July 31 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

By Ernest Holmes

Abiding in the One (John 15:7)

“If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

It is impossible for humanity to literally abide in the man Jesus, so we must look for a figurative meaning in these words.  He is speaking of the spirit of his teachings; and the whole spirit of his teachings is to the effect that man is an individualized center of God-Consciousness.  The spirit of man is the spirit of God, for God is One.

When we abide in the One, we cannot ask amiss, but we must ask for that which is right and good.  Consequently, our prayers to the One will be answered.  But let us remember that the prayer is answered according to the law, and this law is one of liberty and never one of license.  True liberty comes only through true harmony; true harmony only through true unity; and true unity can come only through the conscious realization that we are one with God or Good.

Jesus implies a power which can and will work for those who harmonize with, and believe in it.  But we must first abide in the Spirit of Truth.  And what is the spirit of Truth other than that we live in conscious unity with good and do harm to no one?  Goodness is natural, while evil is abnormal.

To trust in the law of good is to constantly believe that we are surrounded by a Power which can and will cast all fear from our minds, free us from all bondage, and set us safe and satisfied in a new order of living.

That Ye Bear Much Fruit (John 15:8)

“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”  When we express a greater livinginess, then Life is more completely expressing Itself though us.  A barren tree does not express the principle of abundance and production, so a life barren of good does not fully express the divine ideal.

Evolution has brought man to a point of self-expression and it can do no more for him until he consciously co-operates with it.  Its law is one of growth and unfoldment.  God goes forth anew into creation whenever anyone discovers a new truth or increases knowledge about an old one.  Each is a center of the All, and each has access to the All, through his own nature.

Jesus refers to his joy on the eve of his greatest lesson to mankind.  That joy which is full and complete.  That joy which no man can take away:  the joy of a sense of completion.  He was about to lay down his earthly life, as the greatest object lesson ever taught.  And what was this lesson?  That LOVE knows no bounds and that the Eternal Goodness gives Itself to all.  God as man, in man, is man.”

July 30 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

GENERAL SUMMARY

By Ernest Holmes

“We attract to ourselves the objective form of our subjective embodiments.  Law knows how to make things out of ideas.  We do not consciously know how It does this; nor do we know how corned beef and cabbage are turned into flesh and bone, but they are and we have been so accustomed to the thought that they are, that we have implicit faith that they will continue to be.  Should we doubt this phenomenon we should be thought [strange].  When we believe in the Law of Mind in the same way we shall be surprised at the results we receive.

Thoughts of lack, poverty and limitation contain within themselves the conditions necessary to produce lack, poverty and limitation.  Remember that we are not dealing with two powers, but with one, ever presenting Itself in varying guises.  “To the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; to the froward thou wilt show thyself froward.”  It will become to us what we are to It.  The Law knows us only as we first know ourselves.  We make up Its mind because Its mind is subjective.  The Spirit controls the Law.  This is the great mystery, the limitless wonder of the universe – that, which out of nothing, can make something.  But Its nothing is really the Substance of every something.

Because all people have believed in lack a law of human thought has been made which binds the race.  Limitation is the result of an ignorant use of the Law.  Every advance in any science proves this to be true.  The real Law is one of freedom.  By that freedom we bind ourselves until we learn how to change the thought and by so doing to change the limitation into freedom.  The two are merely a different use of the One Law.

Limitation is a condensation of the idea of want.  Mind accepts this idea as though it were true and then makes it true in our experience.  It is not always easy to see this nor is it easy to rise above it, but it can be done and we should begin at once to control our thought patterns in such a way that they will produce plenty instead of lack.

The Law of Mind is not selective.  That is, It is receptive without caring what It receives.  It is creative without caring what It creates.  It knows how to do without consciously knowing that It is doing or what It is doing.  It seems strange that the first thing to realize is that there could be such a Law in the universe.  But on second thought we find that all natural laws are of a like character, no natural law is ever selective of itself.  This is why we must realize that the Spirit Itself is more than any or all laws as we understand them.  Conscious mind controls the Law of Mind.  The Law of Mind is sensitive but not conscious from the standpoint of having any selective quality.  Selectivity is the office of the conscious mind while creativeness is the office of the Inner Mind.

Thoughts of lack manifest as limitation.  Thoughts of abundance manifest as success and happiness.  Failure and success are but two ends of one stick.  All conditions and every circumstance is of the nature of effects and can in no way limit Mind unless we take them as a fresh starting point for a creative pattern.  The thought that any given condition is a thing of itself tends to make it appear to be a thing of itself.  Reverse the thought and the condition tends to become reversed.

The Law can know no conditions as such.  It knows form but not size.  Outline is real but limitation is unreal to Mind.  In the Absolute nothing depends on anything but ideas.  Ideas are form, condition, circumstance, cause and effect, and everything that happens between cause and effect.  This is what a treatment is.  It is a thing of itself if we know that it is.  It is what we know it to be.

“Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  Fear is the great enemy of man.  But fear is a mental attitude and as such can be converted into something else.  Fear is the reverse mental attitude to faith, and is a result of the lack of faith.  Fear brings limitation and lack in its wake and destroys the happiness and possibility of a greater degree of livingness to those who suffer from it.

Fear blocks the more complete givingness of the Spirit to Its highest form of manifestation on this planet, which is mankind.  Fear arises from that mental attitude which limits the possibility and the willingness of Spirit to give us the good we so greatly desire.  There is nothing wrong in the desire for self-expression.  God is more completely expressed through the man who lives largely than through the one who lives meagerly.

Fear is a belief in limitation, a denial that the Divine is the Center and the Source of all good.  We must do all in our power to overcome it.  “Perfect love casts out fear;” that is, confidence overcomes the depression of doubt.  Mental depression can produce physical and financial depression.  The psychology of economic cycles proves this.  In the midst of plenty humanity lives in want, because of fear.   To overcome fear is the greatest adventure of the mind of man.”

July 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Skin

The skin represents a temporary, but perfect, outward cloak, forever responsive to that deep, inner calm, that place where Life is poised in Itself.  There is nothing in Spirit to break through and erupt, to congest or contaminate.  Within it is perfect. 

Arms and Hands

The arms and hands represent man's ability to grasp ideas.  To uphold his convictions of the truth.  To reach out and grasp Reality.  To be a partaker of the Divine Benefits.

Feet and Legs

The feet and legs represent man's ability to walk uprightly.  To be guided into all truth.  To be led by the ever-present Mind.

False Growths (Tumors, Cancer, Gallstones)

We must think of the subjective state of our thought as our atmosphere in the Universal Mind, for we cannot separate ourselves from the Universe.  There is but One Mind and we are in It.  We are in It as intelligence.  It accepts our thought and acts upon it.  Destructive emotions, desires or ideas, unless neutralized, will grow into some bodily condition, and may produce disease.  Disease without thought could not manifest, no matter what the disease may be.  We are surrounded by a Receptive Intelligence, which receives the impress of our thought and acts upon it.

If the thought of false growths can be erased, the manifestation can be healed.  Declare:  "Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."  The Heavenly Father is the Reality of man and is Eternal Presence and Perfection.  Dissolve the idea of false growths by knowing that there is nothing for them to feed upon.  Erase the belief, in your own mentality, and you will remove it from the mentality of the patient, and thereby project healing power to his body.

