m a James A. Decker, Editor ■l l l l i i i j ■ Ill J'n ASSOCIATE EDITOR Janna Russell ART DIRECTOR Mil Stahr A. Pope COPY EDITOR Connie Fillmore McCarty C IR C U LA TIO N MANAGER Roy J. Howard PRODUCTION MANAGER Claborn Brants CONTENTS MARCH 1975 VOL. 155 NO. 3

A Message from Silent Unity 3 James Dillet Freeman The Resurrected Bunny 4 Justine Ulp Murray We Are the Light Bearers of the Universe 8 Catherine Ponder Prayer Power 12 Putting It All Together 15 Glenn Clair monte Revelation: the Book of Unity (II) 21 J. Sig Paulson and Ric Dickerson What Happens to Those Who Die? 28 Winifred Wilkinson and George Hausmann Patterns for Self-Unfoldment 31 Randolph and Leddy Schmelig What Are You Looking For? 37 Charles Lelly Music Is His Language of Love 38 Douglas Crane Experiences in Meditation (III) 41 Marjorie H. Russell Witness of the Resurrection 45 Charles Fillmore Monthly Thoughts 47 Questions on the Quest 48 Marcus Bach Easter Is the Story of Your Life, Too 55 Harold A. Schulz Christ Enthroned in Man (XII) 57 Cora Fillmore The Important Difference 60 Lew H. Morse Letters to the Editor 65 Book Mark 66 Hugh R. Horne

CREDITS: Robert R. Buckner (cover); Dell Godbold (5, 6); H. Armstrong Roberts (8, 53, 54); Ewing Galloway (14); Pete Dercher (21, 41); Kay Frederick (36).

UNITY SCHOOL OF CHRISTIANITY, Charles R. Fillmore, President; Lowell Fillmore, President Emeritus; James Dillet Freeman, First Vice-President; Otto Ami, Secretary. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Charles R. Fillmore, Chairman; Otto Ami, Claborn Brants, Zelma Cook William B. Dale, James A. Decker, Robert L. Drescher, James Dillet Freeman, Roy Howard, Foster McClellan, Charles McGill, Keith McKay, J. Sig Paulson. Peter L. Rhea, Ralph Rhea, Rosemary Rhea, Martha Smock, Philip White, Robert P. Sikking (AUC Advisor). Published monthly by UNITY SCHOOL OF CHRISTIANITY, Unity Village, Mo. 64065. Subscription price (United States and possessions, and Canada), 1 year, $3; 2 years, $5; 3 years, $7; additional subscriptions on same order, $2 each. (Foreign add $1 extra per year or subscription.) Single copy, 35 cents. Second-class postage paid at L e e ’s Summit, Mo.© 1975 by Unity School of Christianity. (Unity School also publishes the following periodicals: Daily Word, $2 a year; La Palabra Diaria, $2 a year; Wee Wisdom, $4 a year [10 issues]. Foreign add $1 extra per year or subscription.) A Message fm m §Uet\t ’(ifity

Several years ago the cover on the Easter issue o f Daily Word showed a fluffy golden chick that had just stepped out of a broken shell. Two or three people wrote in to say that they d id n ’t think the cover was religious enough. Easter of course is the Bible story o f the Resurrection, and the Easter story is a wonderful one. But I wonder if there is anything more religious than a broken shell and new life rising out of it. What is the purpose of religion? Is it meant to commemorate an event that occurred thousands of years ago, or is it most of all a way of meeting to d a y ’s needs and limitations and rising through them? Christianity might be called the religion of breakthrough. Its central story is the story o f a great breakthrough. But is it about one breakthrough once, or is it about the breakthroughs all life is called on to make every day? Is there any one of us who does not need to break through a few shells? Sometimes these shells are physical limitations, sometimes they are personality limitations, or a limited knowledge and skill. Our whole society today is standing impotent with fear. Why? Because we find ourself encased in old shells, and we are going to have to break through them and work our way through to a different and better way of life. The Easter story tells me there is no shell so hard, so fixed, so final that man cannot break through it. A man did, d id n ’t He? And He told you that you could, too. A small chick helps me to believe that this is possible. A soft, helpless chick starts pecking at the fixed and rigid limits of the world in which it finds itself locked, and it keeps on pecking till suddenly the limits give way, and there it stands erect and free, fluffy and alive in a new world that stretches to infinity. If a little chick can break through such a shell, what shell can I not break through? Religion is the great story in the Bible, but religion is also a chick pecking its way to new life, and religion is also you, breaking through your shell. Silent Unity believes that this is a time for a breaking of shells. Do you * have a shell? Beyond your broken shell lies life, life abundant, life bursting out of limitations, life starting on new ways of growth.

To call for prayer help, phone (816) 524-5104. (If you have an urgent need and have no means of paying for a call, dial our toll-free number: 1-800-821-2935.) J The Resurrected Bunny

BY JUSTINE ULP MURRAY

ONE EASTER SEASON long ago I wit­ by the faculty, with many out-of-town ' nessed an act of supreme patience which visitors invited. The date was coming up I ’ve never forgotten. It was one of those rapidly, and M oth er’s class display was little everyday things in which viewpoint not ready. To save time, Mother volun­ made the difference between furious irri­ teered to make the Easter bunny at home. tation and divine love. This would give her students the needed The incident occurred during my gram­ hours to finish their elaborate set-up. mar school days, that vulnerable time of How well I remember that late after- , life when impressions become submerged noon when Mother arrived home laden only to surface later with mirrorlike clar­ with a huge box of cotton, colored beads, ity. buttons, fuzzy blue pompoms, and a large « In those years my mother was a teacher ball of heavy pink yam. My father was in an arts-and-crafts school. A regular pro­ away on a short business trip at the time, ject in one o f her classes was to make a which simplified our suppertime chores. ^ monthly diorama representing the current After a hurried meal the dishes were season. quickly cleared away and the makings of Before Eastertime, her students voted the Easter bunny assembled on the dining­ for a diorama with a very large bunny room table. surrounded by colored eggs and budding I watched, fascinated, as my mother trees. The background was a painted deftly sculptured the form of a large rab-„ countryside scene. The foreground bit from that shapeless mass of white required tiny paper flowers and papier- cotton. It took a very long time. She mache trees abloom with pink and white worked and worked, patting and fluffing blossom s. All this was very time- it into shape. The ears had to be rein­ consuming, and the bunny remained to be forced with cardboard to stand erect. The created. Other necessary assignments eyes were bright red beads glued on flat^ crowded the days, and the Easter diorama white buttons, outlined with black. The was behind schedule. blue pompoms were sewed to a ribbon for A springtime festival had been planned a belt. The ra b b it’s mouth and nose were fashioned from pink yarn. It was nearly midnight when mother finally finished her task. She sighed with relief, while I stood by in jubilant admira­ tion. It was the most beautiful Easter bunny I’d ever seen. We carefully set it on the dining-room mantel and with one final admiring glance turned our attention to getting ready for bed. Our cat, Florabelle, sat in the doorway o f the dining room. She had been watching the proceedings all evening with a rather impersonal, detached interest. Giving her a goodnight pat on the head, I clicked off the dining-room light, too tired to notice how she continued to stare into the darkened room toward the man­ telpiece. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning I was awakened by a strange sound—a sound of muffled tearing. At first I co u ld n ’t identify it. Then in sudden horror I knew exactly what I was hearing. I gasped, “The bunny!” and was on my feet running toward the dining room. Mother, having heard the same sound, was there just ahead of me. She turned on the overhead light. The bunny (or what was left of it) was on the floor, a devastated heap of ripped cotton. Scattered about were shreds of pink yarn and soggy pompoms. Florabelle was on top of the rabbit, her head buried in its chest, her back legs furiously kicking the cotton remains. Our arrival brought her attack to a halt immediately, and in a fraction of a second she abandoned her rival to hide beneath the dining-room table. The beautiful bunny was ruined—all M oth er’s fervent efforts for nothing! I felt a great wave of sympathy for her. Yet at the same time, I kept suppressing a giggle at the ridiculous picture of F lorabelle’s hind legs kicking cotton into the air be­ hind her. Of course I also felt the fury of the assaulted, that tendency to strike back. “Aren’t we going to spank her?” were my first words. Mother, wearily gathering up bits of c o tto n and strings of chewed yarn, answered quietly, “No, we aren ’t going to spank her.” “Why not?” I must have sounded out­ raged. “She knows she did something wrong.” “And th a t’s punishment enough,” said Mother sagely. “Besides, I should never have left the bunny on the mantel. “But what will you do?” I felt close to tears. “Only one thing to do,” Mother con­ tinued in the same quiet tone. “Make the bunny over. I ’ll resurrect him. ” “Resurrect him!” I echoed unbeliev­ ingly. “You can’t. T here’s no more cotton.” “I’ll use the same cotton.” “How can you? I t ’s a mess.” Exaspera­ tion engulfed me. I c o u ld n ’t visualize our perfect bunny reconstructed from that hopeless heap. But my mother had a dauntless nature. She never gave room for discouragement. Reluctantly I helped gather up the scat­ tered cotton, though I was filled with doubt. I was also very, very sleepy. Mother set to work again with what I felt must be forced energy and sheer will­ power, because after helping pick up the pieces I caved in completely. Sullenly I seated myself on a dining-room chair to watch through a blurring gaze. Regardless of my keen interest in obser­ ving the transformation, I fell asleep repeatedly. But slumber was very fitful and I would awaken at regular intervals as if nudged by an invisible presence. Each time I opened my eyes I would see Mother trying to refluff the flattened cotton. Once I came to long enough to see her sewing another pink yam mouth on the unlucky rabbit. Through my sleepiness it took on a certain reality: the bunny actu­ ally seemed to be grinning at me. Flora- belle had emerged from under the table telling classmates and teachers. And my and was washing herself happily, pausing mother didn't lose her temper. She wasn't every so often to grab at a stray piece of mad at Florabelle or mad at anything. Not yarn. even a little bit. An ephemeral atmosphere of peace pre- This was the very heart of the vaded the room. I did not realize it at the incident—the pearl of truth that endowed time, but I was experiencing a cosmic the cotton bunny with immortality, ^dimension of purity: forgiveness in its although I d id n ’t pause to analyze it on highest form, love personified. that memorable early morning. Finally I could hold my head up no I only knew I’d never tasted such deli­ longer and went sound asleep in a very cio u s hot chocolate ... never experi­ cramped position—the dining-room chair enced such warm comradeship with my my bed, the table my pillow. The gentle mother . . . never felt so much like singing whirr of the carpet sweeper awakened me. Hallelujah! 0 Mother was cleaning up the remains of the devastation. The rest of the room was orderly and serene. Florabelle was curled up in my fa th er’s chair, and the resurrected bunny sat on the table like a *' character from an old fairy tale. Both my feet were asleep, but I managed to hobble CReflections around the table for a careful study of the miraculous rabbit. By Dorothea Fowler He was not as fluffy and downy as be­ fore (in fact, he was somewhat lumpy). In my garden glittering in the morning sun But it d id n ’t seem to matter. He had devel- was a gossamer web, so beautiful, so fine, * oped a whole new personality. His button that I could not see its attachment eyes seemed on the verge of winking, and to stalk and leaf and vine— his smiling yam mouth gave him a good- it was held by some invisible, mystical natured expression. I suddenly wanted to power, hug him, but wisely refrained and hugged and there hour after hour the creature my mother instead. (suspended now as if in space) » “He’s better than before!” I cried. “He had toiled to perfect in that looks alive!” delicate face of lace, his place, Mother put the carpet sweeper away. and called it his home. “I’m going to make some hot chocolate,” she said, “then we can take a little nap Though I could not see just why before the alarm goes off.” he came to be the builder of that house, All at once I became aware of the fact as I looked and admired his work this was the very first time I’d stayed up I knew that surely God could, and loved until dawn in' my whole life. Wait 'til we him. tell Daddy! I thought exultantly. I knew He was important to the divine plan, even how my father would appreciate the as I. account of this episode, as he was a re­ How thankful am I that for a moment sponsive and enthusiastic listener. “How I could see infinite unity . . . about that?” h e ’d say over and over. for if that small, needed creature is My eagerness to share the story grew by important to God (and he must be), leaps and bounds as I pictured myself how about me?

BY CATHERINE PONDER *

A LITTLE MORE than a hundred years century, there were three major waves of ago, a number of metaphysicians were mystical activity. In addition to these born into this earth plane to help prepare three major waves, there were many the mass consciousness for the new age we minor waves of heightened mysticism. ^ are now entering—the age of metaphysical Some of the major waves of mystical enlightenment often called “the Aquarian activity came at the close of the classical, Age.” Among those metaphysicians were medieval, and renaissance periods, which Phineas Quimby, Emma Curtis Hopkins, reached their highest points during the Annie Rix Militz, Nona Brooks, Ernest third, fourteenth, and seventeenth cen­ Holmes, Emmet Fox, Charles and Myrtle turies. Fillmore. We can see why there is such spiritual When we review the history of the searching and why there is so much mysti­ metaphysical movement and its appear­ cal interest among us again now. We are at ance on this earth plane during the last the culmination of another great period of hundred years, we begin to realize that scientific and intellectual achievement. there is a divine plan at work for this In spite of all of the negative things we planet and the people on it. That divine hear about what seems to be going on in plan has been at work for many centuries. the world today, there is every indication Historians have traced the development that more people are now quietly seeking of spiritual trends, and their findings are spiritually than at any time since the first interesting: history has repeated itself or second century after Jesus’ birth. The over and over along these lines. This is inner world of spiritual truth is being encouraging, because it shows that regard­ discovered, explored, and contacted as less of outer appearances in the world never before. From the standpoint of * about us at times, “Spirit has a plan.” A history, this may be because more loving Father is at work to bring His great progress has been made in the last hun­ good to pass for and through mankind. dred years than in the preceding ten v What is the spiritual trend of this thousand years on this planet! planet? How has history repeated itself Those of us who are in the Truth move­ spiritually and mystically in the world? ment today are here by divine appoint­ » Jesus came at the end of an age, and this ment. It is no accident that we have taken is significant. The great periods of mysti­ up the spiritual quest for Truth and have cal activity tend to correspond with found some answers. Just as the early periods of great artistic, material, and in­ founders of the metaphysical movement tellectual development in all civilizations. came forth a hundred years ago for a As a rule, periods of great spiritual special purpose, so have we come forth on ,» activity have come immediately after (and this earth plane during this era for a seemed to complete) other great periods special purpose. of achievement. When science, politics, We are here to do exactly what we are literature, and the arts have risen to their doing from a spiritual standpoint: to learn height and produced their greatest works, the truth about the nature of God and the mystics have then appeared and man, and to share it with all mankind. We s. carried on, as though to give spiritual are the light bearers of the universe! As we balance to those other achievements. radiate our understanding of Truth to all F or instance, between the first mankind, our mission is being accom­ , century after Christ, and the eighteenth plished. Thus we will help mankind find its Psychologists say that it is necessary for a spiritual balance at the end of this great person to improve his self image in order ' era of scientific and intellectual achieve­ to be happy and successful in life. Cer­ ment. We will also help to usher in the tainly this businessman proved it, thanks great Aquarian Age of enlightenment. to his attendance at a Unity Village retreat. In this enlightened age of greater men­ tal and spiritual awareness, the whole r r harles Fillmore was one of the seers of world is beginning to think of man as a the past who foresaw this new age. In his spiritual being, a Christ-centered being, a book Atom-Smashing Power of Mind, he child of God, growing and unfolding into wrote: his spiritual potential. Those of us who are “A new era has dawned. A great change fortunate enough to be Unity students is taking place in the mentality of the race, constantly improve our self image as we and this change is evidenced in literature, talk about our divine potential, or by “be­ science, and religion. There is a breaking holding the Christ” in ourself and in away from old creeds and old doctrines, others. And this is good; this is one of the and there is a tendency to form centers great yet simple ways we can help man­ along lines of scientific spiritual kind in this new age. thought . . . This is surely the coming of the spirit of Christ or Truth . . . The race is changing its vibrations to a higher rate . . . there is a stronger development n speaking of what we can and should of the spiritual nature of men. Old things do in this new age from a spiritual stand­ are passing away! ... Do you belong to point, Charles Fillmore advised: the old, or are you building anew from “Listen to your inner voice; cultivate within and keeping time with the progress the good, the pure, the God within * of the age?” y ou . . . The divine spark is within We often think of Unity as a way of life, you ... It is possible for the ‘children of a practical philosophy for daily living, and God’ to forge ahead of the average in spiri- * so it is. But Unity is also a religion to thou­ tual understanding and power, and to sands. The word religion in its root means become those who are called ‘sons of “to relate man to his Source.” This is what God.’ All great spiritual leaders have been * Unity books and literature constantly do. of the latter class.” They relate spiritual man to God, the We are among “great spiritual leaders” Source of all good. when with Jesus we realize that the king­ A businessman I once knew in Alabama dom of God is within us and within all attended a retreat at Unity Village for the mankind; that all spiritual authority or first time. When he returned home he power lies within us as spiritual beings, •< affirmed daily, “/ am a child o f God and rather than in organizations, doctrines, or He loves me. ” He said that this one simple creeds; that, indeed, all power lies truth, learned at that Unity retreat, made within—within us, within our spiritual his life healthier, happier, more successful nature. in a short length of time. Those who knew What a tremendous sense of inner him well felt that a great change for the security this gives us just now—at a time - better took place in this m an’s thought when people all about us are concerned processes and in his personality as he about the appearances o f war, crime, dwelt daily upon his improved self image. disease, lack, as well as about political and , economic challenges on the national and conduct a prosperity seminar at the Unity * international scene. We bless those Church o f Houston. The minister had appearances as we continue to develop arranged for me to be interviewed on a our indwelling spiritual nature. This is our Houston television station news show to divine mission on this planet at this time. talk about the seminar, and about our The mystics have described the age of Unity prosperity philosophy. While inter­ Aquarius as the age of exploration o f the viewing me, the hostess for that show told " self. This is what we do through our study me that the actress Gisele MacKenzie had of Truth: we explore the spiritual self been interviewed on that same show the within us and activate it. The Aquarian week before, and had talked about some ‘ Age has been described as the age of the of my books. fourth dimension—the age when man will begin to learn more about and live more in a the fourth dimension of mind and spirit. rem em bered having heard Miss This, too, is happening. MacKenzie sing on r a d io ’s popular “Hit However, the spiritual search need not Parade” program in years past. The tele­ be an austere one. As a Unity leader re­ vision hostess graciously put me in touch cently said, “Unity is a happy religion- with Miss MacKenzie. My son Richard one which represents joy, for life is meant (who was traveling with me on that trip) * to be a joyous, healthy, and prosperous and I later had lunch with Miss MacKenzie experience.” and her agent at the hotel in Houston Charles Fillmore once said that when where she was appearing nightly. there is more joy in religion, there will be more religion in the world. Christianity is She related numerous experiences she the essence of good news: joy, peace, hap­ had had in using Truth principles in her piness, abundance. life and work, and in passing on such help­ ful ideas to other actors, producers, and people in show business. She told us that she carries books on practical Christianity with her in her travels and studies them daily for inspiration; that she has passed leople in the past have sometimes on many such books to her many friends thought that anyone interested in the in show business. Recently I have read „ deeper phases of mind and spirit were a several newspaper stories in which she was part of the “lunatic fringe,” but not any interviewed, and in each interview, she more. There are writers, scientists, busi­ said similar things. nessmen, students, and people from every walk of life who have a serious interest in this subject, and their interest is here to » stay. •s Several years ago I received a telephone Even a decade ago, people were some­ call from a successful businessman in times hesitant to give credit to# the spiri­ Nevada. He said he had read something I tual help they had received from the had written at a time when he was in pain Truth movement, but that too has from an automobile accident. As he read changed. It is now a commonly accepted words of Truth, a great sense of peace . practice for the great and near-great to came over him, the pain left him perma­ point out that they have had help in this nently, and he was soon playing tennis way. and conducting his business affairs again In October, 1971, I was scheduled to as usual. From this experience he realized the f power of practical Christianity and set about studying the philosophy. As he applied its spiritual principles, his success mounted. He was telephoning to ask me PRAYER to speak to a thousand of his friends at a beautiful new theater auditorium in POWER Reno, Nevada. He explained that he wanted all of them to be exposed to the Excerpts from letters to Silent Unity, philosophy that had come to mean so quoted with permission of the writers much to him. With my son again accompanying me, we journeyed to Reno, and met a number A New Life of fine people who were interested in the Dear Unity Friends: L want to thank you ft philosophy o f practical Christianity. I your prayers which were answered. spoke to a packed house at the theater When returning to college after so many year auditorium in the heart o f Reno, and it I really did wonder if I could retain the inform; was a jubilant experience. tion that would be necessary. When the midteri grades were given out, I had three A’s and tw B ’s! Your publications as well as the goo thoughts are responsible for my having the cou am not sure that even a decade ago, a age to do this. A whole new life has opened up fc famous actress or such a successful busi­ me, and it is truly wonderful. Thank you. —D.J nessman would have publicly declared an Kansas. interest in spiritual things, or publicly acknowledged that success might have a spiritual basis, as these two people did. In this new age of metaphysical enlight­ “My Heartfelt Thanks” en me nt, such things are happening Dear Unity: My heartfelt thanks to you for yoi

