read the writings of other Unity authors. Now, this is something that happens. It’s happened over and over again in my circle of acquaintances. It happened to me. I can’t explain it. Before one becomes a Unity author himself or herself, we are very interested in Unity writers. We read all we can get our hands on. At least to a degree.
Something happens once an individual himself or herself becomes published. There is this, not losing of interest, but a definite reduction of interest in reading other Unity authors. This does not mean there is a dropping of interest in the reading of books, like I’m Okay, You’re Okay, and now A Course in Miracles is being flaunted all over the place. Many Unity authors enjoy reading books or articles by other people other than Unity. I have just a faint intuition about this, which goes something like this. If I am good enough to have Unity school publish a book by me, I know all about the Unity teachings. Or they wouldn’t publish my book. You understand? This has an attitudinal effect on me, very subtle, but deep in me I feel, why should I read other Unity peoples books when my writing a book that was published proves that I’m an expert. I’ll look into other fields of writing.
If I’m not very careful, I might end up loving A Course in Miracles myself. A lot of people wonder why I don’t like that book. Well, I can’t explain why. Not the book, but three books. I’ll tell you, I attended a meeting years ago when that course first came out. There was a big, big, expensive publicity push to get the book become a classic before it was even distributed you know. They had it here, this meeting was here, publicity meeting. A lot of our field ministers helped sponsor it, and all kinds of big shots were invited to promote the thing and all that. It reminded me of Academy award night. You know what I mean?
All this hoopla, I thought to myself, if it is as good as they are saying it is, they don’t have to shove it down our throats. The quality will speak for itself. All this hoopla, and all this makes me suspicious in advance. Then I, like many others, bought the set. Half a week’s salary, but I bought it. I took it home, and I thought, “Oh well, all those things I’ve heard today, it must be wonderful. Wonderful. I’m going to learn all about miracles. What was called, of course in miracles, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Well, if it has that title, what should it deliver?
A Course in Miracles should deliver how to bring forth miracle. Well, I read all three of those books, and guess what. When I finished reading the third one, I knew as much about how to produce miracles as I did before I bought. It is not “A Course in Miracles.” That is a fake title. Friends, it is not A Course in Miracles. It’s a course named A Course in Miracles, which is three books that makes very beautiful, positive, absolutist statements. Here I’m saying beautiful, positive, absolutist statements. Doesn’t teach anything, doesn’t reveal anything, it makes statements. Therefore, people who like books that make statements adore it. I like books that teach something, or tell stories. Or present courses. If the thing is called a course. There is where I stand, not A Course in Miracles.
Okay, now, Charles Fillmore, I started to talk about him, after a certain stage in his career in his successful writings, he seemed to lose interest in the reading and evaluating other Unity writers. He would be in on the editorial board that would approve or disapprove of manuscripts, but as far as his actual reading, he didn’t do much of it. In the latter part of his life, he stopped almost completely to the Bible of course, and the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Shakespeare. Other than that, he didn’t do much reading. With one exception, he never lost his extreme love and admiration for the author we’re going to deal with today. Doctor Emilie Cady. He adored her writings. Never got tired of them. I would read them for his own pleasure and his own instruction. Of course, you know that she has two books.
Lessons in Truth, which is a basic, supposed to be introductory textbook to Unity. It’s really more of a book for people who already are introduced to Unity ideas. Like to return to the book. Her second book is How I Used Truth, and Mr. Fillmore adored both of these books. He was asked in a class once that I was able to speak to one of the students in that class, that of all the Unity writings that he was familiar with, and that he had anything to do with producing and publishing, if he were to choose one chapter out of any Unity book other than his own book, that he would recommend as being definitive, the tops, what would he pick? Did he have any idea which one he’d pick? When he was asked that question, without hesitation, he would say, “I would choose the chapter called Finding the Christ In Ourselves, by Doctor Emilie Cady. Mr. Fillmore said that, to him, that chapter was the epitome of simple direct entry into the core of the Unity teaching. He said this over and over again.