In treating cancers and tumors, there should be a harmonizing of the consciousness that will cleanse the blood.  Declare:  "Divine Love within me, removes from my consciousness every thought unlike God (Good).  In my physical body there is only room for perfection, because that thought which is sustaining and nourishing my body is aware only of perfection, nothing can come into being except from the One Creative Mind, and nothing can flourish unless there is something to nourish it.  Accordingly, I know that my thought does not sustain any false growth, either consciously or unconsciously originated.

"The depression, the misunderstanding, the maladjustment, the frustration which may have taken place in my life, is now eradicated.  God is the One Causation back of all manifestation, and there could not be cause for a development of any kind contrary or superfluous to the divine order.  Therefore, there cannot remain within my body anything which does not express perfection.  God-Life, in and through me, forever cleans, heals, and renews every organ, and every atom in my body, after the pattern of perfection."

False mental causes are removed by a freshness of thought, sustained by an affirmative outlook of faith and trust in the perfection of life.  The only accretion which takes place in the body is that produced by the activity of Perfect Principle, and what the body cannot use is passed freely on.

We have learned that there is only One Substance, out of which everything is made...cabbages and kings, hands and houses, money and men...consequently, any wrong condition in the human body is made from exactly the same substance from which the most perfect form is created.  The pure and perfect light of Spirit dissipates and dispels every discordant form, for those things which are not implanted by Divine Spirit have no law to support them.

Whether it be cancer, fibroid tumor, a wen, a cyst, or gallstones, the practitioner must know that the Spirit indwelling his patient is perfectly and completely manifested, and that every shadow of erroneous conclusion is wiped out.  False growth is neither person, place nor thing; it has no life to sustain it, cannot take root in Truth; it has no vitality, no substance and no power, and cannot be fed nor nurtured by Truth."

July 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Constipation

"Never think a sick person is one who merely has a sick body.  If you do, you will find yourself treating the body.  Why should we not treat the body?  For the simple reason that the cause of the disease is not in the body.  The body is an effect and not a cause.  You must know that bodies and conditions never move, they are always moved upon.  A sick person is one who has a sick thought as well as  a sick body.

Constipation is often due to a belief in limitation or burden, and is mentally helped by knowing that there is no restriction, no inaction, no limited action, no bondage, no fear, no congestion.  Realize that all action is normal, harmonious and perfect.

Any thought which produces a mental tension - fear of lack, of trouble, of disease of all kinds, fear of loss of friends, or loss of position - is likely to manifest itself as constipation.  Any kind of fear thought retards the free action of the life forces, thus greatly interfering with the functions of the body.

In such cases a treatment for complete relaxation should be given.  It is well to know:  "Infinite Intelligence within me rules me, and controls and directs all of the organs of my body, so that they function perfectly according to their nature.  I am an open channel for good to flow in and through me, freely, generously, cheerfully."

Every thought of cruelty is disturbing to the entire body.  Solomon tells us that "he that is cruel, troubleth his own flesh," and every adverse thought is cruel.  Thoughts of peace and good will, a recognition of the unity of all men, will produce harmony, and bring about perfect elimination in the body.

It is necessary that we release all thoughts - as well as things - that clutter  up our lives.  We are reminded that there is something resembling the Divine in the intelligence and fearlessness of the organs of our body, in the way they take that which is necessary to their sustenance and well-being, and release that which is not needed.  If the organs of the body followed the average tactics of man in his acquisitive habits, if the lungs hoarded the air they take in, if the heart kept the fresh blood stored within its walls, refusing to allow it to circulate, if the stomach retained the food taken in for nourishment, what a static condition we would have!  But the very reverse is true.  Such perfect assimilation, elimination and circulation has never been equaled by man in anything he has invented.

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  The is a promise we have all proven, in a degree.  Could we but comprehend the full significance of spiritual substance, we should be forever freed from all congestive thoughts - selfishness, greed, undue acquisitiveness - all of which have been called the waste products of the mind.  Understanding this, it naturally follows we should be freed from their effects.

Very often the word of healing is spoken and does not appear to operate because hindered by some obstruction.  Some people are obstinate, resistant, stubborn, and they must be healed of these beliefs.  The practitioner must know that there is no resistance to Truth, and no thought anywhere which can prevent the consciousness from perceiving the Truth.  Whatever the false condition is, array mental argument against it.  Turn the thought over and over, until either by reason or by chance, you hit upon the thing that is wrong.  Anyone can help the sick who can get away from the effect long enough to perceive a different cause...a perfect cause, back of what appears to be an imperfect effect.

A thought of Love is always healing, and particularly so in the case of constipation.  If the practitioner has a full realization that Love fulfills all the laws of life - his life and the patient's life - that there are no restrictions, no burdens, no inhibitions in Love, which is the very life within, healing will follow.

If one would take time, once a day at least, to let go of all that is not true and lay hold of Reality; let go of doubt, distrust, worry, condemnation and fear, and lay hold of Life in Its expressions of beauty, truth and wholeness, his mental congestion would be healed.  Keep the mind and body open to the reception of Truth.  It is the static, fixed, inflexible outlook, which produces a tendency on the part of the body and its muscles and functions to become tense and underactive.  Hold steadfastly to the thought that all of life is in a state of eternal flow.  Relax your thought and allow the free flow of the Life Essence, in and through you, and your body will respond to Its healing activity.  Inaction will quickly disappear into its native nothingness, in the rhythm and harmony of all your bodily functions."

July 27 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Vision

"According to the Scriptures, mind and body must be kept pure - must be kept "single" to the good - in order that perfect, abiding sight may be attained.  "The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness."  (Matt. 6:22, 23)

But the eyes, of themselves, cannot see.  The mind within does the real seeing, the real interpreting of what the eyes look upon.  The eyes can truly be called "the windows of the soul"  They typify the ability of the mind to discern and understand.  As the light of understanding dawns upon us, we have a habit of saying, "I see, I see," meaning that we mentally discern.  The man who clearly realizes his Oneness with all Good should have strong, clear eyesight!

God sees, and His is the only Mind there is.  It is man's Mind, and consequently he sees, whether he knows it or not.  Do not fear to claim this, for it is the truth.  There is no obstruction to vision, no near vision and no far vision; there is no false vision, no weak vision nor blurred vision.  There is One Perfect Seeing, which is now seeing through  you...which is now seeing through me.

When we fail to use any organ, it becomes useless.  As the eyes are the organs of the soul, when we do not use our soul powers, we lose the use of the organs through which they function!  If one does not allow the mind to look out through the eyes, the vision becomes blurred or imperfect.  To regain this, one must use the inner sight.

In cases of defective sight, declare that spiritual vision is clear, and that your faith in spiritual substance is unshaken.  When faith touches a certain point in our consciousness, and the light of spiritual understanding dawns upon us, we glorify the good.  If we have been outwardly blind, our sight is restored.  We should praise our vision.  The clearness of spiritual vision should be reflected through our eyes.

