Unity Church of Castro Valley
Sunday Message for May 25, 2008
God As Mind
Today we are talking about God as Mind. There are many aspects of God and God as Mind is an important one. God Mind is beyond, and yet, not beyond our grasp. It is beyond us in that it is so big that wherever we try to take hold of it, we are It to the extent that we grasp It. But since it's Infinite, we can never fully encompass It. We will never encompass God, yet we will always be in God and of God.
(Philippians 2:5-6,13) "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
So we are to let the mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus. Notice the wording of the expression that is used. I looked at ten different versions of the Bible and they all interpreted it the same way. The mind which was in Christ Jesus. This means the Mind of God. Not our personal mind, marvelous as this is with its different ramifications, but the mind which Jesus used. This is the Divine Mind of the Creator and Ruler of the universe. This is God as Mind.
To have the same mind that Jesus used, implies a power which is available to all and may be used by all. The mind which was in Christ Jesus was the Mind of Truth, so he became the way. But we are also to become the way, and this can be accomplished only when we use the same mind that he used, which is the Mind of God.
We have the Mind of Christ in the same degree as we trust implicitly in God, and no longer do those things which contradict the fundamental goodness. From this Mind we enter into the perfect Law of Liberty. Our mind frees us to be what we were intended to be – the perfection of the Christ.
This Mind is God working in and through us. God can work for us only by working through us. Consequently, there is no other name under heaven whereby we may be saved – not the name of Jesus, but the Mind of Christ. Every person has the Mind of Christ, if we will just admit it, but we can use this Mind only when we are in harmony with Life!
(Philippians 4:8) "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
We are to think about things of excellence. That is, we are to think on those things which are of the Truth. If we do this, we can succeed because of our own inner mind, which is Christ. This Mind is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all they that dwell there.
God will supply all our needs. This is a beautiful thought, that we are fed from the table of God, which is spread with blessedness and peace. God's loving-kindness has never been fully comprehended. His grace and truth are the cornerstones of Reality. We can be fed, clothed, and supplied in every need, straight from the center and source of all things. We couldn't ask for more – more could not be given.
THE CHARACTER OF GOD-MIND
God creates and sustains the universe and He creates and sustains us. Our desire for a better understanding of this Power has pushed us to try to understand the character of God. God, as Mind, is one aspect of that character.
From many different paths people are seeking to come into a harmonious relation with Him. Some succeed, but others seem to make little progress. The different results are caused by the variety of ways that we approach the One Mind. In mind is the key to the whole situation.
The dictionary definitions of mind and spirit are nearly identical. If spirit and mind are synonymous, we can see that they are not far from our daily thoughts and experiences.
(1 Corinthians 3:16) "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
This means that God dwells in us as our mind dwells in our body. So we see that God creates and moves creation through the power of mind. The vehicles of mind are thoughts, and it is through our mind in thought action that we find God and do His will.
We have the ability to discern and understand the God-Mind and its various factors. But we don't understand God-Mind through our intellect – it isn't a physical thing. Fillmore wrote, "The material forms that we see about us are the chalk marks of a mighty problem being outworked by the one Mind." So we must comprehend the ideas that the chalk marks represent.
Divine ideas are our inheritance; they are pregnant with all possibility. Ideas are the foundation and cause of all that we desire. With this understanding as a foundation, we can see how (Luke 15:31) "The father said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours."
All the ideas contained in the one Father-Mind are at the mental command of its offspring. So we can get behind a thing into the mental realm where it exists as an inexhaustible idea, and we can draw on it perpetually and never deplete the Source.
TRINITY
A key to God-Mind, since we are the image and likeness of God, is the action of the individual mind. Man and the universe are within God-Mind as living, acting thoughts.
Know yourself as an integral idea in Divine Mind, and all other ideas will recognize you as their fellow worker. Throw yourself out of the Holy Trinity, and you become an onlooker. Throw yourself into the Trinity, and you become its avenue of expression.
The Trinity is known commonly as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Metaphysically it is known as mind, idea, and expression. These three are one. Each sees itself as including the other two, yet in creation separate.
Jesus, our example, placed himself in the Godhead and said; (John 14:9) "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." But, recognizing the supremacy of spiritual Principle, which He was demonstrating, He said; (John 14:28) "The Father is greater than I." He understood that we will never encompass God, yet we will always be in God and of God.
The Trinity is one Being with three attitudes of mind. Many religions have found it necessary to make complex that which is simple, and to have trade secrets. But it is not the mystery that has been put forth by many religious and mystical systems of the past.
The mind of God is Spirit, soul, and body; that is mind, idea, and expression. The mind of man is Spirit, soul, and body; not separate from God-Mind. We exist in God-Mind and make it manifest in our lives in our own individual way. Every one of us is building into our consciousness, the three departments of God-Mind. And our success in this process is shown by the harmony in our consciousness of Spirit, soul, and body.