All right, before we go into the chapter, I have something a little ridiculous to tell you about. I think most of you know that our dear Billie Freeman has made her transition. There will be a memorial service for her today. Now, I do not know whether her son, Pete, Pete Rhea, who is our minister in St. Louis, whether he will be here or not. I don’t know. Pete was a student in the first Sunday school class that I taught here at Unity school back in 1953 I guess. We, in the ministerial training program, part of our extracurricular requirement was we had to teach Sunday school for at least a year. Preferably two years. That was a part of your duties. I was given the third grade, which third grade back then. Pete was in that class. Pete was Billie’s son.
Billie was divorced from Pete’s father, Ralph Ray, and had remarried James Dillet Freeman. James Dillet Freeman was the head of the Unity ministerial program. The Dean. Her ex-husband, Ralph Rhea, was minister of Unity Village Chapel here on the grounds. I had two bosses, but one “bossess.” Their child, it was in my class. Pete was a very smart-alecky youngster at that stage of his life. He knew all the answers, he could pull all the strings, and you couldn’t put him down, because he was the minister’s son, and James Dillet Freeman’s stepson. You had to handle him with kid gloves. He liked me, but he also liked to tease me because I would come out with some rejoinders to him, which he was smart enough to understand and appreciate.
One day I said to him, I said to the class rather, “Today, we’re going to deal with the Sunday school lesson, which is based upon our founder’s favorite chapter in the book, How I Used Truth, the chapter is called Finding the Christ In Ourselves.” Pete started to giggle. I said, “Well, Pete, what’s so funny? We haven’t even started yet.” He said, “That title.” I said, “What title? How I Used Truth?” “No, the chapter we’re going to talk about. Finding the Christ In Ourselves.”
I said, “Well, what’s so funny about that?” He said, “Well, I’ve heard that title mentioned all of my life.” He said, “You know I was born in Unity.” He had to tell me that. I said, “Well, yes, I’m sure you’ve heard that chapter title mentioned many times, but what’s so funny about it?” He said, “Well, Ed, I can’t help it, every time I hear that “finding the Christ in ourselves”, I can’t help it.
In my imagination, I picture my body, and I picture a doctor cutting an incision in my body, and opening up the skin, and telling me to look in and find the Christ and myself.” He said, “I can find my stomach, I can find my liver, I can find my kidney, but where’s that Christ thing hiding?” I never forgot that. Okay. Let’s see, couple of reasons why Mr. Fillmore loves this chapter, why I love it, and why I hope you will too. I’ve done what I’m usually doing here, I pick up excerpts from it, and I’ll comment on it.
In my edition of the book, by the way, this book was published in 1916. I’m sure she wrote many of these articles long before that. She says in this chapter, there were, in the person of Jesus, two distinct regions. There was the fleshly mortal part that was Jesus, the Son of Man, then there was the central, living, real part that was Spirit, the Son of God, that was the Christ.
Now, I bring this up because, in most English translations of the gospel, there is often, in the English translation, no distinction made between Son of God and son of man in the printed text. Sometimes son of man is identified, sometimes Son of God is identified. Many times it’s just the son. The son, the son. Whether that was a translation fault, or a publisher’s fault, we don’t know. But we do know that there is a distinction in the metaphysical meaning of Son of God and son of man. But Jesus talks about both. Now, here in this brief excerpt, Doctor Cady clearly points out the metaphysical meanings of Son of God and son of man. However, as I said, in most English translations of the gospel, the two terms are used interchangeably, and often treated as exact synonyms.
