March 31 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

GENERAL SUMMARY ~ Ernest Holmes

"No form is permanent.  All forms return into the Formless.  The Formless is Eternal.  All form is temporary.  There is an eternal play of Life upon Itself.  This is necessary in order that Mind may be expressed.  Man is an expression of Original Mind and he can call temporary forms into being if he wills to.  Indeed he cannot stop doing this and thereby hangs the tale of good and evil.

Through our own individualized subjective mind we contact the Law of the Universe and make use of the Mind of God.  Our conscious mind is limited, but the Subjective part of us, being Universal, is without limit.  This Limitless Medium we may use for whatsoever purpose we will.  If we use It for destructive purposes we shall bring destruction upon ourselves.  The Universe is fool proof.  But there is no liability in using any creative power if we use it constructively.

We can tap the reservoirs of the Universal Mind through the use of our own thought.  We can use this power for the healing of the physical body or for the changing and the control of conditions around us, the reason being that both body and affairs are fluent.  They are Mind held in form.

Man's mind is the Mind of God functioning at the level of man's understanding of his place in the Universe.  Man contacts the Mind of God at the center of his own being.  It is useless to seek elsewhere.  "The Highest God and the innermost God is One God."  Through the medium of Mind man unifies with the Universe and contacts a Power that can do anything for him that he is able to conceive of Its doing. Of course, this Power will never deny Its own Nature.

This Law of Mind is man's access to the Original Creative Genius of the Universe, and has no intention for us other than the intention that we give It.  The Will of Spirit is already imposed upon It to do all those things which we call the automatic processes of nature, whether in our physical bodies or in the physical body of the Universe.

The Spirit has already ordained that nature shall be perfect.  It would be impossible for Spirit to ordain anything else since, in order to be at all, It must be perfect in Its nature.  God is Will and Representation.  A perfect cause must produce a perfect effect.  The normal functions of life are harmonious but we interfere with these in our ignorance and thus bring discord into temporary being.  In the life process of automatic functioning both in our bodies and throughout the universe as a whole the laws of being are set and immutable.  While in the use that we make of the Law of cause and effect in our individual experience we are responsible.  We are given, or by the necessity of our nature have, the power and the necessity of using the Law as though It existed solely for us.  It goes in the direction - in our mental affairs - that we give It. It can have no other direction for us and know no other. But, of course, in the Great Whole, the Universe is not run on the scale of man's ignorance.  Knowledge alone can free man from an ignorant and self-imposed bondage.

But so far as man is concerned, outside of the automatic and necessary functions of Universal Mind, man is free to do as he wills and the Universal Mind, as Law, can know about the individual only what he knows about himself.  The cosmic engine is started but man guides it in his own life.  It goes for him in the direction in which it is driven. This driving is not by force but by agreement, unification and acquiescence.  We must believe.  On this hangs all the law and the prophets.  Heaven and hell are tied up in man's beliefs.  It is the law of his life."

March 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Personal Convictions of Life Eternal ~ Ernest Holmes

I believe in the continuation of the personal life beyond the grave, in the continuity of the individual stream of consciousness with a full recollection of itself and the ability to know and to make itself known.  I wish to feel, when the experience of physical death shall occur, that that which I really am will continue to live beyond the grave.  I wish to feel that I shall again meet those friends whose lives and influences have made my life happy while on earth.  If I could not believe this, I would believe nothing in life; life would have no meaning and death could not be untimely, unless it were long delayed.  If personality does not persist beyond the grave, then death would be an event to be devoutly long for and sought after.

I believe that certain experiences have given us ample evidence to substantiate the claim of immortality.  I know that my own experience justifies a complete acceptance in my mind of my own and other people's immortality.  Is there any one who, standing at the bier of a loved one, can possibly feel that the real end has come?  It is useless to say that their influence lives after them.  That is true, of course, but we hope for more than this; WE WISH TO FEEL THAT THEY STILL LIVE!  How anyone can feel otherwise seems unthinkable. I want to live and keep on living and to know that I am I; and unless immortality means this, death means the cutting off of all conscious life, contact or recognition, and it could then be truly said of the personality that it dies with the grave.

Poets have sung of the eternality of the soul, while the saints and sages of the ages have assured us that man is an immortal being.  It is recorded that Jesus rose from the dead and made Himself known to his immediate followers.  The faith of countless millions of the Christian Religion has been based, to a great extent, on its teachings of immortality.  The philosophy of Christianity can be traced largely to Greek thought and ideals, but the Christian Religion itself rests its greatest hope on the assurance that a man rose from the dead and passed from this plane to the next, retaining and carrying with him into the beyond those qualities and attributes which constitute that personal stream of consciousness known as an individual.

But I cannot base my hopes of immortality on the revelation of anyone but myself.  So far as I am concerned, nothing can exist to me unless I am aware of it.  While I believe in other men's revelations, I am sure only of my own.  I look upon the belief in immortality neither as a vague dream, nor a forlorn hope, but as a proven fact.  One cannot doubt that which he knows to be so, and why should he deny the evidence of his senses, his reason and his personal experiences, in one field more than in another?  Immortality, or the continuation of personal existence beyond this life, has been so completely demonstrated to me that it would be unthinkable for me to assume an opposite position, even for the purpose of debate.  Here, within myself, is something that knows.  Here is something knows that it IS, and knows that life itself moves with a tide as irresistible as the recurring seasons.

I do not believe in the return of the soul to another life on this plane.  The spiral of life is upward.  Evolution carries us forward, not backward.  Eternal and progressive expansion is its law and there are no breaks in its continuity.  It seems to me that our evolution is the result of an unfolding consciousness of that which already is, and needs but to be realized to become a fact of everyday life.  I can believe in planes beyond this one without number, in eternal progress.  I cannot believe that nature is limited to one sphere of action.

The average man desires to live beyond the grave.  In most instances where this desire is lacking, we find those whose experiences in this world have been so negative that their greatest hope is for utter oblivion, a complete nothingness.  The average man desires an eternal progress, an everlasting expansion, a complete reconciliation between this life, the grave and everlasting existence. Even the best men feel that their lives here have been marred by incompleteness.  Nine out of ten people believe in some type of immortality, which demonstrates that people not only wish to believe, but that - in the face of all difficulties, disappointments and disillusionments - THEY ACTUALLY DO BELIEVE!

It is human to grieve over the loss of dear ones.  We love them and cannot help missing them, but a true realization of our immortality and continuity of the individual soul, will rob our grief of hopelessness.  We shall realize that they are in God's keeping and they are safe.  We shall know that loving friends have met them, and that their life still flows on with the currents of eternity. We shall feel that we have not lost them, they have only gone before.  So we shall view eternity from the higher standpoint, as a continuity of time, forever and ever expanding, until time, as we now experience it, shall be no more.  Realizing this, we shall see in everyone a budding genius, a becoming God, an unfolding soul, an eternal destiny.

Time heals all wounds, adjust conditions, explains facts; and time alone satisfies the expanding soul, reconciling the visible with the invisible.  We are born of eternal day, and the Spiritual Sun shall never set upon the glory of the soul, for it is the coming forth of God into self-expression.  We must give ourselves time to work out all problems.  If we do not work them out here, we shall hereafter.  There will be time enough in eternity to prove everything.  Every man is an incarnation of eternity, a manifestation in the finite, of that Infinite which, Emerson tells us, "lies stretched in smiling repose."

With all these facts confronting us, we should learn to trust life.  There is no power in the universe which wishes anyone ill. Life is good and God is Good.  Why not accept this and begin to live?  No man need prepare to meet his God, he is meeting Him every day and each hour in the day.  He meets Him in the rising sun, in the flowing stream, in the budding rose, in the joy of friendship and love, and in the silence of his own soul.

When we meet each other, do we not feel that subtle Presence which flows through all things and gives light and color to our everyday experiences?  In our own souls, in the silent processes of our thought and understanding, do we not sense another Presence?  There is something Divine about us which we have overlooked. There is more to us than we realize.  Man is an eternal destiny, a forever-expanding principle of conscious intelligence...the ocean in the drop of water, the sun in its rays.  Man, the real man, is birthless, deathless, changeless; and God, as man, in man, IS man!  The highest God and the innermost God is One and the same God.

And so we prepare not to die, but to live.  The thought of death should slip from our consciousness altogether; and when this great event of the soul takes place, it should be beautiful, sublime...a glorious experience.  As the eagle, freed from its cage, soars to its native heights, so the soul, freed from the home of heavy flesh, will rise and return unto its Father's house, naked and unafraid."

