New Book About Unity's 5 Principles

Rev. Ellen Debenport has published a new book about Unity spirituality called The Five Principles: A Guide to Practical Spirituality. This book provides tools for daily living and suggests possible answers to the some of the great questions humans have been asking for ages.

For those who aren't aware, the so-termed "Five Basic Principles" are considered to be the core teaching of the founders of the Unity movement, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore who lived in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Let me summarize them in my own words with a little commentary:

1) God is Absolute Good/Love and is present everywhere in all phenomena. God is the benevolent Source of all existence, all life and is present in all of creation yet also beyond all creation.

2) Created in the image of God, humans all partake in God's being as children of God. All individuals are unique offspring of Absolute Good/Love. Thus the Spirit of God dwells within everyone and this makes humans inherently good despite apparent evidence to the contrary.

3) We help create our life reality by the action of our thinking. The mental-spiritual realm is the seat of agency by which we are able to shape our experiences.

4) Positive, affirmative prayer is hightened and directed thought-action that increases connection with God and allows us to experience more love, peace, and well-being in our lives and relationships.

5) It is not enough to simply know or grasp these principles, but we must live them by practically applying them daily in our personal, relational, and communal lives. (This principle is particularly important in terms of supporting and promoting social action.)

These five principles constitute the essential tenets of the Unity movement. And, though they definitely don't exhaust what Unity circles believe and practice, they make up the core that most can agree upon. In a sense, these principles are Unity's working "doctrine" (which simply means teaching) that serves to loosely form an identity as distinctly Unity.

So to learn more about the five basic Unity principles and an insightful commentary by an experienced Unity minister, check out Rev. Debenport's forthcoming book.

Read a review of The Five Principles and maybe order a copy.