The Christian Healing Power. Charles Fillmore

(and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father)." God being perfect, His idea, thought, Word, must be perfect. The perfect Word of God is spiritual man. It is through spiritual man, or the Word of God, that all things are made, are brought into manifestation." "And without him was not anything made that hath been made." The Word is the "only begotten" of God, because there is but one idea of man in Divine Mind, and that idea is the perfect pattern of man's character.

      3. In the 1st chapter of John it is implied that there are things made that are not after divine ideals, consequently not real. The creations of the Word of God are permanent and incorruptible. As an imitator of Divine Mind, man has power to form and make manifest whatsoever he idealizes; but unless his thought is unified with Divine Mind and guided in its operations by infinite wisdom, his thought forms are perishable.

      4. Mental processes enter into all creations. Physical science has discovered that every atom has substance, force, and intelligence; these are the three constituent parts of mind. Mind is the one and only creative power, and all attempts to account for creation from any other standpoint are futile. The creative processes of mind are continuously operative; creation is going on all the time, but the original plan, the design in Divine Mind, is finished.

      5. Man cannot know how the thought, or Word, works except through his own consciousness; consequently he must understand, control, and put in order his own word, for through it he comprehends the Word of God. Our most important study, then, is our own consciousness. The old Greeks recognized this and wrote over the door of one of their temples: "Man, know thyself." The self of man is spiritual, and when it is in direct conscious unity with the Father-Mind it has permanent formative power. Even in his ignorant use of thought, man's mind is forming conditions, even to the changing of the face of nature itself. Every thought that goes forth from the brain sends vibrations into the surrounding atmosphere and moves the realm of things to action. The effect is in proportion to the ability of the thinker to concentrate his mental forces. The average thought vibration produces but temporary results, but under intense mind activity conditions more or less permanent are impressed upon the sensitive plate of the universal ether, and through this activity they are brought into physical manifestation.

      6. Every idea originating in Divine Mind is expressed in the mind of man; through the thought of man the Divine Mind idea is brought to the outer plane of consciousness. In the organism of man are centers that respond to the divinemideas, as a musical instrument sympathetically responds to musical vibrations. Then through another movement on what is termed the conscious, or most outer, plane of action, the thought takes expression as the spoken word. There is in the formed conscious man, or body, a point of concentration for this word; and through this point the word is expressed in invisible vibrations. For example, at the root of the tongue is a brain center, and through it the mind controls the larynx, the tongue, and all the other organs used in forming words. Following the creative law in its operation from the formless to the formed, we can see how an idea fundamental in Divine Mind is grasped by the man ego, how it takes form in his thought, and how it is later expressed through his spoken word. If in each step of this process he conformed to the divine creative law, man's word would make things instantly, as Jesus made the increase of the loaves and fishes. But since he has lost, in a measure, knowledge of the steps in this creative process from the within to the without, there are many breaks and abnormal conditions, with more failures than successes in the products.

      7. However, every word has its effect, though unseen and unrecognized. Jesus said that a man would be held accountable for "every idle word," and a close observation of the power of mind in the affairs of the individual proves this to be true. What we think, we usually express in words; and our words bring about in our life and affairs whatever we put into them. A weak thought is followed by words of weakness. Through the law of expression and form, words of weakness change to weakness the character of everything that receives them.

      8. The nerves are the wires that transmit the mind's messages to all parts of the body, and these parts, being thought formations, carry out, in their turn, the word that has been spoken into them. Talking about nervousness and weakness will produce corresponding conditions in the body; on the other hand, sending forth the word of strength and affirming poise will bring about the desired strength and poise. Your talking about a weak stomach will make your stomach weak. Your talking about your bad liver will fix that idea in your liver. The usual conversation among people creates ill health instead of good health, because of wrong words. If the words speak of disease as a reality, disintegrating forces are set in action, and these, in the end, shatter the strongest organism, if not counteracted by constructive forces.

      9. As an example of the vibratory power of the spoken word, a vocalist can shatter a wineglass by concentrating upon it certain tones. Every time we speak we cause the atoms of the body to tremble and change their places. Not only do we cause the atoms of our own body to change their position, but we raise or lower the rate of vibration and otherwise affect the bodies of others with whom we come in contact. By telling the little child that he looks sick and tired, the mother produces these conditions in the child's mind and body. If the mother addresses words of health, life, and strength to the child, these will set his bodily functions into activity and they will express the harmony of the dominant thought.

      10. Thus every word brings forth after its kind. The "seed" is the creative idea inherent in the word, the nature that it inherits from its parent source--God. The enthusiast in floral culture, who hovers over and talks in loving tones to his flowers, always has success with them, while his neighbor, who is cold and indifferent, fails. The mental emanation and the creative word are the forces that stimulate the receptive intelligence of nature, and although the enthusiast may know nothing of the law of mind, he is using it in its most effective mode, the creative word. In like manner the spiritual healer mentally and audibly speaks to the same all-pervading receptacle, and it responds by building up wasted tissues and weakened functions.

      11. Mind is everywhere and its avenues of expression, like the ether waves of radio, run in every direction. The wonderful discovery that messages can be sent around the earth without wires should forever silence those who have been incredulous when thought transference through a like ether is claimed. But there is a means by which ideas may be transmitted even more rapidly than by mental vibrations, and that is unity with supreme Mind. This Mind exists as the absolute, the unlimited. In its consciousness there is no apartness, no separation, and whoever puts himself into its consciousness can accomplish things instantly.

      12. When the centurion said to Jesus, "Only say the word, and my servant shall be healed," the Master said that He had not found so great faith in all Israel, and His healing word was: "As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." We must have a certain amount of faith in the substance of the invisible and in its ability to do our will. When Peter recognized in Jesus that inner principle called Christ, the Son of God, the response was: "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven." The Father must have been present to Peter as He was to Jesus, and the "heaven" in which Jesus said that the Father was must also have been there. The fact is, Being is always present. Mortal ignorance and lack of faith prevent our realization of this truth. The more we believe in the wisdom, power, substance, love, and life of the one Mind, the greater is its activity in us and our affairs. Not only should we have faith in the All-Presence, but we should also develop our understanding to the end that we may know why the All-Presence manifests through us. Physical science is today in advance of religion in its recognition of a universal life substance and intelligence. Religion is looking for this mighty Creator away off in some distant heaven, right in the face of the distinct teaching of Jesus that God is Spirit and that His kingdom is within man.

      13. But physical science falls short in that it fails to recognize the unity between omnipresent Intelligence and the knowing principle in man. Science is seeking to know intellectually, or from the plane of forms and shapes, that which is of the mind. Physical science has recognized the presence of the creative forces, but it does not know the power that moves them. Divine metaphysics has discovered the moving power to be the thought and word of man, and is proving the truth of this principle through results in a multitude of directions.

      14. The spoken word carries vibrations through the universal ether, and also