Myrtle's God! Decidly Eclectic!

As Dr. Thomas Shepherd points out, the title of Myrtle Fillmore’s book, How to Let God Help You, seems to suggest that there is something called God. To understand Myrtle’s view on God, we must first understand more about Myrtle.

In seminary, we are taught that each person’s thought process is significantly impacted by the world in which we live. For example, raised in Pennsylvania, I was taught that wearing white shoes before Easter and after Labor Day was socially unacceptable. I assumed this fashionistic tradition was held by all, until I met someone from sunny California who found the no white notion absolutely absurd. In retrospect, it does seem like a silly practice, but to this day, I can’t wear white shoes after Labor Day without feeling a twinge of guilt! Like it or not, our backgrounds shape the way we see the world. We view the world through our own unique lenses.

To understand Myrtles theology, it is helpful to understand her lenses, especially her religious and academic lenses. We can sum up Myrtle’s background by using her own word, “decidedly eclectic.”

 Myrtle was raised in a very strict Methodist home, even after leaving home and becoming a teacher, she remained active in the Methodist faith. Myrtle never left the Methodist church to form a new religion, she brought her evolving consciousness to her current faith.

Myrtle was also impacted by the training she received at Oberlin College, a progressive school where she was exposed to alternative thoughts, including transcendentalism. In researching Oberlin College, I found this on their website's landing page:

TIVITY, 
Oberlin is a place of intense energy and creativity,

built on a foundation of academic, artistic, & musical excellence.

With its longstanding commitments to
access, diversity, & inclusion, Oberlin is the ideal laboratory

 in which to study and design the world we want.

It’s extremely probable that those words perfectly express the impact Oberlin made on the young Myrtle's life. 

Keeping Myrtle’s diverse background in mind, what does the Unity co-founder say about God? In her own word she writes,

“First of all, remember that God is omnipresent— as present as the very life in which you live, move, and have your being; the very substance out of which your body is formed and nourished; the very intelligence which is within you, in every nerve, brain cell, and structure of the body...” Later she adds, “God is the very intelligence within us. She further proclaims, "We should declare that there is one Intelligence, one Power, one Life, and one Substance. [i]”  

While Myrtle sees God as the intelligence within, at times, she, also, seems to speak of God out there. In chapter one, she refers to God as, “The Great Schoolmaster knows just what problems we need to keep us alert.” She also states that as God’s Children, “we place ourselves in God’s keeping … and it directs us in ways of peace and pleasantness.” She also uses dualistic wording like, "When you have come to the place where you are ready to co-operate with the Source of all good —your indwelling Lord— you are bound to receive His help."
 

 

At times, it does seem Myrtle refers to the Christ Mind in us,  and at other times she seems to be speaking of a separate God who is keeping us, directing us and who created us. Is there a contradiction? If Myrtle believed in One Omnipresent Power, is it possible she would have no problem believing both are true?  Was Myrtle New thought, Methodist, Oberlinian, or decidedly eclectic? Do we try to put a theology on Myrtle  because of our own theological lenses?
 

 I, also, suspect another reason Myrtle spoke in, seemingly, dualistic language is simply because she was a gifted teacher. Myrtle understood the need to speak to people in a context and language they understood. The biblical Jesus demonstrated this same insight when he spoke to the people simply, and in parables.

Myrtle challenged the thinking and culture of her time by writing, “No doubt you have learned from your Bible that the Spirit of God dwells in man and gives him breath, and that man has a soul and a physical body. But have you really studied these facts?”  It’s a question, still relevant today!

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[i] Myrtle, Fillmore (2013-06-04). How to Let God Help You (Unity Classic Library Series) Unity Books. Kindle Edition.

(Per class assignment: All quotes are taken from chapters one through three.)

Myrtle! Off the Top of my Head!

My first blog entry is prompted by an assignment in Dr. Thomas Shepherd’s  "The Life and Work of Myrtle Fillmore" class. My task is to write what I know about Myrtle Fillmore and her healing, without looking at any other sources outside myself. This is my first blog for the class.  At the end of the course, I am looking forward to looking back to this first post to compare my original thoughts and assumptions with what I learned about her life and work through class. So here we go with Beth’s pre-class version of Myrtle Fillmore:

Myrtle Fillmore was born into a strong Methodist family.  Her family was strict, adamant faithful supporters of the Methodist faith. Myrtle, however, had her doubts about the Wesleyan teachings. The young Myrtle Page could never accept the church’s doctrines of sin and eternal damnation.

Myrtle was sickly as a child. She was told by her family that she had inherited illness from birth and grew up believing sickness was an inevitable part of who she was. Doctors concurred with her family’s proclamation of chronic illness.  It is said she suffered with tuberculosis.

Myrtle loved to read and was highly educated. She grew up and went to college, a rare occurrence for women in the mid to late 1800’s.  Upon graduation, she went on to become a teacher, I believe, in Texas. Myrtle enjoyed working with children and was very active in her local Methodist Church community. On the top of my head, I can’t recall the city, but I believe it was somewhere outside the Dallas area. (I used to live in Lufkin, Texas, and when I read her history a few years ago, I remember thinking that Myrtle lived just a few hours down the road).  While in Texas, she met and married Charles Fillmore. Soon after they married, Myrtle became sick again.

Shortly after, Myrtle heard atteneded a healing service that was being held by a minister named E.B Week.  Dr. Weeks was a student of either Mary Baker Eddy, or Emma Curtis Thompson, without looking it up, I’m not sure which, but Mary Baker Eddy is the predominant name sticking in my mind. At that service, Myrtle heard words that changed her life, “I am a child of God, and I do not inherit sickness.” To a woman who was told she was destined for chronic illness and raised in a tradition that taught we were born in sin, the words were enlightening, ringing with Truth. His statement sparked a passion in Myrtle that would change her life, and those around her. It is interesting to note, that while Myrtle’s life was changed by the words, the same words were heard by Charles Fillmore and had no apparent impact on him at the time.

Myrtle hid Dr. Week’s words in her heart. She began searching the bible seeking understanding, and speaking words of Truth into every part of her body.  In two years, Myrtle was healed. Not only did she heal herself, Myrtle began using the techniques she learned to help heal others.   People sought out Myrtle--drawn in by her effective, healing prayers.

Initially, Charles Fillmore was disinterested in Myrtle’s experience with Dr. Weeks,  but after witnessing his wife's healing, and those she touched, he, too, began his own personal quest for wholeness and healing. This was how the Unity movement began.