If we are all body, we are one-third expressed. If we are body and soul, we are two-thirds of a being. And if we add to this, Spirit, we are on the way to the perfect expression of being that God designed.
We have neither Spirit, soul, nor body of our own. We have only identity. We can say, "I." We use God-Spirit, God soul, and God body as we choose. But if we use them with the idea that they belong to us, we develop selfishness, which limits our capacity for greatness.
GOD-MIND IS ALL KNOWLEDGE
God as Mind contains all knowledge. It is the potential ultimate of all things. To God, all things are possible. To us, as much is possible as we can conceive. If all the wisdom of the universe were to be poured over us, we still would only receive that which we are ready to understand.
This is why some draw one type of knowledge and some another. It all comes from the same source, the Source of all knowledge. The scientist discovers the principles of his science, the artist embodies the spirit of his art, and the saint draws Christ into his being. This is all because they have courted the particular presence of some definite concept.
Each state of consciousness taps the same source, but has a different receptivity. Each receives what he asks for, according to his ability to embody. God is Infinite, the possibility of differentiating is limitless.
Life always becomes to us the particular thing we need when we believe that It becomes to us that particular thing. This is simplicity itself. As all numbers proceed from the fundamental unit, as all material forms are but different manifestations of one formless stuff, so all things proceed from that which is neither person, place not thing, but is of the essence of all things.
Our thought and conscious receptivity differentiate this God-Mind, by drawing It through our minds and causing It to flow into particular channels, through the conscious receptivity of our different faiths. One state of consciousness will differentiate one kind of a result, another mental state a different manifestation.
SPIRITUALIZING THE INTELLECT
We have no independent mind; there is only God-Mind, but we have consciousness in that mind and we have control over that consciousness. We have control over our own thoughts which make up our consciousness. So we should do our spiritual work consciously. We need to consciously unify with the Christ Mind within us.
As spiritual metaphysicians we know that the Christ Mind is the Mind of Spirit – or God as Mind. In our minds it functions in the flesh and in Spirit. But Spirit is the source of all that we desire.
In our daily practice it is good to impress on our mind that it is unified with Divine Mind through Christ – or the same mind that was in Christ.
Charles Fillmore recommends that we use this prayer, or this affirmation: "I separate myself in consciousness from the mind of the flesh, that I may enter into the mind that was in Christ Jesus."
First, we disentangle our thoughts from the flesh and lift them up to Spirit. We hold them steady in spiritual consciousness until they begin to get hold of Spirit essence, Spirit power, and Spirit love. Everything that we see in this physical world comes from this one God-Mind.
So hold to this affirmation until you feel God respond; "I separate myself in consciousness from the mind of the flesh, that I may enter into the mind that was in Christ Jesus."
In the 25th chapter of Genesis is the story of Jacob and Esau and how they received the blessing from their father Isaac.
It was tradition to give the first-born the blessing and so it belonged to Esau. But Jacob, through his mother's shenanigans, got the blessing. It was a dishonest thing to do and Esau was thoroughly upset and threatened Jacob's life. The mother advised Jacob to flee and Jacob went into a wilderness of thought.
This really is a spiritual history of man. Jacob and Esau represent the race as a whole. They represent dominant ideas in man that pertains to his very being.
Esau was a hunter and a lover of the things of appetite. He represents the flesh, the body. Jacob loved home and the quiet, spiritual things of life. Jacob represents the mind, the intellectual man.
Of course in the process of evolution the natural man comes first. Then the spiritual man begins to unfold in us. In the story the spiritual man get the blessing.
The blessing that Isaac gave Jacob belonged to the mind and not to the body. He said, "Let peoples serve you." And we know that the mind dominates the body.
Isaac said, "Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one that curses you, and blessed be every one that blesses you." We know that whatever we put out comes back to us. So those that use their mind to curse, get the curse in return. Those who use their mind to bless, receive blessings in return.
Then Isaac blessed Esau and said, "The fatness of the earth shall be your dwelling, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by the sword will you live, and you shall serve your brother." This is about the body of man, or the man of flesh. The physical man engages in war. And so we affirm; "I separate myself in consciousness from the mind of the flesh, that I may enter into the mind that was in Christ Jesus."
Let's end with a prayer.
My life is in God; it cannot be hurt nor hindered in its expression.
God lives and expresses through me; His work is complete and perfect in me now.
I know His life to be my life, and I know that my life is complete and perfect.
The Divine Plan for me is perfect.
I am held in the Mind of God as a Complete and Perfect Expression of Life and Truth.
No power can hinder nor mar this Inner Image of Reality, for It is God-given and God-kept. AMEN
SCRIPTURE: Philippians 2:5-6,13; Philippians 4:8; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Luke 15:31; John 14:9; John 14:28
REFERENCE: Keep a True Lent Charles Fillmore; The Science of Mind Ernest Holmes; Christian Healing Charles Fillmore;
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Last updated
May 27, 2008
