Spirit Works for Us by Working Through Us ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind
"The Thing, then works for us by working through us and is us, always. It cannot work for us in any other way It spreads Itself over the whole universe and shouts at us from every angle, but It can become power to us ONLY WHEN WE RECOGNIZE IT AS POWER.
We cannot recognize that It is, while we are believing that It is not. Hence, it is written: "they...entered not in because of unbelief." (Heb. 4:6) We may enter in because of our belief, but we cannot enter while there is unbelief. Here we come to a house divided against itself. If we say we can only experience a little good, then we shall experience but a little good. But, if we say, with Emerson, "There is no great and no small to the soul that maketh all," then we may experience a greater good because we have conceived it.
Therefore, our belief sets the limit to our demonstration of a Principle which, of Itself, is without limit. It is ready to fill everything, because It is Infinite. So, it is not a question of Its willingness, nor of Its ability. It is entirely a question of our own receptivity.
How Much Can We Believe?
That we must go the way of the Law, is a fundamental tenet of this Science, because Nature obeys us as we first obey It, and our obedience to It is our acceptance of It. How much can we believe? AS MUCH AS WE CAN BELIEVE will be done unto us.
When the consciousness speaks, the law receives and executes. When a farmer plants a seed, he invokes the law. That which follows is done by the mechanical side of Nature, which has no volition of Its own. Involution is the cause and evolution is the effect. When a practitioner thinks, or gives a treatment, or makes a prayer, he is dealing with involution - the first step of the creative order. This is what the Bible calls the Word. That which follow is evolution, or the unfoldment of the word, or concept, into objective existence.
We are thinking, willing, knowing, conscious centers of Life. We are surrounded by, immersed in, and there is flowing through us, a creative Something....call It what you will. The sum total of all our thought, will, purpose, and belief, creates a tendency in the Law that causes It to react to us according to the sum total of that belief.
Ignorance of the law excuses no one from its effects. If then, certain specific ways of thought and belief have produced limitations, other beliefs will change them. We must learn to believe. The approach should be direct, and it should be specific.
Suppose one is laboring under the idea of limitation. His whole thought is a picture of limitation. Where is he placing himself in Mind? Is he not, in substance, saying: "I cannot have and enjoy good things"? And he is demonstrating that he cannot have, or accomplish, good. It may take time to reshape the basis of his thought; he must commence by saying, "I perceive that because I am what I am - because of this Infinite Thing that over-shadows eternity and finds Its abiding place in me, I know that good is now mine - all good." There is no mental coercion in this. We do not will things to be done; things are brought into being, not by will, but by the power of the self-assertive Truth.
How much can one demonstrate? Just what one can believe. How much can we see, how much can we accept, how much can we find in our consciousness that is no longer repudiated by our own denials? Whatever that is, THAT MUCH WE CAN HAVE.
Good Only - Not Good and Evil
The gardener goes forth in faith to sow his seeds. He has learned that as he sows, so shall he reap; that the law works for all alike. We must accustom ourselves to the concept of the impersonalness of the law, the availability of the law, and the mechanical accuracy of the law. If we can conceive only a little good, that is as much as we can experience.
We must instill into the mind the fundamental proposition that good is without bounds. Only good and loving-kindness shall "follow me all the days of my life." (Psalms 23) We must get this concept, rather than continuing to think there is a power of evil as opposed to the power of Good. We experience good and evil because we perceive a presence of duality rather than unity.
Then, knowing that The Thing can work for us only through us, let us begin to accept today more good than we experienced yesterday, and to know that we shall reap a harvest of fulfilled desires. The time must come when we shall have left the apparent evil behind; when it shall be rolled up like a scroll and numbered with the things which were once thought to be.
Let us realize and work with this sound knowledge and perfect faith: That as high as we shall make our mark in Mind and Spirit, so high shall be Its outward manifestation in our material world."
"The Thing, then works for us by working through us and is us, always. It cannot work for us in any other way It spreads Itself over the whole universe and shouts at us from every angle, but It can become power to us ONLY WHEN WE RECOGNIZE IT AS POWER.
We cannot recognize that It is, while we are believing that It is not. Hence, it is written: "they...entered not in because of unbelief." (Heb. 4:6) We may enter in because of our belief, but we cannot enter while there is unbelief. Here we come to a house divided against itself. If we say we can only experience a little good, then we shall experience but a little good. But, if we say, with Emerson, "There is no great and no small to the soul that maketh all," then we may experience a greater good because we have conceived it.
Therefore, our belief sets the limit to our demonstration of a Principle which, of Itself, is without limit. It is ready to fill everything, because It is Infinite. So, it is not a question of Its willingness, nor of Its ability. It is entirely a question of our own receptivity.
How Much Can We Believe?
That we must go the way of the Law, is a fundamental tenet of this Science, because Nature obeys us as we first obey It, and our obedience to It is our acceptance of It. How much can we believe? AS MUCH AS WE CAN BELIEVE will be done unto us.
When the consciousness speaks, the law receives and executes. When a farmer plants a seed, he invokes the law. That which follows is done by the mechanical side of Nature, which has no volition of Its own. Involution is the cause and evolution is the effect. When a practitioner thinks, or gives a treatment, or makes a prayer, he is dealing with involution - the first step of the creative order. This is what the Bible calls the Word. That which follow is evolution, or the unfoldment of the word, or concept, into objective existence.
We are thinking, willing, knowing, conscious centers of Life. We are surrounded by, immersed in, and there is flowing through us, a creative Something....call It what you will. The sum total of all our thought, will, purpose, and belief, creates a tendency in the Law that causes It to react to us according to the sum total of that belief.
Ignorance of the law excuses no one from its effects. If then, certain specific ways of thought and belief have produced limitations, other beliefs will change them. We must learn to believe. The approach should be direct, and it should be specific.
Suppose one is laboring under the idea of limitation. His whole thought is a picture of limitation. Where is he placing himself in Mind? Is he not, in substance, saying: "I cannot have and enjoy good things"? And he is demonstrating that he cannot have, or accomplish, good. It may take time to reshape the basis of his thought; he must commence by saying, "I perceive that because I am what I am - because of this Infinite Thing that over-shadows eternity and finds Its abiding place in me, I know that good is now mine - all good." There is no mental coercion in this. We do not will things to be done; things are brought into being, not by will, but by the power of the self-assertive Truth.
How much can one demonstrate? Just what one can believe. How much can we see, how much can we accept, how much can we find in our consciousness that is no longer repudiated by our own denials? Whatever that is, THAT MUCH WE CAN HAVE.
Good Only - Not Good and Evil
The gardener goes forth in faith to sow his seeds. He has learned that as he sows, so shall he reap; that the law works for all alike. We must accustom ourselves to the concept of the impersonalness of the law, the availability of the law, and the mechanical accuracy of the law. If we can conceive only a little good, that is as much as we can experience.
We must instill into the mind the fundamental proposition that good is without bounds. Only good and loving-kindness shall "follow me all the days of my life." (Psalms 23) We must get this concept, rather than continuing to think there is a power of evil as opposed to the power of Good. We experience good and evil because we perceive a presence of duality rather than unity.
Then, knowing that The Thing can work for us only through us, let us begin to accept today more good than we experienced yesterday, and to know that we shall reap a harvest of fulfilled desires. The time must come when we shall have left the apparent evil behind; when it shall be rolled up like a scroll and numbered with the things which were once thought to be.
Let us realize and work with this sound knowledge and perfect faith: That as high as we shall make our mark in Mind and Spirit, so high shall be Its outward manifestation in our material world."
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