Always one should be conscious of the idea of Wholeness of Life, perfect function at every point.  The practitioner should know that Spiritual Substance was never destroyed at any point, on any plane of expression, and that the vision of his patient is perfect and indestructible right now.  Declare daily:  "Through my eyes, God sees the perfection of His Kingdom.  I, too, see perfection in all creation...the beauty of the Omnipresent God."

Thoughts of dishonesty and suspicion make the eyes shifty.  Thoughts of fear, desolation, and hopelessness make the eyes lusterless.  The eyes brighten with friendliness and good cheer, when animated by the light of love, joy, faith or noble purpose.

We should be grateful for the help, if we find glasses helpful, but we must know within ourselves that we are not dependent upon them.  Hold steadfastly to the thought:  "I will lift up my eyes unto God, from whom comes my perfect sight."  Thus we are recognizing the condition, but not acknowledging it as an entity, and we are giving to Subjective Mind a new pattern (rather than the original pattern) for perfect eyes...perfect vision.  "Through the prism of God's love, I recognize the Oneness of God and man.  I have perfect vision right now.""

July 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS

By Ernest Holmes

Abundance Is My Inheritance

"Abundance is mine.  I cannot be deprived of my supply.  The trees do not lack for leaves, nor do the flowers fail to bloom.  Am I not as important as they?  "Consider the lilies of the field, they toil not neither do they spin, yet...Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these."

I look at the lavish wastefulness of Nature and know that God intended me to be as abundantly supplied, with everything that makes for beauty, well-being, progressive living and happiness.  I, myself, am to blame when these "fruits of the Spirit" fail to appear.

Since I know the Truth of my being.  I will no longer hinder or retard my good from coming to me.  I will expect and accept all that I need to make life happy and worth while; for I am a child of the Spirit, and every attribute of It - every attribute of Good - is my inheritance.

Nothing but lack of faith can keep my good from me, for I am one with the Universal Essence of Life, or Spirit, and Its Substance will manifest in my experience as I believe.  No longer will I go for my good, carrying only a dipper to be filled.  This day, as I turn to the Father within, I bring "all the empty vessels" knowing they will be filled, and my abundance will become manifest."

Abundance Is My Inheritance

July 25 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

No Hypnotism nor False Suggestion

There is no hypnotism nor false suggestion.

I represent the One Mind which cannot act against Itself nor can It act against me.

I am immune to all suggestion and cannot receive false thoughts, nor harbor them.

I am surrounded with a circle of Love and Protection.

Asleep or awake, I am free from false thoughts.

I see the nothingness of all belief in, or fear of, otherness; 

and I know that The One and Only Mind, alone, can act.

Only the Good can enter.

July 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

By Ernest Holmes

In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions (John 14:2)

“In my father’s house are many mansions.”  This world, with all its wonders, is not the only one that we shall inhabit.  There are many others and we shall inhabit each in time.  If this life were the only life, Jesus would have told his followers so.  He held out no false promises, never deceived.  He spoke only the Truth.

“I go to prepare a place for you.”  What more beautiful thought than that those who go before shall be there when we arrive!  There is no doubt, only an expansion of the soul, an enlargement of the experience.  But Thomas, who was a disciple, said that he did not know where Jesus was going nor did he know the way.  Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  Again he is referring to the individual “I” the son of the eternal “I AM.”  This son is the way to the Father.  We approach Reality through our own natures and through no other source.  “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.”  God is within and it is here that we meet Him.  The inward gaze alone can reveal the Father.

Who Sees the Son Sees the Father (John 14:9)

“He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”  Many think, from this statement, that Jesus was claiming to be God, but such was not the case.  God is the invisible Life Essence of all that is, the Intelligent Energy running through all.  This Life we feel but do not see.   We see only what It does, never the Thing Itself.

Life manifests Itself through the individual.  Therefore, when one manifests goodness and purity, he is revealing the Father.  This is what Jesus meant when he said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”

He said that his words were the words of God.  As all forms of energy return again into their source, so the word of Truth is the word of God, no matter who speaks it, or when it is spoken.  Man reveals, but does not absorb, the Divine Nature.

“He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.”  It could not be otherwise.  The nature of Reality was not exhausted in the man Jesus, but made manifest through his life and works.  We are to do likewise, and what we ask in the name (which is our own name) believing in the Father which is God, and in the son, which is ourselves, we shall receive.  In this way, the Father is glorified in the Son.

The Holy Comforter (John 14:16)

We are told that The Holy Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, will make all things known to us, for He is with us and in us.  No more comprehensive statement could be made.  The Spirit of Truth is in all people – not unto Jesus alone – but unto all alike…again the revelation of the self to the self; a divine awakening to the eternal Reality inhabiting eternity and finding its abiding place in time, through our own natures.

As the Holy Comforter comes, He makes all things known to us.  Intuition is the speech of this Comforter.  “I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”  The eternal Father begets the eternal Son.  This Son is generic, all are members of this Universal Sonship, all are members of the one Tree of Life, from which every individual shoot springs.  The Trinity is a Unity.

And that peace which comes from the innermost recesses of the Spirit is left with us:  a peace which the world cannot take away, for it springs from the bosom of the Father of light, love, life and wisdom.” 

July 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE LAW of ATTRACTION
By Ernest Holmes

No Personal Responsibility

"No matter how great a responsibility may rest in that which must be done, never let one moment's responsibility rest in your own thought about it, because that to which the mind gives birth, is, and EVERY IDEA IS BOUND TO PRODUCE AN EFFECT EXACTLY LIKE ITS CAUSE.

When we make a demonstration, we must take what goes with it.  Therefore all demonstration should be made in peace, confidence and joy, and in a realization of Divine Love and Perfection permeating everything.  The reason for this is evident, for we are dealing with the Law of cause and effect.  We are  not depending upon chance but upon the Law.  The responsibility of setting the Law in motion is ours, but the responsibility of making It work is inherent in Its own nature.  We must know that we are dealing with the Substance from which all things are made.  Nothing moves but Mind, and we are dealing with the Mind that is the Mover, the Creator, the Cause of all that is or is to be.  We should sense that back of the word which we speak is the Power of the Universe, surging to express Itself.  Then speak the word consciously, knowing that it is Law.

The Law of Correspondence

The limit of our ability to demonstrate depends upon our ability to provide a mental equivalent of our desires, for the law of correspondence works from the belief to the thing.  But it is within our power to provide a greater mental equivalent through the unfolding of consciousness; and this growth from within will finally lead to freedom.

What we demonstrate today, tomorrow and the next day is not as important as the TENDENCY WHICH OUR THOUGHT IS TAKING...the dominant attitude of our mind.   If every day things are a little better, a little happier, a little more harmonious, a little more health-giving and joyous; if each day we are expressing more life, we are going in the right direction.

And so we meditate daily upon the Universe of the All Good, the Infinite Indwelling Spirit, which we call God, the Father, Incarnate in man, trying to sense and to feel this Indwelling Good as the Active Principle of our lives.  This is what the mystics call "The Man of the Heart," or "The Angel of God's Presence."  This is why they taught that there are always two, for there is what we seem to be, and what we really are.  As we contact this Higher Principle of our own lives - which is Perfect and Complete, needing nothing, wanting nothing, knowing everything, being happy and satisfied - and as we daily meditate upon this Indwelling god, we shall acquire a greater mental equivalent.

