The Twelve Powers of Man E-Book

Charles Fillmore

• Herausgeber: E-BOOKARAMA
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Written in 1930 by Charles Fillmore, "The Twelve Powers of Man" is a metaphysical look at twelve expressions of the divine power inherent in each of us. Expressions such as love, faith, strength, zeal, and imagination are discussed.

Jesus prophesied the advent of a race of men who would sit with Him on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. This book explains the meaning of this mystical reference, what and where the twelve thrones are, and what attainments are necessary by man before he can follow Jesus in this phase of his regeneration. Regeneration follows generation in the development of man. Generation sustains and perpetuates the human; regeneration unfolds and glorifies the divine. It is not expected that beginners in the study of metaphysical Christianity will understand this book. It deals with forces that function below and above the field of the conscious mind. The average religious thinker knows nothing about the subconscious mind and very little about the superconscious; this book presupposes a working knowledge of both.

Leseprobe

Charles Fillmore

The Twelve Powers of Man

Table of contents

THE TWELVE POWERS OF MAN

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Twelve Powers Of Man

Chapter 2. The Development Of Faith

Chapter 3. Strength--Stability--Steadfastness

Chapter 4. Wisdom--Judgment

Chapter 5. Regenerating Love

Chapter 6. Power--Dominion--Mastery

Chapter 7. The Work Of The Imagination In Regeneration

Chapter 8. Understanding

Chapter 9. The Will Is The Man

Chapter 10. Spiritual Law And Order

Chapter 11. Zeal-Enthusiasm

Chapter 12. Renunciation

Chapter 13. Generative Life

Question Helps, For Students Of The Twelve Powers Of Man

THE TWELVE POWERS OF MAN

Charles Fillmore

Introduction

JESUS prophesied the advent of a race of men who would sit with Him on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. This book explains the meaning of this mystical reference, what and where the twelve thrones are, and what attainments are necessary by man before he can follow Jesus in this phase of his regeneration. Regeneration follows generation in the development of man. Generation sustains and perpetuates the human; regeneration unfolds and glorifies the divine.

It is not expected that beginners in the study of metaphysical Christianity will understand this book. It deals with forces that function below and above the field of the conscious mind. The average religious thinker knows nothing about the subconscious mind and very little about the superconscious; this book presupposes a working knowledge of both.

This book aims to clear up the mystery that ever envelops the advent, life, and death of Jesus. To the superficial reader of the Gospels His life was a tragedy and, so far as concerns the kingly reign that was prophesied, it was a failure. Yet those who understand the subtlety of the soul and supremacy of Spirit see that Jesus was conqueror of a psychic force that was destroying the human race.

Jesus was the star actor in the greatest drama ever played on earth. This drama was developed in the celestial realm, its object being to inject new life into perishing men. The full significance of this great plan of salvation cannot be understood by man until he awakens faculties that relate him to the earth beneath and the heavens above.

It had long been prophesied that the time was ripe for the advent on this planet of a new race, and there had been much speculation as to the character and advent of the superman. Herein is set forth the metaphysical idea of the spiritual quickening of man on the human plane and his transformation into the divine: not by a miracle or the fiat of God, but by the gradual refinement of the man of flesh into the man of Spirit. As Paul taught, "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

Jesus was the "first-fruits" of those who are coming out of the mortal into the immortal. He was the type man, the Way-Shower, and, through following His example and taking on His character as a spiritual-minded man, we shall come into the same consciousness.

Spiritual discernment always precedes demonstration, consequently more is taught in this book as a possibility of attainment by man than has been demonstrated by any man save Jesus. Those who feel that they are ready for the great adventure in the attainment of eternal life in the body here and now should not be deterred because there are no outstanding examples of men who have risen to this most exalted degree. Through mental energy, or the dynamic power of the mind, man can release the life of the electrons secreted in the atoms that compose the cells of his body. Physical science says that if the electronic energy stored in a single drop of water were suddenly released its power would demolish a six-story building. Who can estimate the power stored in the millions of cells that compose the human body? The method of release of this body energy and its control are mystically taught by Jesus. He was transfigured before His apostles, "and his face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as the light." Before His crucifixion He had attained such mastery over His body cells that He told the Jews that they might destroy His body and "in three days" He would "raise it up." He demonstrated this in the resurrection of His body after it had been pronounced lifeless. When He disappeared in a cloud He simply unloosed the dynamic atoms of His whole body and released their electrical energy. This threw Him into the fourth dimension of substance, which He called the "kingdom of the heavens."

The dynamic energy that man releases through prayer, meditation, and the higher activities of his mind is very great, and if not controlled and raised to the spiritual plane, may prove a source of body destruction; if carried to the extreme, it may even prove a cause of soul destruction. "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." This one who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna is the personal self or selfish ego that is in man.

The electronic energy in man is a form of fire, which is represented by Gehenna. This electronic fire must be used unselfishly. If used to further the selfishness of man it becomes destructive, through the crosscurrents that it sets up in the nervous system.