This could be due to faulty translation, or to lack of external skill. Doctor Cady hits it right on the head. When Jesus is speaking of the son of man, he is speaking of the human being. The human being self of us. The human identity of us. When he speaks of the Son of God, he is speaking of the divinity in all of us. The Son of God is the Christ within, or the spiritual man at the core of our being. You see, for example, Jesus says the son must be lifted up. Well, he could only mean the son of man, because the Son of God cannot be lifted up. It’s what does the lifting. Does it not? When he talks about things that need to be changed in the son, he is always referring to son of man. When he’s talking about the divinity within all persons, spiritual perfection, it’s the Son of God.
Now, she goes on a little further,
God, who created us, did not make us and set us apart from himself as a workman makes a table or a chair and puts it away as something completed. Only to be returned to the maker when it needs repairing, not at all. God not only created us in the beginning, but he is the very fountain of life of fighting within us. From this fountain constantly springs new life to re-create our mortal bodies. (page 18)
Now, this paragraph contains much extra reassurance when we remember that at this time, Emilie Cady was a very successful physician. Medical physician. She was an MD in New York.
Now, as a professional and successful MD, her words here are especially impressive since they foreshadow the later great teachings of Charles Fillmore regarding Jesus’ promises concerning regeneration. Here we have a successful medical practitioner talking about something that was not at all accepted by the medical profession of her time, and still is not accepted by many, except the most advanced medical professionals, hygienists, and quantum physicists, which is the possibility for every human being to enter regeneration. Instead of constantly getting cured of ailments, and cured of ailments. Repairment of body. Getting old, dying, reincarnating. Going through the whole rigmarole all over again. More and more of our professional medical and physicists are now accepting the idea of the possibility of what for everybody? Regeneration.
A fourth dimensional body can be brought forth from this three-dimensional limitation body. Doctor Cady, even as a doctor back then, she talks about God within as the fountain constantly springs new life to re-create our mortal bodies. Later on, Charles Fillmore took that up as his teachings on regeneration. Following whom? Who began that in the first place though? 2000 years before Doctor Cady, follow me in the regeneration. Jesus said it. Of course, Mr. Fillmore was thrilled that a woman doctor would see that, even before he himself had the vision of it. Remember this, Myrtle was the one who got the vision of all the things that made Charles Fillmore famous. Later, the Twelve Powers, Silent Unity, youth education, regeneration, all of these wonderful things that Mr. Fillmore’s fame rest upon started with Myrtle’s vision.
Here another lady, Doctor Emilie Cady. Now, on page 19, she begins the paragraph with this sentence, "Jesus kept his eyes away from the external altogether." I’ve often been criticized for pointing out what I feel are weaknesses or faults some of Doctor Cady's statement. This is one of them, "Jesus kept his eyes away from the external altogether." Did he? Okay, this sentence has been severely challenged by many readers. Including yours truly, because it seems to infer that Jesus paid no attention to what was going on around him. Come on, listen to this again. "Jesus kept his eyes away from the external altogether." Translate that into another English sentence. Jesus paid no attention to what was going on around him. Now, we know this was not the case.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Jesus did not place his sense of I Am, or his faith in the external. He knew what was going on, and he talked about what was going on. He often asked people, “What’s going on here? How long did this boy have this condition?” Remember that? Remember? The boy that the disciples could not heal, Jesus returns, and he says, “How long has he had this?” He was paying attention to an external, wasn’t he? He did, but he never gave his sense of I Am to anything in the external, and he never gave his faith to what too many people try to give their faith to and get bad results to the already manifested. You must never give your faith to anything that is already manifested or external. You give your faith only to the invisible presence. You give your belief, your appreciation, your evaluation to things in the external, but you do not give your what? To things already externalized. Your faith, or your sense of I Am.
Your faith must be in God and God only, and God is the invisible omnipresent. You give your faith to that in order to bring forth into visibility. And that doesn’t need your faith. You know what I mean? It’s already manifested, it doesn’t need your faith. It needs your intelligence, your appreciation, your confidence, your usage of it. Faith should be reserved only for God. Christ redone. Divine ideas which are in the invisible.
