What did Unity originally teach?

I have often been asked, “What does Unity teach?” or “What doctrine do you follow at your Center?” Perhaps you have asked that question yourself. The most difficult thing to explain to new people is that the Fillmore's Unity never had a set of tenets that you were expected to follow. Unity Church of Peace is not a religion or an offshoot of some other church theology. Our Unity Center does not try to force someone to believe anything. That is why we have written on our entry wall these words: “ Whoever you are, wherever you are on your Spiritual Journey, you are welcome in this place.” We merely present ideas and thoughts for you to consider. You are then free to see whatever works for you in your life. We refer to it as a Center but the official name is Unity Church of Peace. Our Unity Center is really a program of self discovery. My purpose here is to help me better understand me. And, with our various talks, meditations and music we try to help you better understand you. I don't think that would be possible if we tried to force a set of beliefs on you. Most of us have had past experience with people and organizations that used guilt and manipulation to try to control us. And, if you are here this morning, it obviously didn't work on you. The fact that I wanted no part of those manipulation techniques is why I am in our Unity Church of Peace doing what I do today. Speaking Bible metaphysics and thoughts from “A Course in Miracles” myself as well as exposing you to a variety of speakers from many different theologies, New Thought, Native American, Sufi, Buddhism.

Fillmore's Unity was a part of the family of Spiritual thought that began with a man named Phineas Parkhurst Quimby in the early 1800's. Now that name is a handle that you won't easily be able to forget. Quimby began to experiment with healing by using the power of the mind with the activator belief. From R.L. Miller's book “150 Years of Healing” and Freeman's book “The Story of Unity”, I learned that Quimby suffered from TB in the early 1800's. He was initially resigned to die at an early age. However, Quimby saw Anton Messmer, who used the theory of mind control through hypnotism to heal the body (basically mesmerized). Quimby studied Messmer's techniques. He used those techniques, as well as some of his own, on others as well as on himself. He healed himself of TB and many others of other ailments. Today people would probably refer to him as a physic or a Reiki Master. An interesting sidelight was his belief system. Now remember I am talking about the 1800's, not the Oprah Winfrey Show. He believed that Heaven is in the hearts of people, not in a place in the sky. We know that Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven is as close as breathing, as close as hands and feet.” Perhaps that is where Quimby got his idea for its location. Quimby said, “God is neither male nor female.” He said, “the man commonly called Jesus came to teach the science of the Christ within each person, not as the only son of God, a savior.” Imagine how controversial that idea was in those days, considering it is still a controversial idea today. Both he and Charles Fillmore were arrested for their beliefs at different times. Quimby also said,” The real resurrection is the coming forth of the Christ consciousness in each person, essentially hearing your own higher inner voice.” And lastly, he said, “Healing is a result of chemical changes in the body bound to change as we change our consciousness, our way of thinking.”

From Quimby's work came something then known as Christian Science, using the teachings of Jesus in a scientific way. Mary Baker Eddy started a church that she named “Christian Science”, and went to court to stop anyone else from using that name. The editor of her Christian Science magazine was a woman named Emma Curtis Hopkins. Now these were strong women and Emma, though not ill in any way, was a voracious reader of both Eastern as well as Western philosophies. Emma wanted her to focus only on Bible metaphysics; thus, Emma had a disagreement with Mary and left Christian Science to start a metaphysical school of her own in Chicago in 1886.This was not a school like we see today. It was most likely held in her living room: yet it was well attended. Emma was known as the teacher of teachers. She taught Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, the co-founders of the original Unity School. They became involved in New Thought because Myrtle was healed of TB. After attending a lecture by Dr. Weeks, Charles left the seminar unchanged but Myrtle walked away a totally different woman with a new consciousness. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was a child of God; and therefore, she was whole, healthy, and free of any disease. Charles Filmore, being a skeptic, saw that Myrtle was healing by using the techniques taught by Dr. Weeks of denials, positive affirmations, and meditation, and he began to seek answers to the questions that came from the changes that he saw in Myrtle. Some folks say that he meditated 2 to 6 hours each night. He called it going to Headquarters. He was also a voracious reader of Eastern philosophies as well as the Bible itself. He began to get more and more answers to his questions in the form of dreams from his hours in meditation and began writing prolifically that which he heard. The Unity movement was a result of the healing of Mrytle herself as well as her healing of many others, who wrote seeking her help. Myrtle wrote about her healing and Charles wrote many metaphysical documents. The original Unity movement was the result of their work, which they called “Practical Christianity”.