because the world is ready for the “good prayers. j news” that practical Christianity offers. I requested prayers for my health an A friend of mine recently said: “I am so finances. After undergoing treatment for angin happy to be here on this planet earth at for a year and a half, I was told by acardiolog* this particular time. Great things are that I did not have it. Further, the money happening and are about to happen. The needed so desperately arrived. innate goodness of man is being dis­ God bless all o f you.— V.B., California. covered constantly with much joy and enthusiasm. The Unity Movement will hasten the day of peace, freedom, love, and good. Unity helps us to turn on our Tremendous Blessings own individual light.” Dear Friends in Unity: We have received tremei dous blessings since writing to you for prayer. God has made a way for my son to continu his education. He received a $3,000 work-stud les, we are the light bearers of the uni­ grant which enables him to attend the university verse! Let us declare it often as we forge Because our finances have been so discou ahead into this new age. 0 A

ng, I asked for helpful work. Within two weeks The drug he is taking will positively prevent any :ceived two job offers and I am now working in seizure and is only a temporary necessity. Be­ ay care center. cause the fear o f the seizures is gone, he feels no I can’t thank you enough for your help desire whatsoever for alcohol. He simply can ’t egon. believe that he is free. I wish you could see his happiness. I am so grateful that my son gives the credit for Amazing Recovery this wonderful healing to God. Thank you for your prayers.—E.S., California. ar Silent Unity: Thank you for your prayers our daughter who underwent major surgery. She made medical history! Her recovery was rapid that the doctors were incredulous. Her iband, also a doctor, is still saying, “It’s abso- “Truly a Miracle” ely amazing. If I weren’t seeing it with my own Dear Silent Unity: When my son came home for :s I w ouldn’t believe it! ” a visit, he mentioned a girl in his class at college Thank you, dear friends, for your prayers. who had suffered an injury to her eyes. Accord­ .G., Canada. ing to the doctors, the vision in one eye was completely gone but the other was only slightly affected. Released from Fear After he returned to school, my wife and I ar Friends: My son, who you have been pray- were talking about what a tragedy it was for a ; for, is happier than I have seen him in many person so young, ready to graduate from college irs. He was subject to seizures and had become with a promising career in electronics, suddenly alcoholic because drinking was the only thing to be confronted with such a handicap. it seemed to control the seizures. Refusing to accept such a condition, we called After four weeks’ care by an interested doctor, our son and asked if he had any further informa­ was told that he is in fine physical condition. tion regarding his friend. He said conditions had taken a negative turn. One eye was completely sightless and the other had only fifteen percent vision. The d o cto r’s prognosis indicated total loss of sight in both eyes within seventy-two hours. This proved to be correct, and for a time she was totally blind. At this point we informed him o f our plans to contact Silent Unity for prayer help in this case. A few days later we heard from him and he was positively jubilant. Contrary to the d o cto r’s prognosis, both eyes are now indicating only a fifteen percent loss o f vision. His exact words were, “Please tell those folks down at Unity I T m| LiCMTCD WINDOW at SI LI NT uNiT* think they’re pretty wonderful! ” call for prayer help, phone (816) 524-5104. you have an urgent need and have no means This was truly a miracle. The enclosed check is paying for a call, dial our toll-free number: to help keep the light burning in your window for 100-821-2935.) others who call for help.—G.B., Missouri.

______) Things around me What Is the try to penetrate my mind. I bar the ignoble from my door and stare into the dark. Universe? The universe is around me and is me. By Marion J. Richardson pumne it ALL TOGETHER BY GLENN CLAIRMONTE

THERE IS A notable change in today’s world. I believe it results from our general awakening to the fact that there is no solidity—no dead perma­ nency—in anything we see and touch. Rather, we marvel at the dynamic patterns that are functioning everywhere we turn. We are transformed into a race of the future because we have become aware of a never-ending series of opportunities that were not available in earlier years. We used to acknowledge that a genius appeared in history every few centuries (how often have we quaked before the wisdom of an Aristotle!). Nowadays we encounter admirable intelligence on every doorstep. We are all showing unusual talents by means of the modern technology which signals subtle possibilities in the nonmaterial realm. No longer confined within the five familiar senses, today we extend our faculties into pre­ viously unguessed dimensions. "The future need not happen to us; we can make it happen.” And we emerge from the straitjacket of convention to undertake new tasks. If we think of life as a river upon which we float toward the gleaming ocean, we find that Arthur, for instance, may become snagged against the submerged root of a tree along the shore, saying, "This is good enough for me.” Why should he bother to extricate himself for the sake of continuing the journey downstream, when it is easy to stifle his curiosity as to what lies beyond the bend? Barry, on the other hand, enjoys the leisurely ride and says, “Things are going very well,” not trying to hurry except within “MEMORY IS A TOKEN OF THE PAST, TELEPATHY IS A TOKEN OF THE PRESENT, AND EXPECTATION IS A TOKEN OF THE FUTURE” the sway of the current. But Colin with finding ways to take part in the activities steady strokes covers as much mileage as of a small-town hospital. He learned that he can, cooperating with the flow and if he cleaned the operating room he would manipulating cascades at intervals. Each be allowed to stay there while the surgeon has made his choice. was in action, and he daily absorbed We can loiter while evolution takes knowledge of the profession he had centuries to introduce an improved chosen. By the time he had earned his species, or we can rapidly overtake the license, his love for humanity had deep­ next juncture of circumstances. ened to the point where it became his While writing the life of Thomas obsession to arrange for a special kind of Jefferson, Professor Dudley Malone of care for cripples. He reasoned that a man Columbia University observed that the whose legs were paralyzed nevertheless third president of the United States not had other muscles that could be disci­ only was able to juggle politics while run­ plined for activity. To effect this would ning the country but also had expert require the spending of large sums of knowledge in several other fields of money for specially designed hospitals endeavor. What was the basis on which and technical equipment and for the train­ Jefferson surpassed so many others? ing of enterprising doctors and nurses. Malone decided that the answer lay in the He could have said to himself, “I ca n ’t word vigor. Jefferson’s vigor kept him do anything about it because I haven’t any constantly collecting information, in­ money,” and in that event he would have creasing his drive, enlarging his horizon. remained snagged by the submerged root So Jefferson was one who swam ahead of the tree along the shore. upon the river of life, extracting from the But Dr. Rusk determined how much universe more and more energy, applying money would be needed for the appro­ it more and more ardently, and repeatedly priate architecture and services to operate renewing his incentive. a unique hospital. Then he made hundreds On another level, surroundings are of speeches to selected audiences through­ likely to initiate the right reaction. A out the country. This effort gradually young couple, falling in love, marry with­ cultivated the inexplainable magnetism out realizing that they d o n ’t know how to that drew to him the necessary resources. raise a family; but when their children are People who had accumulated fortunes in bom, they meet the occasion. What they commercial enterprises went out of their need to know, they are taught by each way to help him realize his private vision. rising situation. Had they halted out of Because of his daring attitude, thousands fear of responsibility, they could never of multiplegics in several countries have have become able to meet it. Those who been trained for the satisfaction of self- remain in ignorance are not so much those help. The money used for that good who fail to know as those who fail to ad­ purpose could have been spent otherwise, vance. or some other doctor (if any other had There was a boy named Howard Rusk, thought of it) might have become the whose family had not the means to insure focal personality. It was Dr. Rusk who his education. Nevertheless, wanting to had the hardihood to swim ahead. become a doctor from the age of eleven, Bill Harder also wanted to become a he spent most of his childhood and youth doctor, but at college his grades in litera- “WE SHAPE OUR DESIRE MENTALLY, AND IN CONSEQUENCE WE ATTAIN ITS REALITY”

ture classes were better than his grades in striving, crumbles and erupts to a purpose. chemistry. Therefore he was advised to Every gesture is a catapult toward growth. become an English teacher, warned that Your silent instruction, your own ESP, , he could never qualify for admission at is the secret argument against friends who any medical school. Naturally he was dis­ think they know better. Nobody else can couraged, as he confessed to Mr. Boyd, an realize why it is imperative that you obey older friend. your spirit (that department of you which Mr. Boyd replied: “You are the only for centuries was seldom known to exist). one who knows what is right for you. If Your tentacles are delicately in touch you want to be a doctor, overcome obsta­ with the eternity domain—the reservoir cles as they arise and go on to your goal.” that Gustaf Stromberg, the astronomer, Bill said, “You are the only one who describes as holding forever the essence of has spoken this way to me.” all that is: past, present, and future. In fact, this one glimmer of advice that Memory is a token of the past, telep­ Bill wanted outweighed a ton o f advice athy is a token of the present, and expec­ that did not suit him. He must have con­ tation is a token of the future. Much of trived in some way to satisfy his aim, for memory is stored away and seemingly for­ years later Mr. Boyd overheard this gotten, but any specific bit of it flashes remark in a public place: “My wife d id n ’t out of the eternity domain when it is get relief from any of the doctors we con­ called upon by the human capacity. sulted, but one day I heard of a Dr. Bill (“How did you know that?” your friends Harder and we went to him. He gave my exclaim.) wife the first comfort sh e’d had since the As for the present, you may send your accident.” thoughts to a friend when he is miles You have a hunch about what you away. If he is attuned to your frequency ought to do, and you can attract to your­ he later reports to you on the idea that self the support needed for its accomplish­ you and he were sharing at, say, four ment. In the glorious scheme by which the o ’clo c k last Wednesday. suns and planets are swung, you are a part “There is a power above and behind —a small part, admittedly. But every little us,” said Emerson, “and we are the chan­ notch must be in its own place; every little nel of its communication.” cog must fit into the right notch. How else Your thought is as steady as love and could G o d ’s creation show its celebrated light and gravitation, the three elements precision? that are never diverted except by deliber­ Never again need you believe that you ately placed obstructions. Your thought exist in three dimensions (height, width, instantaneously reaches its target (even length) as a block of wood does. You are from off the earth, as was proved by Edgar not a block of wood. You perform in Mitchell, the astronaut, during his trip to more than three dimensions. Because the moon). your thinking is your own internal- Scientists systematically study natural combustion engine, you must keep it forces, and almanacs record the start of , chugging by investing it with forward­ seasons, the hour of sunrise and moonrise, leaning plans. Even the worm, “striving to the tide changes. By using these inferences be man, mounts through all spires of of the past, farmers are able to calculate a form,” and the earth too, in its own future: when and where to plant what, “THERE IS A POWER ABOVE AND BEHIND US,” SAID EMERSON, “AND WE ARE THE CHANNEL OF ITS COMMUNICATION” when and how to harvest. When and lord or an industrial official should where to gather food from the ocean is arrange affairs for his own benefit: learned from the past location of surface “Justification for the Universal and subsurface creatures. Declaration of Human Rights rests A fleet of technically equipped vessels upon increasing awareness of the annually collects millions of temperature immeasurable significance of each readings from buoys set out on the ocean human person . . . Nothing can halt floor. By these the direction and the the march of mankind toward recon­ velocity of winds at various levels are ciliation.” traced for long-range weather forecasting And he quoted the Russian author, and possible climate regulation. It is A lexander Solzhenitsyn, who wrote, expected that eventually this information “The humble powers of all people are sus­ will enable us to tame hurricanes and con­ tained by the everlasting flow of love.” trol earthquakes. So we welcome the trend by which his­ Long ago, when there were scarcely a tory has been transcended through the dozen trained oceanographers in America, developing adulthood of humanity. We no one of them was driving me along the longer blindly follow the dictates of a Pacific Coast, glancing occasionally at the self-appointed leader. plateau of white caps, and he said in a tone A recent article by H. James Birx, PhD, of deep feeling, “There is a reason for calls attention to the emphasis given by every motion of the ocean.” I admired his two outstanding scholars (Alfred North selfless sense of wonder, in contrast to my Whitehead and Albert Einstein) to the pity for another man who, during a trans­ fact that all events are related “within the atlantic voyage, had been shaken like a unity of the universe.” That phrase is of reed in a current as he tremulously asked, course tautologous, but we have for so “Do e sn ’t the motion of the ocean affect long made common use of the word your morals?” universe that we have more or less for­ All these projects, even a study o f the gotten its meaning (as we have forgotten way our planet has evolved—geological the meaning of “Good-bye” and feel it history of the last hundred thousand necessary to affix the repetitive “Have a years—result from our desire to construct nice d a y ”). the future. The stream of life upon which Yes, historic-cultural conditions have we float at our own pace affords a con­ long influenced us in our view of the uni­ stantly changing outlook. While we as the verse with all its diversities, and they still vast public accept our enlarged role, con­ substantiate the naturalistic and the ideal­ trol by the elite diminishes. As a majority istic aspects. It is only proper that we ■ we take hold of our own destiny. should assume a long perspective when we At the eighth annual festival of The inhabit a globe that has been whirling International Cooperation Council, the around the sun for half a hundred million vice-president of The Center for the Study years, and the future must now be born of Democratic Institutions, Frank K. out of all the past. Kelly, spoke on the approaching success What we call technology has supplied . of the people in general to ban wars and us with equipment to withstand zero other disunities, despite the sediment of gravity in space as well as equipment to the custom that a tribal chief or a feudal endure pressures at the bottom of the sea. “THE FUTURE NEED NOT HAPPEN TO US: WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN”

