September 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT the MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Individuality

"The higher the sense of Truth, the greater will be the realization of the uniqueness of individual character and personality.  The real Self is God-given and cannot be denied.  It is the place where God comes to a point of Individualized and Personified Expression.  "I am the light of the world."

Individuality means self-choice, volition, conscious mind, personified Spirit, complete freedom and a Power to back up that freedom.  There could not be a mechanical or an unspontaneous individuality.  Individuality must be created in the image of Perfection and let alone to make this stupendous discovery for itself; it emerges from the Universal.  Psychology teaches the personification of this individuality, which is true as far as it goes, but metaphysics universalizes it by unifying it with the Whole.  There is a Universal nature of Man, inherent within him, which causes the manifestation of his personality.  The Spirit of God.

We have now discovered a unity with the Whole on the three sides of life, or from all three modes of expression.  We are one with the body of the physical world; One with the Creative Law of the Universe in the mental world; and One with the Spirit of God in the conscious world.

Could we ask or hope for more?  Would it be possible for more to be given?  We could not ask for more and no greater freedom could be given.  From now on we shall expand, grow and express only to the degree that we consciously cooperate with the Whole."

September 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS from the NEW TESTAMENT
Ernest Holmes

The Unity of Life (Eph. 4:1-7)

"The unity of the Spirit is kept through the bonds of peace.  Other than peace suggests confusion and separation.  The Spirit is a perfect unit and we harmonize with this unity when we maintain a state of peace in our minds.

"There is one body and one Spirit."  The entire creation is this body - the Body of God, who is One Spirit.  Within this one Body are all bodies; that is, within the one creation - which is the product of the One Spirit - are all bodies.

We have learned that all material forms come form one ultimate substance.  Any special body is some manifestation of this original stuff.  The original substance takes many forms; multiplicity, or many, within unity, or the One.

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism."  One Lord, who is the indwelling Christ, generic man or the universal Son.  There is but one faith, for faith is an affirmative mental attitude toward the universe; and one baptism, which is the realization that we are in the One Spirit.

"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."  It would be impossible to make a clearer statement of Truth:  One Life behind all that lives!  One, One, One...never two.  The unity of all life.  To learn this is to know a secret of the ages.

Here is a mystical saying:  God is in all, through all, and above all, which means that we partake of the One Life...It is all of us...but we are not all of this Life.  No man can exhaust the Divine Nature, but all live by, in, and through It.  It is in us but also around us - It is what we are but infinitely more than we are!  We shall ever ascend into a greater expression of this One, but we can never completely encompass It.  This is a glorious concept, and one which fills us with wonder at the majesty of our own being - forever hid with Christ in God."

August 14 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS FROM the NEW TESTAMENT
By Ernest Holmes

There Is No Condemnation (Romans 8:1)

""There is therefore now no condemnation to them...who walk...after the Spirit."  As it is impossible for us to be in another man, and as it is necessary that each live his own life, within the One Life, it follows that the writer was not referring to personality but to a universal Principle.

We are in Christ when we are in the Truth; we are in the Truth when we live in harmony with It.  There is no mystery about this.  It is common sense.  The law of the Spirit makes us free from sin and death.  The law of the Spirit is freedom, and knows no bondage.  When we enter the Spirit, we come under Its law of freedom.

"To be spiritually minded is life and peace."  Who does not long for life and peace?  These are contained in the Spirit, which is the center and circumference of all.  The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God because it is a limited concept of Truth.  The carnal mind symbolizes anything that disbelieves in the supremacy of Good; it is a belief in isolation, a sense of separation from good.

The Spirit That Raised Jesus (Romans 8:11)

The Spirit that raised Jesus dwells in all.  This Spirit quickens our mortal bodies when we let It.  Here is a lesson in mental and spiritual healing.  As the Truth dawns upon the subjective state of our thought, it stimulates it into newness of action.  Everything works from within out.  The body is a reflection of the soul and when the soul, which is the subjective state of thought, is illumined by the Spirit, it quickens the mortal part of us and heals the body.  The mortal is always an effect, a creature of time but a necessary one, for without it we could not function as objective individuals.