Now, on the next page, Doctor Cady says, “We know that during his public ministry, Jesus spent hours each day alone with God.” None of us knows what he went through in the years of his early manhood. Just as you and I are doing today in overcoming the mortal, his fleshly desires, his doubts and fears.
Now, Mr. Fillmore often said in regard to this, he says, “It is significant that Jesus does not ever talk about those periods in his life. Nor is a mention made of it in the Gospels." All the Gospels say is he grew up. He grew in stature and in favor with God and with man, and he was subject to his, what? Parents. That’s the only thing we’re told about those years of Jesus from 12 to 30. We know nothing about what he did. What went on in his life during those years. The fact that Jesus himself never refers to that is very significant we think.
Mr. Fillmore said to his class once, he said, “Perhaps this indicates that we should not do much talking about our inner struggles and temptations. Our doubts and our unhealthy attitudes. We may have to struggle with them within ourselves, but it is best to keep it to ourselves, rather than go around talking about it.”
I find the same thing true in so many things in our Unity in our spiritual life. The temptation is to do so much talking about what we accomplished, or what we went through, or this, or this, and that. Less talking, and more praying. Less talking, and more self observation would be a much wiser course. Let me read my little thing. These overcoming’s, no, perhaps this indicates that we should not do so much talking about our inner struggles with temptations, doubts, and unhealthy attitudes. These overcoming’s are done mostly in the "secret place" within us. Are often best kept as secrets. In a class that I attended taught by Elizabeth Sand Turner many years ago, I remember her saying this to us. She was not teaching the summer training school students at this time, she was teaching just we ministerial students. She would often say things to us differently from what she would say to the general public classes. As you can see, there would be reasons for that.
One of the things she said that wasn’t in class, she would, “Gentlemen, when you graduate from here, and when you go out into the field in your own ministries, there is one thing I’d like you to keep in mind. Every soul, every person is entitled to his or her quota of soul secrets.” She said, “Just as you are entitled to your soul secrets, so you must allow other people to be entitled to their share of soul secrets. Don’t pry into another person’s soul secrets. If they want to share their secret with you as their minister, you welcome the sharing, but you don’t pry. You don’t delve, and you don’t insist that they reveal their soul secrets unless they choose to.”
One of my fellow students raised his hand, and he didn’t, he said, “I don’t understand what you mean by that term 'soul secrets.' I’ve never read that anywhere.” She said, “You don’t understand it, because you’ve never read it anywhere.” She said, “Well, you know what the word soul means, don’t you?” “Yes.” “You know what the word secret means, don’t you?” “Yes.” “Put two and two together.” See how smart she was? Rather than come up with a definition of the term "soul secrets," let the person find his own definition since he knows what soul means, and he knows what secret means, put them together, it’s self-explanatory.
Then he said, “Can you give me an example of a very obvious soul secret that I shouldn’t pry into?” She said, “You bet I can.” She said, “You are going to be asked to pray for healing for many, many people. You are going to be asked to come to homes where there is a sick woman, a patient in bed. You are going to make hospital calls, and you are going to do everything that’s requested of you in regard to praying, counseling, holding the Truth for these sick people, and many of these people that you do this for will not respond. Will not accept their healing. Will resist healing, even after having asked for it will resist it.” She said, “And you’re going to be tempted to get angry hearing me and frustrated, and demand an explanation of, why won’t you get healed?” She said, “Don’t ever do that. And don’t ever do it to guess who? Yourself.”
There are soul secrets for every thing, for every person. There are certain secrets that we had in us that even we don’t understand. One of these secrets is, why won’t I accept a healing? One part of me wants it, and another part of me is resisting it. Now, some of you are looking very dubious at me. I don’t blame you, but I guarantee you, it happens. You will be called to a hospital, the patient is desperate, or the loved ones of the patient is. “She needs healing, she wants healing. Quick, healing, healing.” You’ll get in the circle of prayer, and you’ll pray up, you’ll pray up, and you’ll bone up on your counseling, and you’ll come into the hospital room with pure thoughts. Come on. You’ll sit down with that patient, and is something in you will reveal to you, she’s ready for healing, healing is available, but she’s putting it on hold. She’s resisting.
