The Five Basic Beliefs of Unity

Now that I've started writing about Unity, it is time to discuss the basics. I will begin by saying that Unity provides a very open, accepting structure that allows people to find what works for them. Although it is based on following the example of Jesus, it incorporates wisdom from Eastern religions and emphasizes metaphysical laws or principles. For the first several decades of the movement, there was no clear description of basic beliefs. Eventually, there was an agreement on five basic principles that everyone could accept as a foundation. Even so, they are expressed in many different forms; this is the nature of a group of individual mystics! So, I will give you the statements of basic beliefs presently on the Unity website, www.unity.org. The wording may change tomorrow, but the ideas will remain the same! The bolded words are from the Unity website, the added sentences are my elaborations. Also, although these principles are expressed with the word "God", you may replace this with any other word that describes for you the ineffable source of all.

1^st Unity Principle: God is the source and creator of all. There is no other enduring power. God is good and present everywhere. Everything is made from God and is within God. God is our Source for all power, all love, all abundance, everything. I learned this as "One power and one presence -- God the good." This is the principle that underlies Unconditional Love, since we are all connected and part of the same spiritual substance. Evil and Fear are illusions created by appearances that have no real substance behind them - "hidden good" if you will. Consider an analogy to light and dark - light is the only power, dark is merely the absence of the power of light.

2^nd Unity Principle: We are spiritual beings, created in God's image. The spirit of God lives within each person; therefore, all people are inherently good. Since everything is made within God, we also share in the nature of God. This "spirit of God within us" we call our "Christ consciousness". Eastern religions use the greeting "Namaste", which means "the divinity within me recognizes the same within you". People often act in the way we expect; therefore, expect the best!

3^rd Unity Principle: We create our life experiences through our way of thinking. We create our experience of life through our thoughts and our beliefs. This is what we call our consciousness. Although we all have a Christ consciousness available within us, we often allow our ego and the appearances of things and events outside to ru(i)n our lives, often unconsciously! This is the real source of the Heaven or the Hell that you experience here on Earth.

4^th Unity Principle: There is power in affirmative prayer, which we believe increases our connection to God. When we understand the power of our thoughts and beliefs, we recognize the need to release those that no longer serve us. This we do by two methods - denials, which remove old beliefs by denying their power over our thoughts, and affirmations, which remind us of our divine nature. Although many focus on affirmations because they make us feel good, it is also important to create space for new beliefs by denying the power of any old ones we want to replace. As you can see, we use the power of prayer to connect with our divine nature; which is also a source of guidance.

5^th Unity Principle: Knowledge of these spiritual principles is not enough -- we must live them. It is nice to understand spiritual Truth, but absolutely worthless unless you actually practice it! We must live from the Truth that we know, to demonstrate its power to ourselves and to enjoy the benefits that it brings to our everyday lives. In Unity, a sin is an act that is made out of ignorance of our nature, usually when we feel "separate"; unaware of our "unity" through our spiritual nature.

Evangelists might read this last principle to mean that we try to convince others to practice what we believe, but that is NOT the Unity way! In fact, we are small partly because we do not proselytize our faith. We strongly support everyone in finding what spiritual truths work for them and normally will only discuss our own beliefs when asked. Now I know you didn't ask me, but I did warn you in the title - so if you are still reading this, it was your choice!

To explore Unity and our beliefs further, go to www.unity.org. Or just continue to read this series of articles! You might also want to read my earlier article here.