The Spirit of Adoption (Romans 8:15)

We have not received a spirit of bondage but one of adoption.  This is a mystical and beautiful saying.   It implies that we are adopted by the Supreme Spirit as Its own offspring.  How could it be otherwise, since we are made of the same stuff as the central fire?  There is no fear in the Spirit, and there will be none in us when we realize who and what we are.  God wishes us well and knows only that we are now free and perfect.  This is the spirit of freedom whereby we are all born free.

Joint Heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16, 17)

The inner Spirit, which is God, bears witness to the divine fact that we are the sons of God, the children of the Most High.  As sons of God, we are heirs to the heaven of reality; joint heirs with Christ.  This means that we are all one in Christ as we are one in God. Christ typifies the Universal Son, of which each is an individual member.

Our expectation looks for a more complete manifestation of our own inner divinity.  Evolution will bring this about, as it does all things.  We are an unfolding Principle of life, Truth, perfect law and action.  We wait for a more complete unfolding of our inner life.  It is already within, the perfect way and the eternal Truth.  We wait for the unfolding of ourselves, through the law inherent within our real nature."

August 10 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

"Hardening of the arteries should be treated by thoughts of love.  A  knowledge that body is controlled by mind and need not grow old will help eliminate the fear of this condition, which race-suggestion says comes to many people with what is called "old age."  Treat to know that Love is stronger than any other force in the Universe, and that steadily and rhythmically the Life of God is pulsing through your body.  Persistently know the truth that God's Life flows ceaselessly out through your life and back to Him, where it is renewed, purified and refreshed; and that the pulsing power of divine Love propels it.

Suppose someone comes to you who has high blood pressure.  You wish to treat to remove this sense.  Your work will be recognized as effective if, after you have done your work, he can be examined and his blood pressure is found to be normal.

Take the idea of high blood pressure, or nervous pressure and all that goes with it, and transpose it for the spiritual sense that there is a divine circulation, it is the Spirit that is circulating through this person.  There is nothing to inhibit It, there is nothing to accelerate It; It is always perfect circulation, there is no thought of fear or congestion.  Undoubtedly the condition exists, as an experience, but as a mental practitioner, you are not dealing with objective symptoms but with thought alone.

If the circulatory system seems inadequate, then the practitioner should realize that his patient's circulation is equalized in Spirit, that Divine Life and Energy flow freely to every part of his being, cleansing, revitalizing , and restoring him to complete wholeness.  There is one circulation, which is the Spirit flowing through man.  There are no degenerative processes in the Spirit.

You sense this person as a being Divine, the Spirit indwells him.  There is no man outside of God.  The more convinced a practitioner is of this, the more certain he is that there now is a divine and uninhibited circulation, and that the blood pressure is normal in the experience of the one whom he is treating - the more definite will be the results.

In every case, the mental practitioner proceeds on the assumption that Spirit is already in his patient.  He thinks of Spirit back of the fact:  the Spirit of perfect circulation, uninhibited - that thing which must automatically eliminate everything that does not belong to that person.  Nothing can impoverish that flow; nothing can increase or diminish that pressure.

For any irregularities of the blood, the following simple meditation might be used:

"My existence is a harmonious progression, that of a son of God entering fully into conscious sonship.  My career through life is a joyous, happy expression, a daily expansion into realms of life and living.  My life in God is ageless, deathless, abiding.  I now surrender every personal doubt, fear or hard feeling that would retard the perfect flow of life through me.  There is no obstruction, no barrier in my mind, veins or affairs.  I am harmonious, peaceful, free and unafraid."