We do not encourage those who still have worldly ambitions to take up the development of the twelve powers of man. You will be disappointed if you seek to use these superpowers to gain money (turn stones into bread), control others ("the kingdoms of the world . . . All these things will I give thee"), or make a display of your power ("If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down"). These are the temptations of the selfish ego, as recorded in the 4th chapter of Matthew, which Jesus had to overcome, and which all who follow Him "in the regeneration" have to overcome.

Unspeakable joy, glory, and eternal life are promised to those who with unselfish devotion strive to develop the Son of God consciousness. All the glories of the natural man are as nothing compared with the development of the spiritual man. The things of this world pass away, but the things of Spirit endure forever. In his flesh body man may be compared to the caterpillar that is the embryo of the butterfly. In its undeveloped state the caterpillar is a mere worm of the earth, but it has, infolded within it, a beautiful creature awaiting release from its material envelope. Paul visualized this when he wrote in Romans 8:22, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, . . . the redemption of our body."

Jesus, the Great Teacher, gave many lessons for our instruction, the greatest and most mystical being The Revelation of John. Here He showed Himself to John as He is in His redeemed body. He stood in the midst of seven lights, which represent the seven ideas of Divine Mind ruling in the restored earth. "One like unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."

This description of the appearance of Jesus is partly symbolical, because John did not himself understand the full import of the powers that were being exercised by the spiritual man, whose words were so clean-cut that they appeared to John as a two-edged sword; whose eyes were so discerning that they seemed a flame of fire; whose voice was like the rippling of many waters. Language is poor and bare when one seeks to describe the glories of the spiritual state. Comparisons within the comprehension of the reader are necessary, and they but tamely tell of the superhuman man and his powers.

However, this pen picture by John of what he saw when he was lifted up "in the Spirit on the Lord's day" gives us a glimpse of what the redeemed man is like, and what we shall attain when we "awake, with thy likeness."

It should be thoroughly understood that this sight of Jesus that was given to John was not a vision of a man who had died and gone to heaven up in the skies, but it was the opening of John's eyes to existence in what may be termed the fourth-dimension man. We use this term fourth dimension because it is the name given to a state of existence that popular material science says must be, in order to account for the effects that are being expressed on every side. It is also called the interpenetrating ether, which is not to be understood as something material, or as being matter, but as something having properties far more substantial than matter. Through the application of mathematical principles scientific men are proving the existence of the spiritual side of Being. This does not refer to the psychical realm in which undeveloped souls rest while awaiting reincarnation. Many people take it for granted that soul realms and spiritual realms are identical. But these stand to each other as moonshine and sunshine. Jesus called the interpenetrating state of being the kingdom of heaven, or, in the original Greek, "the kingdom of the heavens." He said that it was like a treasure hid in a field, which, when a man discovered it, he would sell all that he had to buy. The majority of Christians believe that they are going to this heaven when they die, but Jesus does not teach that the dead go first to glory. On the contrary, Jesus teaches that death may be overcome. "If a man keep my word he shall never see death." Paul taught that Jesus attained victory over death. "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more." "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

The Psalmist writes:

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him but little lower than God, And crownest him with glory and honor. Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet."

With the mind of the seer, Ralph Waldo Emerson says:

"Great hearts send forth steadily the secret forces that incessantly draw great events, and wherever the mind of man goes, nature will accompany him, no matter what the path."

Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life. --JESUS

Chapter 1. The Twelve Powers Of Man

THE SUBCONSCIOUS realm in man has twelve great centers of action, with twelve presiding egos or identities. When Jesus had attained a certain soul development, He called His twelve apostles to Him. This means that when man is developing out of mere personal consciousness into spiritual consciousness, he begins to train deeper and larger powers; he sends his thought down into the inner centers of his organism, and through his word quickens them to life. Where before his powers have worked in the personal, now they begin to expand and work in the universal. This is the first and the second coming of Christ, spoken of in the Scriptures. The first coming is the receiving of Truth into the conscious mind, and the Second Coming is the awakening and the regeneration of the subconscious mind through the superconscious or Christ Mind.

Man expands and grows under divine evolution as an industrial plant grows. As the business expands, it is found that system is necessary. Instead of one man's being able to do the work with the assistance of a few helpers, he requires many helpers. Instead of a few helpers, he needs hundreds; and in order to promote efficiency he must have heads for the various departments of the work. Scripture symbology calls the heads of departments in man's consciousness the twelve apostles.

Each of these twelve department heads has control of a certain function in soul or body. Each of these heads works through an aggregation of cells that physiology calls a "ganglionic center." Jesus, the I AM or central entity, has His throne in the top head, where phrenology locates spirituality. This is the mountain where He so often went to pray. The following outline gives a list of the Twelve, the faculties that they represent, and the nerve centers at which they preside:

Faith--Peter--center of brain.