When death shall come

And the spirit, freed, shall mount the air, 

And wander afar in that great no-where,

It shall go as it came,

Freed from sorrow, sin and shame;

And naked and bare, through the upper air

Shall go alone to that great no-where.

Hinder not its onward way, 

Grieve not o'er its form of clay,

For the spirit, freed now from clod,

Shall go alone to meet its God.

March 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Shall We Rest in the Hereafter? ~ Ernest Holmes

"The questions might arise in our minds, "Where shall we go when we die?"  Shall we engage in activity or shall we be inactive?"  These are natural questions.  Where shall we take this marvelous mind and subtle body?  If today is the logical continuance of yesterday, then all of the tomorrows which stretch down the vista of eternity, will be a continuity of experiences and remembrance.  We shall keep on keeping on.  We shall continue in our own individual stream of consciousness but forever and ever expanding.  Not less but ever more:  More and still more ourselves.

Our place hereafter will be what we have made it.  We certainly cannot take anything with us but our character.  If we have lived in accordance with the law of harmony, we shall continue to live after this Divine Law.  If we have lived any other way, we shall continue to live that way until we wake up to the facts of Being.

When we came into this life, we were met by loving friends who cared for use until we were able to care for ourselves.  Judging the future by the past, we can believe that when we enter the larger life, there will be loving hands to greet us and loving friends to care for us until we become accustomed to our new surroundings.  Nature provides for herself there as well as here.  We confidently expect to meet friends who are on the other side, and to know and be known.  We cannot believe otherwise.  We should not look forward to a hereafter without activity; but to a place where our work will be done in greater harmony with the Divine Law, because of greater understanding.  A place where there was nothing to do, would be eternal boredom.

With this understanding of eternity, should we not be able to view our passing in a different light?  The experience loses its sting, the grave its victory, when we realize the eternity of our own being.  Nature will not let us stay in any one place too long.  She will let us stay just long enough to gather the experience necessary to the unfolding and advancement of the soul.  This is a wise provision, for should we stay here too long, we would become too set, too rigid, too inflexible.  Nature demands the change in order that we may advance.  When the change comes, we should welcome it with a smile on the lips and a song in the heart."

March 27 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

What of Reward and Punishment? ~ Ernest Holmes

"What of reward and punishment? Shall we be rewarded for our virtues  and punished for our short-comings?  Can we think of reward and punishment from any other viewpoint than that sin is a mistake and punishment a consequence, that virtue and righteousness must find their corresponding effects in our experience?  God neither punishes nor rewards. Such a concept of God would create an anthropomorphic dualism, a house divided against itself.  Such a house cannot stand.  Life is a blessing or a curse, according to the use we make of it.  In the long run, no one judges us but ourselves and no one condemns us but ourselves.  We believe in a law that governs all things and all people.  If we make mistakes, we suffer.  We are our own reward and our own punishment.

Some suffer, some are happy, some unhappy, according to the way they contact life.  No one judges us but ourselves.  No one gives to us but ourselves and no one robs us but ourselves.  We need not fear either God or the devil.  There is no devil, and God is Love.  The problem of good and evil will never enter the mind which is at peace with itself.  When we make mistakes we suffer the consequences.  When by reason of enlightenment and understanding, we correct such mistakes, we no longer suffer from them.  Understanding alone constitutes true salvation, either here or hereafter.

We need fear nothing in the Universe.  We need not be afraid of God.  We may be certain that all will arrive at the final goal, that not one will be missing. Every man is an incarnation of God.  The soul can no more be lost than God could be lost.  We should neither be disturbed by the wailing of prophets, nor the anathemas of theology.  We cannot believe that because we have subscribed to some creed, we have thereby purchased a seat in heaven, nor can we believe in any vindictive or malicious power in the universe, which damns us because we have erred through human ignorance.  We believe in God and that He is Good. What more can life demand of us than that we do the best that we can and try to improve?  If we have done this, we have done well and all will be right with our souls both here and hereafter.  This leaves us free to work out our own salvation - not with fear or even with trembling - but with peace and in quiet confidence."

March 30 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Immortal Clothing (II Cor. 5:1-10) ~ Ernest Holmes

"This body, in which we seem to live, is not the eternal body.  We have a body not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  As our thought reaches up and on to that greater truth, we are clothed upon from heaven.  That is, we more perfectly pattern the Divine and consequently more completely manifest the Eternal.

We do not wish to be unclothed but clothed upon.  This is an interesting concept, for it implies that immortality clothes itself in definite forms, more beautiful than those which now appear.

We are to know no man after the flesh, but even Christ after the Spirit. Thus we are swallowed up of life.  Death is overcome, not by dwelling upon it, but by contemplating eternal life.  It is the belief of the writer that should one become completely unconscious of death and all fear of it, one would never know that he died, even though he went through the experience of passing from this life to the next.  Death would be swallowed up of life.

It seems probable that when the last enemy is overcome, we shall pass from one experience to another at will; that the soul will clothe itself in a body on whatever plane it finds itself - a body which will express the soul on that plane. We are to know no man after the flesh but the Spirit.

The Inner Man (Eph. 3:16)

"To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man."  The inner man is Christ, and Christ is the son of God.  The inner man is revealed by what he does.  As we do not see God, so we do not see the real man.  We never see causes, only effects; but the effect loudly affirms the nature of its cause.

The Spirit of God dwells in the inner man with power and might.  The outer man reflects this Spirit in so far as the intellect allows it to come forth into expression.

When Christ dwells in us in love, which is unity, we are able to understand the things that the saints have understood.  Saint simply means an unusually wise and good man - all saints have been human beings just as we are for God makes all people alike.  The universe plays no favorites.

To be filled with the fullness of God is to manifest our true nature, which is Christ, the Son of God - "the power that worketh in us." This power is the power of God, and if we admitted no other, we should ever be satisfied, happy, prosperous, well and complete.

The Endless Creation (Eph. 3:20,21)

"World without end."  This refers to the endless creation of the Almighty.  Particular worlds will always begin and end, as do cabagges and kings; but creation itself - the necessity of God's manifesting Himself in time and in space - will never end.  If creation could end, then God would end.  As this is unthinkable, it follows that "world without end," or worlds without end, are necessary to the expression of Spirit."

March 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Is There Spirit Communication? ~ Ernest Holmes

"It would be interesting to know whether the spirits of the supposed dead, cause certain physical manifestations experienced by many people. One thing is certain, these manifestations are either caused by those who are supposed to be dead, or they are produced b those now in the flesh.  This is self-evident.  since they occur, something must make them happen. Whether the manifestations are caused by the so-called dead or by the living, the agency used is either a mental body or the direct power of thought operating upon objects.

More than forty years ago (and but little new has been discovered since in this field) Hudson, in his "Law of Psychic Phenomena," carefully goes through an elaborate process of reasoning - the result of years of painstaking investigation - and completely proves that all of the manifestations do take place.  He then goes through and extensive, and to his conclusive, argument to show that the ARE NOT CAUSED BY SPIRITS, declaring that we have no reason to supposed the presence of an UNKNOWN agency when we know there is one present who could be producing the phenomena.

Scientific research in the realm of the psyche, the subjective soul life, has taught us many valuable lessons; and has demonstrated beyond question of doubt that there are people who, while in a certain state of consciousness, are able to see without the agency of the physical eye, hear without the agency of the physical ear, and communicate without the tongue.  Indeed, every faculty of the sense has been duplicated in the mind alone.  It would take volumes to enumerate the data compiled by able and scientific minds in furnishing evidence for these facts, and they may be accepted as authentic.  This evidence leads us to suppose that the soul can operate independently of the physical instrument.  A careful examination of these facts, together with years of personal and immediate experience, will remove all doubts.  Those who have carefully investigated do no question this evidence.

Why has Nature provided us with such subtle powers unless She foreknew our need of them sometime, somewhere?  Nature is not foolish; She does nothing without an ample reason, leaves no gaps and provides for all emergencies.  In everyday living, the etheric and subtle qualities of the soul are not needed.  It seems logical to infer that in providing for the continuity of life and the triumphant progression of the soul, Nature has endowed us with duplicate senses that we may be able to reproduce our entire life, with all its action and reaction, on another plane.

