Dynamics for Living

Charles Sherlock Fillmore (August 22, 1854 – July 5, 1948) founded Unity, a church within the New Thought movement, with his wife, Myrtle Page Fillmore, in 1889. He became known as an American mystic for his contributions to spiritualist interpretations of biblical Scripture. After the births of their first two sons, Lowell Page Fillmore and Waldo Rickert Fillmore, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Two years later, in 1886, Charles and Myrtle attended New Thought classes held by Dr. E. B. Weeks. Myrtle subsequently recovered from chronic tuberculosis and attributed her recovery to her use of prayer and other methods learned in Weeks's classes. Subsequently Charles began to heal from his childhood accident, a development which he too attributed to following this philosophy. Charles Fillmore became a devoted student of philosophy and religion. In 1889, Charles left his business to focus entirely on a prayer group that would later be called 'Silent Unity'. It was named this because of a legal conflict with Mary Baker Eddy over the use of the title Christian Science. That same year he began publication of a new periodical, 'Modern Thought', notable among other things as the first publication to accept for publication the writings of the then 27-year-old New Thought pioneer William Walker Atkinson. In 1891, Fillmore's 'Unity' magazine was first published. Dr. H. Emilie Cady published 'Lessons in Truth' in the new magazine. This material later was compiled and published in a book by the same name, which served as a seminal work of the Unity Church. Although Charles had no intention of making Unity into a denomination, his students wanted a more organized group. He and his wife were among the first ordained Unity ministers in 1906. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore operated the Unity organization from a campus near downtown Kansas City. AUTHOR'S PREFACE These are not simply lectures; they are, rather, lessons. They are not merely to be read; they are to be studied and applied as one studies and applies mathematical rules. When the text suggests that the reader "hold a thought," or affirm or deny a certain proposition, the student should stop reading, and, both audibly and mentally, do as bidden. This will set up new thought currents in mind and body, and will make way for the spiritual illumination that will follow in all who are faithful to these instructions. The statements following each lesson should be used for mental discipline. Write these state- ments down and apply them daily while studying the lesson to which the y correspond. Anyone can do spiritual healing who will use the simple rules of denial and affirmation here set forth. If you wish to heal another, hold him in mind and mentally repeat the denials and affirmations, this will raise your consciousness to spiritual reality, where all healing power originates. If you wish to heal yourself, talk to your mind and your body as you would talk to a patient.