The Unreality of Error

Teach Us to Pray, by Charles Fillmore, [1941], at sacred-texts.com

LACK OF understanding, not only individual but collective, confronts us on every side. We blunder through life instead of walking confidently, open-eyed. Or we sit in the City of Indecision waiting for something to turn up when, urged and guided by the inner light, we should be going forth to meet good fortune.

We never weary of quoting that wise observation of Job's "There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding." Most persons think that understanding is gained by intellectual development, mostly in institutions of

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learning. But the Book of Job was written by one who had great understanding but no literary degrees, so far as is known. Some authorities claim the book is at least five thousand years old; but Job knew much about Spirit both in Jehovah and in man. In the passage quoted he uses the pronoun "them" instead of "he" in referring to man, thus revealing that he understood the spiritual nature of man to be dual: male and female. Job's familiarity with Spirit and spiritual laws is evidence to a metaphysician that he gained his understanding direct from Spirit. Jesus taught, "It is the spirit that giveth life."

We would not belittle intellectual knowledge if it is acquired under the guidance of Spirit. The one and only object of man's existence is the development of his soul, and any attainment, whether mental or material, that cannot be associated with and counted as an aid toward that end will ultimately be refused. So it is the concentration of the mind upon Spirit that reveals the truth about the many situations that meet us in our daily contacts. If we count health and disease as equal, the "thought stuff" of our mind will animate them with like potency. We shall find ourselves believing that disease is just as real and far more catching than health.

Yet a moment's analysis of the relation between disease and health shows that health is the real, the God-given condition, and disease the unreal, the abnormal, from which we are all seeking to escape. Truth not only shows the reality at the core of all

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things; it also shows that we shall never escape from the unreal so long as we allow our mental processes to clothe it with "thought stuff."

If you deny disease as devoid of reality and affirm health as spiritual and abiding, the Spirit will bear witness with your spirit and you will demonstrate health.

Daily concentration of mind on Spirit and its attributes reveals to man that the elemental forces that make matter are here in the ether awaiting our recognition and appropriation. It is not necessary to know all the details of the scientific law in order to demonstrate prosperity. Go into the silence daily at a stated time and concentrate on the substance of Spirit prepared for you from the foundation of the world. You will thus open up a current of thought that will bring prosperity into your affairs.

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