For those who have always dwelt on limited thoughts a very good practice is to dwell upon the magnitude of the Universe.  Think how many stars there are, how many fish there are in the seas, and how many grains of sand on the beaches.  Think of how big the ocean is; of the immensity of space, the bigness of everything, the grandeur of everything.  Mechanically, if necessary, compel the mentality to cognize Reality.  Compel the consciousness to recognize Truth through reason, if no other conviction comes.

Think, see and feel activity.  Radiate Life.  Feel that there is that within which is the center and circumference of the Universe.  The Universe is the result of the Self-Contemplation of God.  Our lives are the result of our self-contemplations, and are peopled with the personifications of our thoughts and ideas. Accept this without question for it is true.

Nothing is real to us unless we make it real.  Nothing can touch us unless we let it touch us.  Refuse to have the feelings hurt. Refuse to receive anyone's condemnation.  In the independence of your own mentality, believe and feel that you are wonderful.  This is not conceit, it is the truth.  What can be more wonderful than the manifestation of the Infinite Mind?  "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."  "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."  "Be firm and ye shall be made firm."  "Act as though I am and I will be."  "Onlook thou the Deity and the Deity will onlook thee."  "As thou has believed, so be it done."  "Ask and it shall be given unto you."  "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth - it shall prosper.""

July 22 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE LAW of ATTRACTION
By Ernest Holmes

No Failures

"If one appears to have failed, he should realize that there are no failures in the Universe.  He should completely erase the idea of failure by stating that there are no failures.  If one believes that he failed last year, he will be likely to fail again this year, unless the false thought is erased.  Break down everything except the recognition of the One Perfect Power, which is not contingent upon any place, person, condition, time of year, or anything but Itself.  A demonstration is made when it comes straight through from the Truth.  The one who wishes to make a demonstration must clear up his own subjective atmosphere, the reason being that he may be objectively making statements which his subjective thought may be denying.  In this way, we often neutralize our word as fast as it is spoken.

When Jesus said:  "Resist not," He meant that non-recognition of evil is the only way to avoid it.  This is true according to the law of cause and effect, for what we persist in recognizing we persist in holding in place.  That which we refuse to recognize, we neutralize, and it is no longer there so far as we are concerned.

So we erase any idea of failure.  Now here is where it looks as if one were not telling the truth to himself, but he is declaring the truth about the Spirit that indwells him.  THIS SPIRIT NEVER FAILS.  Affirm this until it is a very part of your being:  "This word blots out from the book of my remembrance any sense of lack, limitation, want, or fear of failure.  There is no failure, no person to fail.  Failure is neither person, place nor thing.  It is a false thought and has no truth in it.  It is a belief in lack and there is no lack.  It is a belief in a limitation which does not exist.

Your word, which is one with the Infinite Life, has been spoken in calm trust.  It will be taken up at once and it will be oeprated on.  Perfect is the pattern and perfect will be the result.  Your word is now establishing it forever.  See this, feel it, know it.  You are now encompassed by perfect life, by infinite activity, by all power, by all guidance.  The Power of the Spirit is supplying you with all good, It is filling you with life and love.

Thought is very subtle and sometimes when you are making such an affirmation, arguments will rise against it.  Stop at once and meet those arguments.  Refuse to accept them.  We speak into our words the intellingence which we are, and backed by that greater Intelligence of the Universal Mind, our word becomes a law unto the thing for which it is spoken.  There goes forth from this word the Power of the Infinite.

Suppose one were treating his business and something within him should say:  "There are too many people in this business," he should handle the thought of competition at once.  Declare:  "There is no competition and no monopoly in my experience."

Treatment is a thing of itself; it is an entity of Infinite Intelligence, Life and Action, and nothing can hinder its operation but unbelief or a lack of adequate mental equivalents.  "They could not enter in because of unbelief," and because they "limited the Holy One of Israel."

Never depend upon people or say that things must come from this or that source.  It makes no difference where things come from.  SAY THAT THEY ARE, and let them come from where they may, and then if something occurs which points to a place for them to come from, it is correct to say:  "If this is the place, then there is nothing which can hinder."

Nothing moves but Mind.  God makes things through the direct act of becoming the things which He creates.  This is what we do, for our thought becomes the thing thought of.  The thought and the thing are one in reality.  WHAT A MAN HAS AND WHAT HE IS, IS THE RESULT OF THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF HIS THOUGHT.  Keep on subjectifying thought until the balance of consciousness is on the affirmative side, and nothing can hinder it from demonstrating.  This is the inevitable for this is the way the Law operates.  A good meditation for Opportuniity is the following:

"My opportunities are unlimited.  There is a Divine Urge to express.  It permeates me and fills all space and all people.  All of my affairs are in Its hands.  To It are clearly visible the best ways, methods and means for my greater expression.  I leave my affairs in the hands of this principle, and I co-operate with It.

"Today the possibilities of my experience are unlimited.  The Spirit flows through me, inspiring me and sustaining that inspiration.  I have ability and talent and I am busy using them.  This talent is divinely sustained and marketed under a Universal plan of right action.

"Life lies open to me - rich, full, abudnant.  My thought, which is my key to life, opens all doors for me.  I am one with Infinity, Divinity.  I realize this unity.  I proceed on my way as one who knows that God goes with him into an eternal day of infinite privilege.  I have only to open the portals of my soul and accept that which is ready to express through me.  Today I fling these portals wide; today I am the instrument through which life flows.""

July 21 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE LAW of ATTRACTION
By Ernest Holmes

Attracting Success (continued)

"We live in Mind an It can return to us only what we think into It.  No matter what we do, Law will always obtain.  If we are thinking of ourselves as poor and needy, then Mind has no choice but to return what we have thought into It.  "It is done unto you as you believe."  Thoughts of failure, limitation or poverty are negative and must be counted out of our lives for all time.  God has given us a Power and we must use It.  We can do more toward saving the world by proving this law than all that charity has ever given to it.

Remember God is the silent Power behind all things, always ready to pour into our experience that which we need.  We must have a receptive and positive faith in the evidence of things not seen with the physical eye but which are eternal in the heavens.  All is Mind, and we must provide a receptive avenue for It, as It passes out through us into the outer expression of our affairs.   If we allow the world's opinion to control our thinking, then that will be our demonstration!  If, on the other hand, we rise superior to the world, we shall create a new pattern.

It is quite necessary, then, that the successful business man should keep his mind on thoughts of happiness, which produce cheerfulness instead of depression.  He should radiate joy and should be filled with faith, hope and expectancy.  These cheerful, hopeful attitudes of mind are indispensable to the one who really wants to do things in life.  Declare your freedom.  Know that no matter what others may say, think or do, you are a success now, and nothing can hinder you from accomplishing your good.  All the power of the universe is with you.  Feel it, know it, and then act as though it were true.

