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Study Corner

Glossary of Unity Terms

Absolute: The word "absolute" is another word for God; Divine Mind; unlimited Principle; the source of all things. As absolute Being, God is infinite, unconditional, perfect and unlimited.

Affirmation: A positive statement of Truth. By the use of affirmations, we claim and appropriate that which is ours in Truth. With an affirmation, we connect our senses of "I AM" with any divine idea.

Angel: A messenger of God; a projection into consciousness of a spiritual idea directly from God.

Baptism: The spiritual cleansing of the mind which is the first step in the realization of Truth. This cleansing is done by clearing our consciousness of error thoughts.

Bible: Sacred and inspired Scriptures of the Christian religion. It was written by Semitic people for the Semitic people 2-3000 years ago. So we do not take it literally. Rather than an accurate history, it is a collection of stories, metaphors and parables that we read, interpret and apply to our own lives.

Cause and Effect: "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal 6:7). Cause comes from the thoughts, beliefs and feelings we have in our consciousness and is experienced as effect in our physical bodies and affairs. "As within, so without."

Christ: The original Greek word Khristos meant enlightened or anointed one. Christ is the divine man. Jesus was a man who fully understood his divine nature, thus he became Jesus the Christ.

Christian: By definition a Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ and follows his teachings. Unity's teachings are based on the idea that the teachings of Jesus can be applied to one's everyday life. We generally do not claim the man Jesus was our "Lord and Savior," rather as our teacher and Way-Shower.

Consciousness: Our consciousness is our mental awareness; our sense of knowing. It includes both the conscious and subconscious mind and it contains the sum total of all of our thoughts and feelings. Through prayer and meditation, and through the use of affirmations and denials, we can change our consciousness.

Cult: According to Webster's dictionary, a "cult" is a group that studies a system of religious worship, admiration of, or devotion to a person or Thing. In Unity we do not worship anyone or any thing. An appropriateresponse to the question "Are we a cult?" might be "We follow Jesus Christ, teach from the Bible and pray to God."

Death: The human experience of dying is the physical dissolution of the body. It is like the laying down of our clothes at the end of the day. Our spirit is an individual expression of God's spirit and this never ends.

Demonstration: Each of us is always demonstrating at the level or our ability to know Truth. We manifest in our physical lives the things that are most in harmony with our thoughts and our words.

Destiny: We believe that through the creative power of our thoughts and words we have freedom of choice. God has created a perfect pattern of ideal for us. As we grow spiritually, we come closer and closer to that supreme goal.

Devil: We believe that there is only one power and one presence in the Universe - that we call God. We believe that the nature of God is good. We do not believe that there is an opposing power for evil. We believe evil comes from the mind of man, as people misuse their creative powers. Our own negative thinking, which creates negative results, is the only devil we will encounter.

Diagnosis: This is the medical term to describe the presence of disease. We consider a diagnosis to be a description of current conditions, but we know that conditions and facts may change. We do not believe that a diagnosis is a verdict. We understand that a diagnosis indicates that there is work for us to do in our own consciousness.

Disease: Dis-ease is an inharmonious condition in mind and body that comes from error thoughts. As we become more and more aware of the presence of God at the center of our being, our minds will become "at ease" and inner peace will result, and then dis-ease in our bodies will disappear.

Doctors and Medicine: Since God is everywhere present and in everyone, the intelligence of God can and does work through the doctor's mind as well as through any medicine prescribed. But it is not enough to just use a doctor, for a complete healing, we must work to change our consciousness, because that is where cause exists.

Duality: Duality is the belief in two separate and opposing powers. We believe that God is all powerful and everywhere present, thus there can be no other power.

Energy: The power of God within us to accomplish. Energy is God in action. Quantum Physics tells us that energy is everywhere present and active at every level of being.

Eternal: God is eternal, without beginning or end. The divine part of us that is one with God is also eternal.

Evil: The product of error thought, evil exists only in the mind and experience of man. Evil does not exist in Divine Mind.

Fear: Webster's defines fear as painful emotion exhibiting dread, alarm and disquiet. We feel fear when we feel separated from God. fear is neutralized when we are aware of God's presence sustaining us in the midst of any situation.

Forgiveness: Unity believes that forgiveness is the process of giving up the false for what is true. It means giving up anything that causes you to feel separate from God. Forgiveness does not require us to declare that a particular event or circumstance was not painful or did not actually occur. Forgiveness releases us from the mental and emotional bondage we are currently experiencing in reaction to the situation.

God: God is principle. God is the underlying, unchangeable Truth that is the Spirit or Creative Energy that is the creator of all things. god is individualized in man. God is love from which all love springs.

Heaven: Heaven is everywhere present. Heaven is within everyone of us. It is a state of consciousness. We experience Heaven when we feel united with God.

Hell: Just like Heaven, hell is a state of consciousness. We experience Hell when we feel separated from God.

Holy Spirit: The activity of God. Holy Spirit is the law of God in action carrying the ideal into manifestation.

I AM: is the spiritual identity. It is the name for God and for the Christ Mind within each of us.

Jesus: is our Way-Shower. He is the Man from Nazareth and the son of Mary and Joseph. He was spiritually aware and he fully realized that each one of us is a son or daughter of God.