There is where you have to be very careful. You have to be patient, loving, and "loose her, and let her go." No blaming, no judging, no anything. Especially no guilt on your part. Now, let’s go on. On page 21 in my book, Doctor Cady says,
“We all must recognize that it was the Christ within that made Jesus what he was. Our power now to help ourselves and to help others lies in our comprehending the Truth. For it is the Truth, whether we realize it or not, that this same Christ that lived in Jesus lives within us. It is the part of himself that God has put within us whichever lives there with an inexpressible love and desire to spring to the circumference of our being, or to our consciousness as our all sufficiency in all things."
Now, this is one of Doctor Cady’s famous paragraphs. It is her clear and bold declaration of the Truth of Christ within. Now, it made a very profound impression on most readers when the book first appeared in 1916. It still makes that same impression today. All right, now, in the opening of this class, I gave you that silly anecdote about Pete, and finding the Christ in ourselves, and him thinking of opening his abdomen, and where is that Christ hiding? You see, the reason why he was still a child then, and he was still thinking of Christ as some kind of an entity, like a fetus in the mother’s womb, well somewhere in me, there’s this critter called Christ. Well, Pete today wouldn’t think that way. Pete, today, would think of Charles Fillmore’s definition of that word Christ in his latter few years.
Mr. Fillmore came up with Christ definitions quite often in his career, but his last definition, which he claimed was his favorite, the best, the one he settled on was this, please remember this, Christ is the name of the divine idea which contains all divine ideas. This is the best definition of Christ I can think of. Christ is not a critter, an embryo, a fetus, a thing. Christ is a what? A divine idea which contains all divine ideas. That divine idea is implanted in each and every one of us. It is always there. Within it are all divine ideas. When you find the Christ within herself, you don’t located in your body parts, you located in their consciousness, in your awareness. In that divine idea are contained all other divine ideas you may ever need. Every need.
She goes on and she says,
“Jesus, sometimes, spoke from the mortal part of himself, but he lived so almost wholly in the Christ part himself, so consciously in the center of his being where the very essence of the father was bubbling up in ceaseless activity, that he usually spoke from that part.”
Doctor Cady here points out that Jesus’ words recorded in the Gospels do not all come from the same level of consciousness. Jesus of Nazareth often speaks. Christ Jesus often speaks. Now, familiarity with all of his words enable us to discern the shade of difference. If you study the actual words of Jesus as contained in our four Gospels, and meditate on them, reflect on them, quote them, you will very soon, without any problem, without any trouble realize, and this is the son of man of Jesus speaking, and when this is Christ Jesus, the Son of God speaking.
You will approach those two levels of Jesus’ words from a different perspective. For example, let me give you an example of it. Jesus said, “I am the way, the Truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father except by me.” (John 14:6) Now, he had to be speaking from what level of himself? Christ. If he had not, if he had been speaking from the Son of Man, personality level, what with those words sound like?
Vanity.
Pardon me?
Vanity.
Vanity, it would be presumptuousness. Come on, I, Ed Rabel, am the way, the Truth, and the life, and no man can come unto the Father, except by me? I love Billy Graham. I like Jim Jones. You hearing me, folks? Jesus Christ wouldn’t do that. Jesus Christ said, “I am the way.” He means the I Am of me. The Christ, the Christ indwelling all of us is a way, the Truth, and the life. There is no way to get into the Father, that’s the fourth dimension, the Kingdom of Heaven, except through spiritual awareness. Recognizing, finding the Christ in yourself. Expressing from that Christ awareness. That’s the only way to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. The fourth dimension with Jesus often called "the Father."
