September 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM the TEACHINGS of JESUS
Ernest Holmes

The Secret of Prayer (Matt. 6:6)

"The secret of prayer and its power in the outward life depends upon an unconditioned faith in, and reliance upon this inner Presence.  We must enter the closet.  That is, we are to shut out all else and enter the Presence of Spirit, in quietness and confidence - believing.  Prayer has power, not through repetition, but by belief and acceptance.  Prayer is to be simple, direct and receiving.  We are to believe that God indwells our own life, that this Divine Presence is sufficient for all needs.  we are to believe that God will provide for us and bless us abundantly.  And when we enter this secret place, we are to leave all else behind; all hate, animosity and vindictiveness, for only in so doing can we enter.

How God Forgives ( Matt. 6:14, 15)

We are told that God will forgive us after we have forgiven others.  This is a direct statement and one that we should ponder deeply.  Can God forgive until we have forgiven?  If God can work for us only by working through us, then this statement of Jesus stands true, and is really a statement of the law of cause and effect.  We cannot afford to hold personal animosities or enmities against the world or individual members of society.  All such thoughts are outside the law and cannot be taken into the heavenly consciousness.  Love alone can beget love.  People do not gather roses from thistles.

The Father who seest in secret will reward us openly.  Shall we not learn to enter the "secret place of the Most High," within our own soul, in gladness?  We are to fast without outward sign, but with the inner mind open and receptive to the Good alone.  Our treasure is already in heaven, and our thought can take us to this treasure only when it is in accord with divine harmony and perfect love.

The Single Eye (Matt. 6:22)

If our eye is single, we shall be filled with light.  That is, when we perceive the Unity of Good, we shall perceive it in its entirety, an undivided whole.  But if our eye be filled with evil, we shall remain in darkness.  We must cleave to the good, and trust absolutely in the Law of God to bring about any desired end.  Spirit will mold our purposes when we allow It to do so.  As we learn to depend more and more upon the perfect Law, we shall find that the outward things which are necessary to our good, will be provided.  We shall be cared for as the lilies of the field, which live directly upon the Divine bounty.  And yet they toil not nor do they spin.

The Divine Bounty (Matt. 6:26)

As God cares for the birds, who do not gather into barns, so shall we be cared for if we trust and do not doubt.  But we are to seek the Kingdom first.  Jesus bade us to completely trust in God for everything and in every instance.  He had a complete reliance upon God.  Dare we say that such confidence will be misplaced?  Have we ever tried it?  Until we have tried and failed, we are not in a position to contradict this theory.  Those who have implicitly relied upon this theory are providing the principle to be definite, and one upon which an absolute reliance may be placed.

Have no fear of tomorrow; enjoy today.  Refuse to carry the corpse of a mistaken yesterday.  What untold misery is suffered through the burdens imposed by our yesterdays and the bitter prospects of our tomorrows!  The good of the present day is too often sandwiched between these two impossible situations.  The day in which we live is sufficient.  We are to live today as though God were in His Heaven, while all is well with our souls.

Jesus made the greatest claim upon God, of anyone who ever lived.  He demanded a complete and unreserved trust in the goodness and loving kindness of the Creator.  And harking down the ages - since he lived and taught his marvelous philosophy to mankind - those who have followed his teachings have been justified in their faith."

September 10 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM The TEACHINGS of JESUS
Ernest Holmes

The Pure in Heart Shall See God (Matt. 5:8)

""The pure in heart shall see God."  Can we ever see God?  Is there any news of Heaven other than that which comes through our own thought, or through the thought of another?  Who thinks purity see it, and is beholding god.  The face of "The Ancient of Days" onlooks eternity, and the upward glance ever sees this reality in all things.  The pure in heart not only shall see God, but do see Him.

The peacemakers are called the children of God.  We never associate warriors with the divine Kingdom.  Struggle and strife are outside the Kingdom; they cannot enter in because of their confusion.   Only peace can enter the gates of Reality and sit at the table of love.  The Divine Host serves not his bounty to confusion, but distributes His gifts to those who enter His gates with peace in their minds and love in their hearts.

