Thursday, November 3, 2016

November 2 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Summary of Part Three: 
The Practice of Spiritual Mind Healing
Ernest Holmes

"In the preceding eighteen chapters of this book, the one object in mind has been to uncover man's spiritual nature and his relationship to God and the Universe.  Therefore, instead of the usual recapitulation of the six chapters just concluded, we propose to make this an informal discussion of the general theme of "How to Give a Mental Treatment."

"Spirituality is natural goodness.  God is not a person; God is a Presence personified in us.  Spirituality is not a thing; It is the atmosphere of God's Presence, goodness, truth and beauty.  Religion is a life, a living.  If we could forget that philosophy is profound, that religion is spiritual and life serious - all of which may be true - but if we could forget all these things, and approach Reality as normally as we go about our daily affairs, we would be better off.

If there is one thing we should learn it is that spiritual treatment must not be confused with mental concentration.  A treatment is an active thing, if we are going to treat by a technique, by a method of procedure, if we are going to treat by a mental process.  If we are going to reduce spiritual treatment to a mental science, then there is a method, a technique and a procedure in mental treatment.  There is a certain mental attention we should have in giving a treatment, but this is different from the popular idea of mental concentration, as though we must hold the mind to one thought for a certain period of time.

Start with this simple proposition:  The nature of God, of man and of being is perfect, harmonious, whole - Perfect God, Perfect Man, and Perfect Being - and in treatment conform your thought to this idea.  Then let the treatment be a moving thing, a series of thoughts or statements followed by realization.

Gradually a conviction dawns that God is all there is, and as this conviction grows the work is done more easily, and with a greater degree of acceptance...a growing spiritual atmosphere comes into it.  When this truth takes hold of our consciousness, and we contact what appears to be imperfect man, imperfect God, and imperfect being, we shall better know that the manifestation of imperfection has no right to exist.  In actual practice, this becomes a series of statements - arguments perhaps - but a series of statements which finally culminate in the mental evidence being in favor of Perfect God, Perfect Man, and Perfect Being.

The way to learn how to treat, is to treat.  At first one has the feeling in treating of wondering if anything is really happening, until he finally realizes that this apparent nothingness with which he deals is the only ultimate something out of which tangible things could be made."

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