Begin to blot out, one by one, all false beliefs - all ideas that man is limited, poor or miserable.  Refuse to think of failure or to doubt your own power.  See only what you wish to experience and look at nothing else.  We are relieved of all thought of clinging to anybody or anything.  Cannot the Great Principle of Life create for us all that we need?  The Universe is inexhaustible; It is limitless, it knows no bounds and has no confines.  We are not depending on a reed shaken by the wind, but on the Principle of Life Itself, for all that we have or ever shall need.  It is not some power, or a great power, it is ALL POWER.  All we have to do is to believe, never wavering, no matter what happens.  As we do this, we shall find that things are steadily coming our way and that they are coming without that awful effort which destroys the peace of mind of the majority of the race.  We know that there can be no failure in God's Mind, and this Mind is the Power on which we are depending."

July 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE LAW of ATTRACTION
By Ernest Holmes

Attracting Success

"We mean by demonstration, bringing into our experience something which we had not experienced before; bringing it in as the result of conscious thought; and unless it is possible to do this, our whole science is a mistake and a delusion.  Unless there is a Divine Principle, Universal Soul or Subjectivity, or Medium, which, of Itself - without any help or assistance - can produce things, and will, then there is nothing in this teaching.  But there is a Divine Principle; and what It does for us It must do through us.  Our part in the demonstration is to set the word in motion, thus compelling, through the Law of Subjectivity, the result or manifestation. 

The subjective state of a man's thought decides what is going to happen to him in his objective experience.   The subjective state of his thought is the sum total of his thinking and knowing. It is the medium between the relative and the Absolute, between the Limitless and the conditioned.  Whatever is involved in it, will evolve.  Therefore, when there is no longer anything in our mentality which denies our word, a demonstration will be made; nothing can stop it, for the Law is Absolute.

We should approach the Law normally and naturally and with a sense of ease.  There is nothing peculiar or weird about it.  It is a natural Law, working in a normal way, and must be thought of in this light.  We should come to consider the Law and the Spirit as friends and think of them as such.  In this way we shall gradually go from good to more good and from peace to greater peace.  This is the natural unfoldment of Reality through man.  We should EXPECT THE BEST, and so live that the best may become a part of our experience.

Suppose one wishes more activity in his business, more success.  Every day he should see his place filled with people.  See them looking at and finding pleasure in his merchandise; see them comparing prices and realizing that he is offering good values; see them delighted with the service he is giving; see them cheerful, beaming, expansive, as they enjoy the atmosphere of his place; see the uplift which the spirit of his good-will gives them.  Make a mental picture of it all.  We are dealing with Intelligence, and we should recognize the Power we are working with - realizing our Oneness with It - and then we should ask for what we wish and take it.

If we were treating for activity in a store we owned in Boston, we should not be treating someone in Kalamazoo for the mumps and expect that the store would demonstrate more success.   WE MUST BE SPECIFIC IN WHAT WE DO, while at the same time never outlining how it shall be done.  Remember we are dealing with Intelligence.   IT IS GOING TO EVOLVE OUR CONCEPT EXACTLY AS WE INVOLVE IT.  If one could take a picture of his objective circumstances and a picture of his subjective mentality, he would find them to be identical, for one is the cause of the other.  One is the image and the other is the reflection of that image.

So our success in business, the activity which we generate through the operation of the Law, depends upon our ability to conceive.  At all times, we are either drawing things to us or pushing them away.  In the average individual, this process goes on without his knowing it, but ignorance of the law does not change its result.  "What," someone will say, "do you think that I thought failure or wanted to fail?"  Of course not.  Perhaps you thought that failure might come, maybe you even feared it would come, or in some other way gave it entrance to your mind."

July 19 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS
By Ernest Holmes

The Gifts of God Are Mine Today

It is the Father's good pleasure to give me the Kingdom of Heaven, or harmony and abundance.  Today He opens to me the blessings of His infinite and eternal treasure, inviting me to dip deeply into it.  As I believe in my heart, so it is done unto me in all things.  As I ask, so do I receive, a full measure unto my faith, pressed down and running over.

These and other Divine promises and assurances sing in me; the Still Small Voice reminds me that all that the Father hath is mine.  This day I listen deeply to that Still, Small Voice and believe Its promises.

I fear nothing - neither lack, limitation, disappointment nor distress of any kind, for is not the Father always with me?  What caused the appearance of lack in my life?  Simply my fear, or  my belief that the Father could forsake me.  I do not believe that now, and it no longer matters to me what is the appearance of today, or what has gone before.  Today is new, and I am newly awakened in it, and I believe with dauntless faith that my good, in full measure, comes to me from God today.

I now believe that it is, indeed, the Father's good pleasure to give me of His bounty.  I know that He gives as I ask, without question or limit, and I am ready to receive.

The Gifts of God Are Mine Today

July 18 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

No Condemnation

There is no condemnation in me nor operating through me.

I am free from the belief or thought of men.

I walk my own way, immune to all suggestion of condemnation.

Only those thoughts can enter my mentality which I allow to enter.

I do not, and cannot, receive adverse thoughts.

Only those thoughts which are helpful and life-giving can find entrance to my house.

There is no condemnation.

July 17 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

My Business

My business is directed by Divine Intelligence.

The All-Knowing Mind knows what to do and how to do it.

I do not hinder, but let It operate in my affairs.

It prospers and directs me and controls my life.

My affairs are managed by Love, and directed by Wisdom, 

and they cannot fail to prosper and expand.

My affairs are in His hands.

July 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

By Ernest Holmes

Attracting Friends

"In turning to the Law, realize that it is a Law of Reflection.  “Life is the mirror of king and slave.”  Emerson said:  “If you want a friend, be a friend.”  As the idea of friendship dawns upon the consicousness, the law of attraction produces friends, for one is the picture and the other is the thing.  This is the great teaching of involution and evolution, the thought involved and the result evolved.  One is the treatment and the other is the demonstration.  When we are dealing with Causation, we are dealing with that which has involved within Itself all effect, as it unfolds.  We may leave it to the Law to compel right action.  With this in mind let us go on to treatment.

Do we wish to attract friends?  We must begin to image ideal relationships, be they social or otherwise, to sense and feel the presence of friends; to enjoy them in our mentalities, not as an illusion but as a reality, not as a dream but as an experience; to declare that their presence is now here.  BUT WE MUST NEVER LOOK TO SEE IF THEY ARE HERE, BECAUSE THIS WOULD IMPLY DOUBT AND WOULD NEUTRALIZE OUR WORD.  We can attract the kind of friends we wish if we specfiically designate the kind, but we must never think of certain people, or that a particular individual must be one of the friends, for this would be hypnotic.  The idea will bring the right kind of friends.

In order to have this friendship enduring, true, really worth while and a thing of beauty, we should cultivate an attitude of friendship toward everybody and everything.  The one who has learned to love all people will find plenty of people who will return that love.  This is not mere sentiments, and it is more than a religious attitude of mind.  It is a deep, scientific fact, and one to which we should pay attention.  The reason is this:  As all is Mind, and we attract to us what we first become; until we learn to love, we are not sending out love vibrations, and not until we send out those vibrations, can we receive love in return.

When we find we are without friends, the thinking to do is at once to send our thought out to the whole world; send it full of love and affection.  Know that this thought will meet the desires of some other person who is wanting the same thing, and in some way the two will be drawn together.  Think of the whole world as your friend, but you must also be the friend of the whole world.  In this way, and with this simple practice, you will draw to you so many friends that the time will be too short to enjoy them all.   Refuse to see the negative side of anyone.  Refuse to let yourself misunderstand or be misunderstood.  Know that everyone wants you to have the best.  Affirm this wherever you go, and you will find things just as you wish them to be.