August 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Blood Troubles and Skin Diseases
(High Blood Pressure, Hardening of the Arteries, Eczema, Boils)

"The blood stream represents the circulation of pure thought, direct from a Divine Source.  The metabolism represents the intelligence within man which knows what to use, and what to cast out.  This blood stream represents the spiritual flow of life, pure and perfect.  The Spirit is never anemic.  We believe that the basic cause for all anemia is a lack of the consciousness of love, and the flow of life as represented by the out-push of Spirit in joyous self-recognition.  There is neither high pressure nor low pressure in this flow, since the pressure is always equalized by spiritual perfection.  There is no sensitiveness, no strain, no inaction or over action, no false action and no inadequate action.  Action, being spiritual, is always perfect.  This stream of life is renewed daily.  It is not material, but spiritual.  The blood stream is continuously renewed as it converts the idea of Spiritual Substance into material benefits.  Love, harmony and peace reign supreme.

The arteries convey this blood stream, and neither harden nor soften.  They are always flexible, always perfect.  There is no tension nor super-tension, but always a calm flow of life forever invigorating, forever renewing, forever revitalizing, carrying to every part of the body and distributing in every part of the body, pure spiritual substance, instantly and permanently perfect.  There is no inner agitation and no outward irritation.

Those of us who suffer from blood troubles and skin diseases have not proven for ourselves the promise:  "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  Many skin diseases and blood disorders can be traced to a break in the rhythmic harmony of life.  When the body is the harmonious temple of the Living God, Spirit, divine order reigns throughout.  Boils, eczema, and other skin irritations, should be treated by recognizing that the blood is manifesting as pure Substance.

If one has been irritated mentally, and has not been able to adjust himself to the undesirable cause of the irritation, it is but natural that it should manifest objectively sooner or later.  On the other hand, one may be unaware of the cause, it being so deeply covered in his subjective that it has not come to his outer consciousness.  Criticism and inability to live with people - to adjust oneself to the many - bring about many disorders.  A deep-seated resentment against persons or conditions will surely manifest itself in some disagreeable physical reaction.

The first step toward healing is one of honest self-analysis.  What has been our habitual feeling toward persons around us?  Have we really tried to let them live as they see fit, while claiming the same feeling for ourselves?  A good treatment for this would be:

"There is no irritation, frustration, or resentment in my life.  Any sense of inner agitation is now wiped away, and in its place there comes a warm sense of my oneness in essence and experience with all the good there is.  The center of my being is Understanding and Intelligence.  I am calm, poised and at peace with the world.""

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."

June 17 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
~ Ernest Holmes

Why People Become Fatigued

"Let a person say to himself, "I am overworked," and at once there will come up through his consciousness a belief in weariness.  People who are constantly complaining of being tired are hypnotized into this belief through the law of race suggestion.  An instance of this is the belief that one more than forty years of age is easily fatigued, cannot engage in strenuous exercise of any kind, and must work fewer hours each day.  This race suggestion has hypnotized the entire world.  Only a few people past forty dare to undertake new endeavors and engage in activities with the same enthusiasm they did at twenty-five.  At what we term middle-age, all too many complain of habitual fatigue.  Usually this is attributed to over-exertion, or general dissipation of the reserves, but frequently, when analyzed, the mental cause will be discovered as a deep-seated resistance to conditions which the patient has found himself unable to change.

Suppose someone had been bound by mental confusion, that desires had torn him and conflicts had entered into his life, what would have occurred?  He would have been continually dropping opposing thoughts into his mentality; and as the mental action - the friction - took place, it might produce a very tired body; and if over-chaotic, it might produce what is known as nervous prostration.  It would not, however, be the body that was sick, but a condition brought about through wrong thought.

Now, if subjective thought were a thing apart from us, if we did not have conscious access to it, we could not change it; but being the result of the way thought has worked, we can consciously change it.  If this were not true, mental healing would be impossible.

We can free ourselves from a feeling of approaching fatigue, by knowing that we have within us - always immediately available - an Infinite Strength.  As we allow the thought of this to enter our inner consciousness, we feel strong, vital, and equal to any emergency.  "Know ye not that ye are the temple of the living God?"  This power within you is the same that holds the planets in space.  The power back of your word is perfect law and is fulfilled and returned to you as your perfect strength."

