Our assignment this week is to examine the subject of regeneration, what it meant to Myrtle Fillmore, how she linked this belief to biblical sources, and how central this belief was to the structure of her theology and her vision of the work of Unity.
I use as my resources, Healing Letters and How to Let God Help You, the limited documentation we have which was written or dictated by Myrtle Fillmore herself.
The Gospel of John is referenced most often by Myrtle Fillmore when quoting from The Bible in her letters and lessons.
John 7:24 - Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. (This reference is used by Myrtle when relating to oneness with Principle, regardless of appearances.)
John 8:51 - Truly I say to you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death.
John 15:10 - If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. (Myrtle referenced this bible verse when claiming that Jesus demonstrated that keeping God’s commandments resulted in eternal life - no “sin, sickness, sorrow and death.” “We must let go of old beliefs in sin, sickness, and death.” Page 41, HTLGHY)
What is regeneration? In the words of Charles Fillmore, in Revealing Word, the metaphysical meaning of regeneration is “a change in which abundant spiritual life, even eternal life, is incorporated into the body.
Myrtle Fillmore used similar words. One of Myrtle Fillmore’s definitions of regeneration may be found on page 23 of How to Let God Help You. “The body, which is formed by the action of thoughts of life, love, substance, power, and intelligence in everyone, is never old. The very substance out of which the body is formed, and which nourishes and sustains it, is ever new and responsive to the thoughts of life which impress it. We know that the body is periodically renewed. We can renew and rebuild it and change its appearance by changing our thoughts and living habits.” Myrtle is teaching regeneration. The body does not need to ever age, ever die, or ever deteriorate.
Myrtle makes the statement later in this same book on page 80, “There are many now on the road to an understanding that will eradicate the belief in death so completely that their bodies will never pass through the state of physical corruption. Eventually their understanding of spiritual things will so refine the physical body that it will fade from the view …This process will in time become so common that all will look forward to it as the ultimate, and dying in the old way will be thought disgraceful.” It is not clear that the physical body which fades will actually go anywhere special or even go away from this existence, but perhaps live in such a heightened and full understanding that they cannot be seen by others.
It appears that regeneration was quite central to the theology of Myrtle Fillmore and influenced her work with Silent Unity. Her letters teem with references to not only the healing of the illness of the body, but of exceeding healing and “eradicate the belief in death”. Her letters speak of healing AND the ability to renew our bodies.
Spiritual regeneration is addressed even more prolifically, as stated within her letters and talks, On pages 22-23 of How to Let God Help You, Myrtle states, “Spirit has no age; it is eternal, as God is eternal and unchanging”.
Myrtle speaks of the ability of man to change all of creation by the change in his consciousness. She speaks of getting away from the old beliefs, the race consciousness about life and to establish “a higher vision of living.” On page 139 she states, “When once the ideal man is conceived in the mind as a possibility, and the requirements of the Law are complied with, the regeneration of mind and body is under way; then he who descended is no longer hampered by the thought of sinful flesh; he is glorified with the manifestation of divine substance of his body.”
Spirit has no age and we must let go of beliefs in death. Myrtle’s belief in regeneration was pivotal in her faith. She may not have used that specific terminology often ~ regeneration ~ but she presented the ideas, woven into her letters and her lessons. She felt an intense responsibility to share this belief and to help others discover this same power within them.
Daybree,
ReplyDeleteI think you have many of the key Biblical quotes that Myrtle used on the subject. Also, you tie it all up by saying, "Spirit has no age and we must let go of beliefs in death. Myrtle's belief in regeneration was pivotal to her faith."
But I do detect a difference between Charles and Myrtle on the subject of regeneration, and this difference show up in their actions. I think it is fair to say that Charles wanted to cling on to life on Planet Earth for as long as he could (i.e., regeneration in his earthly body in this material realm.) Myrtle was different. She was willing-- dare one say eager-- to make the transition in 1931. She continued to believe in regeneration with the goal of spiritual growth. But she was willing that her regeneration take the form of existence in a different-- and non-material-- realm. Her regeneration-- in her mind-- was not confined to Planet Earth. Thus, her attitude to her death was different from Charles' attitude to his death, I believe.
Thanks,
Rick
I agree, Rick. The out-picturing of regeneration appears to not be the same for Charles and Myrtle.
ReplyDeleteDaybree,
ReplyDeleteI never made the connection to Myrtle's mostly quoting the book of John. Interesting that she would find most things that related to her beliefs in the book of John... John's the book that refers mostly to divine love. How perfect is that.
I wonder if the Fillmore's believed the same way in regeneration at one point. As Myrtle drew closer to acceptance of transitioning into the spiritual realm she appears to have had a change of mind. Seems I read somewhere that her thoughts on regeneration changed not long before her decision to cross over. Thanks for the post Daybree
Hi Daybree. Thank you for your sharing your insight on Myrtle's view of regeneration. Nicely done! You've raised a few issues in my mind that are making me rethink my own interpretation of Myrtle's views. One of the quotes you used, "The body, which is formed by the action of thoughts of life, love, substance, power, and intelligence in everyone, is never old," caused me to pause. What could she have meant by, "...is never old?" Maybe it's a clue to beliefs that underlay her written words. Perhaps she meant that the concept of age is itself an illusion [a word she used in reference to life], that there is no young, no old or any other age. Perhaps she was saying, when you look past the illusion of age, you see the spiritual body, of which she said "... is so transcendent as to be beyond human concept" (Torch-Bearer page 92), which was the form of body Jesus took on. -Doug
ReplyDeleteDaybree-
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post. We read the same books but came up with totally different quotes! Yours put forth Myrtle’s ideas of regeneration perfectly. I have to agree with the opinions above that Myrtle fully expected eternal life of the spirit free of physical limitations when she made her transition. Her very idea of regeneration was spiritual. Charles fought the dark night tenaciously. Yet more than Myrtle, he exhibited regeneration of the physical, if only to the point of natural law. Fascinating.
Daybree. Great biblical quotes. As you stated, Myrtle’s belief in regeneration was certainly pivotal in her faith. In fact, she claims that the law governing regeneration unfolded to both herself and Charles while they prayed and meditated together. Regeneration was a term she used quite frequently in her writings and in her teaching. As you know, that is one of Unity's teachings--regeneration taught and demonstrated by Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great, well-researched and presented post! I learned a lot from reading this. Thank you! I especially liked this paragraph: "Myrtle makes the statement later in this same book on page 80, “There are many now on the road to an understanding that will eradicate the belief in death so completely that their bodies will never pass through the state of physical corruption. Eventually their understanding of spiritual things will so refine the physical body that it will fade from the view …This process will in time become so common that all will look forward to it as the ultimate, and dying in the old way will be thought disgraceful.” It is not clear that the physical body which fades will actually go anywhere special or even go away from this existence, but perhaps live in such a heightened and full understanding that they cannot be seen by others." I agree that Myrtle isn't clear what happens to the body. I mean, would we basically freeze at the point in which we become enlightened and never age again? Would the aging process be reversed (isn't that kind of what happens in many healings?) I kinda think we'll take on "bodies" that are lighter and not like the ones we have now. Not the preservation but the transformation of our bodies. Also, as a side note, like Rick, I think it's important not to use anything Charles wrote to support what we think Myrtle believed. They might well overlap considerably but, gosh, just cuz I'm married to someone and am part of the same movement, ahem, doesn't mean I'm gonna agree with everything my partner says :) Heh.
ReplyDelete