She goes on, when Jesus said, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest.” He could not have meant to invite humankind to come unto his personal, mortal self, for he knew of the millions of men and women who could never reach him. It is not the same true today, folks? There are millions, perhaps billions of people on our planet who never heard of Jesus Christ, and don’t care to hear about him. Are you hearing me? They don’t go to Christian churches, they don’t read the gospel, and they never will. Yet, they too can come unto the Father. They too can enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the fourth dimension, not by means of the man Jesus, but by the Christ Jesus which is also in them. In them. Doesn’t matter what they’re calling their religion, or what they’re calling the idols that they worship, or what kind of prayers they indulging, if they really believe in these things, and they are doing it from the heart. That’s religion.
You see? That is making them acquainted with the Christ within themselves, though they wouldn’t know what you are talking about if you used the word Christ. They know about Brahma. They know about Nirvana. They know about The Great Spirit. They don’t need to know about Jesus Christ, but the meaning of Jesus Christ which is Christ within everybody. Doctor Cady takes Jesus at his word when he claims that many of his … Sorry, I jumped ahead. I jumped ahead. I stopped too soon. He knew of the millions of men and women who could never reach him. He was then speaking from the Christ self of him, meaning not come unto me, Jesus, but come to the Christ. Nor did he mean come to the Christ living in me, for comparatively few could ever do that, but he said the words that I say to you
"I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works." (John 14:10) Then it was the father saying not come to Jesus, but come to me. Now, see, Doctor Cady here takes Jesus at his word when he claims that many of his words are not his, personally. Expressing God’s word spoken through him, and these are the Son of God’s words, or the Christ messages. You can always tell when that’s what you’re dealing with when you’re familiar with the four Gospels. A little further, she says,
“To live a Christ life is to follow Jesus’ teachings in the knowledge that God’s indwelling presence, which is always life, love, and power within us, is now ready and waiting to flow forth abundantly, lavishly into our consciousness, and through us to others. The moment we open ourselves to it and trust fully expect it.” (page 24)
This is Doctor Cady’s beautiful definition of the meaning of the term, "living a Christ life." Mr. Fillmore later took that up and used it a lot. Myrtle Fillmore used it a lot too. Living a Christ life. Myrtle was the first one, the first one to use this phrase, Unity is also a way of life. Myrtle who came up with that. Now, Doctor Cady here sees a difference between being a Christian, and living a Christ life. See, many people are living a Christ life who are not being a Christian. Meaning membership in a religious movement. Living a Christ life is just as possible and logical for the most primitive person in the most undeveloped part of the world, as it is for the most sophisticated Christian scientist, or Unity student. Because Christ is universal. Nonselective.
Okay, now we come to another famous parts of Doctor Cady’s book, which Charles Fillmore especially loved. Charles would often bring these affirmations into his classes, and always give credit to Doctor Cady, and end his classes with the class reading the words, either from the book, or he would have copies made. In my book, it’s on page 18. She prints these affirmations,
"Christ in me is my life. Christ is my health. Christ is my strength. Christ is perfect. Therefore, I am now perfect because Christ dwells within me as perfect life, health, strength." (page 25)
Now, a little further down she adds this.
"Take this thought. Christ is my abundant supply. Christ is here within me now, and greatly desires to manifest himself as my supply. His desires are fulfilled now."
These are two Emilie Cady classics. Classic affirmations. One for healing, and the other for prosperity. Thousands of readers have used them. Thousands have been healed and prospered. Mr. Fillmore was a very strong advocate for the usage of them.
On the next page, she brings up his business of forgiveness of sins, remission of sins. She makes this observation. She says, “Sins, in the original text.” Now, that would be either ancient Hebrew, Babylonian, Aramaic, or ancient Greek. "Sins, in the original text does not mean crime deserving punishment. It means any mistake or failure that brings suffering." (page 27)
Here is a beautiful clarifying of the original meaning of the word sin. So often mentioned in the gospel. Crime does not have the same root meaning as sin. You can be sinning terrifically, and never commit a crime. You see? Because sin is something that we do in consciousness.