In ordinary instances and also in contin- “many things of the utmost profundity” * gencies considered miraculous, we find outside the body as well as inside. that inquiry is of use to us. Both experi­ In the era when scientists were dedi­ ence in its simplest form and experience cated to the analysis of matter, no doubt vpn the larger scene are justified by prin­ it was because they assumed that matter ciples that have been seeping through the was the only object that had to be human mind ever since consciousness was examined. Now there is universal fasci­ ..injected into livingness. Many of these nation with the psyche and its influence principles, mostly undefined, have been upon matter. Centering in the personal, a transmitted from generation to gener­ popular elaboration of immemorial ation by means of automatic reaction. prayer has recently been turning young Carl Jung suggested that matter is people toward the Oriental habit of soli­ “only the objectivable manifestation” of citing transcendent wisdom by silence, to something else, and this, he said, is not foster peace and incidentally to heal accessible to our investigation because we bodily ailments. have no way of evidencing the combina­ Herbert Beierle, in a different but simi­ tion of the psychic and the tangible. Often lar discipline, explains his healing tech­ a mental impression and a physical event nique in this way: “In treatment I appear to be connected when they are not visualize the p a tien t’s wholeness and thus actually so. Their show of causal relation­ effect wholeness within his conscious­ ship may be merely an accidental reflec­ ness.” tion of a racial pattern plus action, He reported on his attendance at the independently inherited from long-lost First International Congress o f Para­ origins. Thus, before we accept premo­ psychology and Psychotronics in Prague, nition as a cause or as a result of an during the summer of 1973. The assembly occasion, we ought to consider that it may was composed o f internationally known be no more than the casual intrusion of a scholars representing fifteen scientific dis­ 'detail from some unconnected branch of ciplines and, although Beierle had not knowledge. That doubt delays us just been officially invited, one of the speakers when we believe we are deciphering the asked him to go along. He was glad to do code. so, and he prepared a paper on mental One of Jung’s discoveries, which he healing in an offhand hope that he might called “perhaps the most important key,” be able to deliver it at one of the sessions. was that imaginings are quasi-corporeal According to the rules, he placed that and quasi-spiritual “blended in an indis­ paper in the hands of the local censors soluble unity.” Surely there are frequent and, because the communists promote proofs that our environment and our only atheism, the paper was suspected of achievements can be molded by our its opposite and was rejected. thinking. We shape our desire mentally, Beierle said: “Divine order is always and in consequence we attain its reality. operating. If that paper ought to be read, More and more we see that the psyche it will be read at the right time.” exerts influence upon the body, and vice News of the rejection spread around Versa. This synchrony between the ideal the conference hall, and an Associated and its functional outcome leads us to Press representative accepted it as news. trust the soul (or the prephysical if you Various members surrounded Beierle, prefer to call it that) to bring about calling him a healer—to his embarrass- ment, inasmuch as he insists that healing is come through your own consciousness.” e done through him, never by him. Most unexpectedly, one of the officials O ne man came forward and said, came to Beierle and said, “Give your “Please heal the terrible bursitis in my paper now, please.” right shoulder.” Of course Beierle complied, not inqui­ Beierle, more than willing to oblige, ring the reason for the change in proceeded according to his usual five authority, not even learning whether he ( steps. First, he asked, “Do you believe in was being used to fill some vacancy in the the power of the universe?” program. He merely remembered that “Yes, of course.” divine order, as always, was operating. ^ “Do you believe that this power works He said later: “Everybody in that part in you?” of the world thinks that Americans live in “Yes, of course.” great prosperity. They asked me, ‘How, “Do you believe that the universe was does it feel to own two cars and to get all created perfect and that this perfection the food you want to eat?’ I answered: applies to you?” ‘Just keep that consciousness. We accept “ Ye-es,” more hesitantly. your claim for us.’ That whole nation is “You were created as a perfect idea, thinking positively about us, doing our and you are healed right now.” creative work for us.” “Really?” Each of us is a melding of the mental Then Beierle arrived at the fifth step: and the physical, and frequently one “We are thankful for this healing. All group or another inaugurates a communal sense of bursitis is now released from you. attempt to execute improvement in Lift your right arm.” public affairs. In this way thousands of “But it hurts to lift it.” people, silently and singly, in compliance “Lift it!” with their separate dedications, can reach The man lifted his right arm, and was so the hidden vein of the collective uncon-- pleased at the cure that he swung it about scious and assert their will for good. Such and exclaimed and went around telling a modest movement is only a hint of the people. power now being wielded to reconcile all* Eight or ten others came to Beierle peoples and establish the overall well­ pleading for a treatment, and he said to being from which everyone will profit each: “You are now healed of whatever it equally. * was that you no longer want to experi­ No doubt you too have been drawing ence. Be thankful for this healing that has satisfaction from the universal change. 0

\ ■ By Jacqueline Neal

Visions of my inner Self reveal a kaleidoscope of moving shapes A joyous thought— and patterns alive with vibrant color. Even through metamorphosis See them spill into expressions through I am the Christ! me. Praise God! V______J BY J. SIG PAULSON AND RIC DICKERSON

THE CHURCH IN EPHESUS

Paulson The book of Revelation can and this is the revelation that we are 'be very confusing unless we find some concerned with. sense of direction in it. To help in this The words church and churches are investigation, le t ’s take a look at a few key found throughout the book of Revela­ words in a manner different from the tra­ tion. In the outer sense, a church is a ditional way of approaching them. Con­ congregation of people who have a certain sider the word revelation itself. It is more viewpoint. They come together to share *than a book in the Bible. It is more than a certain ideas, perform certain functions, revelation to a man two thousand years pursue certain courses o f action. For ago. Eventually it becomes an inner dis­ example, a Unity center is a congregation covery, an activity within the individual, of people who are in one sense thinking in

March 1975 21 the same way. They do not think identi­ to understand the foundation underlying < cally, but they hold some similar the process of revelation, and this is the opinions. They are close enough together unified field of energy that we have men­ in their thoughts that they can come to­ tioned, the field of love that we ex­ gether Sunday after Sunday and share perience when we come together. The ideas, learn new ideas, and work with heart has no problem with things that them. This is a church in an outer sense. seem very confusing to the mind. Thusy, A church is also an inner thing. In the love can easily and quickly sort out the mental realm, a church can be a congre­ relative importance among words, vibra­ gation or an assembly of ideas. In the tions, basic movements, and so forth,. emotional realm, a church stands for a while the mind often finds it difficult to congregation or grouping of feelings. In keep track of all the facts. As we enter the body, a church is a congregation of a into this revelation process, hopefully it is, particular kind o f cells. A church can also not only with our mind, but also with our be a field of energy, an electronic field or heart. an electromagnetic field. Paulson L et’s consider the letter writ­ When we speak of angels, we can of ten to the angel at the church of Ephesus. course think of winged creatures flying Ephesus means “desire” or “feeling,” and from star to star. But an angel is also a historically the church at Ephesus was a guardian thought, so when we read of church that wanted to follow Jesus Christ. letters addressed to the angel of a church, Remember that Ephesus also represents a we know that this signifies the conveying congregation within the individual. We are of a thought or a message to a certain type constantly outpicturing in our body and of thinking. This thinking outpictures mind as well as in our spirit. itself in conditions and organs— This is what the revelator was in­ congregations in the body. structed by Spirit to write to the guardian Every word and every name in the Bible angel of this church (to instruct the basic has a congregation o f ideas standing be­ thought and feeling behind the congre­ hind it. We can learn about these ideas, the gation): “To the angel of the church in metaphysical implications behind the Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who words, by looking at the history of the holds the seven stars in his right hand, who word. Each name signifies something. walks among the seven golden lamp- Thus when a letter is directed to a certain stands. church in a certain place, we know that “ ‘I know your works, your toil and the revelator is talking about an idea that your patient endurance, and how you can­ is being directed to a certain pattern of not bear evil men but have tested those thought in the individual. The revelator who call themselves apostles but are not, here is the inner revelator that begins to and found them to be false; I know you speak to us when we become conscious of are enduring patiently and bearing up for' the spiritual dimensions of our own being. my n am e’s sake, and you have not grown D ick erson Part of the confusion weary. But I have this against you, that when we consider the book of Revelation you have abandoned the love you had at is due to the dimensions in which the first. Remember then from what you have Bible is written. It deals with time and fallen, repent and do the works you did at space and has a whole historical reference; first. If not, I will come to you and remove it moves the mind into dimensions that your lampstand from its place, unless you are difficult to keep track of. However, repent. Yet this you have, you hate the tremendous clarity comes when we begin works of the Nicolaitans, which I also V

hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what is, when we come over to the Christ level the Spirit says to the churches. To him of consciousness; when we leave the rela­ who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree tive aspects of existence; when we enter . of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ ” that eternal, never-changing realm of “He who has an ear, let him hear what existence where there are no problems— the Spirit says to the churches.” This when we come over into this side of T> alerts us to the fact that there is something creation, then these “churches” begin to hidden in these words, that we must do be activated spontaneously. These spiri­ more than listen with our ears. We have to tual centers within us become alive in v perceive with the inner vision; we have to perfect sequential fashion. listen with the heart; we have to feel some­ This first church, the church of desire, thing. is fundamental to the whole process of * The Nicolaitans represent a certain revelation, because as our desires move, type of consciousness. They were a group they take our attention into the outer. of people who were very materialistically There is nothing inherently wrong with minded. They had mixed thoughts and this; as soon as we know about the eternal, even tried to get the Israelites to commit never-changing aspect of the self, as soon adultery, that is, to adulterate their spiri­ as we are connected with the Christ aspect tual consciousness. Remember that the of creation, we are safe in the field of church at Ephesus represents our desire, desire. Before that, our desire is over­ and this is what we are really talking whelming, keeping our attention search­ about: what we honestly want. ing here and there in the outer. Once the Dickerson There are two parts of this attention begins to move to the inner letter to the church at Ephesus that I find realm, then we can begin to discern the especially fascinating because they are true value of our desires. patterns that repeat in each of the Paulson The word desire is an inter­ *■ following letters to the other churches. esting one. Recently I did some checking One is the basic idea that begins with the on the history of the word, and I found description that Christ gives John. John that desire is not something that comes » represents the love faculty. So the Christ from without, especially when we are aspect is speaking in this very perfect spiritually awakened. It is an impulse or atmosphere of love to the angel of the an impelling movement from within our­ » church. Each time John addresses a self. We might say that it is from the church, he begins with a description of Father, for de can mean “from” and sire where he is, an outline of the dimensions can mean “father.” Whatever we call it, of the consciousness writing the letter. It this impulse comes from within us and is is as though he is sure that the angel will basic to all creation. There is nothing, hear because, as he says, the Christ holds whether animal or blade of grass or even , the seven stars in His right hand. The seven stone, that is in manifestation except stars symbolize the energy behind the through the force of desire. It desires to angel and are perhaps the external mani­ do something, to be something, and back festation of the angel. The Christ con­ of the desire of that individual expression sciousness totally encompasses the is the desire of the Creator for self- elements that John is writing to. expression. This is absolutely basic, and ^ There is another consistent feature at this is why the church representing desire the close of each of these letters: the idea is the first church to which a letter is of the victor, or the overcomer. This is a directed. We find this happening also in key idea, because when we overcome, that our own personal experience. When we first get a revelation of Truth, what operates. After we have eaten, we are no , happens? We want more of it, d o n ’t we? longer hungry and everything is fine. But a For many of us, the first Unity book or few hours later, we have to eat again; magazine we picked up awakened a fan­ eating does not bring us lasting satis- . tastic hunger within us. Many beginning faction. Lasting happiness happens only students sit up night after night reading when we begin to move on the inner and studying; they just cannot get enough plane, when we begin to move into the Truth quickly enough. Many persons are area that Jesus called the kingdom within, hungry for Truth, and as Jesus said in the and here we find happiness that simply Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those does not run out. Once the mind touches 4 who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” upon it, it is as if we are suddenly home. This letter also points out that this All of a sudden we are there, and we know desire does not always last. Even though that this is what we have been looking for t we have endured and have been very faith­ in the outer all the time. Those little outer ful, even though we did want to know the desires that arise are symbolic of the inner Truth above everything else, at some movement. The area that brings lasting point something changed and we let down satisfaction and the stability that allows a bit. Our interests began to move in other the mind to move into any plane of exis­ directions—and this is part of our growth tence is on the inside. also. Sometimes we experience what we In the body, the digestive system is a call Truth demonstrations, and the clear example of the way our desires demonstrations can be fantastic. Maybe work. We can compare an idea to a piece we get a better job, find a more suitable of food, such as candy, that we are eating. mate, gain a whole new life—and then we In the digestive process, we take the candy get so interested in the demonstrations into ourself, and it tastes good and maybe that we forget the Source. This is what the even makes our breath sweet as we are revelator is saying: “I know what has eating it. We take it into ourself and break * happened to you. I know how you have it down into its component parts, sugar worked. I know how you have endured, and so forth, and then we incorporate the but I have a little bit against you because parts into ourself. In this way, we become * you d o n ’t love as you first loved.” In the thing we have taken in, whether it is a other words, your love has changed, and piece of candy or an idea. This is pretty perhaps this is a normal situation. We much the way our desires work, before we 4 should be conscious of it but not discour­ begin to plug into the deeper realm within aged by it. Each of us does feel this desire ourself. We just become our desires, and for spiritual unfoldment at some time. It our desires keep us constantly moving is a basic experience for us, and it is the out, out, out. They are never really satis­ point where Spirit begins to break fying, but they do keep us moving. There through. is nothing wrong with this process; this is a - Dickerson These desires come to perfect process, but only when we first keep us active, to keep us moving, to keep find that inner realm. This outer move­ us searching. Desires are the activity of ment is simply a message to send us back creation. The object behind d e sire ’s to the inner realm, and our digestive pro­ activity seems to be to bring us happiness, cess is an example o f the way in which to make the mind happy. Generally our creative Intelligence works within the - desires result in a kind of happiness, but body. We incorporate our desires within usually it is very temporary. They operate ourself, and when we turn this desire to in much the same way that our appetite the area that truly satisfies and it becomes again our first love, then the “digestive physical ideas must be connected to the process” makes us that which we love. physiology of the body. There has to be a Paulson The working of desire seems continuing link from the grossest physical to be a whole process we go through. We structure to the subtlest metaphysical touch the spiritual realm within us, and transcendence. The whole thing must be then we go out and get caught up in the tied together, as Jesus Christ knew and as “old world” again. We go through the He told us. same old patterns, the same old experi­ Of course, we all go back and “check ences, and as the revelator says, it is to our out the apostles.” We all go back and have v credit that we hate the practices of this another look at the old way, and it seems mixed state of consciousness where Truth to me that after we have had this experi­ is adulterated with error. We get to the ence of the Presence, perhaps we go back point that we want to live in Truth and in the attempt to raise everything else up nothing but Truth, and we have to go into that Presence. Of course there has through a process of lifting our whole been the past tradition of those who left being up to a higher level. Often we go everyday activity to go into the caves and through a period where we “test the meditate. This has been believed to be a apostles,” that is, everything having to do path to oneness. But this idea has been with our faith—we test the theories and pretty much discarded, because there is a the dreams and the relationships and the more fantastic process going on when we experiences over and over again. We get remain in the mainstream of life and begin caught up in the old world, and in the to see divine activity in every situation midst of the turmoil of this old state, we around us. This Presence is in every get hit right in the solar plexus. Suddenly flower, in every person, in every chair— we realize that this world is no longer for everywhere! As we touch this greater us, because once we have discovered the dimension, as we repeatedly enter the t spiritual dimension within ourself, we can kingdom of heaven through the deep never completely return to the old pattern meditation that Jesus talked about, then of living. We just cannot go backward, and this experience becomes permanent in our , this is when we should heed the admoni­ mind. We begin truly to exist when we see tion for every listener to hear what Spirit this kingdom in all existence. is saying to the churches. We must begin Paulson T h ere’s a beautiful story in * to listen to our own inner voice, because the Old Testament about a “cave man,” ultimately all the outer apostles and Elijah. He decided that the whole world teachers and all the outer books and testa­ was against him and that no one at all ments are going to be found wanting. supported him, so he headed for a cave. They are just a part of our unfoldment, But the voice of the Lord came to him and until we get to the point that we can com- said, in effect, “What are you doing down » municate with our own inner spirit and let in that hole, Elijah?” This happens to us it speak to us and unfold through us. This too, and we find that we cannot stay in inner revelation has effects on all areas of our cave o f self-pity, condemnation, or our being, including the physical body. limitation as long as we thought we could. Dickerson Yes, we know very little Something in us says: “Listen, you d o n ’t about this right now, but as we begin to have to stay there any longer. Stand on » move en masse into these planes of exis­ your feet and be a complete person.” tence, there is no doubt that our physi­ After a while we can no longer rest, be­ ology will undergo great modification. cause we become conscious of Spirit con­ This has to be so, because these meta- stantly moving through us and giving us a L message like the one in this letter: repent forget that other sickly person. This new­ and live as you lived at first. Return to ness is reflected throughout our entire that glow of spiritual consciousness. being, through mental, emotional, physi­ We all know that there is nothing as cal, financial, social, and all aspects. wonderful as a new Truth student. He is Dickerson And in the desires, too. completely turned on, excited, thrilled, Once we touch base with that plane of and miracle after miracle takes place in his existence, we can measure changes atT life. The message is to repent and live as every level. A marked change in physi­ we lived at first, that is, in the enthusiasm ology comes about, and you can just feel of our first revelation of Truth. If our it. When you go into a room where there is heart remains unchanged, “I will come to someone who is working with light, you you and remove your lampstand from its know immediately that he is getting well place.” In other words, we will not retain quickly. We are beginning to notice some that state of consciousness unless we do fantastic things in the substructure of the something about it, unless we turn back to cells and their relationships to one an­ it. If we let ourself be pulled into the other. For example, in the brain the cells world too much, we will not lose our and even the spaces between the cells are higher state of consciousness perma­ very highly organized; the molecular nently, but it will be buried a bit longer. patterns are quite beautifully structured. This process of revelation is a very real We are undoubtedly very close to the time thing that we are experiencing; the book when we will be able to detect changes not of Revelation has come alive within us. It only in the cells, but also in the spaces is a process that is gradually unfolding in between the cells, and this will be a reflec­ us. It is a growth and an upward move­ tion of the highly creative process that we ment, and it helps us keep an objective feel going on within us. viewpoint about our life. Many of us have After establishing a link with that deep had a habit of glorying in our limitations. plane of existence, the nature of our „ It seemed so rewarding to have a bigger desire changes. The key thing that problem than our neighbor had, or to have happens is that we no longer identify with a tougher disease than his. But now we are our desires. The reason that many people r becoming aware of a greater power and in the Eastern traditions leave society and activity moving through us. We can see it go to live in a cave, so to speak, is that working in our life. We see it when Unity desire is a very powerful force and there is * students go to hospitals to counsel with a tendency to get our real self tied up into persons there. They really do help people our desires. This is called a ‘‘binding influ­ find healing more quickly. We have no ence” and keeps us bound to life. But quarrel with the medical field, and often once we experience the deeper states of the doctors themselves are absolutely mind, we know that this is the activity amazed at what goes on within a person that is eternal, that is present, that is our „ when he has touched this power within true self. This is the aspect of our being himself. I’m sure that the conscious that Jesus Christ spoke of and taught us awareness of this inner power changes the about. As we identify with this, then we atomic and cellular structures and the do not get tied up in our desires and the mental and emotional aspects of our Creator is able to send us every good being. We may have been in the habit of desire in creation. .* being sickly, of always finding something Paulson The Old Testament says, wrong with ourself. But suddenly we can “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give be a whole new person and completely you the desires of your heart.”