One of the first things to do, is to love everybody.  If you have not done this, begin to do so at once.  There is always more good than bad in people, and seeing the good tends to bring it forth.  Love is the grandest healing and drawing power on earth.  It is the very reason for our being, and that explains why it is that people should have something or someone to love. The life that has not loved has not lived, it is still dead.  Love is the sole impulse for creation, and the man who does not have love as the greatest incentive in his life, has never developed the real creative instinct.  No one can swing out into the Universal without love, for the whole Universe is based upon it.

“To him who hath loved much, much is forgiven.”  A man may have many shortcomings, but if he loves greatly much will be forgiven him.  People are dying for real human interest, for genuine friendship, for someone to tell them they are all right.  We always welcome the man who looks at the world as his friend and loves it.  And it is a law that the man who sees what he wants to see, regardless of what appears, will someday experience in the outer what he has so faithfully seen in the within.  From selfish reasons alone, if from no loftier reason, we cannot afford to find fault, to hate, or even to hold in mind anything against any living soul!  The God of love cannot hear the prayer of the one who fails to love.  In our meditation for friendship, let us make our unity with all people, with all life:

“God in me is unified with God in all.  This One is now drawing into my life all love and fellowship.  I am one with all people, with all things, with all life.  As I listen in the silence, the voice of all humanity speaks to me and answers the love that I hold out to it.

“The great love which I now feel for the world is the Love of God, and it is felt by all and comes back to me from all.  I understand all people and this understanding is reflected back to me from all.  I give friendship and therefore I have friends.  I help, therefore, I am helped.  I uplift, therefore, I am uplifted.  I am now surrounded by all love, all friendship, all companionship, all health, all happiness, all success.  I AM ONE WITH LIFE.  I wait in the silence while the great Spirit bears this message to the whole world.””

July 15 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE LAW of ATTRACTION
By Ernest Holmes

Attraction of Personality

"Every business, every place, every person, every thing has a certain mental atmosphere of its own.   This atmosphere decides what is to be drawn to it.  For instance, you never a successful man who went around with an atmosphere of failure.  Successful people think about success.  A successful man is filled with that subtle something which permeates everything that he does with an atmosphere of confidence and strength.  The man who says of himself, "I have no personality with which to attract people," has been laboring under a delusion.  He needs to be disillusioned.  He must be shown that there is but One Person; this Person is manifested through every living soul.  It is THE Personality.  It is Complete.

The ones to whom we are most strongly attracted are not necessarily the ones who are the most beautiful physically, but are the ones from whom we receive that subtle emanation, "that something."  What is that something?  It is that which emanates from within.  It is the inner recognition of Reality.
Now we know, and knowing means using the Law in a constructive way, "I and my Father are one."  This is strength for the weak and life for all who believe.  We can so fill ourselves with the drawing power of attraction that it will become irresistible.  Nothing can hinder the man who knows that he is dealing with the One Power that creates all from Itself, moves all within Itself, and yet holds everything in its place.  One with the Infinite Mind.  One with the personality of God.  We should let this ring through our mind each day, many times each day, until we shall never again say, "I have no personality."  We have all Personality!"

July 14 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
By Ernest Holmes

Thought Atmosphere

"Spiritual mind healing is a result of the constructive use of a mental law, which the world is gradually beginning to understand.  Since we are thinking beings and cannot stop thinking, and since Creative Mind receives our thought and cannot stop creating, It must always be creating something for us.  What It will make depends wholly upon what we are thinking, and what we shall attract will depend upon that on which our thoughts dwell.

Thought can attract to us that which we first mentally embody, that  which has become a part of our mental makeup, a part of our inner understanding.  Every person is surrounded by a thought atmosphere.  This mental atmosphere is the direct result of his conscious and unconscious thought, which, in its turn,becomes the direct reason for, and cause of, that which comes into his life.  Thorough this power we are either attracting or repelling.  Like attracts like and it is also true that we may become attracted to something which is greater than our previous experience, by first embodying the atmosphere of our desire.

Taking as the starting point the idea that the essence of man's life is God, it follows that he uses the same creative process.  Everything originates in the One, comes form the same Source and returns again to It.  As God's thought makes worlds, and peoples them with living things, so our thought makes our world and peoples it with our experiences.  By the activity of our thought, things come into our life and we are limited only because we have not known the Truth.  We have thought that outside things controlled us, when all the time we have had that within which could have changed everything and given us freedom from bondage.

Everyone automatically attracts to himself just what he is, and we may set it down that wherever we are, however intolerable the situation may be, we are just where we belong.  There is no power in the universe but ourselves that can free us.  Someone may help us on the road to realization, but substantiality and permanence can come only through the consciousness of our own life and thought.  Man must bring himself to the place in mind where there is no misfortune, no calamity, no accident, no trouble, no confusion; where there is nothing but plenty, peace, power Life and Truth.  He should definitely, daily (using his own name) declare the Truth about himself, realizing that he is reflecting his statements into Consciousness and that they will be operated upon by It.

This is called, in mysticism, High Invocation; invoking the Divine Mind, implanting within It, seeds of thought relative to oneself.  And this is why some of the teachers of olden times used to instruct their pupils to cross their hands over their chests and say:  "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful me!" definitely teaching them that as they mentally held themselves, so they would be held.  "Act as though I am and I will be."

One of the ancient sayings is that "To the man who can perfectly practice inaction, all things are possible."  This sounds like a contradiction until one penetrates its inner meaning, for it is only when one completely practices inaction that he arrives at the point of the true actor, for he then realizes that the act and the actor are one and the same; that cause and effect are the same; which is simply a different way of saying:  "Know the truth and the truth shall make you free."  To reduce the whole thing to its simplest form, whatever one reflects into Mind tends to take form."

July 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

"Assume a case of treatment for prosperity.  Suppose one comes to you and says, "Business is bad.  There is no activity."  How are you going to treat him?  Are you going to treat activity, business, customers, conditions or what?  There is but one thing to treat, as far as the practitioner is concerned, and that is HIMSELF.  The practitioner treats himself, the reason being that his patient's mind and his own mind are in the One Mind.

There is but one activity, which is perfect.  Nothing has happened to it, nothing can cut if off, it is always operating.  There is no belief in inactivity.  What is this statement for?  To neutralize the belief in inactivity.  A word spoken in Mind will reach its own level in the objective world by its own weight; just as in physical science we know that water reaches its own level.  You must destroy the thoughts of inactivity.  Man cannot become either discouraged or afraid if he realizes that there is but One Mind which he may consciously use.  The real man knows no discouragement, cannot be afraid, and has no unbelief.  And he who knows of the power with which he is dealing and who plants a seed of thought in Subjectivity, knows that it will come up and bear fruit.

Bring out the idea of Substance.  Make consciousness perceive that Substance is Spirit, Spirit is God, and God is all there is.  Once you acquaint the consciousness with this idea, it is implanted in the Creative Power which is externalized in your life.