Now, if our reasoning power is correct, and it is provided that physical manifestations take place through some power which is mental, and if it is provided that those who have passed on might still be near us, then we cannot see where the argument against spirit agencies could be considered perfect.  We are inclined to feel that the very facts in the case prove that at least come of these manifestations could be produced by either the living or the so-called dead; and such we believe to be the case.

There are thousands of cases on record where people have penetrated the veil of flesh and seen into the beyond.  If we cannot believe the experiences of so many, how can we believe in any experience at all?  Of course, there is a large field for deception, and it is not probable that all alleged communications are real, but to state positively that they are all illusions is to throw the lie in the face of human thought and say that it never sees clearly.  There is certainly more argument and evidence in favor of the theory of the possibility of spirit communication than against it, and so far as we are concerned, we are entirely convinced of the reality of this evidence.

If spirits really exist, and if we all live in one Mind; and if mentality can communicate with mentality without the aid of the physical instrument, then spirit communication must be possible!  Since we know that the above stated facts are true, we have no alternative other than to accept the conclusive evidence and to realize that, while it may be difficult to communicate with the departed, yet it has been done.

It is evident that any such communication MUST BE MENTAL.  It would be thought-transference, or mental telepathy, at best.  Now, if the supposed entity knows that we wish to communicate with it, and if it is consciously present trying to communicate with us, then it must - by the power of its thought - cause its message to come up through our subjectivity to an objective state of recognition.  Consequently, how very difficult to receive a coherent message!  For instance, suppose one tries to think a lecture to an audience, how much would that audience be likely to receive?  Yet this is exactly what would happen, UNDER THE VERY BEST CONDITIONS, if the departed were trying to impress our thought, and we knew that they might do so and we were trying to receive it!  I believe that they do seek to communicate with us and that they often succeed - perhaps more often than we realize - but I repeat, "How difficult it must be!"

Whether or not th espirits are present is uncertain.  Just because a psychic sees the picture of a certain person around or near us, does not mean the person is actually there; for the pictures of all our friends are always in our mental atmospheres. It is imperative that we make this distinction, as people sometimes become unbalanced, fromaccepting as real and actual that which is only a picture...only a mental impression.  It is quite absured to suppose that at any time we wish, we can call anyone whom we ever knew and have him talk with us.  We are unable to doso here, and the psychological and metaphysical laws are the same on every plane.  TO SUPPOSE THAT WE CAN COMPEL THE ATTENTION OF ANYONE OUT OF THE FLESH, ANY MORE THAN ONE IN IT, IS AN ABSURDITY, and if we could, what would we hope to gain?  People out of the flesh know no more than athey did when in the body.

However, I believe that we often do communciate with the subjectivity of those who are departed, whether they know we are doing so or not; but the messages that come in our present state of evolution are very incoherent.  I believe that an unconscious communication goes on, more or less, all the time and that those people whom we have greatly loved are still conscious of us.  We might feel only a vagues sense of their presence, much as did the niece in "The Return of Peter Grimm."  She felt, you will recall a vague sense of her uncle; that he was trying to impress her with his tought and desire; she felt a blind groping and that is probably as clearly as we should be able to receive most messages.

We all have psychic capacities but they should never be forced, for it is only when the subjective comes to the surface while we are in a perfectly normal state, that a normal psychic power is produced.  To lose the self-consciousness, in order to let the subjective come through, is never good or right and furthermore is likely to be destructive.  The psychic capacity is normal oonly to the extent that it can be used while in a self-conscious state.  Many people are annoyed by their psychic powers - constatntly seeing things the average person does not see, continually getting impressions.  These people are very near to the subjectivity and it bothers them.  They can easily be healed and should be.

There is, however, a normal psychic capacity, and some are able to discern mental causes with perfect ease.  Jesus was such a one.  He was able to tell the woman she had been married five times, aand that the man with whom she was then living was not her husband.  He read that out of her thought, but he didi it while in an objective state, for he was able to consciously and objectively exercise his subjective faculties.  This is perfectly normal, but to let go of the volitional and choosing faculties - which alone constitute individuality - and become immersed in subjectivity, is very dangerous.

It is a crime against individuality to allow the conscious faculties to bcome submerged.  We should control the subjective and not let it control us.  The teaching of the illusion of mind sprang up because men ofwisdom perceived that people might mistake the shadow for the reality; the form for real substance; the hollow voice for revelation, and thereby be misled.  This is why they warned against these things, and against having familiar spirits, and they were right.  Never let any voices speak to you unless you are in control of th esituaiton.  NEVER ADMIT ANY MENTAL IMPRESSIONS ORIMAGES THAT YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE, OR THAT YOU CANNOT RECEIVE CONSCIOUSLY.  Say: "There is no power, in the flesh or out of it, but the One, which can enter my consciousness.  Anything that obes the One, confirms to the One, believes only in the One, and comes only through the consciousness of the One, is perfectly welcome but ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT CANNOT COME."

The only value that an understanding of psychic phenomena can have - and the only reason for introducing any discussion of it in this book - is that without a comprehension of it, we do not understand the complete workings of the mind.  We do not understand the experiences which people often have, and in a consistent philosophy which deals with Mind, the lack ofan understanding of psychic phenomena would be inexcusable!  For anyone in this day to say that power of clairvoyance, telepathy, etc. are not exercised is to admit his own ignorance.

Thesse things do happen, and are continually happening in more and more instances.  The thing to do is not to deny what happens, but to find a logical and scientific explanation of it.  It is our business to explain all mental action -- in so far as at present it is explainable - and so we must find an answer which will cover the law of psychic phenomena.  MIND, wiht th elaws governing It, is the whole answer, foreach plane repreduces the one next to it; and psychic phenomena are but reproductions of man's physical capacities on the mental plane.  "what is true on one plane, is true on all.""

March 25 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Ether of Science ~ Ernest Holmes

"Science is rapidly proving that there is much more in the Universe than we can see with the naked eye. We are now being taught that ether is more solid than matter.  We know that the ether penetrates everything; it is in our bodies, at the center of the earth, and throughout all space.  This means that within our present bodies there is a substance more solid than the body which we see.  This idea is very far-reaching, for it shows that we might have a body within the physical one, which could be as real as the one of which we are accustomed to think.  If Instinctive Man has molded the outer body in form, why should It not mold the inner one into definite form?  There is every reason to suppose that It does and no reason to suppose the opposite.  In all probability, there is a body within a body to infinity.

We do not depart from reason when we assume this, for while we say that two bodies cannot occupy the same space simultaneously, we must remember that we are talking about only one plane of expression; and the plane upon which we are now living with its form of matter is probably but one of innumerable planes, each having its own matter with its corresponding form.  The new idea of matter and ether has proved that form can lie within form without interference, for it has been shown conclusively that there is a substance which can occupy the same space which our body does.  Once this theory is accepted, it enables us to better understand the saying, "There are celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial."..."There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body."  No doubt, as time goes on, it will be proved that there is something still finer than the ether.  This may go on to infinity.  There is every reason to suppose that we have a body within a body to infinity, and it is our belief that we do have.

The "resurrection body," then, will not be snatched from some Cosmic Shelf, as the soul soars aloft.  It is already within and we may be certain that it will be a fit instrument for the future unfoldment of the soul. If this is true, and if remembrance links events together, in a continuous stream of consciousness and form, then the future body will resemble this one, except that it will be free from disease, old age, or whatever hinders a more complete flow of the Spirit.

It would seem then, that we have a spiritual body now, and need not die to receive one.  We now remember the past, and have outlived many physical bodies during this life.  So it looks as if we were already immortal and need not die to take on immortality. If there are many planes of Life and consciousness as we firmly believe, perhaps we only die from one plane to another.  This thought makes a strong appeal and seems reasonable.

Some think that death robs us of the objective faculties, and that we pass out in a purely subjective state, but personally we are unable to follow the logic of such an assumption.  To suppose that the objective faculties die with the brain, is to suppose that the brain thinks and reasons.  This is provided to be false through the  experience of death itself, for if the brain could think, it would think on and on forever.  No, it is not the brain that thinks.  The thinker thinks through the brain perhaps, but of itself the physical brain has no power to think or feel.  Detach the brain and it will not formulate ideas nor work out plans.  THE THINKER ALONE CAN THINK!

