"In the Beginning, God!" Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind
(Blogger's Note: For the purposes of this writing, the pronoun He, Him has been changed to It when referring to "God")
The Beginning
We wish to discover what to believe in, why we believe in it, and why such a belief is reasonable; and in so far as possible to enter into the nature of the invisible Cause of this manifest life of ours. We wish to discover how this Cause works; Its relationship to us and our relationship to It, and how we may use this knowledge. The world is tired of mysteries, does not understand symbols, and longs for Reality. What is Reality, where may It be found and how used? These are some of the questions one should like to have answered.
"In the beginning, God!" In the beginning, Spirit or Intelligence only. No manifest universe! No system of planets! No visible form, nothing but the Life Principle. God, the Spirit, had not yet moved upon the waters. Then this All-Being moved or began to create. Where did Spirit move? Upon what did It move? From whence came Its pattern? What means or power did It employ? Through what agencies did It work? In short, out of what is the world, ourselves included, made? How did we and all other physical manifestations come into being?
If we suppose Spirit to be the Life Principle running through all manifestation, the Cause of all, then we must supposed that It has Substance within Itself. It is Self-Existent Consciousness, and also Self-Existent Substance. SPIRIT MAKES THINGS OUT OF ITSELF THROUGH SOME INNER ACT UPON ITSELF. This inner act must, of course, be an ace of consciousness, of self-perception, of self-knowingness. What God knows IS. This has been called the Word of God and the Self-Contemplation of God.
The Story of Creation Simplified
Without repeating the well-known account (rather accounts, for there are two) of Creation, as given in the Bible, let us say that someone - generally thought to have been Moses - in expounding his idea of how Creation came into being, put his thoughts into the form of an allegory or symbolic story. Let us restate this story, in our own words, and see what we shall have:
God (meaning the Supreme Spirit or Intelligence of the Universe) was conscious of Itself, prior to the creation of any special world system. Being thus conscious, and desiring to manifest in form, It did so manifest through the power of It's Word, which is Law. God is not only pure Spirit or Intelligence, It is Universe through the power of It's word). Hence, when It speaks, It's Word becomes Law. The Law must obey. The Law is mechanical, the Word is spontaneous. God cannot speak a word which contradicts It's own nature.
Since God is pure Intelligence and endless Being, It is always creating. It is It's nature to create but being All It must act within Itself.
The World of God, spoken within Itself, sets the Law (which is also in Itself) in motion. The result is Creation. The Word is the mold, which acting through Law produces form. As there are many words so there are many forms, each distinct and each an individualized idea of God.
Since the Word of God is permanent, when It speaks, that Word is equipped to perpetuate Itself, even as the seed contains within itself all that is necessary for the reproduction of its kind. It does not become another kind, for this would produce confusion and the Divine Mind is never confused.
God made the mechanical universe, the plant and animal life, but this did not satisfy It, for It wished to create a being who could respond to and understand It. So It created a being who had real life within itself.
It could do this only by imparting It's own nature to this being whom It called man. It must make man in Its own image and likeness. Man must be created out of the stuff of Eternity, if he is to have real being. Humanity must partake of the nature of Divinity if it is to have real life. So God made man from the essence of Itself and clothed this subtle essence with definite form.
And God said within Itself something after this fashion: "If I wish to have a man who is a real being, I must give him self-choice. He must be spontaneous, not automatic. He must have dominion over everything I have created and he shall have all things to enjoy, for his life must be full and complete if he is to express My nature."
So God gave man dominion over all earthly things. Man was not given the power to govern the universe, but he was given the power to have dominion.
And God viewing all that It had created saw that it was good, "very good." How could it be otherwise since It had created it? How could God, being Goodness, see other than good?
This, briefly, is the story of Creation. The reader need not be startled by this rather human narrative. Remember we are putting into human language a story which can only be imagined. Let us see how much of this may have meaning for us - how much of it we may prove.