Continue to declare there were no mistakes, there are none and there never will be.  Say, "I represent the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.  It is unerring, It never makes mistakes.  There are no mistakes in the Divine Plan for me.  There is no limitation, poverty, want nor lack.  I stand in the midst of eternal opportunity, which is forever presenting me with the evidence of its full expression.  I am joy, peace and happiness.  I am the spirit of joy within me.  I am the spirit of peace within me, of poise and of power.  I am the spirit of happiness within me.  I radiate Life; I am Life.  There is One Life and that Life is my life now."

It is not enough to say:  "There is One Life and that Life is God."  We must complete this statement by saying:  "That Life is my life now," because we must couple this Life with ours in order to express It.  We are not becoming this Life, but are now in and of this Life.  There is no other Life.  God is not becoming:  God IS.  God is not growing; God is complete.  God is not trying to find out something; God already knows.  Evolution is not the expression of a becoming God, but is simply one of the ways that a God Who already IS, expresses Himself; and as such it is the logical result of involution and is eternally going on.

For the man who believes that "business is bad"; for the one who thinks he has made many mistakes and will make more; for the man who sees nothing but inactivity about him, the following meditation might be used:

"I know I am now at the threshold of all good, wisdom and Truth.  All the good I can embody is now mine.  I have only to open the portals of my soul and accept that which is ready to express through me.

"I expect, fully and emphatically, the answer to my prayer today.  Right now do I possess this thing I so greatly desire.  I remove my fear of lack and negation, for it is the only barrier which stands in the way of my experience of good.  I alone can remove it, and I do remove it now.

"In this moment my good comes to me, enough to spare, to give and to share. I can never be exhausted, my good can never be depleted, because that Source from which my good comes is inexhaustible.

"Today, in this moment, the Law responds to my thought.  My word is one of affirmation, rising from the knowledge that the Good, the Enduring and the True are Eternalities in my experience.  I cannot be apart from that which is my good.  My good is assured me by God, the Indwelling Essence of my life.""

July 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS

By Ernest Holmes

I Accept the Fullness of My Own Divine Well-Being

Within myself is that which is perfect, that which is complete, that which is divine; that which was never born and cannot die; that which lives, which is God – the Eternal Reality.  Within myself is peace, poise, power, wholeness and happiness.  All the power that there is and all the presence that there is, and all the life that there is, is God – the Living Spirit Almighty – and this Divine and Living Spirit is within me.  It is Wholeness.  It is never weary.  It is never tired.  It is Life.  It is complete Peace.  It is never afraid; It is never confused.  It is always poised and peaceful.  It is always in a state of perfect equilibrium.

This is the truth about myself; there is no other self.  Every image of fear is erased from my mind, every sense of confusion leaves my thought.  My mind now entertains and reflects the Divine into everything which I do, say and think – into my body, into my affairs.  That divine within me is Wholeness, and my mind reflects this Wholeness into every organ, every function, every action, every reaction of my physical being, renewing it after the Perfect Pattern – the Christ within me.  Universal Substance reflects Itself, into my mind, into daily supply, so that everything I need each day is supplied.  Before the need, is the thing, and with the apparent need is met.  There is Something within me which goes before me and prepares the way wherever I go – making straight the way, making perfect the way, making immediate and instant, and permanent and harmonious, every situation.  Consequently, my mind reflects the fullness of that Divine Substance, which heals every sense of lack in my life.  Peace, poise, power, perfection, Living Spirit within me, is me, myself.

I Accept the Fullness of My Own Divine Well-Being

July 11 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

Love Gleams Through the Mist

Through the mist of human fear love gleams and points the way to freedom.

I now decree and declare that I am free from all sense of bondage.

I am made perfect and whole through the knowledge of the Real Life within me.

No illusions can enter my thought.

I know that there is One Power, and I know that this Power now protects me from all harm.

As Perfect Love casts out all fear, so my fear flees before the knowledge of Truth.

I am not afraid.

July 10 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHING OF JESUS
By Ernest Holmes

God Can Only Give Us What We Take

"God cannot give us anything unless we are in a mental condition to receive the gift.  The Law cannot do anything for us unless it does it through us.  Belief is absolutely necessary to right demonstration.

We are on the path of experience, just waking to the real fact of our true being; as we awake, we find we are surrounded by many false conditions, but there is something within which remembers the real state.  If one will sit in quiet contemplation of good, as an inner experience, he will experience the good which he contemplates.  He can do this only as he turns from that which is evil and dwells on the good alone.  The Universe will not be divided.

The Universe Holds Nothing Against Us

The Universe holds nothing against us.  No matter how many mistakes we have made, we are still perfect beings within, and the within may become the without, if we will carefully train ourselves to listen to the inner voice of truth which speaks to us in our moments of quietness and solitude.

There is nothing in the Universe that wishes evil to anyone.  Indeed, it is only as we experience good that God is expressed through us.  The more completely we realize good, happiness and success, the more perfectly do we express God and the more of God do we become, that is, the more does God become personified through us.

As the prodigal returns to his father's house, so must we return, not with a morbid mind, but consciously and definitely, with direct intent and a complete concentration of purpose.  The journey back should be fraught with happiness and joyful expectation for we shall be met with a smile from the Universe and shall be folded in the arms of love forever.

The Eternal Completion

Substance and supply exist eternally in the Father's House; health, happiness and success are native to the Heavenly Home, and God Himself shall be our Host.  More we could not ask, more could not be given than that which has been given from the foundations of the Universe.

Discord, misery, and unhappiness are the result of a misuse of our true nature, the result of ignorance.  Ignorance of the law excuses no one from its effects; but knowledge clothes us in the seamless robe, while wisdom puts the ring of completion on our finger and understanding feeds us with the fat of the land.

No one who has tried this has failed; it would be impossible to do so.  If any have thought they have failed, let them realize that somewhere they have fallen short of the divine calling.  The Truth cannot fail, for it is God, the Absolute and Unconditioned One, who is the Truth.

Let us no longer fight the old; let us no longer remember that we were once on the outer rim; let us forget the past and live in the eternal present of God's happy smile.  Today is good; tomorrow will be even better, and that vista of tomorrows that stretches down the bright eternities of an endless future will all be good, for the nature of Reality cannot change."

July 9 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS 
By Ernest Holmes

Perfect Action ... No Mistakes

"In mental work,, we must realize that there is One Infinite Mind, which is consciously directing our destiny.  Declare every day that:  "No mistakes have been made, none are being made, and none can be made."  Declare:  "There is One Supreme Intelligence which governs, guides and guards, tells me what to do, when to act and how to act."  Having done this in perfect faith, act with perfect assurance.  Declare further:  "Everything necessary to the full and complete expression of the most boundless experience of joy is mine now."  Know this, see it, feel it and BE it.  Do this every day for a few minutes.  We should all do this until the time comes when it is no longer necessary.  When that time comes we will know it because our demonstrations will have been made.

Suppose someone says, "I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, I had opportunities I did not grasp."  Every man has this feeling at some time in his life.  This is a direct belief that there is but one opportunity which comes to man and if he does not take it he will have no more.  This is a belief in limited opportunities and it must be denied completely and specifically.  It is not that we have made no mistakes, but if the belief in the necessity of mistakes stays in the consciousness, then there is bound to be a repetition.  It is scientific practice to declare that there have been no mistakes in man's consciousness, that if there have been they are now wiped out.  There are none in the Divine Plan, and there is no plan for man other than the Divine Plan.

