October 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

SOME PHASES of the SUBJECTIVE LIFE
Ernest Holmes

Streams of Consciousness

"Each being an individual entity in Mind is known by the name he bears, and by the vibration which he emanates; for while we are all in One Mind or Spirit, each has a separate and individualized personality.

According to the Unity of Mind, thought is everywhere present, and so long as it persists it will remain present.  What is known in one place, may be known in all places.  Time, space and obstructions are unknown to Mind and thought.  It follows, that anyone tuning into our thought, will enter into our stream of consciousness, no matter where we are and no matter where he may be.  If we still persist after the body shall have suffered physical death (and we are convinced that we shall) this law must still hold good, for past and present are one and the same in Mind.  Time is only the measure of an experience, and space, of itself, is not apart from, but is in, Mind. 

A psychic can enter the stream of thought of anyone whose vibration he can mentally contact, be that person in the flesh or out of it; and since we are all psychic - all having a soul element - we are all doubtless communicating with each other to the degree that we sympathetically vibrate toward each other.  We do not all have the ability to objectify psychic impressions and ordinarily they never come to the surface.  However, they are there just the same.  This is why we often feel uneasy in the presence of certain people, or when we mentally contact some condition and are aware of a disturbed inner feeling, without any apparent reason.

There are many normal psychics who can, while in a perfectly objective state, read people's thoughts and perform many other wonderful feats of the mind.  This is normal and no harm can come from it.  It is, indeed, one of Nature's ways of working and is most interesting.  Any psychic power which can be used while in a normal state of mind is harmless and helpful; by this we mean one that can be used while one is in a conscious state."

October 7 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

The Secret Way

There is a Secret Way of the Soul which all may know.

It is the Way of Peace and Love.

This Secret Way leads into places of joy

And into the house of good.

It is the Way of the Spirit, and all may enter who will.

I tread the Secret Way of good, the Path of Peace,

And I enter into "The Secret Place of the Most High."

The Secret Place of The Most High is within me.

October 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT The MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Evolution

"The Universe, both visible and invisible, is a Spiritual System.  Man is a part of this Spiritual Order, so indivisibly united with It that the entire Cosmos is (or may be) reflected in his mind!  Evolution is the awakening of the soul to a recognition of its unity with the Whole.  Material evolution is an effect, not a cause.  This reverses the popular belief, declaring that evolution is the result of intelligence, rather than intelligence being the result of evolution!

The aim of evolution is to produce a man, who at the point of his objective thought may completely manifest the whole idea of life, may bring Unity to the point of particularization, finding nothing in the Law to oppose It.  The man Jesus became the Christ through a complete realization of the Unity of Spirit and the Absoluteness of His word.  His physical and spiritual faculties, His objective and subjective mind, were completely poised and perfectly balanced.

It is evident if this realization took place in any other individual, his word would be manifested likewise.  Because behind the word is Universal Soul, Omnipotent Law.  The Spirit is Limitless, but can only be to us what we believe It to be.  Why must we believe It is?  Because, UNTIL WE BELIEVE THAT IT IS, WE ARE BELIEVING THAT IT IS NOT!  It is all a matter of belief, but belief is scientifically induced into a subjective state, through conscious endeavor."

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 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

Within Thy Law Is Freedom

O, My Soul within me, Great is Thy Presence

Within Thy Law is freedom to all who will believe.

I believe in Thy Law and I love Thy precepts.

I know that thy Law is perfect and It is a delight to my Soul,

for It is illumined with Thy Words of Power.

Thy Law is complete freedom to me, and to all for whom it shall be spoken.

I speak the Word of freedom to all, and all shall receive it.

I am free in Thy Law.

Beauty

I behold the Beautiful and the Pleasant.

My eyes see only that which is beautiful to look upon.

I will not see anything else nor believe in anything else.

I know that beauty has entered into my life, and will always remain there.

I see only the beautiful.

