May 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Healing is Clear Thinking (continued) ~ Ernest Holmes

"Right thought, constantly poured into consciousness, will eventually purify it.  Discord might be likened to a bottle of impure water; healing might be likened to the process of dropping pure water into the bottle, a drop at a time, until the whole is clean and pure.  Someone might ask why the bottle could not be turned upside down and at once drain out all the impurities.  Sometimes this happens but not often.  Meanwhile, a drop at a time will finally eliminate the impurities and produce a healing.

In treating, go beyond the disease and supply a spiritual consciousness.  A treatment is not complete without a great realization of Life and Love, of God and Perfection, of Truth and Wisdom, of Power and Reality.  Sense the Divine Presence in and through the patient at all times.

Whether we say that thought goes out, or that it is operated upon by Principle makes little difference.  It is very evident that until a thought is created, there is no operation.  It is evident that THINKING SETS CAUSATION IN MOTION.  Whether the word used heals, or simply sets the law in motion, really is of small import.

The practitioner is in the same Mind in which his patient lives; consequently, since each is in the One Mind, the patient is sick in the same medium and in a certain sense in the same Mind in which the practitioner lives; and because this Mind is Indivisible, the practitioner can, in his own mentality, reach the thought which causes the patient to be sick.  Whether we say he sends out a thought, or that he simply realizes a thought, makes no difference.  The simplest way is to say that the practitioner realizes, within himself, upon the One Mind, through the One Medium, in the One Law.

The practitioner realizes a certain truth for his patient within himself.  Therefore, he sets the Law in motion for his patient.  (The operation of this Law may be thought of in the same way we think of the law whereby water reaches its own level by its own weight.)  The practitioner knows WITHIN HIMSELF, and this self-knowingness rises into the consciousness of his patient.  It is like planting a seed in the ground, the practitioner sows the seed and the Creative Mind produces the plant.  Does the soil operate on the seed, or does the seed operate on the soil?  We do not know, but we do know that when a seed is put into the ground, the law pertaining to growth operates and a plant is produced, and that unless a seed is planted, no plant will be produced.

In practice, we make no attempt to send thoughts to our patients!  We know there is but One Mind.  We will say that "A" represents one who is sick and desires help.  "B" represents a practitioner.  "B" thinks into Mind; and whether we say that he is thinking within himself or somewhere else does not matter, he is always thinking into Mind, because he is in Mind!  But one might say, "The patient thinks into his own subjective mind."  Yes, if you wish to designate it as his subjective mind, but his subjective mind is only his atmosphere in the One Mind.  We must understand this very clearly, else someday there will be a wall between our thought and its ability to heal some person who happens to be at a physical distance.

Both the patient and the practitioner think into the common Mind.  Therefore, when a patient comes to a practitioner for healing, the practitioner does not try to hypnotize him, nor suggest anything to him.  He declares the Truth about the patient.  To the degree that the practitioner brings his own consciousness to a true recognition of perfection - provided there is a subjective receptivity in the thought of the patient - that man will be helped.

The practitioner does not try to hold a thought nor to send out a thought.   He simply tries to convince himself of the perfection of his patient.  The practitioner does not try to make his word operate through his patient, but only attempts to know the Truth of what he states.  The patient must be receptive to the Truth, then the Truth will heal him.  The practitioner is dealing with Universal Law, backed by omnipotent Power, which is Divine Principle.  This is what Jesus meant when he said:  "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

Every time we think, we are thinking into a receptive plastic Substance, which receives the impress of our thought.  When we stop to realize how subtle thoughts are, how unconsciously we think negation, how easy it is to get "down and out" mentally, we shall see that each is perpetuating his own condition.  This is why people go from bad to worse or from success to a greater success.

Only as we gradually, definitely, and intelligently take true ideas and build them into the structure of our own thought, can there come the desired reaction.  In mental treatment, the practitioner deals solely with ideas, and treats neither bodies nor conditions.  He never manipulates, nor should he lay hands on his patient...He does not care where the patient is when he is treating him, or what he may be doing.  The practitioner's work begins and ends within his own consciousness.  This should be constantly borne in mind."

March 11 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Power Within ~ Ernest Holmes

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

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

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

We Set Our Own Limitations

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

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

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

Understanding

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

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

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

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