May 1 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS  for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

The Healing of the Flesh

My flesh is the Manifestation of the Spirit in my body.

It is kept perfect through the Law of God.

"In my flesh shall I see God."

The mantle of flesh is perfect and complete here and now.

It is one with the Body of God, and cannot be sick, nor suffer.

My flesh is Perfect.

There Is No Pain

There is no pain nor inflammation.

All fear is swept away in the realization of Truth.

I am free from every belief in pain.

The Spirit cannot pain, and I am Pure Spirit.

I am free from all pain.

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."

February 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

SUMMARY of PART ONE:  The Nature of Being ~ Ernest Holmes

"There is a Universal Presence that acts as though It were intelligent, and we may assume that It is.  There is a Universal Intelligence acting as Law - we may also assume this to be true. There is a formless Stuff in the Universe, forever taking form, and forever changing its form - this we may accept as being self-evident.

We have every reason  to postulate a three-fold nature of the Universal Being, which we shall call Spirit, Soul, and Body.  We shall think of Spirit as the great Actor, Soul as the Medium of Its action, and Body the result of Its action.  We shall think of Spirit as the only Conscious Actor - the Power that knows Itself.  We shall think of Soul as a blind Force, obeying the Will of Spirit; and we shall think of Body as the effect of Spirit, working through Law to produce form.  We shall assume that neither Law, nor the Stuff from which form comes, has conscious intelligence, but must because of their nature be formed by the Word.  This simplifies the whole matter and enables us to see that in the entire Universe, One Power alone really acts - the Power of the Word of Spirit, God, or Universal Conscious Intelligence.

The evolution of man brings him arbitrarily to a place where true individuality functions.  From that day, a further evolution must be through his conscious co-operation with Reality.  All Nature waits on man's recognition of a co-operation with her laws, and is always ready to obey his will; but man must use Nature's forces in accordance with her law, and in co-operation with her purpose - which is goodness, truth, and beauty - if he wishes to attain self-mastery.

Man never creates; he discovers and uses.  Through this method all sciences are evolved.  We live in a Universe of Law, through which runs a spirit of self-knowing Intelligence.  "All's Love, yet all is Law," mused Robert Browning. 

The Law has done all it can automatically do for man.  It has evolved him to a point of individuality and must now let him alone to discover the secrets of life for himself.  Man is potentially perfect but free-will and self-choice cause him to appear imperfect.  In reality all he can destroy is some particular embodiment of himself.  The divine spark is always intact in potential man.

Man awakes to self-consciousness, finding himself already equipped with a mentality, a body and an environment.  Gradually he discovers one law of nature after another, until he conquers his environment through his knowledge of the nature of those laws. Everywhere he finds that nature does his bidding, in so far as he understands her laws and uses them along the lines of their inherent being.  He must first obey  nature and she will then obey him.

Man discovers his ability to think and realizes that from within there comes a reaction to his thought.  He can think consciously and mental law acts upon his thought; and his physical body is affected by his thinking.

He next discovers that he can think for others, causing corresponding action in and through their bodies.  In this way, he discovers a  mental medium through which thought operates.  He realizes himself to be a thinking center in a Universal Mind.

Man next discovers that his affairs are primarily a thing of thought, and that being able to think for others he can also aid in the control of their affairs. He now realizes that everything in the visible world is an EFFECT; that back of all effects are ideas which are the real Cause of these effects.  The Divine Ideas are perfect, but man's freedom of individuality causes them to appear imperfect. Through right thinking, he is able to uncover the appearance of imperfection and reveal the Perfect Idea.  "Behold, thou, my face forevermore."

February 18 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Spirit, Soul and Body (continued) ~ Ernest Holmes

"There can be no real enjoyment of life until we see that everything is animated by the Spirit, and as we see that things are thus animated, we are beholding the real Universe. The Essence of Reality is invisible, but the substance of the invisible is seen and heard, and is a part of the everyday life of all!