June 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

The Joy of the Soul

My Soul within me rejoices at the realization of Life.

I am made glad as I behold my inner Light;

I cannot be sad nor depressed, for the All Good has claimed me as Its own.

O Soul within me, rejoice and become glad, for Thy Light has come

and Thy Day of Salvation is at hand.

Be still within me and behold Him Who sitteth On High.

I rejoice in my Life within me.

Freedom from Sin

I am free from belief in sin; there is neither sin nor sinner.

There is no judgment against anyone.

God does not condemn and man cannot.

All fear of sin is removed from me; all belief in punishment is gone from me.

I live by the One Power, and no thought can enter to disturb me.

There is neither sin nor sinner.

April 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Prayer is Essential to Happiness ~ Ernest Holmes

"Prayer is not an act of overcoming God's reluctance, but should be an active acceptance of His highest willingness.  Through prayer we recognize a spiritual law, that has always existed, and put ourselves in alignment with it.  The law of electricity might have been used by Moses had he understood this law.  Emerson said:  "Is not prayer a study of truth, a sally of the Soul into the unfound Infinite?"

Prayer is constructive, because it enables us to establish closer contact with the Fountain of Wisdom, and we are less likely to be influenced by appearances around us - to judge "according to appearance."  Righteous prayer sets the "law of the Spirit of Life" in motion for us.

Prayer is essential, not to the salvation of the soul, for the soul is never lost; but to the conscious well-being of the soul that does not understand itself.  There is a vitality in our communion with the Infinite, which is productive of the highest good.  As fire warms the body, as food strengthens us, as sunshine raises our spirits, so there is a subtle transfusion of some invisible force in such communion, weaving itself into the very warp and woof of our own mentalities.  This conscious commingling of our thought with Spirit is essential to the well-being of every part of us.

Prayer has stimulated countless millions of people to higher thoughts and nobler deeds.  That which tends to connect our minds with the Universal Mind lets in a flood of Its consciousness.  If we think of God as a Heavenly Dictator - something apart from that which lives and moves and has Its being where we are - then we are certain to believe ourselves disconnected from this Infinite Presence; and the inevitable consequence of such thinking would be a terrible fear that we should never be able to make contact with Him!  But if we know God as an Indwelling Presence, our prayer is naturally addressed to this Presence in us. We long for, and need, a conscious union with the Infinite.  This is as necessary to the nature and intellect of man, as food is to the well-being of his physical body."

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 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM The TEACHINGS of JESUS ~ Ernest Holmes

Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged (Matt. 7:1)

""Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."  This statement could come only from one who had a deep insight into the universal law of Cause and Effect, which balances everything, and sees that in the long run, everyone receives his just due.  This law Emerson called the "High Chancellor of God."  The law of cause and effect is the law of perfect balance, of logical sequence and of inevitable consequence.  Whatever a man sows, he must reap.

The law of cause and effect is immutable, and every man's action produces an effect in his life, which he must ultimately experience, unless he transcends the law already set in motion.  Such a concept supposes that we are surrounded by a Universal Law, which is entirely impartial, and which returns to the thinker the logical effect of his actions. Man, being a free agent in this law - whether consciously or in ignorance - is continually setting it in motion to some definite end.  Therefore it is true, unalterably true, that he must reap as he has sown!

This means that life must return to us the manifestation of our motives, thoughts and desires - whether these motives, thoughts and desires were intended for ourselves or others.  It means that the thought of judgment, criticism and condemnation must, in time, operate against the one who sets it in motion!  It is doubtless necessary to the well-being of society that our civil laws be enforced, else in our present state of evolution, there would be no protection from those who seek to destroy society; but personal condemnation can be entirely eliminated.

Ultimately we shall see that the Universe rests on the shoulders of Love; that God is Love; and that all the errors of man  are the result of ignorance of his own true nature.  The happy outlook on life is always constructive; the understanding heart is filled with sympathy and helpfulness toward all.  An evolved soul judges no one, condemns no one, but realizes that all are on the road of experience, seeking the same goal, and that each must ultimately find his home in Heaven.