26 INTfeJ J Every statement in this letter describes became within the individual a stream of this process that takes place within us. living water welling up into eternal life. In The last one says, “He who has an ear, let our own experience, when we get in tune him hear what the Spirit says to the spiritually, we feel more alive. The life churches. To him who conquers I will current flows more quickly and steadily grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in because we do not have all the short cir­ the paradise of God.” That is, the con- cuits, all the mistaken desires. We have queror, the overcomer, the one who only the desire from within, the desire to returns to his spiritual base, finds a whole express and to unfold this spiritual dimen­ new surge of life. He stops eating from the sion. This makes us happier, healthier, and tree o f knowledge of good and evil, and livelier. starts eating from the tree of life. He The process of revelation makes us dispels the mixed thoughts and the adul­ aware that we are no longer the victims of terated state o f consciousness, and this our desires. Through the spiritual reali­ gives him a whole new grasp on life. Jesus zation of our oneness in Christ, we are said that those who understood His revela­ masters of our desires. 0 tion would find that the revelation itself (To be continued)

en in g

By Patricia D. Olson K Fully comprehensive of the exquisite agony That accompanies the seeker, I seek. Tom by the failing of the human mind To see in clarity, And Knowing that the simplicity is what escapes me, I plod Where I should fly. But wait! Are these first stirrings Tiny wings on my heels And on my mind? I shout In exultation, For I know I shall stand on the mountaintop And see Truth! a What Happens to Those Who Die?

BY WINIFRED WILKINSON AND GEORGE HAUSMANN

4

EVEN IN THE midst of the all-important able to share with her our own inner business of living, many people are asking knowledge and faith that he sees all things T questions about death. Some become in perspective now. And so she found her obsessed with gaining more information release.) about this little understood experience. Others are interested in learning more < There are those who seek to learn more about death because for them it seems about the transition called death because near. Often people in nursing homes ask of loved ones who have passed from the such questions as, “Why ca n ’t I die? Why body. They may be interested in trying to am I left here in this condition?” Many reestablish contact with these souls in look on death as a sought-after relief from some way. Perhaps they simply want to a physical body that has become a burden, „ know, “What happens? Where has he but at the same time they fear the un­ gone?” Some ask, “Will we ever meet known. They want to know more about again?” what happens when the soul passes from One woman who came in for coun­ the body, what they can expect, where seling was concerned about misunder­ they will go. standings she felt might have developed Some people ask categorical questions during her h u sban d ’s last illness. She about death when they hear of the passing wanted some psychical assurance from of a young person in an accident or a him that he would forgive her. (We were sudden illness. They question why the child never lived to maturity. These from a particular body, not an end to life individuals seek greater understanding of itself. The body, which is no longer life and death with such queries as, “Is this needed as a vehicle for the consciousness, all?” “Why d id n ’t he at least have a is discarded and returns to the elements chance at life?” from which it came. But the soul goes on M an’s interest in death is not a new to new experiences in living. It does not thing. Because this is an experience which die. It continues to live. ’has always seemed mysterious, man has It not only continues to live, but in the always sought greater understanding of it Unity viewpoint, it is given a new chance when it seemed to affect him personally. to incarnate in a physical body and to seek And he has given the power of his thought greater understanding of the purpose of and his effort to providing for certain con­ all life. tingencies in death. Fillmore explains: “Death is but a pro­ Even very ancient cultures gave great longed sleep, the result of thought inhar­ importance to burial rites, to tombs, and mony so great that the body cannot stand to provision for the s o u l’s needs along the the strain and collapses. Then, instead of way of the “afterlife.” being in a body when he awakens, man Today most people follow traditional finds that he is in the realm of thought patterns for funerals and burial, though without a vehicle adequate to his full * many are now going to simpler memorial expression, and he is forced by divine law services, following cremation. But with all again to build an organism.” the physical needs attended to, there still Properly understood, death is not an remain questions about the soul itself: experience to be sought, but neither is it what happens to it, what life in the “next an experience to be feared. It is simply a world” is like, and whether loved ones will step in the continuity of life. meet again. t Because of these questions, there are What happens when the soul passes mediums promising to make contact with from the body? loved ones out of the flesh. Seances Heaven is not a place; neither is hell. , attract many who are interested in occult Through parables and other teachings, our matters concerned with death. Psychics master Teacher Jesus made it clear that we are sought for “other world” guidance, are not to go somewhere to find G o d ’s * and so on. kingdom. He told the Pharisees in definite In this article we are taking a look at terms, “Behold, the kingdom of God is in some of the illumination of the whole ex­ the midst of you.” perience of death that comes from a study So the soul at death isn ’t simply trans­ o f Truth, and particularly from the ferred to some place called heaven, or to a writings of Charles Fillmore. much less desirable location called hell. The consciousness is not instantly re­ What is death? warded with eternal bliss. Neither is it W ebster’s dictionary defines death as in stan tly condem ned to everlasting the “permanent ending of life.” But we punishment. It continues in the same state prefer F illm o re ’s definition of this little- of awareness which it carried in the body, understood life experience. He refers to and meanwhile prepares for another ex­ , death as “physical dissolution of the perience in physical life. body . . . the absence of life in the body.” Jesus explained this in the parable of From this we can see that death, as we the rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. know it, is simply the passing of the soul According to the story, after death the rich man was in agony, while the beggar of consciousness. The spiritual ego reverts “was carried by the angels to A braham ’s to its original essence in the bosom of the bosom.” Father; soul falls asleep until the next U n ity ’s cofounder points out that the incarnation. Body and sense conscious­ rich man and the beggar are two phases of ness are earth-bound, and in due season m an’s nature. The beggar represents the they disintegrate. Those who have lived spiritual nature, which was starved in life, honestly and purely find peace and happi­ while the physical or material man was ness for a time in the rest which follows T' overindulged. At death, then, “the inner sincere observance of the divine law.” spiritual ego, drawn by its innate spiritual For most people, Fillmore says, the ideas, finds a haven of rest in the bosom of experience between incarnations (leaving the Father, represented by Abraham.” one physical body and reincarnating as a Meanwhile, the physically developed baby in another) will be much like a long man or soul, deprived of a material body dream. He amplifies: through which to express, is suffering. “Some people have more vivid dreams “Appetite longs for satisfaction . . . but than others, so some who fall the body consciousness, the place of asleep . . . may dream o f returning life union for all the attributes of man, has until they quickly take up again the con­ been removed, producing in the life con­ struction of an organism. ... It is possible sciousness a great gulf or chasm that can­ to think about the absence of life until not be crossed, except by incarnation in death seems real and lasting. This makes another body.” the dream dense and dark, and the In other words, the soul continues in awakening slow.” the same consciousness it formed in physi­ The early Christians felt that it was a cal life, but without the body through great advantage to those entering into the which to satisfy its sense longings. experience of death to have an awareness Man is a threefold being—spirit, soul, and acceptance of the Jesus Christ ideas. , and body. Fillmore points out that at Fillmore says, “Christianity shows how to death, the three phases separate (thus the come right back into life, and that is the separation of the rich man and Lazarus). only salvation for man. ” , The spiritual and psychical (or soul) parts The experience of death, or the passing of m an’s nature are reunited when he rein­ of the soul from the physical body, should carnates in a new body. not be considered an end at all. It is simply t The soul, o f course, carries with it all of another step in m an’s living. And one life­ the consciousness of God ideas which it time in a physical body is not the only has incorporated during its life in a physi­ opportunity man has to know God and to cal body. The consciousness of an individ­ grow into the person he would like to be. ual who has devoted himself to spiritual Unity believes that it is our F ath er’s growth will continue to feel the presence good pleasure to give His children con- „ of God, as the person has in life. It will not tinuous chances to grow into the spiritual have to experience the agony o f sense potentiality which He implanted within longings attributed to the rich man, but them from the beginning. Fillmore ex­ will rest easily between incarnations. plains: Fillmore puts it this way: “When the “A single span of life, from the birth of body is destroyed, the house of these an infant to the death of an old man, does « various component parts of man is no not constitute all of m an’s opportunity more, and they are left homeless. Then they separate, each going to its own state (Continued on page 63) PATTERNS FOR SELF UNFOLDMENT

. . . challenging and inspiring patterns of lessons and exercises through which you may learn to realize for yourself, to experience at firsthand, and to express more fully and freely the infinite spiritual potential that is within each and all . ..

BY RANDOLPH AND LEDDY SCHMELIG

Dear Student: cause and effect, do not really fill the As you undertake this m on th ’s lesson, moment. But the simple Truth that God let this simple statement o f Truth har­ is, and God is love is enough in itself to monize and clarify your thinking: answer all questions ultimately, and to There is but one Presence and one satisfy all desires. Power in the universe, God the good God is love. Omnipotent, and God is love! These three words are enough to form the This is all you really need. The rest, the basis of all religions, and yet may be the endless questions about life and death, only essential teaching. God is love—such infinite love that is all-providing, all- Keeping your thoughts lifted to this level, fulfilling. Hold to this Truth—be filled you do not give any power to apparent with it! limitations; you hold before you the spiri­ tual reality and know that it is right now coming into manifestation. Knowing that PATTERN FIVE your needs are filled, you open the way Learning Abundance for an overflowing of good in your life. Take the words of the affirmation above ’ silently—make up your mind to demon­ Lesson 2: Readiness to Receive strate this Truth!

In order to learn the nature of abun­ Determine not to entertain thoughts dance in life, continually expand your that are limiting, but fill your mind with thinking to a sense of the “largeness” of ideas of abundance. Guard your speech so the universe. Be ever aware of the infinite that only ideas of success, prosperity, and abundance of good that is now manifest plenty are expressed. In this higher con­ all around you. Keep the quality of being sciousness, lack is overcome, overtaken, able to be transported, lifted to a wider, covered, filled, and overflowed with good. fuller perception of things. Cultivate this If a need appears in your life, know more quality, and be ready to experience joy than the need, know abundance. Think and wonder at all times. As when you look beyond emptiness to fullness, beyond up to see a flock of birds rushing over­ questions to answers, beyond unhappi­ head, you are transported, you take in ness to happiness. Look forward at all more of life for a moment. Then when times to the realization of your good, and you look down again to what is immedi­ be ready at any moment to claim it boldly ately around you, you look with eyes and gladly. more open, joyous, awakened, and more If you find yourself thinking or speak­ expectant of good. Something happens in ing negatively about yourself, your life your thinking so that you perceive an conditions, your future, or about others, abundant supply, a continuing wealth and deny the limiting thoughts; give appear­ freedom beyond appearances. ances no power over you or over others, Let your mind flow with the idea of an and affirm the positive Truth. You may endless wheat field, the measureless sands want to choose a word, such as plenty, of the ocean floor, the numberless waves supply, or abundance to keep in mind. of the ocean itself, the countless stars, the When you are faced with apparent lack, freedom o f the winds. Here is true pros­ center on this word—dwell on the ideas it perity! Think in this way, and you have represents to you. Say the word silently the key to the riches of the universe. whenever the need seems greatest, and use As this sense of spiritual largeness and the word often in your speech. Bring your all-sufficiency awakens in you, you realize thoughts up to its level. Know ideas of that the Christ within you is greater than abundance, and they will manifest! any negative appearance. You then know Begin now. The thought that for yourself: says, “I am sick,” “I am in want,” “I The Christ in me overcomes am discouraged,” “I am in trouble,” appearances—my needs are filled and is a harmful thought. Throw it out. my life overflows with good! Replace it with the thought, “God You know that the Christ within over­ means me to be well and happy and comes obstacles and needs of every kind. to have abundance.” This creative thought will immediately begin to no problem or need can be the center of build its substance, its realization your life. The light of eternal peace, per­ (William A. Clough, How to Claim fect love, and infinite supply is the center Your Good). of your life! Will to accept this idea freely Again and again it is necessary to peel and fully, and let fear and limitation be away the outgrown concepts about your­ banished from your mind. The prospering self and the life you want to have. Do not love of God fills you, uplifts you, and give time and energy to destructive speak­ makes the way to your good clear and ing and thinking. Give up any stifling or straight. You are ready to claim the defeating thoughts and habits. Instead, success, prosperity, and fulfillment that is give your time and energy to ideas and yours by divine birthright. Give thanks expressions of success and plenty. that there is nothing to stand in the way of In light of the Truth you have experi­ the expression of your Christ nature! enced, you cannot really believe that any­ By holding ideas of Truth, and by using thing less than the highest and the best is affirmations, you are not calling into prepared for you. Therefore, it is neces­ being that which does not exist. You are sary to consider whether you want and becoming receptive to the positive reality expect everything to continue in the same and preparing yourself as a channel for its way, or if you are ready and willing to expression. If you should begin to think accept positive change. However pleasant that by directing your mind and by using or productive life is, can you not see denials and affirmations, you are some­ beyond to even greater good, even fuller how “controlling” the power of good so opportunity to know and express God? that you may use it as you please to bring Be transported by that thought! Be about whatever results you think are best, ready now to accept positive change—be you fail to perceive the object of spiritual ready to realize a greater abundance of development. The object o f spiritual good. Think what it would be like to be development is the realization that God is told that you had just inherited avast for­ the supreme D oer-God is the one Power tune, or to discover the answer to a once and Presence in the universe. Inspired by troubling problem, to find all at once that this Truth, you would never want His per­ an old misunderstanding is transformed fect expression to be limited in any way into a harmonious relationship, or to real­ by selfish desire. Having attained that ize your true spiritual treasure fully and realization, you become one with infinite dynamically right now. Accept the idea, wisdom and joy. not with fear or disbelief, but with joyful When you are truly empty of fear and thanks. Think that wonderful things are limitation and filled with faith and the now happening to you! Let faith over­ prospering love of God, wonderful things come any fear. Only the mind can limit begin to happen! Often when some par­ your good; therefore, let your mind be ticular good you have been seeking does opened to unlimited good. Still all other come to you, a “bonus” or some un­ thoughts for a moment, and accept this looked-for, unthought-of good comes idea: with it. Perhaps you will receive not only I am empty of fear and limitation; what you had been seeking but something I am filled with faith and the pros­ more besides, or you may receive more of pering love of God! the needed thing than you had even thought to ask, or perhaps something will As you repeat the words aloud and then come about for you that is better in every silently hold the thought, you realize that way than what you had sought. The law of prosperity is not only that you receive your life, or the state of your health or what you ask, for if you make your mind prosperity. Repeat the affirmation below, ready to receive your highest good, what­ first aloud and then silently to yourself, as ever it may be and however it may be you let the Truth of it fill your conscious­ manifest to you, then you will receive ness: abundance to overflowing! I am empty of fear and limitation: There is one sure progress and I am filled with faith and the pros­ evolution in the universe, and that is in the pering love of God! individual’s realization of God as the one If any thoughts about lack or apparent Presence and Power in the universe. All obstacles of any kind are persistent in outer progress and change is really an out- your mind, transform these thoughts of picturing of that inner growth. If you seek negative appearances with overcoming God realization sincerely and earnestly, love as you use the statement again: that inner “progress” has a force and I am empty o f fear about this direction that is stronger than any appear­ apparent limitation; I am filled with ance. Seek to know God with all your faith and the prospering love of God! mind and heart and you will be bounti­ fully provided for in every detail. As you As you clear out of your thinking all realize that the very nature of God is doubt, all concepts that seem to block boundless love, unlimited joy, infinite your good from you, make of your mind a peace and wisdom and abundant supply, cup—a readiness and an openness to these divine ideas are naturally out- receive your highest good. pictured in your life. Seek God always as the highest, the purest, the fullest, and Do not permit worry or speculation you will experience Him! about how exactly the good you desire can come to you get in the way of your realization. Merely be confident and Practice Exercise ready to receive fully. As you begin this exercise each day this Be bold to experience the infilling of month, start with an attitude of boldness. the prospering love of God! Be totally Take a deep breath, and feel that you are receptive now to the sensation of spiritual inhaling abundant strength, wisdom, and fullness. faith. Be bold to claim the infinite good This experience may be somehow like a that is prepared for you; be bold to grasp deep, invigorating inhalation of air, or like the nature of abundance; be bold to know the quick flooding of a stream, or like a God! cup being filled to overbrimming, or like Become physically and mentally still suddenly looking up to see the sky filled and receptive as you consciously empty with stars. Patiently and expectantly your mind of all negative thoughts about watch for the feeling once more. Register in your mind the sensation of I am filled with the prospering spiritual infilling; write about it in your love of God! Spiritual Diary. Try to capture in words something of the experiences you have in This new awareness brings with it a working with this exercise as you keep sense of inexpressible joy, fullness, com­ your notes; for in thinking of it, in recall­ pleteness, wholeness, and all-sufficiency. ing it, and in striving to understand it, you You know that you are unfolding spiri­ tually! Be boldly expectant of the will find that the experience grows in blessings that are even now, at this depth and meaning. moment, manifesting in your life as you Remember, the spiritual sense of abun­ declare: dance that is the basis of a consciousness of prosperity is waiting to be experienced The Christ in me overcomes by you at all times and in all circum­ appearances—my needs are filled and stances. Give thanks as you affirm: my life overflo ws with good! 0