Now, later on in his career, Mr. Fillmore came out with his final definition for the words sin, evil, and wickedness. Unfortunately, it didn’t get printed, but those of us who have access to his class notes at that time of his life can share this now. He said, “The words sin, evil, and wickedness simply mean any human attempt to negate any divine ideas.” Where do we do that attempt to negate divine ideas? In the mind, always in the mind. If we follow out, then we might then commit crimes with the body. Not necessarily, but the sin occurs when our minds or our hearts are attempting in any way to negate any divine ideas. Very often, friend, when we’re doing this, we don’t realize what we’re doing. You hearing me?
Remember what Jesus said on the cross? "Father, forgive them, for the know not what they do." This is often the case with us. We are crucifying ourselves by sinning. By in some way attitudently usual, or thinking, or emotionally. We’re attempting to negate some divine ideas, but we don’t call it that. Because we usually, quite often can find good reasons why we should be doing it. Come on. My favorite reason for doing it is, "you ain’t treating me right." Get it? "Therefore, I have a right to negate some divine ideas where you’re concerned in my life, because you ain’t treating me right." All the while, who is this sin harming? Me. It’s despoiling my own consciousness.
We go on now. Want to try to finish this chapter. On page 29, Doctor Cady says, “You must learn to keep the mortal of us still. Be still. Two still all its doubts, and fears, and false beliefs, and to hold rigidly to the Christ only.”
There is a point of living the life of Truth which many persons do not like. There is a point we reach in following the Truth, living the life of Truth. Many persons do not like it. Or a part of living, and that is the persistent effort it requires. You’ve got to keep at it. You can’t just learn the Truth and you got it made. After you learn the Truth, you must keep at it. Finding the Truth and learning the teachings can be quite easy and pleasant.
Once the basics are learned, the real work begins. To refuse to work or to resent the need for continued effort can short-circuit all benefits gained from the acquirement of knowledge of Truth. The most persistent effort required in this respect, and it’s the hardest, is to continue to get self out of the way. That’s the hardest job of all after you’ve learned the basic. To continue to get self out of the way.
Myrtle Fillmore, most wonderful affirmation what I let go and let God. Easy affirmation to make, but a pretty hard one to follow. Because you see, we’ve got so many philosophies going around about self this, and self that, self image, self-esteem, self assertiveness. All of the self stuff, which is anything but learn to get self out of the way. It puts itself in the front row. Well, it’s tricky. It is very tricky.
We’ll take one more point. Okay. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore were avid readers of Emerson’s essays. As far as we know, that is the only reading Myrtle did of a popular nature after she became the founder of Unity. We know that Charles continued to read Emerson, and the Bible, and Shakespeare.
Both Myrtle and Charles many times said that, to them, the most beautiful statement in all of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works are the ones quoted here on page 34. Ralph Waldo Emerson said,
“Every soul is not only the inlet, but may become the outlet of all there is in God.”
Charles and Myrtle Fillmore loved using the affirmation. I give thanks that I am the inlet and the outlet of all God’s good. Let’s affirm that.
I give thanks that I am the inlet and the outlet of all God’s good.
Then the last statement I will read she says in her last paragraph in this chapter,
"Let go the notion of being or doing anything in the future. God knows no time but the eternal now. You can never know any other time, for there is no other."
You cannot live an hour or 10 minutes in the future. You cannot live it until you reach it, and then it becomes now. A million years from now you’re going to name that moment now. Now is eternity. Not time, not past, present, and future, but eternity is the eternal now. I’ll read my comment, and then we’ll dismiss.
"This is God’s eternity. The ever renewing truth of now. Now is the name of eternity. Since I am living in the now, my life is eternal. I am the ageless, deathless, eternal, perfect life of God."
Okay, friends. That’s finding the Christ in ourselves, by Doctor Cady, and God bless you, I’ll see you next week. I’ll spring another author.