It is not merely pleasing and satisfactory to suppose that we pass from this life to the next, in full and complete retention of our faculties: it is logical.  Jesus revealed himself to his followers after his resurrection, to show them that death is but a passing to a higher sphere of life and action.  TO KNOW THAT WE MAINTAIN AN IDENTITY INDEPENDENT OF THE PHYSICAL BODY IS PROOF ENOUGH OF IMMORTALITY.  This, together with the fact that remembrance maintains a constant stream of recollection; and the realization that mentality can operate independently of the body - performing all of its normal functions without the aid of the body - and that the new theory of matter and ether furnishes proof of the possibility of a body within a body to infinity and that the inner man is constantly forming matter into the shape of a body; all of these evidences should prove to us that we are not going to attain immortality, but that WE ARE NOW IMMORTAL!  Our contention is not that dead men live again, but that a living man never dies."

March 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Shall We Have a Body Hereafter? ~ Ernest Holmes

"Through introspection, I know that I am; and by observation I note that when death comes, this I Am appears no longer to be.  The body lies cold, inert, lifeless; its warmth, color and responsiveness have fled. Is it possible for one observing this process to doubt that something tangible and real has left this plane?  When the body is given back to the native elements from which it sprang, the knowing, willing and thinking factors that constitute human personality and an individualized stream of consciousness have departed.

The table has four legs, yet it does not walk; the ear does not hear; nor does the tongue wag unless there is someone to wag it.  The brain does not think, if the brain were endowed with power from on high, it would think on forever; isolate it and it will not think.  It is the thinker using the brain who thinks. There is also one using the power of vision, looking through the windows of the eyes, who sees.

The soul needs a physical body here, else it would not have evolved one.  But when by reason of disease, decay or accident the physical body is no  longer an adequate instrument through which the soul may function, it lays the present body aside and continues to function through a more subtle one.

When we pass from this plane, shall we become spirits or shall we have tangible bodies?  Form is necessary to self-expression.  We reiterate, there can be no consciousness without something of which to be conscious.  It is one of the first laws of consciousness to clothe itself in form.  The soul clothes itself in form here, and if it continues to live after the passing of the physical body, it is reasonable to conclude that it will still need and have a body.  If the soul can create and sustain a body here, there is no reason to deny its ability to create and sustain one hereafter!  We are spirits now as much as we ever shall be.  The laws of Mind and Spirit do not change with the passing of the physical body.  But the question might be asked, "From what substance would the soul create a new body?"  The new idea of ether supplies a theory to fit this need."

March 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

What Is the Body? ~ Ernest Holmes

"When man first awakened to self-consciousness, he had a body with a definite form, showing that Instinctive Life - which is God - had already clothed Itself with the form of flesh. Body or form is the necessary outcome of self-knowingness.  In order to know, there must be something to be known.  Some kind of a body (or expression) always was and always will be, if consciousness is to remain true to its own nature.

Body is a concrete manifestation, existing in time and space, for the purpose of furnishing a vehicle through which Life may express Itself.  The physical Universe is the Body of God; it is a manifestation in form of the Mind of God.  It is that Creation which - while It may have beginnings and ends - of Itself neither begins nor ends.  The manifestation of Spirit is necessary, if Spirit is to come into Self-Realization - hence, Body.

We say that body is composed of matter, but what is matter?  Science tells us that matter is an aggregation of small particles arranged in some kind of form.  We are also told that matter is in a continuous state of flow.  Strange as it may seem, we do not have the same physical bodies that we had a few months ago, they have completely changed.  New particles have taken the place of the old, and the only reason that they have taken the same form is that something within has provided the same mold.  Our bodies are like a river, forever flowing.  The Indwelling Spirit alone maintains the identity."

March 22 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Where Did Man Come from and Why? ~ Ernest Holmes

"To inquire why Life itself is, is useless, for Life is self-existent, and all of the science, wit and art of man can never fathom that which is self-existent.  "I am that I am."  Since we are, we must have evolved from, or become manifested in, that which is.  Our physiological and psychological reactions, are reactions to something which has an actual existence, intelligence and consciousness.  Our actions and reactions can be analyzed.  The invisible Life Principle incarnated in us cannot be analyzed.  Any attempt to do so is futile.

Facts admit of proof, Life announces Itself.  We know that we are; even a flat denial of our existence would constitute a bold affirmation of its reality.  If we were to push our history back to some beginning, we should still be compelled to make the simple statement that man is.  If man's life is of God, then it comes from a Source that had no beginning, so the question as to WHY he is, must forever remain unanswered.  God could not tell why God is!  To suppose that Life could give an excuse or reason for being would be to suppose an absurdity.  Life IS, and right at this point all inquiry into Truth starts, and from this point alone must this inquiry continue.

We are not so much interested, however, in why we are, as in what we are.  That we are some part of Life, no one can deny and keep faith with reason."

March 21 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

IMMORTALITY

Ernest Holmes

The Meaning of Immortality

"To most of us, immortality means that we shall persist after the experience of physical death, retaining a full recognition of ourselves, and having the ability to recognize others.  If our full capacities go with us beyond the grave, we must be able to think consciously, to will, to know and to be known, to communicate and to receive communications.  We must be able to see and be seen, to understand and to be understood.  In fact, if one is really to continue as a self-conscious personality beyond this life, he can do so only if he maintains a continuous stream of the same consciousness and self-knowingness that he now possesses.

Personal identity of course postulates memory, which binds into one sequence the old life and the new.  This means that man must carry with him - after the experience of physical death - a complete remembrance, for it is to this alone that we must look for the link which binds one event to another, making life a continuous stream of self-conscious expression.  To suppose that man can forget, and still maintain a self-conscious identity, is to suppose that one could cut off his entire past without destroying the logical sequence of personality.  Where is this faculty?  Cut a man into the smallest bits, analyze and dissect every atom of his physical being, and you will never find memory.  There is something about the personality which not only performs its functions, but also remembers what it has done, and which can anticipate future events.  What is it?  It is the thing we are talking about, the non-physical faculty of perception, the thing that knows...The Knower.  Individuality might remain without remembrance, but not so with personality for what we are is the result of what we have been, the result of what has gone before.

We are not content with the thought that immortality is merely the result of one's life and work, which he has left behind; for instance, that he immortalizes himself in his offspring - we still ask "What of the man?"  Man, then, if he is to have an immortality worthy of the name, must continue as he now is beyond the grave.  DEATH CANNOT ROB HIM OF ANYTHING IF HE BE IMMORTAL!"

March 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

More...FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS ~ Ernest Holmes

Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole (Matt. 9:20, 21)

""And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him and touched the hem of his garment; for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole."

It is said that Jesus was aware of her presence and turned to her with the words, "Thy faith hath made thee whole."  This is a lesson in impersonal healing, showing that the spiritually-minded are surrounded by an atmosphere of Reality the very presence of which heals.  Again, we find Jesus emphasizing the teaching - that it is done unto us as we believe.  "And the woman was made whole from that hour."

In healing the blind men, Jesus asked them if they believed that he was able to restore their vision, and upon their acceptance of his ability to do so, he said, "According to your faith be it unto you."  Again he was showing the necessity of faith and belief, as supreme requisites in the demonstration of spiritual power.

The Law of Circulation (Matt. 10:8)

"Freely ye have received, freely give."  When the law of circulation is retarded, stagnation results.  It is only as we allow the Divine current to flow through us on and out, that we really express life.  The law of giving and receiving is definite.  Emerson tells us to beware of holding too much good in our hands.

Because of the unity underlying all life, no man lives entirely unto himself, but through himself, he lives unto the whole, which whole embodies all other lives. Therefore, "he that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life, shall find it."

When a man's thought rests entirely upon himself, he becomes abnormal and unhappy; but when he gives himself with enthusiasm to any legitimate purpose, losing himself in the thing which he is doing, he becomes normal and happy.  Only as much life enters into us as we can conceive, and we conceive of life - in the larger sense - only when there is complete abandonment to it.  Let the one who is sad, depressed, or unhappy find some altruistic purpose into which he may pour his whole being and he will find a new inflow of life of which he has never dreamed.

Whom Shall We Try to Help?  (Matt. 10:12, 13)

But Jesus was wise in the ways of the world, as well as in heavenly wisdom, and he counselled his followers against attempting to help people,when they wished no help.  He said, "And when ye come into a house, salute it.  And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it:  but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you."

This is a lesson which sincere students of Truth often discover to their great chagrin.  People do not always receive their message, and when this happens there should be no controversy, no argument, and no sense of disturbance; but, abiding in the conviction of the ultimate acceptance of truth by all, they should let their peace return unto themselves and go calmly on their way, undisturbed, unprejudiced, non-combative, but certain of themselves...certain of the Truth upon which they stand.  If however, they are called upon to defend their faith, they should remember that the Spirit, indwelling their lives, will put into their mouths the very words which they should speak; the great teacher said:  "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."  (Matt. 10:20) Never forget that there is an indwelling Spirit which knows."