We find that on the subjective or soul side, man is subconscious; but subconscious does not mean unconscious.  Subconscious merely means subjective to the conscious thought, compelled by reason of its subjectivity to receive what is put into it. It is Karmic Law, because it is the use we are making of Universal Subjectivity.  Karma means the Law of Cause and Effect.  Soul contains the memory because It is the receptacle for the seeds of our thought, and because It is the seat of memory it contains our inherited tendencies. It also contains the race-suggestion, for we are not dealing with a separated or isolated subjective mind, but with the One Subjective Mind - there is a vast difference between thinking of having three or four minds, and thinking of One Mind which we all use.

We treat of soul as being that part of our mental being which is subjective to the conscious mind.  From this viewpoint, the individual soul is an effect and not a cause.  This understanding of soul life is in accord with the deepest thought of the ages, and is a legitimate point of view in the light of recent investigations, in both the psychological and metaphysical fields.

The soul is the seat of memory, the mirror of mind in the individual. It is the creative power within us, creating from the patterns given it, and from the memories it contains.  We gather soul, or subjective force, as we accumulate the right kind of experiences.  The law of the soul is subject to the conscious spirit; tendencies set in motion in the soul, or subjective life, tend to produce their like in the objective world. From this is deduced the possibility of the healing power of the spoken word, operating thorough mental law, for the law of the mind is always subjective.

The soul, being the seat of memory, already contains a record of everything that has ever happened to us.  These memories as a whole, constitute the subjective tendency of the individual life; this tendency can be changed through constant effort and a determined persistency of purpose. The soul life of all people merges, more or less, and this creates the soul life of the race - the collective subjectivity of all humanity - called by some the "collective unconscious."  This "collective unconscious" contains a record of all human events that have ever transpired.  We are all, more or less, subject to this collective thought, since it acts as a powerful race suggestion.   The sum total of all erroneous human belief, binds until the individual mentally lifts himself above the law of averages into the higher law of Spiritual Individualism.

In studying man's relationship o the Universal, we have discovered how the spirit and soul of man are like the Spirit and Soul of the Universe.  Let us now consider the idea of body.  Body - effect, affairs, conditions, health, disease, destiny, riches, poverty, business, vocation, profession, results - any word which stands for the externalization of man's thought and endeavor, we class as a part of this body.

Man's outward life is a result of the subjective state of his thought. The thinker is conscious mind but when he thinks he lets fall the forms of his thought into Subjective Mind, which is the Universal Medium of all thought and action and, as a result of this, the Creative Medium at once sets to work to produce the thing outlined.

Plotinus, perhaps the greatest of the Neo-Platonic philosophers, in personifying Nature said:  "I do not argue, I contemplate; and as I contemplate, I left fall the forms of my thought," this is the manner in which Nature creates - It contemplates.  As a result of Its contemplation, It lets fall the seed of Its thought into the Universal Subjective which, being Law, produces the object thought about.  We must expect to find - and it is exactly what we do find - the same principle reproduced in man.  This means that whatever man thinks (whether it is what he calls good or bad) falls into this Universal Creative Medium, is accepted by It, is at once acted upon and unless neutralized tends to take objective form.

The objective man is body.  By objective or physical man, we mean the man who is formed, who has flesh and blood.  This physical man is in unity with all other physical or objective elements in the Universe, and in unity with the invisible Source from which they come. We analyze the body and find it is made of the same stuff from which a brick is made, not different in its essence, but different in its composition, its vibration.  There is One Universal Substance whose business it is to take form in multiplicity.

We are told that matter is not a solid, stationary thing; but a constantly flowing formless substance, which is forever coming and going - "an etheric whirl of energy" it has been called.  Whatever its nature is, it is as indestructible as God, as eternal as Timeless Being; nothing can be added to or taken from it.  The bodies we now have were not with us a short time ago; we discard many of them on our path through this life; for the substance of which they are composed is in a constant state of flow - a flowing substance, taking the form that Mind gives it.  How about the matter from which other things than the body are made?  It is all the same - ONE SUBSTANCE in the Universe, taking different forms and shapes and becoming different things.  Unity is expressed in multiplicity.

