Unity ministers and students of my era (which dates back to 1937 when I began my work and study in Silent Unity) remember Charles Fillmore, Unity's co-founder, as the man who publicly declared that he aimed to follow Jesus Christ into deathlessness. The idea caught on, and some of us, I for one, not only believed he could do it, but that it could be the overcoming for everyone.
In at least one of my website essays I have brought this up and shared my story of how a famous physician believed in such a possibility. Back in the late 40's when I was ministering in the Unity church in Toronto, Dr. Lawrence M. Kubie, President of the American Medical Association, wrote that, because there were only five remaining diseases to eradicate, we should prepare to live forever. I have no idea how he was received at the time, but naturally it made a huge impression on me because of my association with Charles Fillmore.
I believe Mr. Fillmore's death produced embarassment and disillusion to some of his followers of my time, but I always gave him credit for trying although I wondered a bit at his making a public declaration of his intent. (However, most or all of humankind's first efforts at monumental breakthroughs do not succeed.)
Actually Mr. Fillmore's teaching about the regeneration of the body leading to the eventual overcoming of death was his greatest idea, in my opinion. He made his declaration because he saw amazing results from his own work in affirmation and long hours in what he called The Silence. He witnessed his own withered leg healing and growing several inches, and participated in numerous healings with others. And, of course, the amazing healing in the 1800's from tuberculosis of his wife Myrtle was actually the beginning of the Fillmore's ministry which they chose to call Unity.
Regeneration was a sacred idea to Mr. Fillmore. He thought of it as the spiritual process of the renewing of the body through the renewing of the mind. He thought of the Bible as the story of humankind's long recovery from the fall of man (believing in both good and evil) to the regeneration and transcending of death by Jesus Christ. So it was natural and logical for him to follow Jesus Christ in this overcoming.
Regeneration is like unto being born again or being born anew day by day as we eliminate every aspect of consciousness based on believing we are separate or separated from God. Jesus taught the life of living in the Kingdom of God in the here and now, which He said would give us deathlessness, so Mr. Fillmore was trying for it!
Evolution itself testifies to the effectiveness of continuing to work with a new idea. Evolution is principally the process of life forms on the planet adapting from one body condition to a new and preferred condition. Because evolution is identified with a long and possibly a slow process, we human beings may have gotten the idea that this characterizes the process of change. However, the sudden and amazing developments in science and technology in the last few hundred years which has rapidly accelerated in the last hundred lets us know that ideas are developing now at an ever increasing rate. Spiritual ideas are developing rapidly also. The church today is more and more accepting the credibility of the idea that each and everyone of us shares the Son-ship with Jesus and that this is the meaning of the history of the world's religions.
So we can see that there is great justification in our becoming excited and exceedingly optimistic about the prospects of our spiritual evolution, which Charles Fillmore spoke of as regeneration. It is not so much a matter of predicting success in achieving our spiritual goals in terms of human time as in terms of spiritual timelessness. Now is the time for us, not only to believe and affirm, but to live the idea that we are spiritual beings evolving perfect lives through accepting our absolute oneness with God's wholeness and perfect, eternal life.
Entering into this perfect consciousness results in the raising of the soul into the next life dimension as in the cases of Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus Christ. The soul has completed the learning experiences gained on the human journey and no longer needs to reincarnate.
EVERY BREATH I BREATHE IS THE BREATH OF GOD RENEWING ME IN MIND AND BODY, FREEING ME FROM EVERY FALSE BELIEF. I BREATHE IN ONLY THOUGHTS OF LOVE AND LIFE AND INTELLIGENCE AND ALL-GOODNESS. I AM LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD NOW AND FOREVER. THERE IS NO DEATH, NO FAILURE,NO MISTAKE – ONLY LIFE PROGRESSING INTO GREATER AND GREATER EXPRESSIONS OF CREATIVITY EVERY DAY AND IN EVERY WAY!
Don
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