In the long run, nothing judges us but the immutable Law of Cause and Effect.  Whoever deserves punishment will receive it, and whoever merits reward will find that it is brought by the hand of the Almighty and delivered to him.  There is a direct law responding to condemnation and a direct law responding to praise and appreciation.  It is, of course, the same law used in different ways.

There is a Law, common to all people, which responds to every man's belief in life, at the level of that belief.  No man can be happy who lives in a continuous state of condemnation of people, conditions and things.  We must learn to praise and not condemn.

Religious Morbidities

Those who have made a study of soul analysis are aware that poisonous secretions in the body are often the result of religious morbidities.  The time has come to break the bondage of these false impressions.  We are free souls, free spirits, and because this is true, our thought has creative power, and since it has this power, we must carefully choose what we are to think, for everything moves in circles.

We do not say there is no evil experience.  We say, evil is not an entity, but a misuse of a power, which of itself is good.  We shall never know the nature of good by dissecting the nature of evil.

Thought Retards or Quickens

Everything our thought rests upon is either retarded or quickened by the power of that thought.  Everyone is a law unto himself, under the great law of cause and effect governing all things.

When we constructively praise and creatively bless, life abounds with love, peace and joy.  Let goodness shine forth.  Let us learn to see that everyone is an evolving Christ.  Let us so live and think that we may retire at night in peace, knowing that no harm can come to the soul; that we may rise in the morning renewed in body and in mind, with a brighter outlook, a happier expectation and a clearer joy, looking upon all with love, condemning none and blessing even those who seek to injure us.  Let us learn to be perfect, even as that Divine Being, residing in the heart of all and overshadowing Eternity, must also be perfect."

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 9 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

That Which Changes ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"We have learned that Spirit is the Absolute Being, that It is the only thing in the universe which has self-knowingness, volition, choice or will.  The Soul is the servant of the Spirit and has no choice and no purpose other than to execute the purpose given It.  The Spirit of the Universe cannot change; begin ALL, there is nothing for It to change into.  The Soul of the Universe must obey the Will of the Spirit.  THE BODY OF THE UNIVERSE CANNOT HELP CHANGING!  This is what constitutes the eternal activity of Spirit within Itself; the Spirit passing into form - creation eternally going on.  Since Spirit must be manifest in order to be conscious, there must be a way in which It manifests and there must be a manifestation.  So we have Soul and Body.  Body, the manifestation and Soul, the Way, or Law by which It manifests."

February 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

BODY ~ Ernest Holmes

Definition

The Universe has been called the Great Trinity, or Triune Unity of Spirit, Soul and Body - the Body being the result, the effect, the objectification of Spirit.  Soul is the immaterial, plastic and receptive Medium.  It is primordial or Cosmic Stuff, unmanifest form.  Body is the result of Spirit working through Soul or Law.  THE ENTIRE MANIFESTATION OF SPIRIT, BOTH VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE, IS THE BODY OF GOD. There is One Body of the Universe.  Within this One Body is included all lesser bodies.

Body means the entire manifestation of Spirit on all planes.  "In my father's house are many mansions," said Jesus.  We do not, of course, see all these mansions.  Science has revealed to us that many exist which we do not see and revelation has shown that the Universe is Infinite..."For we know in part, and we prophesy in part."

The word "body" as used in the Science of Mind means all objective manifestations of the invisible Principle of Life.  The body is distinguished from the idea, in that the body is seen while the idea is invisible.  The physical universe is the Body of God - the invisible Principle of all life.  Our physical being is the body of the unseen man.  Behind the objective form of the rose is the idea that projects the rose.

Body is always an effect, never a cause.  Body expresses intelligence, its apparent intelligence being lent by the consciousness which permeates it.  We would not say that consciousness is in the body, but rather that body is in consciousness!  If one is unconscious he has neither pain nor fear.  Pain and fear are in consciousness, but consciousness so completely envelopes the body that it appears to be intelligent.