March 19 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS

Ernest Holmes

A Song of Hope

My Life is in Thee, O Inner Presence.

I look upon Thee and hope springs forth into realization.

O Hope within me, undying evidence of Good.

Thou dost completely hold me in Thy loving embrace,

And from this fond caress assurance shall be born, and confidence and love.

My hope is in Thee.

Be Still and Know

"Be still and know that I am God."

I am still in Thy Presence.

I am quiet and peaceful, for I put my trust in Thee.

A great stillness steals over me and a great calm quiets my whole being, as I realize Thy Presence.

The heart know of Thee, O Most High within.

It is still in Thy Presence, and it puts its whole confidence in Thee alone.

In Thy Presence I am still.

March 18 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Success and Happiness ~ Ernest Holmes

"Success and happiness are ours when we deal with Absoluteness.  This is the attitude we should have.  What we need to know is the Truth.  This does not mean that we need not be active; of course we shall be active, but we need not compel things to happen.  Only remember we are surrounded by a Universal Subjectivity, a Subjective, Creative Consciousness, which is receptive, neutral, impersonal, always receiving the impress of our thought and which has no alternative other than to operate directly upon it, thus creating the things which we think.

Each one should realize that there is nothing in him which denies that which he desires.  Our unity with good is not established while there is anything in us which denies it.  People often say:  "How shall I know when I know?"  The very fact that one can ask this proves he does not know, for when he knows that he knows, he can prove his knowing by doing.

Thought sets definite forces in motion in Mind, relative to the individual who thinks.  For instance, I am known in consciousness as Ernest Holmes, for that is my name; and every claim made for me, which I accept, operates through avenues of mind-activity and returns to me as some condition.

A good demonstration is made when Truth, gathering Its own power, lifts one out of his environment; and until that time comes, he should stay where he is, in order that he may know when he has made a demonstration.  It is not a good demonstration if when we give our treatments we have to struggle just as before.  Principle is Absolute, and in so far as any individual can actually induce, within consciousness, upon Principle, a definite, concrete acceptance of his desire...it will manifest, even though every thought on earth had to change to compel it!  If it were a bit of information that was needed for the demonstration that only one person on earth knew - and that person was in the center of Africa - the information would be produced!"

March 17 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATION

Ernest Holmes

 

The Circle is Complete

 

The Circle of Love is complete.

It comprehends all, includes all, and binds all together with cords of Everlasting Unity.

I cannot depart from Its Presence nor wander from Its care.

My Love is complete within me.

The Love of God binds me to Itself, and will not let me go.

I shall make a home for you, O my wonderful Love, and we shall journey through life hand in hand.

I shall sit in your Presence and learn the wondrous things You will tell me;

for you are God.

 

Love sits within me.

 

 

The Things That Are

 

The things that are, were and evermore shall be.

Time, chance and change be gone from my thought!

The Changeless is here to stay, and the Timeless cannot cease from Being.

The Things that are shall remain, though heaven and earth should pass away.

I rest secure and safe within the Life of Endless Perfection and Completion.

My whole Being responds to the Realization of the Complete Whole.

 

I am that which Is.

 

March 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Spirit and Mental Law ~ Ernest Holmes

"It is impossible to divorce spiritual understanding from the proper use of mental law. The Spirit within man is God, and only to the degree that we listen to and seek to obey this Spirit shall we really succeed.  At present very few people differentiate between the Spirit of the Universe and the Law of the Universe.  The Spirit of God, which we think of as the Heavenly Father, is a Divine Presence, while the Law is a mechanical force.

The electrician may be a Methodist or Catholic or Buddhist.  He may be a spiritual man or a material-minded man, but electricity, being a natural law, can be used by one man as easily as by another.  It will work here, there and anywhere.  This does not seem strange to us, but often when we approach things which seem to be religious and spiritual, we think, "Now we are outside the realm of Law, God is good, therefore Law no longer exists."  We fail to recognize with Browning that "All's love, yet all's law."  We must differentiate between the Divine Presence as a Universal Spirit - a thing to be communed with - and the Universal Law, which is simply a blind Force.  The Law is a blind Force, and lest we misuse It, we should be very careful to follow a constructive course.  The Law is Absolute and we should trust Its impersonal action implicitly.  It can do anything for us THAT WE CAN CONCEIVE OF IT DOING.  It is the Law of freedom to all who believe in and obey It.

We must realize that the Universal Spirit is the Supreme Knower in the Universe.  The Law can only operate on that which is known.  In such degree as our knowledge partakes of Its Original Knowledge, or Nature, it has power.  The highest realization we can have is a recognition of the Omnipresence of Spirit.  This will set greater possibilities in motion and will, automatically, provide a better concept of life. Consequently, those people who have had the greatest sense of the Divine Presence - wherever it has been coupled with the definite knowledge of the Universal Law of Mind - have had the greatest power over that Law.  This was the secret of the power of Jesus.

We should daily train our thought to recognize the Spirit in everything we do, say or think. There is no other way, to try any other way would be to make a complete failure.  "Render, therefore, unto Caesar, the things which are Caesar's' and unto God the things that are God's."  A constant realization of the presence of Spirit will provide a sense of Divine Companionship that no other attitude could produce.  Why should we not take the highest and best?  GOD IS - and we should realize this truth and make use of it. As soon as we recognize that God is, we can turn to the Law and tell It what to do.

We have no record of Jesus asking God to do anything, except in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He said:  "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt."  Aside from this instance, Jesus' method of approach, during His entire ministry, was to give thanks and then command the Law to work.  This is the correct manner of approach to the Spirit and the Law.   Yet have we any record of another man so apparently trying to follow the Divine Will?  No!  When Jesus healed people and told them to get up and walk, He did not pray that they might be able to get up and walk.  He exercised an authority which seemed to be the result of His communion with the Spirit, and undoubtedly it was.  Practice is a definite statement in mind, a positive affirmation.  It is an active, conscious, aggressive mental movement and in such degree as it embodies an idea - and there is no longer anything in our minds which denies the idea - it will take form, because it now becomes a part of the law and order of the Universe in which we live.

The Law is subject to Spirit and is Its servant.  Man is Spirit, but until he KNOWS this, he will be only half using the Law, for he will not have a clear understanding to fall back upon.  Treatment removes doubt and fear, lets in the realization of the Presence of Spirit, and is necessary while we are confronted by obstructions or obstacles.  Every problem is primarily mental, and the answer to our problems will be found in Spiritual Realizations."

March 15 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Demonstrating the Law ~ Ernest Holmes

The possibilities of the Law are infinite, and our possibilities of using It are limitless.  There is such a thing as Universal Law and Mind, and we can use It if we comply with its nature, work as It works.  We may or should, receive full benefit, and we will to the degree that we understand and properly use the Law.  Thousands are today proving this Law, and in time all will come to realize Its truth.

We can demonstrate at the level of our ability to know.  Beyond this, we cannot go.  But we will constantly expand and increase in knowledge and understanding, thereby continuously growing in our ability to make use of the Law.  In time, we shall be made free through It.

There is a law of unfoldment in man, which says he can advance only by going from where he is to the place where he would like to be.  This is not because the Law is limited, but because It is law.  As man unfolds in his mentality, the Law automatically reacts to him.  The way to work is to begin right where we are and, through constantly applying ourselves to the Truth, we gradually increase in wisdom and understanding, for in this way alone will good results be obtained.  If day by day we have a greater understanding and a clearer concept, if daily we are realizing more of Truth and applying It in our actions, then we are on the right path and eventually we shall be made free.  It is a wonderful experiment and a great adventure to make conscious use of the Law; to feel that we can plant an idea in Mind and see it take form.

The student should take time every day to see his life as he wishes it to be, to make a mental picture of his ideal.  He should pass this picture over to the Law and go about his business, with a calm assurance that on the inner side of life something is taking place.  There should not be any sense of hurry or worry about this, just a calm, peaceful sense of reality.  Let the Law work through, and express Itself in, the experience.  There should be no idea of compulsion.  We do not have to make the Law work; it is Its nature to work.  In gladness, then, we should make known our desires, and in confidence we should wait upon the Perfect Law to manifest through us.