"Ye are the light of the world."  Man is the candle of the Lord.  How important then that this light be kept trimmed and burning with the oil of pure Spirit, through the wick of peace and joy.  In this way do we glorify that Indwelling God who is the Heavenly Father and the Cosmic Mother of all.

The Altar of Faith (Matt. 5:23)

Again, Jesus tells us that our gifts, brought to the alter of life, are unacceptable while there is aught between us and our fellow man.  Here is a hard saying.  We cannot always please our fellow men.  Human experience has taught that this is impossible.  What attitude, then, are we to assume?  This:  whether we please or whether we displease, we need have no personal animosity toward others.  The altar of faith is approached through peace and goodwill toward all.  The Divine Ear is attuned to harmony and cannot be approached through discord.

When we agree with our adversaries quickly they will disappear, for there can be no reality to us unless we recognize it.  But if we recognize that which is false, by our acceptance of it, we shall be delivered to the judgment whereby we ourselves have judged.  The utmost farthing must be paid, until we no longer indulge in evil doing.

Jesus tells us to resist not evil, to love our enemies, and to do good to them who would do us evil, for this is to manifest the spirit of love, which is God.  God loves all alike and causes His rain to fall and His sun to shine alike upon all.  In arms which are all inclusive, Divine Love encompasses everything.

The Father Who Seeth in Secret (Matt. 6:4)

We are not to give our alms before men to be seen of them, but to do good for the pure love of good.  Here Jesus is teaching the lesson of sincerity.  Men will come and men will go, friend and foe alike may fall away, but always the soul shall be thrown back upon itself.  The Indwelling Spirit who lives in the secret place of our lives, will ever be with us.  And this Father who seeth in secret will reward us openly.  Here, again, is a suggestion of the Law of Cause and Effect, about which Jesus so often spoke.

Our prayers are to be made to God in the secret place of our own being.  They are not to be shouted aloud for the ears of  men.  The soul must enter this secret placed, naked and alone.  This is how the One returns to the One."

September 9 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM The TEACHINGS of JESUS
Ernest Holmes

The New Birth (John 3:3-9)

""Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Jesus is referring to the heavenly birth, which means being born into the knowledge of Truth.  He refers to this as being born of water and Spirit.

The symbol of water is used to express the idea of a complete immersion in Spirit.  As water flows in and around, so we are immersed in an everlasting Spirit which flows around, in and through us.  To be immersed in water symbolizes our recognition that we are surrounded by pure Spirit.  It is the outward sign of an inner conviction.  But water alone cannot make us completely clean or whole.  We must be born of the Spirit, for "that which is born of the spirit is Spirit."

Man partakes of the Divine nature and the Divine nature is man.  The recognition of this is being born of the Spirit.  But we cannot be born of the spirit unless we do the will of the Spirit and the will of the Spirit is goodness, peace, mercy, justice and truth.  It is conscious union with God.

The new birth comes not by observation nor by loud proclamation, but through an inner sense of reality.  We cannot tell where this comes from, if we look to outward things, as it proceeds from the innermost parts of our own being.

Heaven (John 3:13)

"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he hath came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."  Here is another of those hidden meanings which places Jesus among the great mystics.  He says that no man can go to heaven unless he came from heaven, and that he can neither go to, nor come from, heaven unless he is already there!

This is in line with the idea that the Truth knows neither yesterday, today nor tomorrow.  It knows sequence but not time.  Only that can return to heaven which was born in heaven, and since heaven is not a place, but a state of consciousness, the return must be a recognition that heaven is already within.  The son of man, who is also the son of God, is already in heaven and knows it not.

The Son of Man (John 3:14)

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so Jesus tells us must the son of man also be lifted up.  By looking on and believing in this son, we are saved.  Jesus could not have been referring to his own personality, for he knew that this would soon be taken from the sight of humanity.  We must look for a deeper meaning.

We must be lifted up, that is we must realize our Divine nature and relationship to the Truth of God.  This relationship is one of complete unity.  The cross represents the tree of life and may also be thought of as the tree of unity.