(Blogger's Note: For the purposes of this writing, the pronoun He, Him has been changed to It when referring to "God")
The Beginning
We wish to discover what to believe in, why we believe in it, and why such a belief is reasonable; and in so far as possible to enter into the nature of the invisible Cause of this manifest life of ours. We wish to discover how this Cause works; Its relationship to us and our relationship to It, and how we may use this knowledge. The world is tired of mysteries, does not understand symbols, and longs for Reality. What is Reality, where may It be found and how used? These are some of the questions one should like to have answered.
"In the beginning, God!" In the beginning, Spirit or Intelligence only. No manifest universe! No system of planets! No visible form, nothing but the Life Principle. God, the Spirit, had not yet moved upon the waters. Then this All-Being moved or began to create. Where did Spirit move? Upon what did It move? From whence came Its pattern? What means or power did It employ? Through what agencies did It work? In short, out of what is the world, ourselves included, made? How did we and all other physical manifestations come into being?
If we suppose Spirit to be the Life Principle running through all manifestation, the Cause of all, then we must supposed that It has Substance within Itself. It is Self-Existent Consciousness, and also Self-Existent Substance. SPIRIT MAKES THINGS OUT OF ITSELF THROUGH SOME INNER ACT UPON ITSELF. This inner act must, of course, be an ace of consciousness, of self-perception, of self-knowingness. What God knows IS. This has been called the Word of God and the Self-Contemplation of God.
The Story of Creation Simplified
Without repeating the well-known account (rather accounts, for there are two) of Creation, as given in the Bible, let us say that someone - generally thought to have been Moses - in expounding his idea of how Creation came into being, put his thoughts into the form of an allegory or symbolic story. Let us restate this story, in our own words, and see what we shall have:
God (meaning the Supreme Spirit or Intelligence of the Universe) was conscious of Itself, prior to the creation of any special world system. Being thus conscious, and desiring to manifest in form, It did so manifest through the power of It's Word, which is Law. God is not only pure Spirit or Intelligence, It is Universe through the power of It's word). Hence, when It speaks, It's Word becomes Law. The Law must obey. The Law is mechanical, the Word is spontaneous. God cannot speak a word which contradicts It's own nature.
Since God is pure Intelligence and endless Being, It is always creating. It is It's nature to create but being All It must act within Itself.
The World of God, spoken within Itself, sets the Law (which is also in Itself) in motion. The result is Creation. The Word is the mold, which acting through Law produces form. As there are many words so there are many forms, each distinct and each an individualized idea of God.
Since the Word of God is permanent, when It speaks, that Word is equipped to perpetuate Itself, even as the seed contains within itself all that is necessary for the reproduction of its kind. It does not become another kind, for this would produce confusion and the Divine Mind is never confused.
God made the mechanical universe, the plant and animal life, but this did not satisfy It, for It wished to create a being who could respond to and understand It. So It created a being who had real life within itself.
It could do this only by imparting It's own nature to this being whom It called man. It must make man in Its own image and likeness. Man must be created out of the stuff of Eternity, if he is to have real being. Humanity must partake of the nature of Divinity if it is to have real life. So God made man from the essence of Itself and clothed this subtle essence with definite form.
And God said within Itself something after this fashion: "If I wish to have a man who is a real being, I must give him self-choice. He must be spontaneous, not automatic. He must have dominion over everything I have created and he shall have all things to enjoy, for his life must be full and complete if he is to express My nature."
So God gave man dominion over all earthly things. Man was not given the power to govern the universe, but he was given the power to have dominion.
And God viewing all that It had created saw that it was good, "very good." How could it be otherwise since It had created it? How could God, being Goodness, see other than good?
This, briefly, is the story of Creation. The reader need not be startled by this rather human narrative. Remember we are putting into human language a story which can only be imagined. Let us see how much of this may have meaning for us - how much of it we may prove.
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