“Eating Animals Harms Your Christ Body.” ~ Charles Fillmore. By Dr Chapman Chen

Charles Sherlock Fillmore (1854–1948), co-founder of the Unity School of Christianity with his wife Myrtle, was a pioneering New Thought teacher who believed that the spiritual life must be reflected in one’s body, diet, and daily conduct. Myrtle Fillmore adopted vegetarianism (veganism) in 1895 for ethical reasons, and Charles followed, making his first public declaration on diet in the 1903 Unity tract As to Meat Eating. For roughly three decades, Fillmore taught that abstaining from animal flesh was not merely a health regimen, but an essential aspect of spiritual law.

1. A Threefold Reality:-

At the centre of Fillmore’s system is a threefold reality: Divine Law, the Christ Mind, and the Christ Body. Divine Law is the eternal order of God in creation; the Christ Mind is the consciousness that understands and obeys that order; and the Christ Body is the spiritual, incorruptible form that results when the soul fully embodies Divine Law in thought, character, and flesh.

2. The Three Dimensions of Divine Law

Fillmore explains Divine Law in three dimensions.

(A) The Law of Life. Since “this life does not countenance death in any form” (As to Meat Eating, 1903), the slaughter of animals violates the will of the Creator by destroying a ray of God’s life. Fillmore appeals to Genesis 1:29–30 and extends “Thou shalt not kill” (Exod. 20:13) to all sentient creatures.

(B) The Law of Love. Because “God is love” (1 John 4:8), Fillmore insists that spiritual life is impossible without universal compassion: “Cruelty, war, and wanton destruction of human life will continue so long as men destroy animals” (Statement of Faith #28).

(C) The Law of Mind Action. “Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind,” Fillmore teaches (Dynamics for Living, chap. 3). Food conveys ideas and vibrations; one “shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4), i.e., the consciousness behind it. Dead flesh produces “death-consciousness,” while fresh plant foods build “life-consciousness.”

3. Everybody is a Potential Christ

Flowing from these laws, Fillmore teaches that every human being is a potential Christ, “the Son of God in embryo” (Jesus Christ Heals, chap. 2), capable of awakening the Christ Mind and expressing it through a spiritualized, immortal Christ Body. The path requires mastery of appetite, purity of thought, prayer, denial, affirmation, and steady obedience to Divine Law.

4. The Christ Mind

Fillmore teaches that dominion of the Christ Mind is attained by subduing sense-consciousness, mastering appetite, and regenerating the body through prayer, denial, affirmation, purity of thought, and obedience to Divine Law (Keep a True Lent, “Subjection of the Body”; The Twelve Powers of Man, chap. 12; Dynamics for Living, chap. 3; The Revealing Word, “Christ”).

5. The Christ Body

The Christ Body, he wrote, is “transformed and regenerated cell by cell through the renewing power of the Christ mind” (The Twelve Powers of Man, chap. 12). Because fear, pain, and death cling to slaughtered flesh, it is “unsuited for the spiritual body” (As to Meat Eating, 1903), whereas plant foods should be “fresh and… radiant in their sunny perfection” (Teach Us to Pray, “Spiritual Law in Diet”). Through such regeneration, the indwelling Christ is, in Fillmore’s words, “brought forth and made manifest in the life of man” (The Revealing Word, “Christ”).

6. Obedience to Divine Law

When man begins his conscious growth in the spiritual life, he finds that he must overcome carnal appetite and bring all his powers into obedience to divine law, “for the higher life demands the mastery of appetite” (The Twelve Powers of Man, Ch. 12; cf. Keep a True Lent, “Subjection of the Body”). The disciple must cooperate with Divine Law, refining body and appetite through prayer and self-discipline until he hungers only for the “Bread of Life” (John 6:35). In this way, Fillmore teaches, the soul brings its powers into harmony with Divine Mind and prepares the body for regeneration (The Revealing Word, “Christ”).

7. Conclusion

For Fillmore, vegetarianism is not optional: it is part of sanctification, the bodily counterpart of spiritual rebirth, enabling a disciple to “unfold God’s life, love, and Truth in his body, and in all his affairs” (Keep a True Lent, “The Body”). “We do not live on matter; we live on life” (The Vegetarian, Unity Tract, 1903). By overcoming appetite, purifying consciousness, and eating only life-giving foods, the disciple cooperates with Divine Law and manifests, in Fillmore’s view, the indwelling Christ in life and body (The Revealing Word, “Christ”). In this vision, diet is not on the fringe of spirituality—it is one of the foundations of the redeemed life.

Full text: https://www.vegantheology.net/post/eating-animals-harms-your-christ-body-~-charles-fillmore-by-dr-chapman-chen

Bibliography

Primary Sources: Charles Fillmore

Fillmore, Charles. As to Meat Eating. Unity Tract, 1903.Fillmore, Charles. Dynamics for Living. Unity School of Christianity.Fillmore, Charles. Jesus Christ Heals. Unity School of Christianity.Fillmore, Charles. Keep a True Lent. Unity School of Christianity.Fillmore, Charles. Prosperity. Unity School of Christianity.Fillmore, Charles. Teach Us to Pray. Unity School of Christianity.Fillmore, Charles. The Revealing Word: A Dictionary of Metaphysical Terms. Unity School of Christianity.Fillmore, Charles. The Twelve Powers of Man. Unity School of Christianity.Fillmore, Charles. The Vegetarian. Unity Tract, 1903 (Unity dietary writings and essays).