Emma Curtis Hopkins later taught Ernest Holmes, who went on to publish “Science of Mind”, the foundation of the teachings of The Church of Religious Science on the west coast. She also taught the Brooks sisters, who went on to form Divine Science Church in Denver, as well as many other students, who formed other New Thought Centers, as they came to be known.

To get back to Unity itself, as I said before the original Unity School, started by Myrtle and Charles, was a metaphysical teaching organization. So, what is metaphysics? It literally means beyond the science of nature, beyond the physical. It deals with what we would call the unseen, the invisible. Through metaphysics, we can prove that if you change your consciousness, your way of thinking, you can change your life. Last week, Pat Richmond showed us how to do just that, when she taught us a meditation process where we attached our “I am” alphabetically to certain situations that we wanted to see change in our lives. As we walked we said words like, “I am able to heal”, ”I am beautiful”, “I am creative” and so on. Through this meditation process we are able to heal, to increase the flow of prosperity in our lives, to trust in the force that we call God or Spirit, and to live happier, more productive lives.

In our Center we try to follow Fillmore's version of “Practical Christianity” using his Metaphysical Bible Dictionary and other works and by understanding the teachings of Jesus in the original Aramaic writing. To do the latter we use the Lamsa Bible, translated from Aramaic to English by George Lamsa following World War 2. Using this information our Unity Center tries to go beyond the rules and regulations of religion and the worshiping of the man that most people refer to as Jesus to the heart of what Jesus was trying to teach. Lamsa lived in the Kurdish area of Iraq, an isolated area that still spoke Aramaic; thus, he was able to easily do this translation.

We can look around us and see the results of over two thousand years of Christian Religion. In spite of over two thousand years of their teachings, we still have high levels of homelessness, poverty, wars, thievery, murders, greed, selfishness, violence, and condemnation. We walk the narrow, less traveled road. Sometime we try to rejoin the wide road of organized religion; but, it never works. Once we learn a new way of viewing the world, we find it hard to return to our old ways of thinking.

Jesus' teachings were to help humanity move beyond those human experiences. They work, if you put them into practice, more than just going to church on Sunday and back to business as usual on Monday. It means even running our businesses in accordance with his teachings. That doesn't mean having a big picture of him on your wall at work and worshiping him, proclaiming that you are a believer. It means that you run your affairs with an attitude of win/win. You must trust the process even though at times it may seem that you are giving more than you are receiving. Remember that whatever you give out always comes back to you, positive or negative.

Fillmore's Unity takes us back to 1st century Christianity. Charles learned these wonderful teachings of Jesus thoroughly and metaphysically and lived and taught them. In fact Jesus' actual name was not Jesus Christ but was Joshuah Bar Joseph or Joshuah son of Joseph. The name Jesus Christ was given to him by the Greeks. Christ is not a last name. Christ means rather to attain a “Christ Consciousness”, something we all can do. Remember, Jesus said, “All that I do ye shall do also and more.”

The original Unity was not interested in building a great church movement. Rather it was, and our Center is, interested in providing a place for like minded people to come together and share ideas. In fact, we encourage people to continue in their beliefs, if those beliefs bring them peace. Those of you who have been in more than one Unity Church or Center, already know that each one is unique. No two are alike. It all depends on the needs of the congregation involved. We tend to be more mystical and lean more on the teachings in “A Course in Miracles”. Most people do not realize that it was never Jesus' mission to found some kind of church organization. Remember Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. He said “I have not come to condemn, but to fulfill the law”, to teach us that there was no death. The large Christian theologies have built themselves on the statement of Jesus to Peter, when Jesus said, “Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” However in Aramaic Peter means faith and church means a believing assembly of people. What Jesus meant to say to Peter was “You are faith and upon this foundation of faith will my followers stand and grow.” And, faith in God or Spirit is a moment by moment experience and practice.

What did Unity originally teach? What teaching does our Center follow today? Just what Joshua Bar Joseph said, the original Unity of Myrtle and Charles Fillmore as well as our Center today teaches the divinity of man and the two great commandments, “Love God above all else and love your neighbor as yourself for you are all one.” It's just that simple.

Namaste,

Barbara