When Moses lifted up the serpent, those who looked upon it were healed.  This understanding produced a consciousness of unity, which had healing power.  The Life Principle is either looked up on as material or spiritual.  When looked upon as material, it casts us from the Garden of Eden - the garden of the soul.  The Life Principle viewed only as matter is death, but viewed as life and unity, It becomes life everlasting.  Moses elevated the Life Principle and Jesus did the same.  The son of man must be lifted up, even as Moses lifted up the Life Principle, symbolized by the serpent.

We are reminded here of another symbol, one used in the Old Testament, that of the serpent which cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.  The serpent meant the outer rim of spiritual existence - the Life Principle viewed from an isolated and materialistic basis.  The worship of material existence, apart from God, cast Adam and Eve from the Garden of Perfection.  The attempt to live in effects, apart from True Cause, always does this.

The story of the Fall, taken literally, would be ridiculous to the point of absurdity; hence it is necessary to look for a deeper meaning.  The writer was trying to teach a Cosmic lesson ... the lesson of right and wrong.  The Garden of Eden typifies life in its pure essence.  Adam means man in general, generic man.  Man exists in pure Life and has all of Its agencies at his command.  This si the meaning of his being told to till the soil and enjoy the fruits of his labor. 

The Tree of Life is our real being, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means the possibility of dual choice - that is, we can choose even that which is not for our best good.  Man is warned not to eat of the fruit of this tree, for it  is destructive.

Eve, the woman in the case, was made from a rib of Adam.  this story suggests the dual nature of man as a psychological being.  The woman is made from the man.  She must have been in him else she could not have been made out of him, and the story clearly states that she was taken from his being.

Adam and Eve are potential in all of us.  The serpent represents the Life Principle, viewed from a material basis, which beguiles us in this way:  he says that evil is as real as good; that the devil has equal power with God; that negation equals positive goodness, and that the Universe is dual in Its Nature.  From the acceptance of this argument, we experience both good and evil.  And should we come full-orbed into individuality, without having learned the lesson of unity, we should live forever in a state of bondage.  This is the meaning of God saying, "He shall become as one of us and live forever."  The eternal Mind does not wish us to live forever in bondage, and this is what would happen unless we first learn the lesson of right and wrong.

And so that part of us which can be fooled eats of the fruit of dual experience and in so doing reveals its own nakedness.  The native state of man is one of purity, peace and perfection and it is only when we compare these with impurity, distress and imperfection, that we are revealed as naked.  Emerson tells us that virtue does not know it is virtuous.  It is only when virtue tastes of impurities that it becomes naked and must hide from itself.

The Voice of God, "walking in the garden in the cool of the day," means the introspective and meditative part of us, which in its moments of pure intuition and reason, sees the illusion of a life apart from God or Good.  Error is ever a coward before Truth, and cannot hide itself from Reality, which sees through everything, encompasses all and penetrates even the prison walls of the mind with Its clear effulgence.

The conversation between God and Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, represents the arguments that go on in our own minds, when we try to  realize the truth.  These arguments are familiar to all.  The expulsion from the Garden is a necessary and logical outcome of tasting of dual experience.  If we believe in both good and evil, we must experience both.

But, lest we should become discouraged, we remember that Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and those who looked upon it were healed.  The serpent means the Life Principle.  Viewed from a material basis alone, it casts us from a perfect state.  Lifted up, that is, viewed from a true meaning of the Unity of God, it heals.  Here is the choice again, only stated in different words.  The difference is not in the thing itself, but in the way we look at it.

The son of man is every man who ever lived or ever will live.  Our life is from Spirit, not from matter.  This viewpoint is the truth and truth alone makes free.  We come into everlasting life as we elevate this inner principle to a sense of the unity of man with God.  Each must lift himself to the cross of the tree of Life, thus unifying himself with Reality.  The concept is glorious and the reward certain.  The revelation of the self to the self - this is the great lesson of lessons."

September 4 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS from the NEW TESTAMENT
Ernest Holmes

The Renewing of the Mind (Eph. 4:23, 24)
  "We are told to be renewed in mind by the Spirit and to put on the new man, which is created in true holiness.  The Science of Mind teaches how to accomplish this.  The mind is the creative factor within us, and when the mind takes its pattern after the Spirit, it automatically renews the outer man after true holiness or wholeness.