If a man had had, and apparently lost, many opportunities, he must be shown that he stands at the point of limitless opportunity; that opportunity is right here today; that he sees and grasps it.  It recognizes him as he recognizes it.  We exist in Limitless Opportunities, which are forever seeking expression through us.

Know that there is no condemnation, for nothing can condemn unless we believe in condemnation.  Destroy the thought that would place limitation or bondage upon any situation or condition.  "Loose him and let him go."  Talk to yourself, not to the world.  There is no one to talk to but yourself for all experience takes place within.  Conditions are the reflections of our meditations and nothing else.  There is but One Mind, that Mind is our mind now.  It never thinks confusion, knows what It wishes and how to accomplish what It desires.  It is what It desires!"

July 8 ~ The Science of MInd in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

See Life Expressed

"One should analyze himself, saying, "Do I look at myself from a standpoint of restriction?  Do I see life limited to the eternal round of getting up in the morning, eating, going to work, coming home, going to bed, sleeping, getting up again and so on?"  Break the bonds of apparent necessity and see life as one continuous expression of the Infinite Self, and as this conception gradually dawns upon the inner thought, something will happen in the outer conditions to relieve the greater demands of necessity.  Free yourself forever from the thought that God may be pleased by a life of sacrifice, that the world is any better because of your misery, or that righteousness is more perfectly expressed through poverty than abundance.  Know that the greater abundance of every good thing which you are bringing out in your life, the more perfectly you are satisfying the Divine Urge within you.  ANYTHING YOU CAN DREAM OF is not too great for you to undertake, if it hurts no man and brings happiness and good into your life.  If one were doing the work he should be doing he would never become tired, because the energy which holds the universe in place is tireless.  The reason we become tired is that we have cross currents of thought about our work.  This arises from a belief in duality - a belief in both Good and evil.

In treating we conceive of the ultimate of the idea but never of the process.  Never treat a process.  We plant a seed and there is in the seed, operating through the creative soil, everything that will cause it to develop, unfold and produce a plant.  The ultimate of effect is already potential in its cause.  This is the mystical meaning of the words:  "I am Alpha and Omega."  Our word for the fullest expression of our life or for its smallest detail should be the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end of the thing thought of.  All cause and effect are in Spirit, they are bound together in one complete whole.  One is the inside, the other the outside of the same thing.

Never let anything cause you to doubt your ability to demonstrate the Truth.  CONCEIVE OF YOUR WORD AS BEING THE THING.  See the desire as an already accomplished fact and rest in perfect confidence, peace and certainty, never looking for results, never wondering, never becoming anxious, never being hurried nor worried.  Those who do not understand this attitude may think you are inactive but remember: "To him who can perfectly practice inaction, all things are possible."

What we know about Subjective Mind proves that It is unconscious of time, knows neither time nor process.  It knows only the completion, the answer.  That is why it is written, "Before they call, I will answer."  Cosmic Creation is from idea to object.  It does not know anything about process; process is involved in it but not consciously.  Correct practice should know that ultimate right action is now, today.  If we say, "Tomorrow it is going to be," then according to the very law we are using we hold the answer in a state of FUTURITY WHICH CAN NEVER BECOME PRESENT.   If a gardener holds his seed in his hand and says, "Tomorrow I am going to plant this seed," his garden will never start growing.  Therefore, Jesus said:  "When ye pray, believe that ye have and ye shall receive."  He did not say believe and you will immediately have.  He said, "Ye shall receive."  He did not deny the natural law of evolution and growth.  Nature operates according to a law of logical sequence."

July 7 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

How to Demonstrate a Home

"All our beautiful dreams, all our wishing and praying, for material good, will reach no higher level in our experience than our belief in the power of God and in His willingness to help us.  God's willingness to help us is expressed in the existence of that Immutable Law which gives us exactly the type of objective experience for which we build a mental likeness.  If we have the mental equivalent of a commodious home, roomy, light, cheery, and an income in keeping with it; if we are able to build in mind the kind of home we wish, and there is nothing in our subjective thought which denies this, then we shall be able to decide and demonstrate for ourself the kind of home we desire."

July 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

Definite Plan

"We will say there are four men, "A", "B", "C", and "D".  "A" receives $15.00 a week; "B" receives $50.00; "C" receives $75.00; and "D" receives $100.00.  Suppose these four men are all without positions and each comes to a practitioner for mental treatment to obtain employment.  Please do not think this is a material presentation of a spiritual truth for in the last analysis, in our philosophy, the Universe is either all matter or It is all Spirit.  If it is all matter, what we formerly called matter is Spirit.  If the Universe is all Spirit, what we used to call Spirit is matter.  The Spiritual Universe should no longer be divided against Itself.  The Bhagavad-Gita says that we shall never arrive at peace while we deal with the Pairs of Opposites.  Let us not say that fifteen dollars is material and the Lord's Prayer is spiritual.  Even in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus said, "Give us this day our daily bread," and He had already told them they would receive as much bread as they expected.  He did not say what the size of the loaf would be.

These four men are all without positions, as we have said, and they come to a practitioner for mental treatment.  The practitioner takes the thought that there is nothing but activity.  He heals the belief in inactivity and declares that each one of these men is divinely active, occupied and compensated.  Without question he has set a law in motion which will produce something for each of these four.  We will suppose that his treatment is a good and an effective one.  They accept it and consequently each finds a position.  As a result probably "A" will receive $15.00 again; "B" $50.00; "C" $75.00; and "D" $100.00 per week.

"But," one might say, "the practitioner spoke the same word for each, why did they not all receive $100.00 per week?"  Because the Law says that we can have only WHAT WE CAN TAKE.  The practitioner's word was used for each in like manner but each could receive only his fill - only his mental capacity to comprehend.  He can have more, but how is he to get it?  Will a pint dipper ever hold more than a pint?  One might build up the edge and rim of the dipper somewhat and make it hold more and more, so one can continuously increase his consciousness.  It is just the old law that we can expand the finite but we cannot contract the Infinite.

Each man, "A", "B", "C", and "D" was full and no doubt running over when he received a position as a result of the treatment; but the positions they received, the molds which their perceptions of life had provided, were limited to the subjective remembrance already set in motion by themselves.  Each attracted to himself, out of the Universal Good, that which he could comprehend.  It is the old statement again that water will reach its own level by its own weight and without effort.  So a treatment will level itself in the objective world at the level of the subjective thought and realization which projects and receives it.

This does not mean that each of the above stated men will always have to receive the same compensation, for with an enlarged consciousness each might receive more.  There is nothing in the nature of finality about this because the man whose consciousness is now bringing him a smaller thing or a less important thing (we name it big and little and to us it is big or little), can if he so desires conceive the bigger thing, the more important position.  The same prayer answers the big and the little.

A man does not suddenly become affluent because he sits around and thinks, "I am a multi-millionaire."  But when he thinks affluently he does begin to demonstrate prosperity."