Our part is to be ready and willing to be guided into truth and liberty.  If, in the making of a demonstration, it becomes necessary to change our mode of living, then the Law will point the way and we will follow.  Our correct choice will be part of the working of the Law.  All doubt and fear must go and in their place must come faith and confidence, for we shall be led by the Spirit into all good.

People often say:  "I don't know what to do; I don't know how to make a choice."  We must realize, that there is an Intelligence within us that does know.  This "guidance" is just as true in India, where people are Buddhists, as it is in America where people are Christians.  It was just as true ten thousand years ago, before the advent of Christianity, as it will be ten thousand years hence.

In so far as we are going to make this thing work, it is because we contact Universal Laws, which run through every age and race, and which answer every person.  If we can see this, we shall be able to do away with a great deal of superstition and ignorance.  Let each individual immediately and directly and in his own integrity, approach the Law that Is.  There is no medium between us and the Universal Mind except our own thought.  In such degree as we place a medium we have to absorb that medium before we can make a direct approach.  The Bible says, "There is no mediator between God and man except Christ."  Christ means the truth about ourselves.  So, if we have to make a choice and feel we do not know which or what to choose, we must be still in our own consciousness and know that the Spirit within us knows which of these ways is the right, and most constructive way, and will guide us.

When Intelligence makes a demand upon Itself, It answers Its own demand out of Its own nature and cannot help doing so!  In philosophy, this idea is called Emergent Evolution.  Whenever the Universe makes a demand upon Itself, out of that very demand is created its fulfillment.  But that can only be when the demand is in the nature of the Universe.

Therefore, the person who believes that God is specializing for him is right.  God is specializing for him through the Law. Such a person will realize that when he says, "there is a Divine Intelligence that knows the right answer," and accepts this statement as being true, the answer to that problem is right then and there created in Mind, and will be projected through his intellect whenever and wherever he is ready to receive it.  It is a new creation.

God is forever doing new things, and when we conceive new ideas, it is an act  of the Divine projecting Itself into Creation.  There were no flying machines until man made them.  The Spirit did not have a lot of little flying machine models put away in a cosmic cupboard somewhere.  But the mind that conceived the possibility of the flying machine is God.  The mind we use is the Mind of the Universe.  This is God in man and it is only through this Mind that we understand anything. This Mind in us, responding to us, "the flight of the Alone to the Alone," of "the One to Itself," is God speaking and God answering.

St. Paul said, "We have the mind of Christ," which means that each one of us has immediate access to the Intelligence of the Universe.  We give Intelligence outlet in two ways: by pure inspiration or intuition, or the more common way of bitter experience, and with most of us it is through the latter.  If it were not for the divine hope in us, our experiences would be more than the human mind could digest.

Treatment is not for the purpose of making things happen; it is to provide, within ourselves, and avenue through which they may happen.  The moment we think we have to treat to compel something, that moment we are exercising a will power, which is now up against a proposition it cannot possibly meet.  Treatment is not mental coercion; it is not will power; it is not concentration.  We shall never arrive at a correct method of spiritual treatment merely by learning how to concentrate for any length of time on a particular objet.  That is not what we are striving to arrive at.  There is a mental attention which is necessary, but neither fasting nor feasting, wailing nor praising will cause us to arrive at a place of acceptance.

Treatment is not something one does to another, not something one does to an environment, nor to a situation.  It is always the thing one does to himself.  Whatever method enables him to do this is a good method, a good way.  Treatment is an action in thought alone. It opens up the avenues of thought, expands the consciousness and lets Reality through.  It clarifies the mentality, removes the obstructions of thought and lets in the Light.  We already live in a Perfect Universe but It needs to be mentally seen and spiritually experienced before It can become a part of our everyday life.

When we treat for the right action we should start with the supposition that right action already is.  We do not create the right action.  Something must come into the treatment which is uncompromising and absolute.  Troward says that we enter the Absolute in such degree as we withdraw from the relative; and that we withdraw from the relative in such degree as we enter the Absolute.  What he meant was this:  in such degree as the answer and the result is contingent upon any existent circumstances...any existing, known fact...no matter how apparent, the treatment is not in the Absolute; it is in the relative and necessarily conditioned by the contingent which is held in the mind.

Let us take a concrete example:  Suppose I am confronted with a problem and do not know the answer to it. Every known fact is against the working out of this problem. I say, "I wish to treat this situation, I wish to handle it scientifically from the standpoint of spiritual science."  My treatment, then, must not consider the facts.  The facts are relative.  The treatment must become Absolute.  I wish to get it over into Mind as a complete acceptance, not of the old fact but of the new one.  In such degree as this treatment partakes of the nature of Reality is it going to have power.  It can have only as much power as I embody.  This is the limitation of treatment, not limitation in Principle but in performance.  The Thing Itself, of course, is not limited.  As we have proven that Principle is not bound by precedent, we go into that realm which says:  "Behold I make all things new," not carrying with us the limited belief of the reason why it cannot be.  Any denial we make in treatment is simply to conduct us to a place of greater affirmation.

March 14 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE PRINCIPLES of SUCCESSFUL LIVING

Ernest Holmes

Not Something for Nothing

"Lessons on prosperity and mental control of conditions are sometimes dangerous because of the misunderstanding of this subject.  Science of Mind is not a "get-rich-quick" scheme, neither does it promise something for nothing.  It does, however, promise the one who will comply with its teaching that he shall be able to bring greater possibilities and happier conditions into his experience.

We do not teach that you can get what you want.  If we could all get what we want, it might be disastrous, for it is certain that most of us would want things that would interfere with the well-being of someone else.

While we could not expect to demonstrate that which is contrary to the nature of our own existence, we not only believe but we know that it is entirely possible, through mental treatment - through right thought and belief - to greatly influence our environment, its reaction to us, the situations we meet and the conditions we contact. There is such a thing as demonstrating a control of conditions. We shall be able to prove this in such degree as we are successful in looking away from the conditions which now exist, while accepting better ones. Not only must we accept this intellectually, but our acceptance must become a subjective embodiment of which the intellect furnishes but a mental picture.

Consequently, this Science does not promise something for nothing.  It does, however, tell us that if we comply with the Law, the Law complies with us. No man can demonstrate peace and cling to unhappiness.  He can demonstrate resignation, and call it peace, but it will not be peace.  No man can jump into the water and remain dry.  This is contrary to law and to reason. NO PERSON WHOSE ENTIRE TIME IS SPENT IN THE CONTEMPLATION OF LIMITATION CAN DEMONSTRATE FREEDOM FROM SUCH LIMITATATION!  The Law Itself must be willing to give, because in so giving Life is Self-Expressed.

The Law Is Infinite

The Science of Mind is based entirely upon the supposition that we are surrounded by a Universal Mind, into which we think. This Mind, in Its original state, fills all space.  It fills the space that man uses in the Universe.  It is in man, as well as outside him.  As he thinks into this Universal Mind, he sets a law in motion, which is creative, and which contains within Itself a Limitless possibility.

The Law through which man operates is Infinite, but man appears to be finite; that is, he has not yet evolved to a complete understanding of himself.  He is unfolding from a Limitless Potential but can bring into his experience only that which he can conceive.  There is no limit to the Law, but there appears to be a limit to man's understanding of It.  As his understanding unfolds, his possibilities of attainment will increase.

It is a great mistake to say:  "Take what you wish, for you can have anything you like."  We do not take what we wish, but we do attract to ourselves that which is like our thought.  MAN MUST BECOME MORE IF HE WISHES TO DRAW A GREATER GOOD INTO HIS LIFE.  We need not labor under the delusion that all we have to do is to say that everything is ours.  This is true in Reality, but in fact it is only as true as we make it.  We provide the mold for the Creative Law, and unless the mold we provide is increased, Substance cannot increase in our experience; for Mental Science does not promise anything that will do away with the necessity of complying with law.

The Law is a law of liberty, but not a law of license.  It is exact and exacting, and unless we are willing to comply with Its Nature and work with It, along the lines of Its inherent being, we shall receive no great benefit.  EVERY MAN MUST PAY THE PRICE FOR THAT WHICH HE RECEIVES AND THAT PRICE IS PAID IN MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL COIN.

All nature conspires to produce and manifest the freedom of the individual, that it may unloose its own energy.  We may be sure God is for us - whatever our conception of God may be, whatever our conception of the relationship of Jesus, and the idea of Christ to humanity and God and our own salvation may be - this thing must act in accordance with definite Law in the Universe, and this Law says that whenever and wherever there is an adequate subjective image, which does not contradict the nature of the Universe, that image will not only tend to take form, but will take form and will manifest. This Law we did not make and we cannot change.