Whatever the mind holds to and firmly believes in, forms a new pattern of thought within its creative mold, as whatever thought is held in the mind tends to take outward form in new creations.  This is the secret - and the whole secret - of the creative law of mind.

Be Strong in the Lord (Eph. 6:10)

"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might."  To be strong in the Lord is to be sure of ourselves, because we are sure of the Principle of Life which manifests Itself through us.

We wrestle not against outward things but against inward ideas and beliefs.  The power of darkness is the power of false belief and superstition.  If a man can change his inner concept, his whole life will be changed.  All cause is from within, all effect is forever without.

Wickedness in High Places (Eph. 6:12)

Wickedness in high places means an inverted use of the law of righteousness, the misuse of the powers of the mind.  The mental law is neutral, plastic, receptive and creative.  There is a right and a wrong use of this law, just as there is a right and a wrong use of any other law.

The Armor of God (Eph. 6:12-18)

The armor of God is faith in the good, the enduring and the true.  Against such, there is no law.  That is, against Truth, nothing can stand.  The armor of God suggests protection to those who believe in and trust the law of Good.  With this armor - knit together by that thread of unity running through all, strong with the strength of the Almighty, burnished with clear vision and true estimates of life and Reality - we are safe.  We abide under the shadow of the everlasting truth.  With Moses, we can say, "underneath are the everlasting arms."

The breastplate of righteousness covers and gives sanctuary to the heart of hearts, the innermost soul of man.  The feet, shod with the gospel of peace, can travel and not become weary.  With Solomon we are happy when we find Wisdom, for "Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace."

And we take also "the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."  The positive thought of Truth is a shield against which nothing unlike Itself can stand.  In the Science of Mind, we learn that no thought of negation can enter a mind already filled with peace and faith.  The suggestion of limitations, fear and doubt cannot find entrance to that mental home where God is enthroned as the Supreme Guest. 

And the sword of the Spirit is the word of Truth.  This has also been called a two-edged sword, cleaving the false from the true, cutting its way across the path of confusion, uprooting the thistles and briars, clearing the way for Truth and beauty to flourish in the home of the soul.

The Word of God is not a battle hymn of righteousness, but a paean of praise, a psalm of beauty and a song of joy.  "If God be for us, who can be against us?""

August 21 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS from the NEW TESTAMENT
By Ernest Holmes

Bless and Curse Not (Romans 12:14)

""Bless and curse not."  Here is the whole law and prophets.   We are to overcome evil with good.  Evil lasts but for a day, while goodness shines to eternity and loving kindsness is the very nature of Deity.  As the darkness has no power over light, so evil is overcome with good.

"Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."  This is a statement of the law of cause and effect.  God does not avenge, but the law of cause and effect exacts the uttermost farthing.  We need not worry how things are coming out; the law takes care of everything and returns to each exactly what is his due.

The Great Awakening (Romans 13:11)

"Now it is high time to awake out of sleep."  The belief in a life apart from Good is a dream from which we must awake, if we are to taste the waters of Reality, which flow from the Source of Life.

As one awakes from a nightmare, so the mentality awakes from the dream of living death to a realization of eternal life.  We cast off the works of darkenss when we realize that evil is not an entity but a fraud.  The armor of light is the Truth, the very knowing of which makes free.

This awakening is a process of evolution, a little here and a little there, until the whole eye is opened and we see that life is neither separate from God nor different from Good.  Life is God, and Good is the only power there is, or can be.

To awaken oneself is to be healed, made prosperous, happy and satisfied; to be made every whit whole, to be complete as we were intended to be.  God is a God of the living and not of the dead.  He sees and knows only perfection and completion; happiness and satisfaction.  When we shall think of ourselves as God knows us, then complete salvation will come to us."

