//page 1 //section Title Page Atom-Smashing Power of Mind //text //page 3 //section Foreword //text A great many passages in this book testify to Charles Fillmore's persistent interest in what is popularly called atomic energy and the promise held out by its development of a better world for mankind. As he rejoiced in the scientific achievement of its discovery so he tirelessly devoted his thought to its guidance into the channels of peaceful use. On every occasion he urged those having to do with its development to make sure that this unique form of energy, this great gift of the Father, would not be used to worsen life and destroy mankind. From another standpoint Charles Fillmore's mind was simply fascinated by the idea of the atom, this infinitesimal particle of substance, and the enormous energy locked up in it. At times he thought of it as the most perfect representation in the manifest world of that divine mental or spiritual energy which pervades all things and which, when properly expressed through the minds of His children, serves so greatly to glorify God. At other times he thought of it as the very essence of this mental or spiritual energy, Spirit-mind itself! The reader will find each one of these standpoints set forth over and over--perhaps vaguely and mystically at times--but ever testifying to the alertness and vitality of Charles Fillmore's mind and his unflagging interest in everything in his world. //page 4 As will be readily recognized by Unity readers, the articles appearing as chapters in this book, were originally published in Unity magazine over a period of half a century, one of them going back as far as the year 1898. In the last paragraph of Chapter VIII the author gives his readers a clear formula for dealing with the problem of the atom: "The great and most important issue before the people today is the development of man's spiritual mind and through it unity with God. . . . The taproot of all our confusion is our failure to use our mind intelligently. We can only think as God would have us think by adjusting our thoughts to divine ideas. Religion and all that it implies in prayer and recognition of God in idea and manifestation is the one and only way out of the chaos in which we find ourselves. We must therefore begin at once to develop this unity with the Father-Mind by incorporating divine ideas into all that we think and speak." //page 5 //section Contents //text Foreword ... 3 CHAPTER I The Atomic Age ... 9 II The Restorative Power of the Spirit ... 18 III Spiritual Obedience ... 26 IV I AM or Superconsciousness ... 36 V The Day of Judgment ... 45 VI Thou Shalt Decree a Thing ... 50 VII Thinking in the Fourth Dimension ... 56 VIII Is This God's World? ... 63 IX Demonstrating Christ Thought by Thought ... 70 X Truth Radiates Light ... 80 XI The Only Mind ... 87 XII Contact with the Christ Mind ... 98 XIII Metaphysics of Shakespeare ... 106 //page 6 XIV The Body ... 116 XV Faith Precipitations ... 125 XVI The Seed Is the Word ... 134 XVII The Resurrecting Power of the Word ... 142 XVIII Transfiguration ... 150 XIX The End of the Age ... 160 Question Helps ... 173 Index ... 189 //page 9 //section Chapter 1 The Atomic Age Chapter I //text THE MAJORITY of people have crude or distorted ideas about the character and the location of Spirit. They think that Spirit plays no part in mundane affairs and can be known by a person only after his death. "But Jesus said, 'God is Spirit'; He also said, 'The kingdom of God is within you.' Science tells us that there is a universal life that animates and sustains all the forms and shapes of the universe. Science has broken into the atom and revealed it to be charged with tremendous energy that may be released and be made to give the inhabitants of the earth powers beyond expression, when its law of expression is discovered. "Jesus evidently knew about this hidden energy in matter and used His knowledge to perform so-called miracles. "Our modern scientists say that a single drop of water contains enough latent energy to blow up a ten-story building. This energy, existence of which has been discovered by modern scientists, is the same kind of spiritual energy that was known to Elijah, Elisha, and Jesus, and used by them to perform miracles. "By the power of his thought Elijah penetrated the atoms and precipitated an abundance of rain. By //page 10 the same law he increased the widow's oil and meal. This was not a miracle--that is, it was not a divine intervention supplanting natural law--but the exploitation of a law not ordinarily understood. Jesus used the same dynamic power of thought to break the bonds of the atoms composing the few loaves and fishes of a little lad's lunch--and five thousand people were fed. "Science is discovering the miracle-working dynamics of religion, but science has not yet comprehended the dynamic directive power of man's thought. All so-called miracle workers claim that they do not of themselves produce the marvelous results; that they are only the instruments of a superior entity. It is written in I Kings, 'The jar of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by Elijah.' Jesus called Jehovah Father. He said, 'The works that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness of me.' "Jesus did not claim to have the exclusive supernatural power that is usually credited to Him. He had explored the ether energy, which He called the 'kingdom of the heavens'; His understanding was beyond that of the average man, but He knew that other men could do what He did if they would only try. He encouraged His followers to take Him as a center of faith and use the power of thought and word. 'He that believeth on me, the works that I do //page 11 shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.' "The great modern revival of divine healing is due to the application of the same law that Jesus used. He demanded faith on the part of those whom He healed, and with that faith as the point of mental and spiritual contact He released the latent energy in the atomic structure of His patients and they were restored to life and health. "Have faith in the power of your mind to penetrate and release the energy that is pent up in the atoms of your body, and you will be astounded at the response. Paralyzed functions anywhere in the body can be restored to action by one's speaking to the spiritual intelligence and life within them. Jesus raised His dead bodies in this way, and Paul says that we can raise our body in the same manner if we have the same spiritual contact. "What have thought concentration and discovery of the dynamic character of the atom to do with prayer? They have everything to do with prayer, because prayer is the opening of communication between the mind of man and the mind of God. Prayer is the exercise of faith in the presence and power of the unseen God. Supplication, faith, meditation, silence, concentration, are mental attitudes that enter into and form part of prayer. When one understands the spiritual character of God and adjusts himself mentally to the omnipresent God-Mind, he has begun //page 12 to pray aright. "Audible prayers are often answered but the most potent are silently uttered in the secret recesses of the soul. Jesus warned against wordy prayers--prayer uttered to be heard of men. He told His disciples not to be like those who pray on the housetop. 'When thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.' "The times are ripe for great changes in our estimate of the abiding place and the character of God. The six-day creation of the universe (including man) is described in Genesis is a symbolic story of the work of the higher realms of mind under divine law. It is the privilege of everyone to use his mind abilities in the superrealms, and thereby carry out the prayer formula of Jesus: 'Seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.'" The foregoing extract is from the "Health and Prosperity" column in Unity for May, 1927. These comments are peculiarly applicable to the present and also to a subject that has been agitating the public mind for some time, the atomic bomb. Of all the comments on or discussions of the indescribable power of the invisible force released by the atomic bomb none that we have seen mentions its spiritual or mental character. All commentators have //page 13 written about it as a force external to man to be controlled by mechanical means, with no hint that it is the primal life that animates and interrelates man's mind and body. The next great achievement of science will be the understanding of the mental and spiritual abilities latent in man through which to develop and release these tremendous electrons, protons, and neutrons secreted in the trillions of cells in the physical organism. Here is involved the secret, as Paul says, "hid for ages and generations . . . which is Christ [superman] in you, the hope of glory." It is through release of these hidden life forces in his organism that man is to achieve immortal life, and in no other way. When we finally understand the facts of life and rid our minds of the delusion that we shall find immortal life after we die, then we shall seek more diligently to awaken the spiritual man within us and strengthen and build up the spiritual domai...
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