But this teaching should not be confused with the idea that we can show people how to get what they want, regardless.  True prayer must be, "Thy will be done," but the implication relative to the Will of God in this prayer is not a submission to the inevitability of evil or limitation; it is a knowledge that the Will of God is always GOOD.

How do we know what the Will of God is?  We do not, other than this:  The Will of God cannot be death.  Why?  Because if we assume God to be the Principle of Life, the Principle of Life cannot produce death without destroying Itself.  The Will of Life has only to BE Life.   The Will of that which is Infinite can never be finite. Everything then should tend to expansion and multiplication in the Divine Plan.  THAT is the Will of God.  It has to be beauty, truth and harmony, as Troward said, as this is the true relationship of the Whole to the parts and the parts to the Whole.  Therefore, we should interpret the Will of God to be everything that expresses life without hurt.  This seems to be a fair, logical, sane and intelligent criterion.  Anything that will enable us to express greater life, greater happiness, greater power - so long as it does not harm anyone - must be the Will of God for us.  As much life as one can conceive will become a part of his experience.

A mental avenue must be provided through which the Law may operate as a law of liberty, if we are to be free.  This does not mean we must please the Law, for It is impersonal and neither knows nor cares who uses It, nor for what purpose; but, because It is impersonal, It is compelled by Its very nature to return to the thinker exactly what he thinks into It.  The law of mental equivalents must never be overlooked, for "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

If a man is intelligent, he will naturally seek to free himself from misery and unhappiness.  Theology may say that this is a selfish motivation, but it is exactly what we all are trying to do and calling it by a different name.  Whether it is through the remission of sins, or the salvation of the individual soul, every act in the life of the individual is that such an individual may express himself.  For instance, the love of a mother for her children, a man for his wife, a patriot for his country, a preacher for his religion, an artist for his art - all of these are but ways of self-fulfillment.  This is legitimate self-expression.

We realize, however that to attempt this self-expression at the expense of society or other individual is to defeat the very purpose for which freedom exists, for back of all is a unity.  Hence we find that the laws of necessity and not of theology (of which all religions and ethics and moral and social systems are but feeble lights) do ultimately compel experience into the path of true righteousness.

The criterion for any man as to what is right or wrong for him is not to be found in some other man's judgment.  The criterion is:  Does the thing I wish to do express more life, more happiness, more peace to myself, and at the same time harm no one?  If it does, it is right. It is not selfish.  But if it is done at the expense of anyone, then in such degree we are making a wrong use of the Law.

We may be quite emphatic in saying that we think the Universe exists for the expression of Spirit, and man exists for self-expression, because he is the expression of Spirit.

Man does not exist for the purpose of making an impression upon his environment.  He does exist to express himself in and through his environment.  There is a great difference.  Man does not exist to leave a lasting impression upon his environment.  Not at all.  It is not necessary that we leave any impression.  It is not necessary, if we should pass on tonight, that anyone should remember that we have ever lived.  All that means anything is that while we  live, WE LIVE, and wherever we go from here we shall keep on living.

It is quite a burden lifted when we realize that we do not have to move the world - it is going to move anyway.  This realization does not lessen our duty or our social obligation.  It clarifies it.  It enables us to do joyously, and free from morbidity, that which we should do in the social state.

With this in mind, and believing that there is an Infinite Law of the Spirit, or Law of Life, which tends to multiply our gifts because in doing so It multiplies Its own experience, Its own pleasure, Its own fruition; we may assume that spiritual man is already a success, is already supplied with everything that he needs.  The potential of all things exists in the Universal Wholeness."

March 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Jesus Forgives a Man and Heals Him  (Matt.9:5,6) ~ Ernest Holmes

"Now some of the scribes who heard Jesus tell the sick man that his sins were forgiven said, he blasphemed God in attempting to forgive sins.  But Jesus - reading their thoughts and knowing what was in their minds - asked them if it were easier to forgive or to heal.  "For whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk?"  In order to prove his position, he healed the man, saying:  "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house."

This incident has to do with a great psychological law.  If one labors under a great burden of past mistakes, he devitalizes his body and if the condemnation is great enough - it might render the body incapable of moving.  Jesus, seeing that the sick man was laboring under a load of condemnation, told him that his sins were forgiven.  This removed the weight from the man's consciousness, making it possible for him to receive the healing word.

Would Jesus have forgiven the man if he had thought that God held anything against him?  Certainly not.  He knew that the Eternal Heart is one of love, and that God forgives from the foundation of the universe.  Indeed, he knew that the Divine Mind is too pure to behold evil and knows nothing about sin.

God Knows No Evil

Why should it disturb anyone to be told that God knows nothing of his sin, nothing of his want, nothing of his lack of any kind?  The tragedy would be if God did know.  If God knew sin, He would be a sinner, for what the Infinite Mind knows must BE!  Sin or mistakes are outside the province of Reality.  Jesus knew this.  He also knew that while man labors under the sense of condemnation, the burden of his thought weighs him to the dust.  Being able to read thought, he knew just what step to take in relieving the burden of this man's mind, before telling him to arise and walk.

We shall do well to remember this lesson.  How often we condemn when we should forgive, how often censure when we might praise!  What untold grief of heart might be relieved by words of cheer and forgiveness.  Especially should this lesson be remembered in the training of children, for they so readily respond to the thought of others.  Remembering that the Spirit holds no evil toward man, and that God is Love, we should emulate this divine lesson and forgive all, that our hearts may be free from the burden of our own condemnation."

March 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS Concluded ~ Ernest Holmes

The following meditation is printed just as it was given in class and group work.

The Eternal Cycles of Life in Motion Fulfill My Faith

"This is another way of saying that something happens when a man believes.  Faith is operated upon by some principle which is a government of Law and Order, and which has within Itself the power to execute Itself.   Prayer is not to ask God to be God. There is a Supreme Intelligence in the Universe, we cannot tell It anything; what little we know, we have drawn from It.  There is an Absolute Spirit around us, It does not need our existence.  It has already surrendered Itself to us but we have not yet surrendered ourselves to It.  That is what prayer - or treatment - is for.  We do not pray the Principle of Peace to desist from confusion, but we seek that Peace that it shall enter into our confused souls.  Therefore, prayer or meditation is for the purpose of becoming receptive to the Divine Influx, which already owns everything, knows everything, governs all things, and creates what we need - if we but permit it to - in Its own Nature, which is goodness, truth and beauty.  Each turns to the within in something after this fashion:

'We let go of everything, drop every fear from our minds, drop all confusion from our thought, and enter into the inner secret communion with that great Reality, which is our Universal Self - God - in Whom we live and move and have our being.  We are conscious that this Divine Presence overshadows and indwells. It is both without this physical, mental being and within this physical, mental being.  Therefore, It is the spiritual Reality of the being, the I AM, which is Universal, Eternal, and Perfect.

Now this Spirit is our Spirit.  It is our life from which we now draw full, complete and perfect being.  This Divine Intelligence does govern us intelligently; It does direct us consciously, accurately, unerringly.  We surrender to It every fear, every sense of uncertainty of the future, every thought of any morbidity of the past.  We surrender all confusion and doubt, and we know that this Divine Influx removes every mental obstruction to peace; It removes every sense of condemnation and judgment, and we enter into the fulfillment of Its perfection now.  We believe if there is any part of our physical being which needs healing, It heals it; that that Power within us and around us which creates, can recreate, can make whole now.  We believe if there is any conflict in our mental being, it can be removed, because the Spirit is higher than the mind and more than the body, and we are dealing with that Spirit which, animating the mind with Divine Intelligence, produces an influx of spiritual life in the body, healing, without effort, both mind and body.  We relinquish, we let go, those things which bother us mentally or hurt us physically.  We know that the Divine Presence is the Eternal Healer, because It is the everlasting Giver of life.  And we know the Intelligence which created the Universe and projected it in form and governs it with perfect Law - that Divine Being directs our movements intelligently, coherently, constructively, certainly, bringing to each that life which he calls success and prosperity, happiness, fulfillment of life, action.  And we know that that Divine Being, governing everything out of Its own Nature, works without effort - Birthless and Deathless and Tireless, It moves through us to perfect ends, now.'"