Judgment: is the faculty we use to appraise, discern and evaluate in order to make correct decisions. It is our ability to maintain enlightened objectivity about our life and our world.

Karma: The dictionary defines karma as the consequence of one's acts which determines one's circumstance in future lives. Jesus taught us that we can change our consciousness at any time. We can change what we believe and how we think and feel at any time an thus experience Heaven on Earth, hear and now.

Law: Law is the name of God as perfect order and harmony in action. God as law provides for the consistent and orderly outworking of divine ideas into manifestation.

Love: God is love. Divine love is impersonal; it loves for the sake of loving. God knows us without condition. We are called to love others and we love others when we see the presence of God in them. Love heals and harmonizes. Love can overcome anything.

Meditation: is the process of quieting our Conscious Mind so that we can experience the presence of God.

Metaphysics: "Meta" means above or beyond. "Physics" come from the word physical and means material or that which is experienced by our five senses. We want more than just a physical or outer understanding, we want to have an inner understanding of the idea and meaning beyond the physical. Metaphysics is the study of the greater reality that underlies and transcends the physical realm.

Mind: is where every act, thought and feeling begins. We meet God in mind. There is no separation between God mind and our mind, because we are one with the God mind.

New Thought: Unity teaches eternal truths and ancient wisdom in a new way. We always teach that our Truth and our connection with God can only be found within.

Omnipotence: God is all-powerful. The is only one power in the Universe and that is God. Because we are one with God, this power works through us.

Omnipresence: God is everywhere present. There is no place where God is not. God is All There Is.

Omniscient: God is all-knowing. God is infinite knowledge and wisdom.

Prayer: Communion between God and man, which always takes the place within our own mind. By affirming the Truth about God and ourselves we align our minds with God mind to bring the Truth into our consciousness.

Principle: God is principle refers to the eternal, unchanging, unlimited nature of God. god is not a being, but Being, itself.

Prosperity: True prosperity is a consciousness of God as our unfailing supply and source of all-good. Calmly and consistently focusing upon the reality of abundant good is an all-important key to demonstrating true and lasting prosperity.

Race Consciousness: is the sum total of all the thoughts and feelings of the entire human race. It becomes the collective unconscious that will influence us if we are unaware of it and if we don't purposefully align our minds with God mind through prayer and meditation.

Reality: the absolute Truth that behind and beyond all form is the formless energy and intelligence of the one God.

Realization: is the deep inner knowing, conviction and assurance that God Is All There Is.

Reincarnation: Belief in reincarnation is not necessary for Unity students. Some do believe and some do not. Reincarnation is the belief that we have opportunity for successive experiences of embodiment on the Earth. It is the belief that we are given all the life times we need in order to demonstrate our divine nature. Reincarnation would then be a provision of God's limitless love and wisdom for us in our process of spiritual evolution.

Repentance: occurs when we change our mind from a belief in sing and error to a belief in God and righteousness.

Resurrection: follows crucifixion and is an ongoing experience in our spiritual unfoldment. It is evidence of our having overcome our belief in lack and limitation through spiritual mastery.

Salvation: is an inner overcoming, a change in consciousness. It occurs when we cleanse our minds of error thoughts. Salvation is a process that takes place within our own consciousness, not through the person named Jesus. We as individuals must cooperate with God in our own spiritual transformation just as Jesus did. Salvation results in our being made free from ignorance, lack and limitation, and in being made free for wholeness, abundance, peace and fulfillment.

Savior: We do not believe that a personal man, named Jesus of Nazareth, was sent forth as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, or that the only available route into the Father's presence lies through such a person. Jesus did understand his own divinity and when we "follow" Jesus we proceed on the path of spiritual enlightenment in the ways He taught us. It is not worshiping the man, but walking the way of mastery as He did that fulfills our responsibility to "follow" Him.

Silence: Jesus instructed to go within to the secret place of the Most High. We do this in meditation when we quiet our conscious mind so that we can commune with God. Divine ideas have their origin in the silence. Silence and stillness are the matrix out of which come all our guidance and inspiration.

Sin: From it's Greek origins, sin means to miss the mark. When an archer's arrow missed his target, he sinned. To sin is to make a mistake. God does not punish us for our sins, though our mistakes may have consequences. Our mistakes or sins first occur in mind. When we correct our error thinking we have forgiven or saved ourselves.

Soul: our soul is the sum total of all our thoughts and feelings. In Unity we use the term "soul" to describe the entire spectrum of our awareness. Contained within our soul is individual awareness of both our spiritual and physical natures.

Spirit: Each one of us is a spiritual being because we have a spiritual nature and a spiritual identity. The spiritual aspect of our being is invisible and eternal.

Thinking: is the process we use to give form and shape to substance. Each of us has free will to choose what we think and where to focus our power to shape substance. If we want to change our lives, we must change our thinking.

Thought: Our thoughts originate in our conscious mind as a result of our thinking. They have energy and as they work through our subconscious minds as Law, they become things manifest in our world.

Truth: is the absolute, that which is. Our basic Truth is that God really is all that is, and we are one with God.

Unity: In Spirit there is a universal oneness of God, man and all creation.

Word of God: The "Word" means the agency or ability through which God speaks Himself into manifestation.