Strength--Andrew--loins.

Discrimination or Judgment--James, son of Zebedee--pit of stomach.

Love--John--back of heart.

Power--Philip--root of tongue.

Imagination--Bartholomew--between the eyes.

Understanding--Thomas--front brain.

Will--Matthew--center front brain.

Order--James, son of Alphaeus--navel.

Zeal--Simon the Cananaean--back head, medulla.

Renunciation or Elimination--Thaddaeus--abdominal region.

Life Conserver--Judas--generative function.

The physiological designations of these faculties are not arbitrary--the names can be expanded or changed to suit a broader understanding of their full nature. For example, Philip, at the root of the tongue, governs taste; he also controls the action of the larynx, as well as all vibrations of power throughout the organism. So the term "power" expresses but a small part of his official capacity.

The first apostle that Jesus called was Peter. Peter represents faith in things spiritual, faith in God. We begin our religious experience, our unity with Divine Mind, by having faith in that mind as omnipresent, all-wise, all-loving, all-powerful Spirit.

Faith in the spiritual man quickens spiritual understanding. Peter believed that Jesus was the Messiah; his faith opened his spiritual discernment, and he saw the living Christ back of the personal mask worn by Jesus. When asked, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" the apostles, looking upon personality as the real, said: "Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." Then Jesus appealed to their own inner spiritual understanding and He said: "But who say ye that I am?" Only Simon Peter answered: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades [the grave] shall not prevail against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven."

Spiritual discernment of the reality of man's origin and being is the only enduring foundation of character. It was to this faith in the understanding of the real being of man that Jesus gave power in earth and heaven. It was not to the personal Peter that Jesus gave the keys to His kingdom, but to all who through faith apply the binding (affirming) and loosing (denying) power of Spirit in the earth (substance consciousness). Right here and now the great work of character-building is to be done, and whoever neglects present opportunities, looking forward to a future heaven for better conditions, is pulling right away from the kingdom of heaven within himself.

People who live wholly in the intellect deny that man can know anything about God, because they do not have quickened faith. The way to bring forth the God presence, to make oneself conscious of God, is to say: I have faith in God; I have faith in Spirit; I have faith in things invisible. Such affirmations of faith, such praise to the invisible God, the unknown God, will make God visible to the mind and will strengthen the faith faculty. Thus faith (Peter) is called and instructed spiritually.

When a center loses its power it should be baptized by the word of Spirit. We are told in the Scriptures that Philip went down to Gaza ("the same is desert"), and there baptized a eunuch. Gaza means a "citadel of strength." It refers to the nerve center in the loins, where Andrew (strength) reigns. "Lo now, his strength is in his loins." Gaza is the physical throne of strength, as Jerusalem is the throne of love.

The back grows weak under the burden of material thought. If you are given to pains in your back, if you become exhausted easily, you may know at once that you need treatment for freedom from material burdens. Eliminate from your mind all thought of the burdens of the world, the burdens of your life, and all seeming labors. Take your burdens to Christ. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

We are pressed upon by ideas of materiality. Thoughts make things, and the material ideas that are pressing upon us are just as substantial in the realm of mind as material things are substantial in the realm of matter. Everything has origin in thought, and material thoughts will bring forth material things. So you should baptize and cleanse with your spiritual word every center, as Philip baptized the eunuch of Gaza. Baptism is cleansing. It always represents the erasing power of the mind.

When the baptizing power of the word is poured upon a center, it cleanses all material thought; impotence is vitalized with new life, and the whole subconsciousness is awakened and quickened. The word of the Lord is there sown in the body, and once the word of the Lord is sown in any of these centers--the cells of which are like blank phonograph records--they take the thought that is given them, and send it through the whole organism. The baptism of strength goes to the uttermost parts of the body, and every one of the twelve powers, under the divine law, feels the new strength.

James, the son of Zebedee, represents discrimination and good judgment in dealing with substantial things. James is the faculty in man that wisely chooses and determines. It may be in the matter of food; it may be in the matter of judgment about the relation of external forces; it may be in the choosing of a wife or a husband--in a thousand different ways this faculty is developed in man. The spiritual side of the James faculty is intuition, quick knowing.

James and John are brothers, and Jesus called them "sons of thunder." These brothers preside over the great body brain called the solar plexus, or sun center. James has his throne at the pit of the stomach; and John, just back of the heart. They are unified by bundles of nerves and are metaphysically closely related. Whatever affects the stomach will sympathetically affect the heart. People with weak stomachs nearly always think they have heart trouble.

Jesus called those two apostles "sons of thunder." Tremendous vibrations or emotions that go forth from the solar plexus. When your sympathies are aroused, you will find that you begin to breathe deeply and strongly, and if you are very sympathetic you can feel the vibrations as they go out to the person or thing to which you are directing your thoughts. All fervor, all the high energy that comes from soul, passes through these centers.