The last analysis of matter resolves it into a universal ether, and leaves nothing more than a stuff which may be operated upon; a force and energy, without volition, ready to become molded.  In the theoretical beginning of creation, the world was "without form and void."  There is no difference in the ultimate and minute particles which take innumerable forms - only a difference in the arrangement.  Our bodies are One with the Whole Body of the Universe; seeds, plants, cabbages and kings are all made of the same substance.  Minerals, solids, and liquids are made from this primordial Substance which is forever flowing into form and forever flowing out again into the void. 

Nothing could give form to a formless stuff, which has no mind of its own, but some Intelligence operating through it.  Here, then, we come back to the Word as the starting point of all Creation - God's Word in the Great Creation, the Great World, and man's word in the small world; One Spirit, One Mind, and One Substance.  One Law, but many ideas, one Power but many ways of using It.  One God, in Whom we all live, and One Law, which we all use.  ONE, ONE, ONE!!  No greater unity could be conceived than that which is already given.

So we find that man is one with the physical universe in which he lives.  The physical universe has no self-determination; we find that man's physical body is a latent mass of matter.  Our body is really one with the Body of God, with the physical universe, but body does not know it is body.  If feet knew they were feet with the physical capacity to walk, they might be cut off and still be able to run down the street on an errand.  IT IS ONE THING TO SAY THAT OUR FEET DO NOT KNOW THEY ARE FEET AND QUITE ANOTHER THING TO SAY THAT THEY ARE ILLUSIONS, yet all are agreed that they have no intelligence of their own.  Of itself, the physical universe is an effect.  So it is with the physical part of man which we call his body."

February 10 ~ The Science of Mind

Form Within the Formless ~ Ernest Holmes

"Our physical body is like other physical manifestations.  The idea of body is an image derived from the fountain of all ideas.  The form is a materialization from the Substance of all forms.  All bodies are made out of the same stuff. This one stuff is an inanimate and infinite stuff, and is equally distributed in the universe - much like the modern idea of the ether of space - and IT IS THE NATURE OF THIS STUFFF TO TAKE FORM!  Therefore, form is entirely in the realm of effect.  Form comes and goes but it is not self-knowing.  Form is within the formless.  Form is not an illusion, even when it is the form of disease; it then represents a false conclusion, but is as real as it is supposed to be.  If the formless did not take form Spirit would never arrive at self-realization. 

The Formless takes form in what we call "time."  "Time is a sequence of events in a unitary wholeness;" it is recollection, attention, and anticipation - past, present, and future - simply the measure of experience.  Of course time is real, but never a thing of itself.  If the Timeless did not manifest in what we call time, it would never come to self-fruition.  Therefore we have form and time, and what we call space, which is never a thing of itself but the possibility of outline.  If there were not such outline we would walk through each other without recognition.  Form is real as form but is not self-conscious, it is subjective to the power that created it.  Forms come and go but the Power back of them is Changeless.  Form is temporary but Mind is eternal."

January 31 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Metaphysics and Physics ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

The laws of Mind, or spirit, are not different from the laws of chemistry and physics.  Metaphysics begins where physics leaves off.  Everything is movement; everything we can take hold of and analyze, all things in the physical world or the world of form are in a certain rate of vibration and are an effect.  This is the result of "an Infinite Thinker thinking mathematically."

To reduce this proposition to the practical life of the individual, our belief is that anything the mind thinks, it can unthink.  If, therefore, by the law of cause and effect we have produced unpleasant conditions, we should be able by this same law to produce an entirely different effect.

Another principle which is fundamental to our practice is, that not only what is set in motion can be changed; but that the Truth known is demonstrated.  The knowledge of Truth and its demonstration is both simultaneous and instantaneous.  Since we are dealing with that which is Limitless, knowing no big and no little, the possibility of our demonstration rests not in the Principle, but in our acknowledgment of, and embodiment in it, of the ideas we desire experienced!  The saying of "peace" will not produce peace unless back of the word is a realization of the meaning of peace.  So in the simplicity of our own language, we try to convince ourselves of the reality of that for which we are treating, knowing that in such degree as we have an embodiment of the idea, it is thrown into a mechanical field and must operate.