August 19 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM the TEACHING of JESUS
Ernest Holmes

The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth (Matt. 5:5)

""The meek shall inherit the earth."  This is a teaching of non-resistance.  War lords and plunderers of human possessions have come and gone.  Kingdoms have risen only to crumble in dust and become numbered with past events.  Passion and lust for power have strewn the earth with destruction.  It would seem as though the meek had lost out in the titanic struggle for temporal supremacy.

In the midst of this drama of human existence, Jesus declared that the meek shall inherit the earth.  Let us inquire if his teaching is a true one.  Do we teach our children to follow the steps of a Caesar and a Napoleon? Or do we tell them the story of Jesus or Buddha?  The cross is mightier than the crown and we teach our children that LOVE MASTERS EVERYTHING!  The meek shall inherit the earth.  To whom have our artists turned for inspiration and that quickening power which enables them to depict the idea?  Not to the war lords, nor even the captains of industry, but to the meek.

What characteristics are set before us as being worthy?  Have not faith and belief in the divine Goodness been the theme of our greatest singers?  Who could write a beautiful story about hell?  But heaven and love have inspired thousands to the uplifting of humanity.  Jesus was right when he said that the meek shall inherit the earth.  They have done so and will continue to do so!

They That Hunger Shall Be Fed (Matt. 5:6)

They who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled.  Is there anyone who does not have a soul hunger?  Does not the spirit of man thirst after knowledge and understanding, yearn for Truth and Reality, as blind men yearn for light?  And his hunger can only be satisfied with spiritual food, as manna from heaven.

Let us inquire into this teaching and see if it be an illusion.  Turn to the history of those who have been spiritually-minded, and the question is answered.  They have not received a stone when they asked for bread.  All who have been hungry have been fed; their hunger has been blessed, in that it has led them to that only food - that heavenly manna - which has sustained, strengthened and upheld them, while the rest of the world (with thirst unsatisfied and appetite unappeased) has eagerly inquired from what store they bought their goods.  They who hunger and thirst after Reality are always fed, and directly by the hand of God Himself.

The Merciful Shall Obtain Mercy (Matt. 5:7)

"Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy."  Again we are confronted with an apparent contradiction.  Do the merciful always obtain mercy?  From casual observation, it would seem otherwise.  But are not many of our observations based on a finite outlook, from a limited concept?  Can we estimate life from the range of one human experience?  If life begins with the cradle and ends with the grave, then are all of our hopes, not only forlorn, but useless.  It is only with the "eye views the world as one vast plain, one boundless reach of sky," that it sees truly.

The perspective of reality is lost when we view life from the range of a short experience.  Jesus saw beyond the veil and estimated life from the great perspective - the long run of the adventure of the soul.  He knew that the law of cause and effect takes care of all, and that the "Mills of God" will grind the chaff of unreality from the wheat of the Spirit. What matter if these mills do not do all of their grinding while we are clothed in flesh! Did not Jesus know another life which to him was as real as this one?  Can we expect, in this world, to receive full compensation for all our work?  Of course not.  We are building on an eternal foundation, one that time cannot alter nor experience destroy.

A true estimate of real values cannot be built on the shifting sands of time alone.  In the long run, the merciful will obtain mercy!  In the long run, we shall reap as we have sown!"

August 17 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM the TEACHING of JESUS

By Ernest Holmes

Why Jesus Had Such Power

"In this book no attempt is made to discuss all the sayings of Jesus.  He lived in a world of spiritual realization far beyond that of which the average man has any understanding.  As spiritual things must be spiritually discerned, so the full meaning of his sayings can never be clear to us until we have attained a consciousness equal to his.  But in the record of his sayings there is much which bears witness to our own belief, and, no doubt, could we penetrate the meaning of his teaching, we should have a perfect explanation of our own philosophy.

Jesus discerned spiritual truth.  Why or how we do not know, nor does it make any difference.  The world has not produced another like him and, until it does, he must receive a unique place in the history of human character.

Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone (Matt. 4:4)

What did Jesus teach?  "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Who eats of bread alone, will continually hunger.  To the physical benefits of the human board must be added the spiritual strength of divine wisdom."