Perhaps the human body is an exact counterpart of an invisible body which is non-material as we now understand matter and physical form.  The physical body is evolved for the purpose of allowing consciousness to function on this plane.  The body is necessary to this plane, since only through a physical body can we properly function here.  When the body is no longer a fit instrument the soul deserts it and continues to function on another plane.

To say that the body is unreal is a mistake.  It is real but is an effect, not an entity.  It may yet be proven that the mind completely controls the body, and that the body is but a reflection of the mind.  In no way would this contradict the reality of the body nor the experience of pain and sickness, but it might help in an understanding of these experiences.  While we may affirm that the body is not a thing of itself, we cannot say there is no body.  The simplest way to think of body is to realize that it is the objective manifestation of a subjective mind and consciousness; and if we are to be well and happy, not only the body but the mind also must be peaceful and harmonious.

Psychology has shown that physical (or subjective) disturbances produce physical reactions in the body.  If the body is to be permanently well, the soul or subjective life must be in poise, the mind peaceful and happy.  It may be considered as a general rule that when the soul is poised in true spiritual realization the body will be normal and healthy.  This is the purpose of mental healing, whether it be approached from the psychological or metaphysical angle.  Psychology and metaphysics are but two ends of the same thing.  So we treat the body as a legitimate effect, controlled by the soul life.

February 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Subjectivity Never an Entity (continued) ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

When we give a treatment, that treatment is a spiritual entity in a subjective world, and it has ways and means and methods to project itself, which the conscious mind knows nothing of, and yet it is subject to the conscious thought!  Plotinus had a clear concept when he said:  "Nature is the great No Thing, yet It is not exactly nothing, because it is Its business to receive the impressions of Spirit."  He spoke of that which we call undifferentiated substance as an indeterminate thing having no mind of its own.  Its mind is always made up for it.

Most of this chapter has dealt with the Universal Soul, but in another chapter we shall discuss more fully the manner in which man re-enacts the Nature of God.

February 5 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Soul Reasons Deductively ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

Before we leave this subject of Soul, we should understand perfectly that it is impossible to divide Mind. We speak of the conscious and the subjective; the self-conscious and the unconscious, and the terms are confusing unless we remember that consciousness is always a unity.  We arbitrarily divide the different activities of consciousness in order that we may discuss how thought works.

There are two ways of reasoning , the inductive and the deductive method.  Inductive reasoning is an inquiry into the truth; it is a process of analysis.  Deductive reasoning follows an already established premise. It is from the whole to the part.

Since inductive reasoning is an analysis, an inquiry into Truth, it follows that God can only reason deductively, since God is Truth.  That which is Infinite does not have to inquire into the Truth.  Consequently, there can be no inductive reasoning either in the Spirit or the Soul of the Universe.  There can be no inductive reasoning in Spirit, because It already knows all things.  There can be no inductive reasoning in the Soul of the Universe, because It is the Creative Medium, and if It could reason inductively, It could reject certain thoughts because It could analyze; and Soul or Subjectivity can never reject.  It is bound by Its own Nature to accept.  It is impersonal and neither knows nor cares who uses It. It is formless, having no mind of Its own.  It has been called the Universal Feminine or the Holy Womb of Nature, because It is receptive and creative.  It is Karmic Law because It is subjective to the Self-Knowing Mind.  It is the medium of the law of cause and effect, of all race suggestion. 

If a convicted felon in a prison garden were to plant pink roses, the soil would produce just as lovely flowers for him as for the most beautiful picture star.  All that would be necessary in either case would be a compliance with the Law regarding the planting of roses.  So, the Soul is without conscious consciousness, but is conscious in relationship to the impressions It has received (whether they be Truth or only belief) and with mathematical certainty and precision, backed by the law of Its own being, it proceeds to execute the ideas given It.  Thus it is plainly seen that the Soul can only reason deductively.