"Spirit is the Power that knows Itself."  Whatever that power within us is that knows itself, constitutes the part of us which is spirit or spiritual.  To be self-conscious, is to be a spiritual entity.  Mind, in Its self-conscious form, cannot be differentiated from Spirit.  Mind, in Its subjective or subconscious state, is the Law of Spirit.  Man is a spirit while God is The Spirit.  Man is an individual, while God is the Universal, but since the individual comes from and is in the Universal, it follows that man is a little world within himself.  This is what Jesus meant when he said that man has inherent life within himself.  The meaning of inherent life is real life...creative life.

No limit can be placed upon the spirit of man.  It merges with the Universal Spirit for the two are really One.  God is in us as we are in God - the same essence, the degree apparently different.  The one finite and  the other Infinite, and since the Infinite cannot come from the finite, it follows that the finite must come from the Infinite - a little circle within the big circle. 

Metaphysically, we recognize the Universal Spirit as the Source of all life and inspiration; an Infinite Self-Knowingness, which we grasp only in part but which is ever available, since the Infinite is omnipresent.  The mind of man is an extension of the Eternal Mind or Spirit, and his evolution is the unfolding of this everlasting Mind or Spirit through his thought.

Only One Mind

There is no such thing as your mind, my mind and God's Mind.  There is only Mind, in which we all "live and move and have our being."

Things are ideas in form.  What else could they be?  There is nothing from which to make things except ideas.  In the beginning, we behold nothing visible; there is only an Infinite Possibility, a Limitless Imagination, a Consciousness - the only action of this Consciousness being Idea.

That  which we call our subjective mind is, in reality, our identity in Infinite Mind.  It is the result  of our mental attitudes. It is our mental atmosphere, or center, in Universal Subjective Mind, in which are retained all of the images, impressions, inherited tendencies and race suggestions.  We see then that our subjective mind is the medium through which experiences come to us.

There is One First Cause - Spirit, Soul and Body - Cause, Medium, and Effect; the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  Not three gods, but the Triune Nature of the One God, the One Cause.  We think of Spirit as Absolute, Self-Conscious Intelligence.  We think of Soul as receptive to Intelligence and the Intelligence as always acting upon It.  Spirit and Soul inter-sphere each other and both have omnipresence.  The Spirit of the Universe permeates the Soul of the Universe, forever impregnating It with ideas.  The Soul of the Universe is the "Holy Womb of Nature," producing the forms which appear in the manifest universe.

The Body of the Universe is the result of the thought of Spirit, operating through the medium of soul  The Father is Absolute, Positive Intelligence; the Son is the Offspring of the Father; the Holy ghost is "The Servant of the Eternal Spirit throughout the ages."  Spirit is Absolute Intelligence, operating through the Soul of Receptive Intelligence, impregnating It with "the Divine Ideas."

The "Personalness" of God

We should think of God, not only as Principle, forever pushing forward into expression; but as Infinite Person.  In other words, if we merely think of an abstract Principle, and a mathematical Law of Cause and Effect, we shall lose all warmth and color.  We should be very careful in abstracting the Principle not to forget the Essence.

There is something in the human mind that desires to think of God or Spirit as Person.  Anything which has been in the human mind since time began - anything we are unable to erase from the human mind as a deep urge - arises out of Reality.

Let us not forget that there is inherent necessity for warmth and color.  The Universe is more than an inexorable Law of Cause and Effect.  PERSONALITY CANNOT EMERGE FROM A PRINCIPLE WHICH DOES NOT CONTAIN THE INHERENT POSSIBILITY OF PERSONALITY.  In each one of us, to each one of us, through each one of us, something is personalized and that which is personalized is personal to its own personification!  Spiritual evolution should make the Infinite not more distant; but more intimate.