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 7 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS from the NEW TESTAMENT
By Ernest Holmes

The Law of Correspondents (Romans 1:20)

"This teaching incorporates the great law of correspondents.  The spiritual world contains an image of the physical; the physical is a counter part of the spiritual.  A true estimate of the outward symbol points to the spiritual reality behind it.

We understand the unseen by correctly viewing the seen.  The outward effect must partake of its inward nature.  The physical universe is the result of an inner Intelligence, working through Law.  Behind form is idea.  The Formless creates form, through the creative power of Its own Mind and Spirit.

Behind every effect there is a cause, and if this cause is a spiritual idea - which it must be - then it follows that should the spiritual idea be discerned, the physical effect would be like it.  The entire possibility of demonstrating the Law of Good depends upon this proposition.  The idea is father to the fact.  Ideas are real, having the power within themselves to be made manifest.

The whole teaching of the Bible is to the effect that God is Universal Spirit, and Universal Creation.  He creates by the power of His Word.  This Word is the law of His Being.  Man reproduces the Divine Nature on the scale of the individual.  He also uses creative power which works through the law of his word.  From this he cannot escape, he need only to use this power constructively and all will be well.  If he uses the creative power of his thought destructively, then it will destroy.

In the Science of Mind, we learn that persistent, constructive thought is the greatest power known and the most effective.  If the visible effect in our lives is not what it should be, if we are unhappy, sick and poverty stricken, we know the remedy.  The Truth is always the remedy, and the Truth is that the law of liberty is the only real law.  When we reverse the process of thought, the effect will be reversed."

July 31 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

By Ernest Holmes

Abiding in the One (John 15:7)

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

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

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

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

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

That Ye Bear Much Fruit (John 15:8)

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

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

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

July 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

By Ernest Holmes

When We Are Strong (John 5:19)

““The Son can do nothing of himself.”  We are strong only as we are in unity with good, which is God.  But the Father showeth the Son, that is, it is revealed to us, through the innermost parts of our being, that there is a complete unity, a perfect wholeness.  As this concept of unity takes place, it brings with it great authority.  The Father quickens the Son, the Son quickens whom he will.

Here is a lesson in the practical application of the Science of Mind.  As the subjective state of thought becomes unified with goodness and love, it automatically reflects these in whatsoever direction the thought goes.  The tendency of this inner thought sets the tendency of the outward life.

Let us make this plain.  IF ONE IS NOT ATTRACTING GOOD INTO HIS LIFE, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIS UNCONSCIOUS THINKING.  The subjective state of his thought is wrong.  As the subjective state of his thought constitutes the sum total of his belief, it is his habitual attitude toward life and living.  This inner thought content is the sole medium between the Absolute and the relative, between causes and condition.

When this inner thought is clarified, that is, when it knows the truth, it will reinstate the outer man in peace, poise, health and happiness.  This inner thought becomes clarified as we unify with good; this is the inner quickening.  Following this is the outer quickening – the outward sign of the inner belief.

The Word of Power (John 5:26)

As the Father has life, so the son has life.  Again we have the teaching that there is but One Life, Mind or Spirit.  This Life is now our life, and manifests through us as we believe in It.  When our word is spoken in this consciousness of life, power and action, then our word IS life, power and action.

THE word has power only as it is one with power.  The word is a mold which decides what form the thought is to take as it assumes shape and becomes a part of our conditions.  Mental treatment is for the purpose of forming the word into such shapes and designs as are desirable for experience.

The word gives form to the unformed.  The greater the consciousness behind the word, the more power it will have.  Just words, without conviction, have no power, and just conviction without words, will never stir up latent energy.  There must be a combination of the two to make a complete thing.

We are surrounded by a spiritual consciousness and a mental law.  From combinations of these two, all things are made.  We unify with the spiritual consciousness as we become aware of it, we speak it into form as we believe in the power of our own word.  In treatment, there should be first a realization of power then a spoken word.  One generates, the other distributes.

The Meat Which Perisheth (John 6:27)

“Labour not for the meat which perisheth.”  Jesus knew that we need food to eat while in the flesh, so he could not be referring to literal food, but rather to that inner substance which is spiritual.