Subjectivity Never an Entity

The Subconscious, or Subjective, is never an entity, although It acts as though It were.  The Creative Medium is a medium only, never a person.  It is necessary that we understand this, because one of the first things a practitioner has to do is to separate the belief from the believer. From the standpoint of the spiritual man, disease, poverty, unhappiness and misery, are neither person, place nor thing.

February 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

How We Use the Creative Principle ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

If, through the Law, thought is creative, we cannot say that one thought will create while another will not.  We must admit that all though is creative, according to the impulse, emotion or conviction behind the thought. Our theory is that the medium is a Universal, simultaneous Presence and in this Presence all live; and that whatever is known at one point in It is known at all points, instantly!  So if we, practicing this Principle in Los Angeles, declare the truth about some John Smith who lives in New York (or at any other place in the world) the speaking of his name draws the Law into the vibration of his personality, his individuality.  Mentally, physically, spiritually, he is now in It.  We have, so to speak, tuned into the keynote of his being  This being is also at the center of our being, therefore, the mental work is done in our being, for him; but it must, and does, operate through Law.  This Law is subjective.

Mind and Ether

In an interesting article by Sir Oliver Lodge (in which he writes about ether and the laws of the physical universe) he says that no two physical particles really touch each other, no two electrons.  They are all divided from each other by a space which is relative to the space between the planetary bodies, and they never once touch each other, throughout their existence, other than through the medium of this ether.  Lodge calls the ether "the cement of matter."  His theory is that just as the laws of attraction and repulsion, gravitation, adhesion and cohesion, operate through the ether, so there must be a Universal Mind that operates upon the ether, or upon Mind; or that Mind must operate upon mind, through the medium of the ether; or perhaps the ether is Mind?  His conclusion is that Mind and ether interact.

We think of the ether of Mind as a Universal Subjectivity, the Soul of the Universe.  Just as the ether of space is a medium for physical action, so this Universal Subjectivity is the medium for mental action.  Anything that has ever been thought at any time in the history of man, exists today in a subjective state in Universal Mind.  When we get into the field of Mind, there is no past, present or future.  They merge into one medium.

February 2 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

SOUL ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

Creative Medium

"We have spoken of the threefold Nature of Reality or God- the Trinity of Being- as Spirit, Soul and Body:  Conscious Intelligence, Subjective Law, and Form.  This threefold unity of Reality has been taught by most of the great spiritual philosophies and religions that have been given to the world.

We are using the word "Soul" in the sense of a Universal Soul, or Medium, through which Spirit operates.  It is the Holy Ghost, or third Person of the Chistian Trinity.  Like the creative soil, in which seeds are planted and from which plant life comes, the Soul of the Universe is the Creative Medium into which the Word of Spirit falls and from which Creation arises.

We should not, however, think of Soul and Spirit as separate from each other.  They are really two parts or aspects of the same thing, each being Self-Existent and Co-Eternal with the other.  The term Subjective Mind is used in speaking of the Univeral Soul, rather than the term Subconscious Mind, to avoid the impression that subjective means unconscious.  MIND NEVER COULD BE UNCONSCIOUS!  The Soul is subjective to Spirit, receives impressions from Spirit.  The Subjective Mind which we call Soul, is not a knower in the sense that Spirit is, i.e., It is not Self-Conscious.  It knows only to do without knowing why It does.  It is a doer or executor of the will of the Spirit and has no choice of Its own.  It is the business of Soul to reflect the images that Spirit casts into It.

Subjective Intelligence

The Soul is immaterial as we think of matter, but It is the Substance of Spirit and perhaps we could use the expression, "the matter of Spirit."  As all matter in the physical world is supposed finally to resolve into the ether form which it came, we may think of the Substance of Soul as we think of the ether of science, and realize that all form finally becomes Soul-Stuff again.