The Eternal Cycles of Life in Motion Fulfill My Faith

March 11 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Power Within ~ Ernest Holmes

"Through spiritual discernment, we see that we have within us a power which is greater than anything we shall ever contact; a power that can overcome every obstacle in our experience and set us safe, satisfied, and at peace, healed and prosperous in a new light and a new life. "If God be for us who can be against us?"

God's Creative Power of Mind is right here.  We have as much of this power to use as we believe in and embody.  The storehouse of nature is filled with infinite good, awaiting the touch of our awakened thought to spring forth into manifestation in our lives; but the awakening must be within our thought!  The word that we speak is the law of our lives, and nothing hinders its operation but ourselves.  We may use this creative word for whatever purpose we desire, and this word become the law unto the thing for which it was spoken.  We are given the power to sit in the midst of our lives and direct their activities.  Strife and struggle are unnecessary.  We only need to know, but we must know constructively.

Just so far as we depend upon any condition, past present or future, we are creating chaos, because we are then dealing with conditions (effects) and not with causes.  Could we but comprehend the fact that there is a Power that makes things directly out of Itself - by simply becoming the thing It makes - could we but grasp this greatest truth about life; and realize that we are dealing with a Principle, scientifically correct and eternally present, we could accomplish whatever it is possible for us to conceive. Life externalizes at the level of our thought.

We Set Our Own Limitations

Do we desire to live in a world peopled with friends who love us, surrounded by things beautiful and pleasing?  There is but one way, and this way is as certain as that the sun shines.  DAILY WE MUST CONTROL ALL THOUGHT THAT DENIES THE REAL; AFFIRM THE DIVINE PRESENCE WITHIN US; then, as the mist disappears before the sun, so shall adversity melt before the shining radiance of our exalted thought!

The Prodigal Son remained a prodigal as long as he chose to do so.  When he chose to, he returned to his "Father's house" and was greeted with outstretched hands. So shall our experience be when we return to the world which is perfect; there will be something that will turn to us.  We shall behold a new heaven and a new earth, not in some far off place but here and now.  "Act as though I am and I will be."  The Spirit of Truth will lead us into all good.  This is the highroad to the fulfillment of our lives.

There is, then, no limitation outside our own ignorance, and since we can all conceive of a greater good than we have so far experienced, we all have the ability to transcend previous experiences and rise triumphant above them; but we shall never triumph over them while we persist in going through the old mental reactions.

Understanding

Before we attempt to improve our conditions; before we proceed further on the subject of healing it is necessary that we be certain in our own minds that thought is creative, as upon this basis our entire superstructure rests. Since Spirit creates by contemplation - purely mental action - then everything in the manifest world is some effect of Its thought.  Our own  minds are an expression of the Divine Mind and must be of the same essence.

That we find ourselves in an undesirable condition in the face of all this, is merely proof that we have limited ourselves by our very freedom.  Shall we not, then, reverse our thinking and take for our starting point the inherent nature of mental powers?

We have gone far in the right direction, when we have determined that Creation could have originated only in Intelligence; and have realized further that our own mental power must be the same in kind with the creativeness of God.  Thus we begin to sense, even though dimly, that as our minds become more like the Divine Mind, we shall expand into a greater livingness - our world created by our consciousness, and our consciousness taking its color from the perception of our relation to the Infinite!

We should strive toward a perfect vision, a perfect conception.  We should expand our thought until it realizes all good, and then cut right through all that appears to be, and use this Almighty Power for definite purposes.  We should daily feel a deeper union with Life, a greater sense of that Indwelling God - the God of the seen and of the unseen - within us. When we speak into this Mind, we have sown a seed of thought in the Absolute and we may rest in peace.  We need not make haste, for it is done unto us as we believe. "In that day they that call upon me, I will answer.""

The Science of Mind in a Year ~ Ernest Holmes

Thoughts Are Things ~ Ernest Holmes

"Health and sickness are largely externalizations of our dominant mental and spiritual states.  An emotional shock, or a mind filled with thoughts of fear, has been known to cause the momentary stoppage or acceleration of the heart.  Physicians now testify that, under emotional stress, particularly anger, the blood leaves a chemical deposit around the joints in the body.  Worry, fear anger, jealousy, and other emotional conditions, are mental in their nature, and as such are being recognized as the hidden cause of a large part of all the physical suffering to which the flesh is heir.  A normal healthy mind reflects itself in a healthy body, and conversely, an abnormal mental state expresses its corresponding condition in some physical condition.  Thoughts are things!

Modern psychology affirms that all the thoughts and emotions we have experienced since we came into conscious existence are still present in Mind, where ceaselessly active they manifest themselves as subjective tendencies that mold the body in health or sickness; and determine, as well, our reactions to all life and experience.

We do not maintain that this or that specific disease is always the result of thinking about such a condition; but we do assert that a prolonged discordant mental state is certain to eventuate in some form of physical ailment.  People have died of great grief; of broken hearts; of outburst of temper; of deep and continued resentment; of excessive worry, and many other mental states, in which there was no specific thought of sickness at all.  The point to remember is, that all mind activity inevitably tends to create its physical correspondent, so that an unhealthful and morbid mental state projects itself into the physical body.

Thoughts are things, they have the power to objectify themselves; thought lays hold of Causation and forms real Substance.  The word of man is the law of his life, under the One Great Law of all Life.  Thoughts of sickness can make a man sick, and thoughts of health and perfection can heal him.  Thought is the conscious activity of the one thinking, and works as he directs, through Law; and this Law may be consciously set in motion.  This Law will work for him to the fullest extent of his belief in, and understanding of, It.  A realization of the Presence of God is the most powerful healing agency known to the mind of man.

One with God

Until we awake to the fact that we are One in nature with God, we shall not find the way of life. Until we realize that our own word has the power of life, we will not see clearly.  The Bible points out that man has the same power, in his own life and in his own world, that it claims for God.  "The Word was with God and the Word was God," is an oft-repeated but little understood statement.  The promise to man is equally positive:  "The word is nigh thee, even in thine own mouth that thou shouldst know it and do it."  If any word has power, it follows that all words have power.  It means that every word which we hear, speak or think, has some power."

March 9 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Inducing Thought ~ Ernest Holmes

"That which thought has done, thought can un-do.  Life-long habits of wrong thinking can be consciously and deliberately neutralized, and an entirely new order of mental and emotional reaction established in Mind.  Merely to abstain from wrong thinking is not enough; there must be active right thinking.  We must become actively constructive and happy in our thinking - not merely passively so.  New and wholesome ideas of life, vitality and hope must be accepted and incorporated into the sub-stratum of our mental life, so that a more wholesome externalization may manifest in our bodily condition and environment.

Since we must all begin right where we are, most of us will be compelled to begin our healing work with a mechanical process.  We should take the highest thought we have, and attempt to enlarge on this consciousness until it embraces a more vital concept of Reality.  Consciousness in this sense means an inner embodiment of ideas. If one wishes to demonstrate prosperity, he must first have a consciousness of prosperity; if he wishes health, he must embody the idea of health.  This is more than faith; it is the knowledge that we are dealing with Law. While a certain consciousness may be mechanically induced, of course, the more spontaneity put into the mechanical word, the more power the word must have.

Choosing Thought

We cannot live a choiceless life.  Every day, every moment, every second, there is choice.  If it were not so we would not be individuals. 

We have the right to choose what we wish to experience.  We have the right to choose the kind of companions with whom we wish to associate; to say in what city and in what type of house we would like to live. We are individuals and the only way we can be individuals is to be spontaneous.  There is no such thing as a mechanistic individuality, it must have the essential elements of spontaneity.  There is no spontaneity and no individuality without prerogative.  There can be no choice unless there is something form which to choose, otherwise the ability to choose would be merely a fantasy.  Therefore, there must be not only the possibility of choice; but the liability of experiencing that which is chosen.

We have a right to choose what we shall induce in Mind.  The way in which our thoughts are to become manifest, we cannot always see - or should we be disturbed that we do not see the way - because effect is potential in cause.  "I am Alpha and Omega," and all that comes between cause and effect.  Cause and effect are really one, and if we have given cause set in motion, the effect will have to equal the cause.  One is the inside and the other the outside of the same thing. A certain, specific, intelligent idea in Mind, will produce a certain, specific, concrete manifestation equal to itself.  There is One Infinite Principle, One Infinite Thought-Stuff, One Infinite Creative Power, but countless numbers of forms, which change as the specific idea behind them changes."