Starvation takes place on more than one plane.  More people are starved spiritually and intellectually than physically.  A full stomach will never appease an appetite for learning, nor can a loaf of bread satisfy the inner craving for reality.  The whole being needs to be fed – bread and meat for the body, knowledge and wisdom for the soul, atmosphere and consciousness for the Spirit.

We live on three planes at the same time.  To attempt to desert any one of these, to the cost of the others, is abnormal.  To live only on the physical plane is to become a brute.  To live on the intellectual plane alone, might produce a learned and a scientific man, but he would lack true perception.  To live only on the spiritual plane, might cause one to become a dreamer without any practical way of making his dreams come true.

The Three Planes of Life

Man is a threefold principle of life and action; he is spirit, soul and body.  From the Spirit he receives inspiration and guidance; in the soul he finds a perfect Law of life; and through the body he proves that he is a real individualization of the Invisible Principle.

Man’s mind should swing from inspiration to action, from contemplation to accomplishment, from prayer to performance.  This would be a well-balanced existence.  The Spirit fires the soul with energy and understanding; the soul, which is the subjective mentality, vitalizes the body and animates all that we do.

No greater mistake could be made than to think we must separate life from what it does.  We must unify and not divide.  The spirit must go forth into creation through law and action.  Life must enter living, and God must flow through man, if there is to be a real representation of the Divine through the human.

Let us feel that our purposes are animated and inspired from on high and then let us go forth and make our dream come true in human experience.  With an invisible  Intelligence to guide, and an immutable Law to direct, let us take our place in any legitimate activity, and thus cause our dreams to come to full fruition.”

June 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHING OF JESUS
~ Ernest Holmes

And the Father Saw Him Afar Off

""And he arose, and came to his father.  But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."

This is the most perfect lesson ever taught by the Great Teacher.  "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him."  This means that God turns to us as we turn to Him.  A more beautiful thought could not be given than this!  There is always a reciprocal action between the Universal and the individual mind.  As we look at God, God looks at us.  Is it not true that when we look at God, God is looking through us at Himself?   God comes to us as we come to Him.  "It is done unto us as we believe."  "Act as though I am and I will be."

God Does Not Condemn

"And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

"But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

"And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.  And they began to be merry."

The great lesson to learn here is that God never reproaches and never condemns.  God did not say to the returning son, "You miserable sinner, you are no more worthy to be called my son."  He did not say, "I will see what I can do about saving your lost soul.  I will spill the blood of my most precious son in hopes that by his atonement your life may be made eternal."  He did not say, "You are a worm of the dust and I will grind you under my feet in order that you may know that I am God and the supreme power of the universe."  No, GOD DID NOT SAY ANY OF THESE ATROCIOUS THINGS!  What the Father did say was, "Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him:  and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet."  Here Jesus is showing that God is Love and knows nothing about hate.

God Knows No Sin

Perhaps the most significant thing in this paragraph is the fact that God did not answer his son when he talked about being a sinner.  The Father talked about something else.   This is one of the most wonderful lessons in the whole story.  God does not know evil and therefore cannot talk about, or conceive it in any form.  God does not even hear us, could not hear us, when we talk about sin or evil.  If He could hear it, He would be conscious of it; if He could be conscious of it, He would not be wholly good.  If God could know evil, then evil would be an eternal reality.  But God is sinless and perfect and nothing can reflect itself in the Divine, save a perfect image.  If God could know sin, He would be a sinner.  It is enough to know that this cannot be.

The Best Robe

Now, the "best robe" was a seamless garment and typifies a state of complete unity, as does the ring.  The robe is seamless and the ring is without beginning or end.  It begins everywhere and ends nowhere.  It is like Eternity and Eternal Reality.  It perfectly describes the Divine Nature.  "The fatted calf" represents the abundance of God's love and providence."

June 15 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS of JESUS
~Ernest Holmes

The Child-Like Faith (Matt. 18:3, 4, 5)

"Jesus tells us that the child-like mind is more receptive to Truth than the over-intellectual who demand too rational an explanation of those truths which must be accepted on faith alone. What man can explain why he lives?  The self-evident fact of living is the only explanation possible or necessary.  In the whole life, and through the entire teaching, of this marvelous man, we find a child-like faith in the universe and an implicit trust in the goodness of God.  Judging his work by its results, and its influence on succeeding ages, we are compelled to accept the fact that "Wisdom is justified of her children."