covery that the consciousness of the Christ lives within everyone. May the light of Truth illumine my mind as I grow in awareness that I am a child of God. As I place my hand in Yours, lead me into doing the simple things that bring happiness and knowledge to others. Show by Rebecca Clark me how to give wisely of myself and my talents in areas where they are truly Oh, loving Father, walk beside me. needed and acceptable. Let me say with Open the door of understanding so I may conviction, “I can” and “I will,” as my become more aware of the Christ, and of thoughts dwell on the ascending spiral of His abundant love for all people during right thinking, right feeling, and right this special season of the year. action. And as “I can” and “I will” As the green shoots of renewed life become a part o f my consciousness, I push through the brown earth, so may my open the sluicegate of divine power within questing mind push through the dark myself. tomb of materiality into the awakening Thank You for the blessings that are and rising to spiritual consciousness of my mine. Thank You for the opportunities own reality. that come my way. Let me praise and Let my sense of gratitude expand into a bless, give and receive, love and be loved, welcoming smile, a laugh aloud, a friendly and rejoice in the knowing that “He is greeting. May I look upon all people with risen!” This season is a time of new begin­ the eyes of love, knowing they are my ning, a time to rise and walk in a new friends, my brothers, my sisters, and none consciousness of life. are strangers. With this realization, the Thank You, God, for Easter, for Jesus rising Christ of my being will spread its Christ, for the Christ in the hearts of all radiant light to everyone I meet. people, and for the glorious resurrection Oh, loving Mind, thank You for the dis­ Truth. 0 0 Q 0 Q 0 0 0 .j>_0 -0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Q 0 0 Q Q 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0_0_Q Q Q Q Q fl SLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSL g fl.jLg-fl_g He comes each evening ONE with purpose propelling the too-big shoes to stand, not on the comer, but down a bit where th ere’s a vacant OF doorway. Sometimes he sits on a loading platform, carefully straightening the tail THE of the too-long overcoat he never re­ moves. He clutches a blue bundle tight beneath LEAST one arm. By Elizabeth Searle Lamb He is given to scratching his head, then smoothing down the graying hair. He speaks in tongues, incomprehensible; he speaks to men no longer living . . . at times the conversations are quite violent. He pulls a small piece of paper from an inside pocket and shreds it. He sprinkles the fragments in the center of the deserted, dusk-filled street. Settling the blue bundle more securely beneath his arm, he goes away again. He is a man. He is my brother.

LNmd WE HAVE BEEN told that “all men are touch, smell, taste. created equal,” but when we look at the If you observe yourself closely, you world o f everyday we are hard-pressed to will probably find that you have almost observe any “equality” at all. With the obliterated each sense by unconsciously study o f metaphysics we can perhaps avoiding undesirable stimuli. But this also n agree that we are all made of the same prevents awareness of desirable beauty- basic source material. We are of the producing experiences. By the age of Father-Mother God. thirty-five, you may have encapsulated But what makes the big difference be­ your sense ability within thick walls, like a tween a street thief and a spiritual master? barnacle on a pier at the seashore. We can Awareness of the one Source! The thief call this process “bamaclization”— » may be quite aware, within the narrow enclosing yourself little by little until you limits of his trade, but is completely un­ have only a peephole to the outside. aware o f his own divinity. It is the If you wish to increase your awareness measure of his awareness that limits him. by refining your senses, it is necessary to It is the measure of our awareness that reverse this bamaclization and con­ limits each o f us. But even if you agree sciously, with full desire, begin the pro­ . with me, your next question will be, cess o f release. This will require repeated “How can I increase the degree of my attempts to recapture the sensitivity for awareness?” The obvious answer would each of the five senses which were so be, “You work at it.” But you may per­ highly developed when you were young. sist: “How? I want to know how.” The process of release requires concen­ I d o n ’t know all the ways of increasing tration of desire, if you are to feel the awareness, but I am sure of a few methods impact of the incoming stimuli. Begin this that really work. One technique that can process in a beautiful, serene place, not on revolutionize your life is conscious refine­ a busy freeway or a noisy street corner. ment o f your five senses—sight, sound, Unwanted noise is one reason why we lose the ability to sense fully. I use the word noise to apply to all senses, even though a grammarian would disagree with my analogy. There are noisy sights, noisy smells, etc. If you persist in reopening your senses to beautiful things, you will begin to redis- cover the beauty of your existence. WHATARE Sooner or later you will experience the ecstasy of knowing that the Source within YOU you is the same Source within everything else. Experiment with simple things. Hold a LOOKING single flower in your hand. Concentrate on it. Give it your full attention. Give yourself to it. See it, hear it, touch it, smell it, taste it. You will recognize a spiri­ F O R ? ) tual awareness that you forgot you had. Then go and do likewise in every area of your existence. BY CHARLES LELLY You are the thing y o u ’re looking for! K

* MUSIC IS HIS LANGUAGE * OF LOVE AT THE MOUNT OLYMPUS home of Ray Conniff, overlooking Hollywood, music and love begin at the front door. BY DOUGLAS CRANE The knocker, a housewarming gift from fellow musician Roger Williams, is in the shape of a musical note. all his big hits, he comes across with the The contemporary house is on Hercules same rich warmth inherent in his arrange­ Drive, which reminds us that Ray himself ments. is something o f a giant in his particular In fact, R a y ’s youthful enthusiasm and distinctive field of choral music. The sings through so strongly that it is hard to title of his first hit album, “S’Wonderful,” believe that he is in the midst of his second sums up the unique Conniff sound that career. has made him the musical Olympian he is. “Yes,” he says, “right after World War Ray has a boyish, ingratiating modesty II, when bebop came in, I felt I was that conveys instant friendliness. Despite washed up, washed out, and through. In fact, for a time I not only felt it, but I was. by giving me a helping hand in the fine “The only work I could get was digging points of reading and understanding what ditches. Well, I d id n ’t actually dig them. it was all about. I think that is the most There was a machine that did that. I important thing an aspiring musician followed the contraption with shovel in should have—a knowledge of music itself. a hand to tidy up after it—square off the So many d o n ’t these days. I was lucky in corners. The ditches were for house foun­ having the wonderful background they dations, so they had to be neat and the depth even.” Ray admits that at that time he had other serious problems—a crumbling first marriage, two children to feed, scant money, the urge to drink, a sense of frus­ tration and failure. “Thanks to God, I d id n ’t stay in that ditch very long, mentally, physically, or financially. A little Unity publication, 1 Daily Word, seemed always to bring the right word. I still read it—love it.” The gold records and albums and awards that adorn the wall o f the Conniff den attest, in part, to “the right word.” And his present wife, the lovely Swiss- born Vera, little Tamara, a sunny baby almost three years old, plus an Irish wolf­ hound and a white toy poodle, complete the harmonious picture. Significantly, one of his recent albums is entitled “Harmony,” and that is the keynote of R ay ’s busy, energetic life. “I was born in the New England town of Attleboro. My father led a local band and doubled on the trombone. My mother played the piano. Music was always there in the background, but I d id n ’t take it to heart right away. “Early in the game my Dad gave me a * trombone—but for quite a while it mostly gathered dust and rust. He never pushed the idea of my being a musician. “But one day when I was a junior in high school, a group of buddies urged me to join their dance band. To make a long ‘ story short, I grabbed the trombone—rust and dust and all—and quickly found that I enjoyed making music as well as listening to it. “Mom and Dad expressed their delight gave me, and later some more training at which became a solid hit. Other Conniff Juilliard. Yet, as I say, my parents d id n ’t arrangements that followed were Johnny force it but let me find what I wanted for R ay ’s “Walkin’ in the Rain,” Frankie myself. L ain e’s “Moonlight Gambler,” and Guy “In high school I got into making M itch ell’s “Singin’ the Blues.” arrangements. The first one that really Later he scored with his arrangements t click ed was that of ‘Sweet Georgia of three Johnny Mathis successes: Brown,’ even then an old standard. It “Chances Are,” “Wonderful, Wonderful,” seemed my arranging career was under and “It ’s Not for Me to Say.” way. His own million-dollar gold albums and “After high school I got my first really concerts in stereo, the first presented in professional job playing trombone, Europe and America, made him inter­ arranging, and driving a van for Dan nationally known as a musical innovator. Murphy and his Skippers. Soon he was making personal appearances “Two years later I headed for New with his own group at Las Vegas, at Lake York, and my first job there was as Tahoe, and at the White House in trombonist-arranger with Bunny Berigan. Washington. After some fifteen months, in 1939, Bob When Ray isn ’t touring, writing, or Crosby lured me away to join his Bobcats. arranging, he and his wife steal off to her Later I was hired by Artie Shaw, and then native Switzerland, or for holidays in on to work with Glen Gray. Hawaii or Baja, California. He enjoys “After a stint with Armed Forces water skiing, golf, or just lazing around in Radio during the war, working with Mere­ his swimming pool at home. dith Willson and Walter Schumann—and Of his work he says, “What originally meeting and knowing Glenn Miller—I made the sound so different was the use of landed with Harry James. Some of the hits human voices, using them like instru­ I arranged for Harry were ‘Easy,’ ‘The ments.” While he continues to do this, he Beaumont Ride,’ and ‘September Song.’ says: “Now I d o n ’t use the voices without “A sour note for me was when, sud­ words as much as I did for the earlier denly, bebop became the ‘in’ sound. That Columbia albums and records. As a result, w asn ’t for me. It was then that I stopped the sound is more contemporary.” arranging music and was forced, in turn, If Ray has a word to say to young to start arranging those ditches.” singers and musicians, it is, “Learn to read During this low period, Ray got the in­ music.” He laughs. “We use the older spiration that helped start him on a singers and longtime regulars on records second career. He went out and spent because they can read, and know. So if the precious dollars on the top hits, then he sound is very good, that is part of it. sat down and listened. Narrowing the hits “On tour we strike a balance—using the ‘ down to the ten that lingered on the popu­ younger boys and girls even if they d o n ’t larity charts the longest, he pondered and all have the knowledge. On tour a lot of analyzed just what it was that made them the audience enjoyment is in what they so popular. see as well as what they hear.” After three years he felt he had found As we took leave of Ray and his lovely his “magic formula.” About that time he Vera, we decided that Ray has as receptive ' also m et Mitch Miller of Columbia an eye for a beauty as he has an ear for a Records. In 1954 his glimmer of a big wonderful sound. And surely his break came when he arranged Don melodious music is his language of love, C h erry ’s rendition of “Band of Gold,” for all the world to enjoy. © experiences in

m e D i T a n o n s BY MARJORIE H. RUSSELL

This is the third in a series of six articles on the wonders of meditation. Here the author explains three particular forms of meditation: (1) protective meditation, (2) contemplative meditation, and (3) the eternal-life meditation. Together they give important insights into spiritual experience.