Perhaps the simplest way would be to think of It as the last and final analysis of matter.  (We continue to use this word in the face of the knowledge that scientists, in theory, have already done away with matter.)  We know that matter comes from somewhere, and the teaching is that Soul-Stuff is the source from which it comes.  We must, however, distinguish Soul-Stuff from Soul.  Soul is Subjective Intelligence, the Principle just beneath Spirit; for, while Soul may not have the conscious Intelligence to choose, It certainly has the Intelligence to execute the desire of Spirit.  IT IS NEVER IN ANY SENSE UNCONSCIOUS.  The Soul of the Universe is next in Principle to Spirit and is the servant of Spirit.  The term "Soul-Stuff" refers to the primordial or undifferentiated Substance from which all things are made.

While the Soul may not choose, having no self-consciousness of Its own, yet It has an Intelligence which is infinite, compared to the intelligence which we exhibit.  For instance, the combined intelligence of the race could not create the life of a plant, yet the Intelligence in the creative soil of the earth will produce as many for us as we ask, when we plant the seed of that which we wish to have created.

The same principle holds good in that greater Creative Medium of the Spirit, which we call the Soul of the Universe.  It has the Intelligence and Power to produce, but no choice as to what It is to produce.  Having no conscious mind of Its own, It receives all ideas given It, and tends to create a form around them.  If It could choose, It could reject, and this is as impossible as for the soil to say, "You must not plant spinach this year, you must plant cauliflower."  We can imagine what consternation would prevail throughout the world if just once the soil failed to function according to the law of its nature.  We need not be disturbed by such a fear.  It is bound to accept and to act.  It does not argue but at once begins to create a likeness of the pattern given it.  If we say "petunias," right back to us it says "petunias," and begins immediately the business of producing them.  Being a neutral, creative medium which knows neither good nor bad, it is conscious only of its own ability to do.  This is why some of the earlier philosophers referred to the Universal Soul, or Creative Medium, as a "blind force, not knowing, only doing."  This we know to be true of the nature of all law.  We are not discussing the Nature of the Spirit.  We are talking about Law.

Law

It must be apparent by now that the Creative Medium of Spirit is the great Mental Law of the Universe.  It is the Law, obeying the Will of the Spirit; It is the Universal Law of Mind.  All law is Mind in action.  Soul is the Medium through which all Law and all Power operate.  Being subjective, It cannot analyze, dissect or deny.  Because of Its Nature, It must always accept.  The Karmic Law, which means the Law of Cause and Effect, works through the medium of the Universal Soul, which is the Creative Principle of Nature and the Law of Spirit.

Let us bear in mind that neither Spirit nor the Soul of the Universe were ever created.  Each is eternal. Because this impartial, impersonal Soul is the medium through which Spirit works, and because It is a "blind force not knowing, only doing," It was called by the ancients "Maya," from which arose the teachings of the illusions of the mind - the mirror of the mind.

What is termed Subjective Mind, as the average person comprehends it, has no existence.  In reality, there is no such thing as your subject mind and my subjective mind.  If our subjective minds were isolated and things of themselves, we would be so completely separated that there would be no means by which we could communicate with each other. The next great bridge that psychology must cross is a recognition that what is called your subjective mind and my subjective mind is merely the place where Universal Subjectivity, the Creative Medium Itself, reacts to our personal use of It.

Within us, then, there is a creative field which we call subjective mind, and around us there is a field which we call Universal subjectivity.  One is Universal, the other individual, but in reality they are one.  There is One mental Law in the Universe and where we use It, It becomes our law, because we have individualized It.  It is impossible to plumb the depths of the individual mind, because it is not really individual but individualized.

Behind or within the individualized point is the Universal, which has no limits.  In this concept alone lies the possibility of an endless and an eternal expansion.  Everyone is Universal on the subjective side of life and individual only at the point of conscious perception.  We use the power of the Universal Mind every time we think!"

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."