January 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Spirit ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

The Definition of Spirit

"The nature of Being is a Unity, with three distinct attributes:  Spirit, Soul, and Body.

The definition of Spirit is:  "life or intelligence conceived of entire lay apart from physical embodiment.  It is vital essence, force, energy, as distinct from matter."

Probably the definition of "Spirit" is more easily understood, more readily accepted, than any other term used in describing Deity.  Jesus in talking with the woman of Samaria, explained:  "God is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.". 

The nature of Being is a Unity, with three distinct attributes:  Spirit, Soul, and Body.

Spirit is the active and Self-Conscious Principle.  Spirit is First Cause or God - the Absolute Essence of all that is.  It is the great or Universal I AM.  Spirit is Conscious Mind and is the Power which knows Itself.  It is conscious Being.

The Spirit is Self-Propelling.  It is Absolute and All.  It is Self-Existent and has all life within Itself.  It is the Word and the Word is Volition.  It has choice because It is Volition.  It is Will because It chooses.  It is Free Spirit, because It knows nothing outside Itself, and therefore nothing different from Itself.

Spirit is the Father-Mother God, because It is the Principle of Unity back of all things.  The masculine and the feminine principles both come from the One.  Spirit is all Life, Truth, Universe that knows Itself.  The Spirit could know nothing outside Itself, that would be God and something else.  SPIRIT IS ALL - the Center and Circumference of everything that exists - both manifest and unmanifest.  It has no enemies, no differences, no otherness, no apartness, no separation from Itself.  It is Undivided, Complete and Perfect within Itself, having no opposites and no opposition.  It know s only Its own ability and since It is All, It cannot be hindered in any way, shape or manner.

It is impossible for a finite mind to comprehend such a complete Life and Power.  in moments of real inspiration, we realize, to a degree at least, that God is All - That which has within Itself all that really is - the Life in everything ant he Love through everything.  The One Presence and the One Infinite Person, Whom we call god or Spirit; within this One all live.

Its Nature

The fundamental premise upon which the philosophy of the Bible is developed is that Spirit is One, and that CREATION IS THE RESULT OF SPIRIT'S ONE MODE OF ACTION.

Perhaps the one point on which we are all agreed is that whatever the Nature of First Cause or Spirit, It is creative.  If this were not true, nothing could come into existence.  It is impossible to think of Creative Life expressing Itself other than in livingness.  Jesus undoubtedly meant just this, when he explained that he had come "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Another point on which we are all agreed as to the Nature of First Cause is, that It is harmonious.  If there were an element of inharmony, discord or decay anywhere in Its Nature, It would destroy Itself.

It has always been taught that the Soul of the Universe is that receptive medium into which the Spirit breathes forth the forms of Its thought.  It is subjective to the Spirit.  That which is subjective is always impersonal, neutral, plastic, passive and receptive.  Wherever we find subjective law, we shall find something that is compelled to receive that which is given it, and compelled to act upon it.  Consequently, the Soul of the Universe has been called "a blind force, not knowing, only doing."  It has been called "The Servant of the Eternal Spirit throughout the ages."  It is the medium of the thought, power and action of Spirit.

Spirit, the Changeless

Creation does not mean making something out of nothing.  Creation is the passing of Spirit into form and is eternally going on.  Spirit cannot change, for being All, there is nothing for It to change into.  This is self-evident.

It is necessary for us to understand that the only active Principle is Spirit...Self-Conscious, Self-Knowing Life...and that all else is subject to Its Will.  The Spirit is conscious of Its own Thought, Its own Desire, Its own manifest Action; and It is conscious that Its Desire is satisfied.  Consequently, It is conscious of that which It manifests; but It is not conscious of any effort or process in Its manifestation.

It is necessary that Soul and Body should exist because Spirit, without manifestation, would construct only a dream world, never coming to Self-Realization.  In order to express, there must be a medium through which Spirit manifests and there must be a manifestation, hence, Soul and Body.  The teaching of the great thinkers of all time is, that we live in a threefold Universe of Spirit, Soul and Body - of Intelligence, Substance and Form."