Protective Meditation Assume your meditation position. Would you like to feel safe and secure Then relax physically using your “prayer at all times? Would you like to feel serene of insulation.” Follow instructions as pre­ as you walk on the streets or in a subway viously given for physical relaxation. ‘alone at night? would you like to know Lift your closed eyes above the horizon that you could remain unharmed in the line into the alpha state of thought and face of grave personal danger not of your imagine yourself enfolded by a strong, own making? Then practice protective white light. Feel it close about you, meditation. almost like G o d ’s angels’ wings sheltering you within His invisible might and power. turned around and fled. Ask the Lord to aid you in securing a A woman driving her car through city feeling of divine protection. traffic with a back seat full o f children In practicing this type of meditation, surrounded their car with light. Shortly some have the feeling that they are afterward, they came to an intersection wrapped in an invisible cloak which will and actually saw their car “melt” arounde shelter them from harm. Others have des­ another car which swerved unexpectedly cribed a feeling of being wrapped in a out of a side street and continued on its ‘ beautiful blanket of white light, while way. Both cars were unharmed. The chil­ some have described it as a wall of power dren were filled with awe and exclaimed: shielding them from danger, invisible but “Look at that! That car should have hit nonetheless real and powerful. This ours, but it d id n ’t. God is with us.” i aw areness can be carried with one We have found that if protective medi­ throughout the day. tation is practiced morning, noon, and night—even for brief periods—wonderful, Examples and problems practical, divine protection results. The success achieved by developing an awareness of G o d ’s protecting presence Contemplative Meditation i through protective meditation has been E arth’s treasures, the bounty of a rich reported by many individuals, meeting Creator, lie all about us to love and enjoy. strange and startling experiences. Through contemplative meditation you One woman reported being relieved of may be in your favorite beauty spot at her pocketbook in a subway, without any will. Physical transportation is unneces­ feeling of fright. Her protective medi­ sary. tation exercise had been carried in con­ In the twinkling of an eye you can sciousness; she sustained no bodily injury image yourself in an orchard full of apple' and all her personal belongings, including blossoms, in a favorite farmhouse room, credit cards, were returned by mail a week or in a palatial garden in full bloom behind later. thick, stone walls clustered with jasmine A painter reported how, while painting and heliotrope. a garage, he clothed himself by protective This is your time apart, when you can meditation, quickly surrounding himself relax, rest, and contemplate peace and “ with light when he contacted a h o rn et’s beauty. After taking your position and re­ nest. He had to saw off the board to which laxing physically, affirm your “prayer of the nest was fastened and transport the insulation” and realize the presence of hornet’s nest to another location, G o d ’s protecting light. speaking kindly to them and explaining R elax mentally; lift your gaze as what he was doing. Although the hornets though you were looking out through a* actually climbed into his clothing and window in the center o f your forehead, under his hat, he remained completely un- and affirm your “prayer of attunement.” harmed. He completed his task and Now take yourself away to your favor­ thanked God for the Truth that set him ite place. Imagine G o d ’s loving presence free from harmful circumstances. everywhere. Your favorite spot may be on A woman about to be attacked quickly a mountaintop where you can look off* surrounded herself with light as the man into the clear sky, with the green earth approached her on a deserted beach. She and blue expanse of water spread out far stood her ground and looked him fear­ below. Or you may think of a lovely pool lessly in the eyes. Her would-be attacker where you used to sit and watch the fish play, or listened to the singing of the Teacher: “The object of contem­ breeze in the pine trees and smelled their plative meditation is serenity. Therefore, fragrance. Often the sound and aroma re­ you should try to quiet your thoughts. turn with the memory. Rather than concentrating upon action, You may take yourself to an open field anchor your gaze upon quietness. Then no -of daisies and buttercups, where you may threat will arise and you will be able to bask in the sunshine as you watch the complete your quiet time to best bumblebees gather pollen. There are advantage. woodland brooks where the smell of ex­ posed rootlets and alder bushes sets your Student: “I took myself to my favor­ blood tingling with new life. The tran- ite spot, and I did not want to come away • quillity of the water spells stillness to you from it. I had the hardest time opening my as it quietly flows behind the rocks and eyes and coming back. Was I wrong?” out into the sunlight on the other side. Teacher: “We must remember that the Your favorite spot may be back home object of meditation is to improve the in M om ’s kitchen, or on the deck of a conscious phase of thinking: to make it sailing craft you once owned and loved, pure, joyous, beautiful, orderly, light- while the spray of the salty waves and the filled, and peaceful. Meditation is not to tang of o ce a n ’s breeze greet your nostrils. be used as a permanent escape. Contem­ Be in no hurry to leave your favorite plative meditation is for inspiration pur­ beauty spot. Look around; praise, listen, poses only. Your main purpose is to bless. Be glad there is an all-loving Creator develop a conscious awareness of divinity. of such beauty. Relax and enjoy the plea­ sure of it. Take your time, and when you Student: “I co u ld n ’t think of a good are satisfied, take a few deep breaths, place to go, so I asked the Lord to lead me open your eyes, move your fingers, to a place—and He did! It was autumn in a stretch, and bring your relaxed mind and beautiful maple grove that I had once body into focus to meet the opportunities known but had forgotten. Perhaps this of your day. You will find that things go could be called spiritualized memory.” smoothly and efficiently because of your serene sense of G o d ’s beauty illumining Eternal-Life Meditation your way. There is a state in life wherein one is neither young nor old; there we are vi­ Experiences and problems brantly alive and ageless. We may enter Student: “I took myself away to my this state in meditation and help bring it favorite woodland pool. I saw a deer come forth in the manifest body. This is Spirit out of the woods. He stood and gazed at expressing through the physical by means ‘ me, and he was so beautiful. Then I of thought centered in the Christ-life. seemed to be able to look beneath the If you would like to gain an awareness water o f the pool and I saw the trout of eternal youth and express a sustained swimming around, chasing each other buoyancy and a feeling of living forever, playfully. They were very pretty, with use this form of meditation. Friends will little spots of color on their shiny scales. soon report your progress to you: it will But then a big fish swam up to one of become self-evident! them, and I was so afraid he was going to Take your meditative position with eat the smaller fish that I broke my con­ your goal in mind to merge and become centration and came out of meditation. one with the Christ-life. Close your eyes What should I have done?” and relax physically. Use your “prayer of insulation.” Relax mentally and use your Healing states: “Medical authorities of “prayer of attunement.” Now lift your the highest repute tell that certain organs gaze upward in a relaxed manner and of the body are self-renewing; that it is a simply yield to G o d ’s infinite power. Feel puzzle to them how these parts ever wear the magnet of divine love drawing you to out. If you had a sewing machine that con­ its bosom, and say over and over to your­ stantly replaced the little particles worn self: “/ am spirit; I am life; I am light; I away by friction, would that machine ever live forever with Christ. ” be destroyed?” Meditation can help you Soon you will feel a flood o f new en­ replace the worn-out parts of your body ergy as you let every one of your millions with new life and energy, and also build of brain cells become exposed to divine permanent body tissues for your “temple illumination. When your thought is cen­ of the living God.” 1 tered in Christ-light, your whole body is full of light. This is what Jesus Christ These three forms of meditation are all meant when he said, “So if your eye is phases of a positive, effective approach to sound, your whole body will be full of self-knowledge. Keeping the ideal o f the light.” In the center of your forehead rests all-protecting, all-revealing, all-sustaining the pituitary gland, the receptacle of illu­ Christ Spirit ever before us, we grow in the mination. consciousness of divine protection, Bask in the light and enjoy the flood of infinite wisdom, and eternal life. 0 energy as it surges through you, making (To be continued) you young and vitally alive. With a will to return to conscious awareness where you may put this energy to good use for the A MORNING MEDITATION glory of God, simply take a few deep breaths, open your eyes, move your hands By Louise Kidder Sparrow and act in the consciousness of eternal livingness. As I gaze about me in my quiet room, suddenly I am aware of scores of men and Remarks women I have never seen, each one of Often middle-aged people want to prac­ whom has toiled diligently with brain and tice the above meditation in order to pre­ hands, through hours on endless hours, to serve what youth they have retained. fashion all I find around me: walls and However good this may be, it is well to doors and windows, pictures, furniture, begin this practice early in life so that you books, objets d'art and mirrors, draperies may sustain your consciousness of life and rugs, television, radio, cassette. through the years and never accept the Not one single item but human hands thought of old age, decrepitude, or even and brain have fashioned (generally with death. joy, though at times with blood and A number of people I know practice tears). I stand here possessing these inesti­ eternal-life meditation daily and outpic- mable treasures, bestowed on me for a ture vibrant youth, defying birth records. mere pittance of their intrinsic worth. You can be such a person. Scientists I am surrounded by men and women I assure us that there is no physical reason shall never know, but who are present in for human cells to wear out and die. Prac­ these works, by them created—even as tice of this meditation will convince your they were created by supreme Intelligence consciousness o f this, and it will manifest. and Power. Charles Fillmore in his book Christian Now, look outside the window. cloud before we can be conscious of the presence of awakened life. We must stop calling our body flesh and blood, and see it as it is in Spirit-mind, pure and incorruptible. This realization of m an’s perfect body will arrest decay, dis­ integration, and death. We must rise above material thoughts into spiritual realization, and live, move, and have our being in divine reality. When our views of man are elevated to spiritual understanding, we shall begin to express bodily perfection. Our thoughts must be perfect before we can expect to manifest perfection in body. The issues of life are wF»diij M i o f within man; the body is merely the record 0farte$ ‘FUtnfini of the mind of the individual. The resurrection o f the body is the paramount theme of the New Testament and in fact the all-embracing yet veiled subject of the entire Bible. Immortality Witness has been the engrossing subject of m an’s thought since the record of the race of the began. Passage after passage might be cited from the Bible illustrating what m an’s body potentially is and how it Resurrection should be controlled and governed so as to gain for its possessor the greatest amount of harmony in life. A woman was the first person to come to Jesus’ tomb after He had risen. Mary was searching for her Lord and Master in the tomb even while He was at her side. John and Peter, failing to find Him where they expected Him to be, “went back to ON THE RESURRECTION MORNING their homes.” Women are more receptive the friends and followers of Jesus seemed to Truth than men, but if today a man to have forgotten His promise that He died who claimed he would resurrect his would rise from the dead, and they looked body on a certain day, it is doubtful for His body in the tomb. This incident whether even the women would go to the shows that when the belief in death has tomb to see the resurrection. Mary and overshadowed us, it darkens our under­ the other women did not go to the tomb standing; we must pass from under this of Jesus expecting Him to be there alive. They did not expect to see Him come out be changed, and he says it is when “death of the tomb; on the contrary they had is swallowed up in victory.” Here are spices and herbs for the embalming of His P aul’s words: “When the perishable pub- body. The body was not there and they on the imperishable, and the mortal puts began to inquire about it. The angel told on immortality . . . ‘Death is swallowed them, “He has risen ”; but they could not up in victory.’ ” believe it, and they looked into the tomb. This transformation is worked out by There were the grave clothes, but the the individual himself, and is not the re­ body of Jesus was gone. The disciples, sult o f physical death but rather of the when told that Jesus had risen, were skep­ death or annihilation of the erroneous tical. We are told that Jesus walked with ideas that ignorance has stored in the cells two of them on the way to Emmaus and o f the body. It is first a mental resurrec­ explained the Scriptures to them. After a tion, followed by a body demonstration. time they recognized Him; then He dis­ Creative Mind has placed in the soul of appeared from their midst. everyone an image of the perfect-man Shortly after the incident at Emmaus, body. The imaging process in the soul may Jesus appeared again to the Eleven, and to well be illustrated by the picture that is prove to them that He had the same body made by light on the photographic plate, that He had had before His resurrection, which must be “developed” before it He showed them His hands and His feet, comes visible. Or m an’s invisible body and He ate a piece o f broiled fish. After may be compared to the blueprint of a that He disappeared again. All this would building that the architect delivers to the be thought “spooky” in our day, and we builder. Man is a builder of flesh and cannot blame the disciples for being blood. Jesus was a carpenter. Also He was “startled and frightened.” indeed the master mason. He restored the Jesus did not say that He was going to L o rd ’s body (“th e temple of G o d ”) in His separate Himself from us; on the contrary, mind and heart (Jerusalem). He is more universally at work with us Jesus taught that we must attain the than He was when He was on earth in His consciousness of eternal life, that we have body. If we identify ourself with the no life in us until we have attained this Christ Mind, we shall find that Jesus is in consciousness. Until we demonstrate over our midst today and that the principles death, the death of the body, we are in a which He demonstrated are coming closer transitory state of existence. and closer to the consciousness of every Paul’s instruction was, “Glorify God in one of us, through our faith in Him. your body,” which proclaims the fact that The “resurrection” of the body has the God nature may become manifest in nothing whatever to do with death, ex­ every individual. What is the chief object cept that we may resurrect ourselves from of man? To glorify God in both his soul every dead condition into which sense and body; this is the true answer. Have the ignorance has plunged us. To be resur­ courage to make the heroic attempt to rected means to get out of the place that give personal expression to God. And how you are in and to get onto a higher plane. shall we do this? By mentally agreeing Resurrection is a rising into new vigor, that we are potentially the Christ and cap­ new prosperity; a restoration to some able of making a divine presentation of exalted state. It is absurd to suppose that ourself to the Father. We must rise to the it applies to only the resuscitation of a conscious realization that every thought dead body. of our mind, every atom of our body, Paul hints at a time when the body will every molecule of our being, every func- tion of our nature, and every force of our mind is divine, and that all of these do and 'Monthly 77joii"/j{,s shall vibrate to the harmonies of Spirit. This is the resurrection of man; there is ILLUMINATION—Adam as originally created none other. was in illumination. Spirit continually breathed By so doing we establish our ego, our I into him the necessary inspiration and knowl­ AM identity with Divine Mind, and enter edge which gave him superior understanding. But with Jesus into joint heirship to the he began eating (or appropriating) ideas o f two heavenly inheritance of power, peace, powers—God and not-God, or good and evil. “Be prosperity, and perfection. transformed by the renewal o f your mind,” is All the so-called human or earthly Jesus’ instructions to us. By the process o f spheres of operation are reflections of the thought o f good only (the light of Truth), we are divine, and by considering them we may transformed into a new being, spiritual energy gain an intellectual concept o f spiritual awakens our sleepy mind and body. We are vic­ realities, but we should ever remember torious over all obstacles as we get back to the that the spiritual things are “spiritually original state in which we consciously receive the judged.” By this higher renewal of the inspiration of Spirit—we are charged with infinite mind we shall be bodily transformed, and life. prove those things which are good, per­ The victorious Christ Spirit in me leads me in fect, and true. ways that are right and good. The resurrection of the body is not de­ pendent for its demonstration on time, HEALING— Jesus said that His body was living evolution, or any of the man-made means substance. We affirm the pure substance o f the of growth. It is the result of the elevation body o f Christ as the real life and substance o f of the spiritually emancipated mind of the our body. We continually send this thought to individual. every cell and part o f ourself, and any disease Step by step, thought added to resulting from negative thoughts are thereby thought, spiritual emotion added to spiri­ purified and eliminated. We are not wholly alive, tual emotion—eventually the transfor­ eternally alive until we manifest this body o f mation is complete. It does not come in a Christ. As we study Jesus’ victorious life we see day but every high impulse, every pure how we must follow into His life, become part of thought, every upward desire adds to the it, and live in eternal life, well and whole, here exaltation and gradual personification of and now. the divine in man and to the transfor­ The victorious Christ Spirit in me expresses mation of the human. The “old man” is itself as health and wholeness. constantly brought into subjection, and his deeds forever put off, as the “new PROSPERITY—“He who has a bountiful eye will man” appears arrayed in the vestments of be blessed.” Nothing shall be lacking in our world divine consciousness. when we know our spiritual inheritance. As we All have hope and find deep con­ see with the bountiful eye, we fulfill the law of solation, aye, assurance in the belief of the increase. We have faith in the law. We do not final redemption of the body; and this reason too much, but forge ahead in faith and universal feeling is bom of the legitimacy boldness, not letting outside conditions become of the faith that this redemption must hindrances. God is the source of all, and, eventuate, that perfection is the ultimate according to Jesus, provides for man when he goal of m an’s being, and that death and asks. He is back o f our call for food and raiment separation must disappear from human and every good thing that our heart may desire. experience. The victorious Christ Spirit in me sees unlimited supply coming forth now. THE IDEA To answer readers’ questionsabout anything related to increased spiritual understanding and deeper integrative growth. To discover not only what people are asking Q m x t i o i f i but what people are thinking m i d # about in the area of beliefs and practices in the world within and without. To help \ Quest J others—and—us in the spiritual search. To stimulate the search itself. ... with answers by Marcus Bach

Dear Dr. Bach: yond and above the range of the physical. I used to believe that metaphysics was The term then went through various metaphysics. Since then I have had some definitions, was loosely used, and gradu­ exposure to Unity, Religious Science, and ally began to be applied to philosophical Christian Science and have become a and spiritual insights of not only scien­ little confused by different definitions tific and experimental discoveries, but to and approaches. How would you the general extension of ideas and specu­ compare the three philosophies, their lations into the commonly unknown. Be­ similarities and differences? hind every form is a pre-form and that is Marilyn Lindstrom where metaphysics was leading. If you think of metaphysics as philo­ sophical inquiry into the total essence of Dear Marilyn Lindstrom: life, you can not go far wrong. Webster Let me stretch the limit of space to defines metaphysical as “that which is answer your question which other letters abstruse or abstract,” and as “that which have stated in a somewhat similar form. pertains to real being or the essential After Aristotle wrote his famous trea­ nature of reality.” tise titled Physics he felt that a great deal It is in this latter meaning particularly had been left unsaid and unexplained. He that the three groups you mention justify then wrote another study in which he their metaphysical status and it was also reached beyond physics to the theological at this point, in the early days, that they and philosophical aspects of what were often invited academic criticism as to customarily considered the “exact whether they were justified in using the sciences.” Critics called his second trea­ term in its original Aristotelian sense. tise “Metaphysics” or that which is be- Each of the three groups has added to 48 its metaphysical the word “truth,” giving Each grou p believes that faith and rise to the terms “truth students,” “truth demonstration of teachings are the most teachers,” “studies in truth,” and so on, effective ways to propagate the work. believing that they have some absolute in­ They believe implicitly in the “fulness of sights beyond (or within) the physical time” and in the creative and trans­ which physics may have overlooked and forming power of the Word. metaphysics may have discovered. In this As to their differences. Each has its the three groups are sufficiently alike to distinctive founder. Christian Science: give them a common metaphysical basis, Mary Baker Eddy. Religious Science: and they are also sufficiently unlike to Ernest Holmes. Unity: Charles and Myrtle justify separate categorical distinctions. Fillmore. As to their likenesses. They all assume Each group has its significant texts. a metaphysical interpretation of the Unity stresses Lessons in Truth and the Scriptures, which is to say they claim to many writings of Charles Fillmore includ­ have discovered hidden, esoteric spiritual ing his Metaphysical Bible Dictionary. meanings within the commonly accepted Religious Science has as its major text literalism of the Bible. In their early days, H o lm e s’ Science of Mind. Christian this fact alone made them suspect by S cie n c e ’s magnum opus is Mary Baker orthodox literalists and caused them to E d d y ’s Science and Health with Key to be considered heretical, if not unchris­ the Scriptures. tian. Each has its own specialized training They all supplement the Bible with program, its own churches or centers, its their own metaphysical interpretations, own distinctive worship services, its own emphasize the majesty rather than the denominational history, its own publish­ abject nature o f man, believe that well­ ing plants. being and affluence are among m an’s Doctrinally there are fine, but highly God-given right, that nature is benevolent important, shades of differences revolving rather than malevolent, that Mind or around statements of belief, the interpre­ Divine Mind means God, that this Mind is tation of evil, affirmations and denial, all-in-all, that everyone has the potential eschatological concepts, methods of of the Christ presence, the I AM, the ex­ spiritual healing, and policies of church emplification of m an’s oneness with a government. personal, heavenly Father, that spiritual Of the three, Christian Science is the healing is a workable, usable reality, that most hierarchical, Religious Science the the phenomenal world is not the real, m ost m etaphysically mind-centered, that sin is a lapse from the law of true Unity the most Christ-centered and, para­ being, that God and Good can be used doxically, the most eclectic. interchangeably, that unrealities often To be more thoroughly exhaustive have the aspect of reality but the mind in would require a special issue of UNITY harmony with Divine Mind recognizes Magazine or a m aster’s thesis by someone, this unreality, that faith without dogma is like you, who has a sincere interest in possible, that positive affirmations pro­ synergetically examining the clock of duce positive results, that consciousness faith to see where metaphysical religions makes you what you are and you can come from and what makes them tick. make your consciousness, and that wealth MB of consciousness expresses itself in wealth of manifestation. In common, too, is their lack of Dear Mr. Bach: emphasis on traditional missionary effort. My son who has been away from home nearly two years wrote me from New Dear Sir: Guinea that he was fascinated with the D o you consider the Kama Sutra a “cargo cults. ” D o you know anything pornographic book? about them? D.R. Bertha G.

