We know that Order is described as one of the powers in the Twelve Powers of Man written by Charles Fillmore in 1930. The co-founder of the Unity movement, Fillmore, entitles the chapter on this subject, Spiritual Law and Order. This sounds a little bit like a modern cops and robbers television program; however, it is so much more. Cora Dedrick Fillmore, second wife of Charles, followed up in 1954 with a further explanation of Charles’ teachings by writing, ”The perfect man is created as a perfect-man idea, which is to be manifested under the law of divine order. This perfect-man pattern (Christ) is working itself out through the flesh, coming into perfect manifestation under law and order.”
There are a lot of “perfect”s in this statement which may be difficult to accept since we often feel we live in a world of imperfection. I believe what Cora meant is that man (in the generic sense) is created or manifested as perfection and that he/she/they exist in this world as perfection BUT, (and that’s a big one), and are working itself out through the flesh…..under law and order. By definition “through the flesh” means we mess up. But more simply said, perfection exists. Divine order exists. But STUFF HAPPENS!
And since stuff happens (it does in my world so feel sure it does in everyone’s) what is important is how we view it, approach it, relate to it, deal with it, and love what is. The stuff that happens sometimes is felt as happening TO us and this is the rub. We are not victims of life’s divinity or even victims of the wrong doings of others. Simply, we are not even victims at all. Our plan doesn’t go according to THE plan. The person we love unexpectedly falls out of love with us and leaves us for another. The storm bringing much needed rain damages our house/car. The diagnosis comes when we are in the midst of the happiest time of our life. We didn’t plan for it and we didn’t expect it. And frankly, we don’t want it.
Harkening back to the notion that we are here on earth for but a brief period, we are living out a beautiful existence of perfection in this perfect-man pattern (Christ) and are just working it out through the flesh. All is in divine order. We take a breath and recall that just moments before that unexpected incident we were living our best life. Then the incident happened in a millisecond and the real change was how we began to think about it, perceive it and live with it. Yes, the world shifted a bit. But we are still the same perfect being we were before that shift.
As Byron Katie writes “Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.” Although Katie did not mention Divine Order or Spiritual Law and Order, the meaning is clear. We always have choices in this beautiful, topsy-turvy life of ours. We can choose to suffer through the Paradise of our lives or we can lean in to loving what is, understanding that all is the perfect manifestation and that God is always present in it.
