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By Dr. Maya Angelou

I first heard of Eric Butterworth back in 1955. At that time I was a performer based in San Francisco, and my voice teacher happened to be a lay minister at the local Unity Church. He took me to his church the first time and I never left. …

What I found to be so compelling in Butterworth’s teachings, and still do, is that the power of God, the essential spirit, is within each of us. We can ignore that, or we can draw upon it and decide to grow. We can heal ourselves—or at least heal ourselves enough to know that we may need the help of a professional. And it’s just a marvelous way of looking at the world. …

Butterworth had an unshakable faith in the power of thought, the power to change not only one’s own life but the world. I think that he also had faith that change would come, and that we have the power to call it up and bring it about sooner by working at it—that change was en route in any case, and we could either help it to grow and mold it to our needs and the needs of others, or be run over by it.

It’s not a condition. It’s a path; it’s a journey. I’m always amazed when people walk up and say, “I’m a Christian.” I always think, “Already? Got it? Goodness gracious. Lucky you.” Well, I’m trying to be a Christian. Working at it and trying to be a Christian is like trying to be a Jew, or trying to be a Buddhist. It’s “practicing” a faith. But in the Christian belief, we are told that the Father, the God, is within. The New Testament states that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, and so it wasn’t a great leap for me to go from that belief to Butterworth’s teachings about our divine potential. No one clarified that biblical idea for me as much as Butterworth did. He preached not just the Kingdom of God, but the power of the Kingdom of God. They’re two different things. One is static, but the other is active.

Read More The Power of Thought | Unity.