Holy Spirit

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Extract from a talk given in Unity Auditorium, Wednesday evening, April 18.

The New Testament teaches that God is a trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are told that these are three persons in one Godhead. Metaphysicians object to the designation of personality, because we can easily see that it would not be true that there could be three persons in one person. So, to get the understanding, we have to resolve it into one person.

God is Spirit. We can see God means three activities in that one Spirit, and that the Bible carries out this interpretation. We are told that the original Mind or Spirit, which created all things, is Elohim. The correspondence to this in the Hindu religion is Brahma. The second in the trinity in the Hebrew is Jehovah—in the New Testament the second in the trinity is Christ. The second in the Hindu is Buddha and Krishna. What is the third in the trinity? Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The third in the trinity is the Holy Spirit. Resolving all this in mind and applying it to our own mind, you can say: “I have mind, an idea in mind, and the thought activity. “ If you have this clear, you have an understanding of the creative processes going on in the world. You will know what the world is, what Spirit is, and where it is.

The world is divided today on the immaculate conception. But, according to the Old Testament, the first man, Adam, was created by the Holy Spirit. “Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The Greek word pneuma contains this life giving, inbreathing, power, and it means the Holy Spirit. When Jesus Christ baptized, he breathed upon them and said: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” Is it hard to believe that Jesus had his conception in the Holy Spirit, any more than Adam? He was brought forth just like the first man. We can see the law works in the old dispensation and in the new dispensation, alike.

But all the old philosophies fail to tell us what brings forth life. Life is quickened, and they find a restoring, resurrecting power in the body. They say that life is what is usually called nature. But, what is it? The Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that keeps things going. But, we have a state of consciousness which says: “I don’t know God. Where is he?” Some of the translators, such as Ferrar Fenton, say that God is the Everliving—that this Everliving force is active just like electricity, that it is something that is constantly restoring and resurrecting—that it is inbreathing. Spiritual minded people who use common sense know that it is the life of God that is constantly sweeping through the whole human family. We may call it electricity, magnetism, or whatnot. But if we get back to the original inflow, back to the divine idea of God, the Son of God, we find out that it is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the avenue through which Elohim reaches you and me, and the whole universe. Through the Holy Spirit, if you would give it daily attention, you would unfold that quality called faith—the substance of things hoped for, and then whatever you visualized, would become manifest. Then as we go from glory to glory, from likeness to likeness, we bring forth the perfect image. It is like planting a seed in the ground—it grows. We do not know just how it is done, but we find the more we imagine the pattern of God in our lives, the more like the Divine Idea we become.

But, we find we have two ways of reaping the result of the word: If we put the idea of weakness and sickness in the mind, we don’t get anywhere. We grow weak and sick. But, if our words are charged with the energy and life of the Holy Spirit, we become stronger and healthier and wiser. This is a simple proposition. If you put good seed into good soil, and charge you mind with thoughts of the activity of the Holy Spirit, the seed will grow.

You have corns on your toes, and if you begin to think of your feet filled with holy life, the hard condition will begin to loosen up. Of course, the hard thought is first in your mind. Of course you probably rubbed you toe against an old shoe, but if you had believed in freedom of Spirit, the friction would not have caused a corn. A realization that the Holy Spirit is everywhere, will cure a corn. So instead of becoming irritable, and worrying about so-called hard conditions, say: “I am going to realize the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is constantly new, and I am a new creature every day.” In this way you can charge your whole body with new life, but you must make contact with the central station, with the one Source. We are right now being healed by the new life to the extent that we implant the idea in our minds, and keep saying it. We can each of us restore our bodies to perfect health, just as Jesus did. Jesus said he had practiced with the Holy Spirit, until he could take his body up or lay it down. Of course, they put him in the tomb, but the third day he walked out. We can all of us walk out of materiality and limitation. We can say: “Elohim is an inbreathing Spirit within me; I am alive clear through. “If there is a place that is not alive, throw your attention there and say: “I am full of the Holy Spirit life.” Try this. No matter what member of the body it is, it will wake right up.

We have all had experience with the Holy Spirit, and have different names for it. But it is the recognition of the Holy Spirit that makes us one with it. The Holy Spirit knows how to carry on our government: it knows how to regulate our finances. The Holy Spirit knows how to carry on every activity in life. There is a divine law that regulates, not only the body and the mind, but it regulates all of our affairs. And there will be more or less trouble in the world until we recognize this law, and work in accord with it.