Dear Bertha G. Dear D.R.: Cargo Cults are found in many parts of Sorry, no. It is a classical study of the the world, especially in Africa and art of love and love-making. Melanesia and other Pacific Islands. These MB cultists seem to believe that someday a ship will come in loaded with European Dear Mr. Bach: or western world treasures or merchan­ Please explain what “spiritual pride” dise and it will be clearly marked for means. Have asked some church people them. They believe that God is preparing and no one seems to know. such cargo and it is only a matter of time Constance Wolford before they will have the luxuries and goodies that have been denied them for Dear Constance Wolford: all too long. Of the seven deadly sins, pride is listed The origin of the Cargo Cults goes back as the first. Pride, Covetousness, Lust, to the 19th century when western mer­ Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth. Spiritual chandisers and soldiers and perhaps even pride is commonly construed as smugness travelers (tourists) of affluence made cer­ about o n e ’s in-with-God. Usually it is tain natives feel that they had been used as an anonym for self-righteousness short-changed when blessings were being or a holier-than-thou attitude. This kind distributed by a heavenly Father. Dreams of pride often comes before a fall, as the and visions followed. Native prophets saying has it, and there is an interesting spoke about God getting the cargos ready line in Daniel 4:37 which says, “Those and some went so far as to accuse who walk in pride, he is able to abase.” westerners of intercepting the ships- Those who try to use “spiritual pride” of-promise and looting them for their as a compliment have a hard time of it . own gain. since even a sense of o n e ’s spiritual worth It has often been said that we all need is in itself questionable. If you wish to our fantasies to justify what seems to us use “spiritual pride” as a commendatory G o d ’s injustices. The Cargo Cults, be they phrase, as, for example, an attitude of fantasy or for real, evidently provide their oneness with God, le t ’s use “spiritual con­ followers with a millennialistic hope. sciousness” and get “spiritual pride” out • It occurs to me that in a day when so of modern usage. Whatever it means, it is much merchandise is disappearing from archaic, and will get us nowhere. the w estern m arkets—silver coins, MB Gone-with-the-Wind lamps, gold coins, barber bottles, even alarm clocks—where’s the cargo going? Or, we might seriously Dear Dr. Bach: ask, “Who’s the cargo cultists now?” Please explain what is meant by the I envy your son his spiritual safari. Widow's Mite. I am a widow and I heard MB that we are not to tithe and I would like to know. Dear Marie Hicks: f \ I wonder where you heard what I have never heard, that widows are not to tithe. That is as surprising as to have someone In response to Dr. Bach’s generous offer say that widows should never love! to answer questions from readers, his As a boy in an evangelical family and office has been flooded with hundreds of part o f a large ministerial relationship, I letters. Because his busy schedule of recall how deacons in our church were writing and lecturing does not leave him admonished to care for the widows and enough time to answer so many questions, orphans, but if any widow had a mite to he has asked us to ask you not to submit tithe, she was certainly urged to do so. any more questions at this time. If Dr. Now, a mite is something mighty small. Bach is able to accept more questions at a It is still worth less than half a penny. But later date, we will announce this in the to the widow who cast her two mites into magazine.— The Editor. the temple treasury it apparently repre­ sented all she had in cold cash. The impli­ cation in Mark 12:42 and Luke 21:2 is V ______/ that she gave it as an act o f faith, grati­ tude, adoration, and humility. The lovely twist in the story is, of course, that she was serendipitously observed by Jesus. about “The Supreme Being” or “The Tithing is a matter of belief in and Ultimate G ood” or other such obedience to a divine law. It is an adven­ euphemisms. People often don 't like to ture in faith. It challenges alike rich and use the word “God. ” It embarrasses them. poor, young and old, married and unmar- So I don't ask anymore. I can't find the , ried. It deals not only with money, it answer in books. I am looking for a deals with life, because our attitude about down-to-earth, easy-to-understand life fashions the “money world” in which answer to my question. we live. Serious Quester MB Dear Serious Quester: The form of God, the nature of God, the appearance of God, a convincing defi­ nition of God have eluded priest, Dear Mr. Bach: prophets, poets, philosophers, painters, What is God? Asa child I was taught professors since the beginning of time. that God was a man in heaven (the sky) Even the great messengers left us without , who knew everything and answered all what you would call a “down to earth, prayers. In my late teens and for several easy to understand” answer. God is too years, I thought I was an atheist. I say big for that and that is what makes Him “thought” because I never stopped God. praying—just in case. Later I realized I And yet, when we stop looking for an did not believe. I knew my prayers were answer and are willing to settle for an t being answered. I knew there was a God awareness, a knowing and a feeling, it all who answered my prayers, but what becomes simpler. form does this God take? Find a quiet spot in the out-of-doors When I asked Christian friends, “What sometime, somewhere where you hear is God?” I got varied and sometimes only the sounds of nature or no sound at vague answers. Many people prefer to talk all. Take a deep, calm breath and say to yourself, “Thank You God!” You will In every case, you will have your then perceive Him. answer and your knowing and it will be Drop into an empty church sometime yours, all yours. Why ask others? Why be (which should not be difficult), sit or concerned with euphemisms? Why bother kneel, close your eyes and tell yourself about those who d o n ’t like the word that “God is a Spirit and they that wor­ “God?” Let them follow their own quest-1 ship Him, shall worship Him in Spirit and ing. Jesus called Him “Father” and let it in Truth.” go at that. He thought of Him as Love, as • Next time when being jostled in city if to say, “Th at’s good enough for me.” streets or caught in city traffic or while God overwhelms me when I think of enmeshed as most of us are, at times, by Him holding speeding universes in His the world of people and sounds and hand, controlling planets and stars and all motion, repeat deeply and sincerely to the other myriad mechanisms of the yourself, “There is but one Presence and whirling worlds, while keeping me bal­ anced on a tilted, spinning space ship, one Power in the universe, God the Good, Earth. But how simple He really is when I Omnipotent.” In your confrontation with the mys­ see Him in a flower or catch His shadow tery of life as it often comes to all of us as He blesses me with just another breath in moments of joy and sorrow, force of life. yourself to affirm, “I know, and I know Good questing! that You know.” THE UNITY BOOK CLUB IS DIFFERENT

There are many book clubs that require the purchase of a certain number of books, as a "membership requirement." They send you announcements of new books every month, and unless you notify them, they'll send the books and bill you for them, automatically. There are a few book clubs that do not require the purchase of any specific books. They charge a membership fee, usually $5 or more, for the privilege of receiving their announcements and buying books at reduced prices. As far as we know, there is only one book club like ours: 1. The Unity Book Club charges no membership fee. 2. You are not required to buy any books, now or ever. 3. No books are ever mailed to you automatically; you get an announcement of each new selection, and if you want it you send back a card saying that you want it. Then we mail the book to you, at a special reduced price. In other words, the Unity Book Club is operated for your convenience, to save you money on the books you want. No fees, no requirements, no unwanted books to return. But then, that's the Unity way. For more information on the Unity Book Club, write to:

UNITY BOOK CLUB, Unity Village, Missouri 6 4 0 6 5 RESURRECTION

“There is no resurrection,” men may cry, And yet their hearts feel what their lips deny For all along the way they are beholding Renascent miracles of life ’s unfolding: The lily that so lately was but earth Now risen in its glory of rebirth; And everywhere the always upward urgence, As in the caterpillar’s strange emergence From close-wrapped shroud into a butterfly Of matchless beauty winging toward the sky, As man himself arose through ages slowly From forms of life the simplest and most lowly. There is a power beyond the human will; There is a voice within the heart: "Be still And know that I am God.” If men but hear it They find the resurrection of the spirit. —Mabel Hatton Marks M l

EASTER IS THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE,TOO TO READ AGAIN the first Easter experi­ Easter personalities. ence is like breathing a breath of fresh air. As rain does not stay forever, so sorrow Our whole frame is revived, and in the has a manner of moving away and making experience of renewal we find ourself in way for joy. The women came anxiously this story, for the Easter event of over­ to anoint a body, but they discovered and coming and triumph is also the story of experienced a new happiness. In their our life. hearts was a strange loneliness. A fellow­ The thrill o f victory is felt in M atthew ’s ship they had once known with the Master opening sentence. “Now after the sab­ ceased to be, but this was replaced by an bath, toward the dawn of the first day of even greater fellowship. For they went on the week,” suggests overcoming. The to greet the Master and the disciples on triumph keeps on sounding notes of glad­ their way to Galilee, as the angel said they ness. The mightiest of events happened on would. that first Easter day. All adversity, every Disappointment, despair, and despon­ apparent defeat, all despair over what dency disappeared like a mist, and the occurred before this new dawn, had been women found a new meaningful purpose changed into a victory by the sheer power in living. Beginning with the good news and love of God. Easter happened because from the angel, and then finding Jesus and of the nature o f God in the heart o f all their friends, they began moving to new things, especially in the heart of man. For directions—directions of faith, hope, love. every negative that had happened, the Their goals were again made definite. lifting-up power of God made possible a Instead of doubt there was certainty. positive. What Jesus had told them about the The women who came to the tomb that coming events returned to their memory early morning found spectacular changes and they saw it happening, not only in the since Friday. Each was possessed with the M aster’s life, but in their own. Easter be­ intent of anointing a body in a tomb, but came the story of their life too. they found an empty tomb, and their There was something different to be friend Jesus very much alive. said about what they called death. Jesus “He is not here,” said the angel. “He had died, but He was alive again. The life has risen, as he said.” Then we can almost views and ideas of the women and the dis­ hear the angel adding, “Do n ’t you remem­ ciples were strengthened, and something ber?” told them that life is the key word in the Friday provided clouds of darkness and universe. Once there was a cross, but now storm and earthquake. But now there is there was resurrection. light, new light in the dawn and in the fulfillment of the glad news. There BY HAROLD A. SCHULZ happened a new dawn in the hearts of the What a thrill for Jesus’ circle of friends tard seed, we are powerful enough to on that first Easter! It was more than a remove the mountain o f difficulty from chance happening. In order^for them to our midst and place it into the sea where it experience the first Easter, they had to be will dissolve into nothingness (for that is a part of the circle, a part of the faith. all a problem is). God, the essence of the They had to know certain principles in resurrecting power of the Christ within, is order to realize a victory and a triumph in greater than any earthly power that would their lives. appear to hold back progress. Storms may Easter is a thrilling, fulfilling, ecstatic have their moment, but the “still small event of victory for us each year and every voice” within possesses the winning day, because of the application and prac­ power. So within our being, the power of tice of divine principles and beliefs. With­ the triumphant Christ rises up anew under out the application of the life and love any and every adverse circumstance to rules Jesus gave us, we could not find joy give new light and life to our being. Good in the most joyous of events. That is why Fridays do not last forever; Easter must Easter is the victory, and the story of our come. In daily living, Easter comes sure life too. and certain, as surely as a rose opens in the Instead of peering down into a tomb, light of a new dawn. Go from illness to our eyes look up in praise and adoration healing, from inharmony to harmonious to worship the Christ victorious. A tomb at-one-ment, from discord to friendly could not hold Jesus the Christ. A tomb relations, from darkness to Easter dawn, cannot contain the essence of life. Nor can faithful to the power of the Christ within. tombs hold us down in our daily round of In this beautiful dawn we find fellow­ experience, as long as we are faithful to ship and friendship with the Christ and the triumphant principles of affirmative others. We praise, adore, and worship the living. Tombs are for that which is less living Christ who moves across our way, than life. As a tomb could not hold the who goes before us into familiar places in Christ, the likeness of God-power and life, our Galilees and Capemaums and so it cannot hold the Christ in us, any Bethanys. We find Him wherever we go. more than the dark furrow of soil can hold And wherever we go, He is always ready to down the tiny but powerful seed of life. point out new ways and roads of friendly While it does leave behind the outer gar­ behavior. In His presence we are never ments o f the se e d ’s hull or shell, the alone or without a friend. powerful substance of divine expression Easter is the story of your life, just as it reaches upward, breaks the shell, opens is the story of the life of Christ and of each the earth-tomb, and looks to the light of participant and principal personality in life and triumph. Then it grows and ex­ the first drama near Galilee. God has you presses itself as it was meant to do. Tombs in mind for the joy of living, for inspira­ of despair, sorrow, despondency, illness tional dawns every day, for seeing the cannot hold us, putting the Christ Mind in Christ alive, for fellowship with Christ and us to work, we rise in triumph over all meaningful living. He has you in mind to lesser things. We are made to look up in experience daily resurrection over every victory over our faults. problem. Instead o f darkness there is light. Good As the Christ is risen, so are you. Feel it, Fridays do come into our pattern of living experience it, and know it. That is the cen­ now and then, but they have no lasting, tral truth. In this love story of God is the holding power over our life and affairs. story of your life. Find yourself in Easter, Where there is faith even as small as a mus­ and live! Q T his is a serialization of Christ Enthroned in Man, by Cora Fillmore. The book, originally published in 1937, has been revised and harmonized with U nity’s present understanding o f the spiritual principles involved.

Christ Enthroned in /v\an

Chapter XII

Affirmation: Jesus Christ is now here, quantity of food. raising me to His consciousness of release. When the ark was completed the Flood I realize that the cleansing, purifying came. For forty days and nights there was power of the Holy Spirit is active in me. a downpour of water, until every living thing on the face of the earth, except those on the ark, was destroyed. N oah ’s WHEN MAN BEGAN to multiply on the ark floated on the face of the waters, and face of the earth, and to express his fleshly all those on board were safe. Finally the freedom, “The Lord saw that the wicked­ ark drifted to the top of Mount Ararat and ness of man was great in the earth,” and rested there. He said, “I will blot out man whom I have At the end of 150 days the waters created from the face of the ground . . . began to recede and Noah opened the win­ for I am sorry that I have made them.” dows of the ark, sending forth a dove to Yet one righteous man, “blameless in his see whether the waters had been abated generation” found favor in the eyes of the on the earth. But the dove returned. After Lord. seven days Noah sent forth the dove a God made known to Noah that there second time; she returned bearing an olive was to be a deluge that would cover the leaf in her mouth. Noah knew that the whole earth and destroy every living thing waters were almost gone. He waited still on the face of the earth. He said to Noah, another seven days and sent forth the “Make yourself an ark,” and he gave Noah dove. When she did not return, he knew instructions for the making of the ark: that she had found a home on the earth. 525 feet in length, 87% feet in breadth, Then Noah removed the covering from 52% feet in height; it was to have enough the ark and found the earth to be dry. room to house Noah, his wife and three God blessed Noah and his sons to “be sons. Noah was instructed to gather up a fruitful and multiply.” And God said, certain number of beasts, birds, and a “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every spiritually quickened, it has the power to living creature that is with you, for all perform a wonderful work which estab­ future generations: I set my bow in the lishes a freedom in soul and body con­ cloud.” The rainbow is G o d ’s reminder of sciousness, giving tone and strength and His covenant with us never to destroy the elasticity to the whole man. Letting go of earth by flood again. the old, in an orderly and decisive manner, , The story of Noah and the flood por­ at the same time laying hold of the new, trays symbolically the manner in which engenders a sweetness and lightness in the one of the twelve fundamental faculties of whole being. being works in unfolding the perfect man. Jesus said, “If any man would come The faculty of renunciation is twofold in after me, let him deny himself, and take nature: it eliminates error and it expands up his cross, and follow me.” The self that the good. The name “Noah” symbolizes Jesus would have us deny is the grasping the sweet rest and comfort that come personality. It must let go its hold upon after the soul has worked out certain possessive ideas before there can be har­ problems, and the consciousness perceives monious activity in the eliminative center. that there is an original spark of divinity in Spirit is constantly infusing us with man. The expansion of the holy and more of Itself, and at the same time, sacred divine spark is m an’s spiritual casting out of mind and body all that is development. waste. The forgiving love of Jesus is an M an’s body is divine, therefore every important factor in the eliminative pro­ activity of the body is fundamentally cess. When we know that our “sins are divine. We must know this, realize it daily, forgiven” we are opening the way for the if we would make our body a fit dwelling fulfillment of the law. Personality is dis­ place for the Holy Spirit. carded and spiritual forces begin to renew In the lower part of the back, near the and rejuvenate. Letting go of the old, in- base of the spinal column, is a ganglionic rushing of the new; when the law of for­ nerve center. It is symbolized by Jesus’ giveness is satisfied, the whole being of apostle Thaddaeus, and it presides over man draws new life and strength and the elimination of waste from the body power from the one divine source; it temple. It eliminates error thoughts from throws off the old. the mind and expands the good. If it is While renunciation is passive in char­ acter, it is positive and decisive in action. The degree of intelligence that finds ex­ pression in m an’s conscious thought determines the character of his life mani­ festation. If we would be healthy, happy, prosperous, we must learn to do healthy, hearty, and positive thinking. We must not be dominated by a n oth er’s will, or let another do our thinking for us. If we try to hold on and let go at the same time, renunciation and elimination in both mind and body are weakened, negative, irregular. An affirmative thought sometimes pro­ duces a congested condition throughout the body and interferes with elimination. Continued strenuous affirmations, even The forgiving love o f Jesus Christ of Truth, will sometimes cause consti­ cleanses, purifies, and strengthens pation. The remedy is to relax, to let go. me. The words of Truth that you have Dwell on this thought, relax more and affirmed must have time to work out in more, concentrating on the regions of the • the subconsciousness. We can never gain heart and solar plexus. Be sure the con­ possession of the kingdom of harmony scious mind is fully aware of the work until we are free to express the wisdom being done. and power of Spirit as they are revealed to Now allow the Presence to return to the us. center of renunciation, located at the We are bom daily and we die daily. lower end of the spinal column. Meditate While some error thought may stick in our upon the word: mind and hold fast for a season, whenever The forgiving love o f Jesus Christ new light is born in consciousness the cleanses, purifies, and strengthens error thought loses its grasp—it falls away. me. We see this life activity illustrated beauti­ Let the Presence ascend to the small of fully in nature with its shifting seasons. the back, the center of strength: Man is making his body temple an I gladly let go o f weak, worn-out eternal dwelling place for the soul. His thoughts in mind and body. The joy goal is to bring into expression the king­ o f the Lord is my strength. dom o f the heavens and to establish it Imagine the Presence radiating back of within him. Consequently he needs to the navel, the order center, and meditate: realize consciously that the passing away Every function and every organ o f of the old and the incoming of the new are my body is now working in perfect results of the outworking of the law, that harmony with spiritual law. Divine he should assist in bringing about this order is established in my mind and change. His every experience aids in estab­ body. lishing more firmly his identity in Spirit; Let the Presence descend again to the with greater freedom and power he is center o f elimination and praise God, brought nearer to his goal of perfection- giving thanks that His spiritual word is health in mind and body. active throughout your whole being. You For a regenerative exercise in the are joyously working with the cleansing, silence, first follow the one given in discriminating, purifying power of inner Chapter I. Continue to allow the Presence being. to dwell at the great solar nerve center, To conclude, allow the Presence to realizing that Jesus (the indwelling Christ ascend to the great solar nerve center and in action) is standing in your midst, con­ repeat the L o rd ’s Prayer. trolling, directing power, saying, “Come Always be conscious continually of the unto me ... I will give you rest.” As these light of Spirit descending from the spiri­ words penetrate your consciousness you tual center at the crown of the head. You will be letting go of all weariness, all should in truth be conscious of every step doubt, all fear; you will feel a lightness taken in the entire exercise. and freedom throughout your whole After the close of the exercise throw being. Hold this thought: the attention down into the feet and be­ I gladly let go o f the old. I am neath, and into the palms of the hands. expanded with the new life of Christ. R ealize p e r fe ct p oise and balance Allow the Presence to ascend to the throughout your whole being. 0 heart, love center; affirm: (To be continued) BY LEW H. MORSE

