Unity Principles Freed Me from Fear

As children, we are conditioned to accept what our parents believe, often including their religious beliefs. I was raised Baptist and remember attending church regularly as a child—being saved and baptized.

However, I never felt as if I had to go to church to connect with God. Rather, God was within me, so I could connect with God anywhere. I knew God definitely was not a man in the sky eagerly waiting to punish me for my sins. And I firmly believed that hell did not exist in the sense that it was preached, since people could be living in perceived hell while on earth.

Being curious about other Christian denominations as a teenager, I chose to attend a few services with friends at their churches. Years later, I began my own spiritual journey into consciousness in earnest. Unity principles first came into my awareness when I attended a class at Unity Church of Overland Park, Kansas, in 2009. I gravitated toward Unity teachings and was eager to learn more. The discoveries freed me from fear-based religious oppression and have given me courage to forge ahead on my path of learning.

Five Universal Principles as Life Tools

The first Unity principle (“God is Absolute Good, everywhere present”) confirms my initial impressions regarding God.

I find comfort knowing God is always present in every circumstance. Spending time in nature is where I feel most connected with the divine energy that permeates all of existence.

That same expansive feeling of peace fills my soul when I contemplate the second Unity principle: “Human beings have a spark of divinity within them, the Christ spirit within. Their very essence is of God, and therefore they are also inherently good.”

Unity teachings freed me from fear-based religious oppression and have given me courage to forge ahead on my path of learning.

As someone who has always been extremely sensitive to energies and concerned about the perception of others, I found the immensity of being viewed as a sinner weighed heavily on my spirit. I simply couldn’t fathom the notion that we are bad and need to be purified by being saved and baptized. So the first two Unity principles freed me from the religious constraints I had been subjected to for so many years.

I must admit that the third Unity principle is my favorite: “Human beings create their experiences by the activity of their thinking. Everything in the manifest realm has its beginning in thought.”

This is the principle I choose to actively and intentionally embody daily. I have even been guided to use the term conscious creator in my biography to remind me of my own personal power to create as I empower others to do the same. Since everything is energy and awareness is everything, knowing that human beings create their experiences by the activity of their thinking is powerful.

The fourth Unity principle provides me with a tool to access the inexhaustible wealth of knowledge that is available to all of us. It states, “Prayer is creative thinking that heightens the connection with God-Mind and therefore brings forth wisdom, healing, prosperity, and everything good.”

Most important, the fifth Unity principle encourages me to step fully into my potential by reminding me, “Knowing and understanding the laws of life, also called Truth, are not enough. A person must also live the truth that he or she knows.”

I am so grateful to Charles Fillmore and Myrtle Fillmore for being spiritual pioneers and reminding me of the ability we all possess to heal and create. My life has changed considerably since I chose to embody these universal principles.

This article appeared in Unity Magazine®.