Some thoughts on the resurrection

The Important Difference

WHEN I WAS young (by which I mean younger in years than I now am), I attended secular colleges where iconoclasm was a popular sport. This was in the late thirties and the early forties, and many young folks from a depression background were disillusioned, even bitter, and quite vocal in their dis­ appointment in a world which seemed to make little sense. In bull sessions the subject of religion would arise. Particu­ larly when the subject was the more miraculous aspects of religion, such as virgin birth or death and resurrection, there was a pretty standard state­ ment which seemed to put an end to all speculation about such matters: “The history of religion, in all times and all places, is the story of gods who died and then came back to life again. The story of Jesus is just one more tiresome reiteration of the same it Avolokiteswara) of the Hindu pan­ tired old story.” Such a statement, theon, also quite closely related to Surya, mouthed by the young sages with great which is the Sanscrit word for sun. facility, was usually something they had Now as to the mythological common heard in a comparative religion class and ground. All seem somehow related to the now were ventriloquizing as if it were sun and light. Our clue is that the sun, of their own. Jesus, and with Him Christian­ course, sinks and “dies” in the west each ity, was therefore guilty by association day and then is reborn or “resurrected” and could be, with one withering state­ again in the east the next morning. ment, classified and shelved—not only as a Less closely related in pronunciation, fraud, but as a not very original fraud! but sharing (for instance) such a common That fairly well took care of Him. story are Osiris of the Egyptians and In this writing, I would like to do two Dionysos of the Greeks. A jealous fellow things: first, to look at some of these god who could not stand the competition ancient figures who died and came back to attacked each and dismembered them. life, and second, to point out an impor­ Not satisfied with dismembering, in each tant difference between the Jesus story case the severed parts of the body were and all the others. There is a difference. scattered all over the world (or eaten by First, a look at history. As one reads the demons) so that there was no chance of histories of the religions of the ancient reassembling them. With but slight varia­ Near East, from Egypt to India, there tions, in numerous retellings, we find that appears to be a large and confusing pan­ another god or goddess wandered all over theon of gods whose names seem different the world, found the pieces of the dis­ but whose stories all bear striking similari­ membered god and brought them back to ties. Then, with a little more digging life. In each case the commonality relates coupled with some language sense and a to m an’s ancient wish that no matter what knowledge of name origins and meanings, his fate, no matter what the nature of his it suddenly becomes clear that there are death, a kind god will bring him “back to whole families of names which are all the life.” Do not all of us share (myth or no same name, with minor changes across the myth) such a heartfelt desire never to die, frontiers of language and pronunciation. or if we do, to be brought back to life? Let us take Osiris, the sun god of the But is this all the Jesus story is about? I Egyptians, because this name repeats think not. itself dozens of times throughout the Orient. At one time it becomes Asura, and In the centuries-old prefiguring of the then allowing another pronunciation life of the Christ, the narratives of the Old change it becomes the Ahum of Ahura Testament have been shown to have hun­ Mazda, the god of light. Then suddenly, it dreds of references to the coming of a reappears as Assur, or Ashur, which in fact Messiah, a Christ, a Savior. Many details is the root word that we find in the name relate to His “life” and “death.” This we of the Assyrian peoples. At other times, it know from these and the gospel stories b ecom es Asari, then Asartaite, then that the life of Jesus was not an invention Aushar, then Assorus—and so on ad of the moment, nor was it a series of acci­ infinitum as the name travels throughout dents that unfolded on the stage of the Mediteranean world and the fertile history. It was preordained, and Jesus was crescent. And we have it on no less an simply the immediate participant of the authority than Mme. Blavatsky that this is drama of the eternal Christ. none other than the name Isuara (and with The gospels indicate quite clearly that Jesus could have avoided His crucifixion. What had He done? He, the Christ, had Instead He boldly stepped forward by taken the “crucified” body of Jesus and choice and accepted it as a part of a life raised it to a high level of spiritual vibra­ plan. This is different. tion, transmuted it, to use the phrase of Nor was he, as in the predecessor the alchemists, from “base metal to “resurrection” stories, dismembered—for g o ld ”—and the physical body of Jesus clearly this was not part of the plan to be now no longer existed. What had been in worked out. “But when they came to the world (materiality) was now no longer Jesus and saw that he was already dead, in the world; it had become pure spirit. they did not break his legs. .. . For these To say that Jesus died and then was things took place that the scripture might somehow brought back to life is a gross be fulfilled, ‘Not a bone of him shall be misreading and misunderstanding of what broken.’ ” happened. It does not do justice to the There is little in the Bible, if read mighty, world-transcending event that closely, that says that Jesus Christ lived occurred two thousand years ago at the and died and then came back to life. This beginning of the Piscean age. It does not is not the story at all; this is but a nai've do justice to the place that Jesus Christ misunderstanding which in no way does will occupy in the world-shaking events justice to what happened . . . and those that will transpire in the now-beginning metaphysically inclined should let go of Aquarian age. S h ou ld n ’t we begin to insist this notion. on the eternal metaphysical Truth of what Jesus, the man, was bom of woman, really happened? 0 lived an outstanding life of teaching, com ­ passion, and example. He died on the THE WONDER OF CHRIST Cross. The Christ, however, the Word that was with God from the beginning, came By T. Moore Atkinson into the world and left it to return to the Father as an event in time and human­ Aye, but the wonder o f it, friend, my ity .. . not as a life—death—retum-to-life friend! cycle. The Christ was never bom ; He never The thought tremendous: how the died; He simply came among us for an cosmos rings appointed time and then returned to To such a theme as only heaven could whence He came. The Jesus Christ entity lend. who appeared many times to the disciples Think not o f all those little tinsel things, after the crucifixion was not the man But let us talk o f God, and how He came Jesus brought back to life; it was the To men, and to a town of little fame. never-dying Christ in the “body” of Jesus, no longer just material but in the process We often know not how the Highest of being spiritualized in time. comes At one moment, near the tomb, He said Within the borders of this human scene; to Mary, “Do not hold me, for I have not But here, with no loud sounds of horn and yet ascended to the Father; but go to my drums, brethren and say to them, I am ascending We know that we have been where God to my Father and your Father.” It was has been. eight days later that He said to Thomas, Talk now of what transcends our truest “Put your finger here, and see my hands; art: and put out your hand, and place it in my The Voice that speaks within the seeking side.” heart. *VHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO DIE? Are some o f the psychic experiences valid? (Continued from page 30) All things are possible. While many so- called communications from the dead can for living. Life is continuous and in har­ be explained away, there are some experi­ mony with the wholeness o f Being only ences that are clearly beyond the range of when it is expressed in a perfect body; human understanding. hence man must have a body in order to However, Fillmore warns that even the gain an abiding consciousness of life. psychic experiences that cannot be easily Through repeated trials at living, man is explained cannot be trusted as true finding out that he must learn to control communications from loved ones who the issues of life in his body.” have passed from the body. He comments And what will man be like in his next that even “the majority o f mediums are incarnation? uncertain as to whether they are moved “From the standpoint of creative Mind by their own or some other mentality.” it is plain that reembodiment serves a He also explains that if people seek to purpose in affording opportunities for make contact through seances and do spiritual development. All that is gained in have psychic experiences, they may or spiritual growth in one life experience be­ may not be in touch with those they seek. comes part of the individual’s real iden­ He warns: tity; and if he is faithful, he will finally “Eventually all souls reincarnate on the gather such a store of spiritual power and earth as babes and in due time take up wisdom that he can demonstrate salvation their problems where they left off at of his body through Christ, who is ‘able to death. But before they do reincarnate, save to the uttermost.’ ” they sometimes try to communicate with So the soul, at the time of passing, goes their loved ones here on earth. This is through an experience similar to a never satisfactory and leads nowhere. Per­ sleeping-dreaming state and then returns sons who sit in seances are taking a great to live another lifetime in a brand new risk. Instead of really getting in touch physical body. with their loved ones they are apt to make contact with psychic forces of a low order Can we (and should we) communicate that tend to weaken their faith in God.” with the dead? Even those communications which The loss of a loved one is always a shock may be the result of genuine contact with to the human mind. In many cases there is the departed one are not satisfactory, the desire in those left behind to commun­ according to U n ity ’s founder. He points icate with their loved ones, to somehow out that the “communications received bridge the gap between life in a physical by spiritualists are but echoes of the soul, body and the soul realm where the loved without its animating, inspiring, spiritual I one has gone. AM.” Charlatans in all ages have preyed on So, while it may be possible to reach the susceptibility and gullibility of people one who has left his physical body, it is who wanted to communicate with loved not advisable in the light of Truth. ones out of the body. All sorts o f ruses If we would be true to our higher self and deceptions have been practiced in this and to our loved ones, we should remem­ area. ber that every soul, no matter where it is But is there such a thing as communi­ on the pathway of life, has its own partic­ cation with those who have passed on? ular business of living. We gain tremendous blessings from our by seeking to contact souls that have left human relationships and growth patterns. the body. He explains: “No great literary But when two souls are no longer func­ production, great scientific discovery, or tioning on the same plane, their paths lead great sermon has ever come from spirits, in different directions, at least for a time. yet the country in which it is claimed that If it is in the plan for us, we will be they exist should contain all the wise' reunited with those to whom we have people who have lived on the earth.” strong ties, at some time in the future—in It is his opinion that psychic “com ­ another place, perhaps, under another munications are so fragmentary, and name. usually so inferior to the natural ability of But for now, we are here to unfold the supposed egos delivering them, that more of G o d ’s ideas into our life, and we those of wide investigation doubt the should be willing to release a loved one authenticity of the authorship.” who has passed from the body into the He makes it clear that “there is no pro­ next experience of his lif e ’s continued gress in death.” Death is simply an experi­ story. ence in living. It does not make one any Prayer is universal, and through our wiser. So why should we look to those inclusion of those we love in our prayers, who have passed from the physical body we can continue to bless them wherever for instruction when the Source of all wis­ they are, without interfering with their dom is available to us? business of the moment by calling them Fillmore is very definite in his assertion back. The greatest gift we can give any that “the final and only safe guide is the soul which has passed on is the gift of our Spirit within.” love and blessing, with the freedom of release. We should not try to communi­ Must we all die? cate directly with them. The time will come when we no longer have to pass through the experience of Can we learn from entities out o f the death. body? Fillmore predicts: “The human race on Many people seek to learn from souls in this planet will continue to die and be the spirit world. Should we, as Truth reborn until it learns the law of right students, try to contact and receive infor­ living, which will ultimate in a body so mation from great souls who have passed healthy that it will never die.” on? Death is not a goal or an end, but Fillmore points out that it is question­ simply a step in m an’s growth toward a able that useful information can be gained greater experience and expression of God. We will continue to reincarnate in new bodies until we have learned to claim our Unity Churches, Centers, Sonship as Jesus did, and to lift up our and Teachers whole being into the Christ identity. if you would like to know the location o f Fillmore says that death or dissolution your nearest Unity church or center, and of the physical body will no longer be cannot find it listed in your telephone necessary when man makes his final step directory, please write to The Association toward his spiritual aim. “The whole o f Unity Churches, Unity Village, Mo. man—spirit, soul, and body—must be 6 4 0 6 5 . They will be glad to give you any lifted up into the Christ consciousness of desired information about Unity churches life and perfection, which is the goal of or classes in you r vicinity. m an’s existence.” © ^Letteti to % 'liditm '

I have read several recent issues of your maga­ Sometimes (many times) my reason for enjoy­ zine, and have been very impressed by their con­ ing my UNITY reading is because I find in print sistently excellent articles. It occurred to me that the very thoughts I ’ve affirmed in the silence of the term “Unity” is quite appropriate; because my own being. your writers seem (to my anxious but unprofes­ I t ’s like meeting a dear friend—a joyous recog­ sional mind) to unify the essence o f the ideas of nition. And it proves the power o f thought com­ such inspired writers as Teilhard de Chardin, munication and that when we are in tune with Norman Vincent Peale, and Mary Baker Eddy. the Infinite we transmit and receive on the same More pertinently, they give concrete confirma­ wave length—positive, constructive thought and tion o f my own tentative conclusions about life, recognition of truth. in a more coherent and convincing way than I To attempt scientific analysis is not for me; I have been able to manage on my own. 1 was only know the truth o f my own experience and rarely given the chance to exercise my penchant am eternally grateful to be one with such a vast for “nit-picking” at minor inconsistencies or fellow ship in human growth and develop­ inaccurate analogies—the powerful substance of ment.— L.G., California. wisdom was overwhelmingly good. When I started to read your magazine, I had to wear down the suspicion that this was either just another potpourri of pollyanna philosophy (with I received the February issue o f the (UNITY) no practical application to the real problems of magazine. Congratulations! It is superb, from the my life), or else the vehicle for another basically exquisite cover design to the last page. One thing materialistic pseudo-religious organization impresses me, and that is that the articles are (which would seek to make me a pawn, a “cus­ eminently practical, particularly for a poor, tomer,” or even a victim). floundering soul like me who is seeking to start a I find it hard to believe that there are other new life, and become once more an active, out­ people in the world (or, at any rate, many) who going expression of G o d ’s purpose.— V.M.H., think the way I do; and who may be truly Ohio. interested in me, and could even love me, as a viable entity—as a fellow human being, a simple “brother,” under the fatherhood of God. As you may infer from the above expression, I am generally unhappy, discouraged, and unhope­ I received UNITY Magazine as a gift in April. ful. (As one o f your articles points out, I am Each issue is like a light in my mailbox and I am badly “negative”!) trying to make this light shine through me. The So thank you again for the help you have given articles make me feel good and I want the people me. Perhaps God caused our paths to cross, I come near or see to feel this warmth and good­ because o f His love for me.—L.H.R., British ness; His warmth and goodness.—S.S., Penn­ Columbia. sylvania. that God is love, the author says, because we should want to believe it; we should 6 Book want a lovable God; we should desire a healthy God and a healthy, whole human­ ity; we should want to be happy and we 6Mark should desire happiness for everyone. “This desire for joy and happiness must have a source, and only the God of love would give it to man.” Without the acceptance of the belief H O W T O LOVE YOUR that God is love, we cannot comprehend NEIGHBOR by J. Sig Paulson. the true meaning of love. It may become Doubleday & Company, Garden “a many-splintered thing” instead of a City, N. Y.; 1974; 184 pages; $4.95. “many-splendored th in g ”; or “a sweet misery of life” instead of a “sweet mystery of life.” The great fact that “God is love” gives meaning to mother love, family love, friendly love, human affec­ tion, the love of beauty, the love of work, and so on. While love is difficult to define, it can be experienced, the author says, by any­ one who is willing to open his mind and heart and being to it. When we see God in the new light of love, we will see ourself in The popular minister o f Unity Village a new light and our neighbor in a new Chapel has written many good and prac­ light. tical books that have blessed thousands of The author sets forth the necessary readers. This is one of his best. Many steps we can take to find love; and these books have been written and thousands of come to us through our right under­ words have been spoken on the magnifi­ standing of God, through meditation and cent subject of love; however, words are prayer, and through the use of practical meaningless unless we recognize their sig­ and comprehensive affirmations (he nificance, accept what they attempt to offers many good ones in this book) express, and put into practice the truths which, if believed and practiced dili­ they set forth. The author has approached gently, will do much in helping us in the subject of love sensibly and as a result attaining our goal of loving our neighbor has produced one of the best books on as ourself. this theme that has come to the attention Read this book thoughtfully, o f this reviewer. thoroughly, meditatively, and apply the To love our neighbor, to love ourself, ideas and courses of action “with a light we must begin with the basic premise, the heart, a spirit of joy, and a sense of adven­ great overall, underlying fact that God is ture.” You will be glad if you do!—Hugh love. It should not be difficult to believe R. Horne. A NEW BOOK of great value for you if you really want to know how to practice love in your life. Belief that God is love (the full realization of which encourages lighthearted laughter, and awe, and vitality) is the first step in learning how to love your neighbor.

The "how to" is aptly suggested in in­ affirmations and meditations, in

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