The Real Father and Son (Matt. 11:27)

"And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

What reasonable explanation can we find to this passage, unless we look for some hidden meaning behind these words of the great teacher?  God alone knows the real Son, forever hidden in the bosom of the Father.  To God, this idea of sonship must be pure, complete and perfect; divine, holy and indestructible.  With our present limited vision, we neither see nor know the real Son, but the Father within knows and understands.  "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."  God is revealed through the Son, and the Son reveals himself to other sons when he realizes that God is his life.  This implies a direct relationship between God and man.

If one would know God, he must penetrate deeply into his own nature, for here alone can he find Him.  If he would reveal God to his fellowmen, he must do so by living such a God-like life, that the Divine Essence flows through him to others.  The only way to know God is to be like Him; and while this may seem discouraging in our present state of evolution, we should remember that we have but started on an eternal ladder which ever spirals upward.

When Jesus said to come to him and find rest ("Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest...") did he mean that we should, or could, come unto his personality?  Of course not.  Jesus knew that his human personality would soon be dissolved in his divine individuality.  He knew that he was soon to leave this world and go on to a deeper realization of life, truth and beauty.

It is evident, then, that he was referring to his understanding of life, when he told all who are weary to come unto him and find rest.  Had he not already explained that God indwells every soul?  He was inviting people to penetrate more deeply into their own natures, if they would find peace and comfort.  This has ever been the lesson taught by the illumined that we find God only within ourselves, and God can work for us only by working through us.  God reveals Himself directly through the Son.  The Son reveals God, when he realizes that God is already within him.  This understanding would not produce an undue conceit, nor would it set man in the temple of god as God; but it would place a true estimate of value on the life of man.

The Power at the Heart of God

Peace is the power at the heart of God.  It is through the revelation of the self, to the self, that one understands life; that he approaches the power which is at the heart of God.  This comes through a recognition of the unity of the individual, with the Spirit back of, in, and through all.

The problem of philosophy is to unite the Infinite with the finite; to join the abstract with the concrete; to find a meeting place between the Absolute and the relative; to unify with the First Cause.   The same problem confronts religion and is, indeed, its whole purpose:  to unify man with God.  This is also true of science, but from a different angle.  Science seeks to join causes with effects, and by so doing make practical use of its knowledge.  Science is really spiritual, while philosophy leads to true religion.  Science is the handmaid of religion and philosophy."

June 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS
By Ernest Holmes

No One Gives to Us by Ourselves

"And he fain would have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him."

"How true this is; no one can give unto us but ourselves and no one can rob us but ourselves.  "There are no gods to say us nay, for we are the life we live."  In our greatest extremity, in the moment of great need and dire distress, who can help or serve us?  All of our troubles come from an isolated sense of being; we alone can return to the "Father's House."

The question might be asked, "Where was God and why did He not come to the rescue of His beloved son?  Did He not care - was He heedless about His son's welfare?  Why did God allow such a thing to happen?  There is only one answer to all questions of this nature; God is always God, and man can always do as he pleases.  He would not be an individual unless this were possible.  The Father is never conscious of incompletion.  The Father's House is always open, the latch string ever hanging out, the door always ajar, but man must enter, if he wishes to abide within. 

Harmony can never become discord.  The truth can never produce a lie.  God can never be less than God.  Could God enter into a field of strife, then He would not be God.  God cannot enter the pig pen.  We cannot contract the Infinite, but we can expand the finite.  "As no man gave unto him."  It is always thus.

The Great Awakening

"And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger!"

"And when he came to himself."  This is the great awakening the moment in which we now live; in this moment we are asking this question of ourselves!  Is there not plenty in the universe?  Why do we want?  In this divine awakening, there seems to be an inner witness who remembers that we came from a heavenly state.  There seems to be an answer from that great within which says the Father's House is filled with peace, power and plenty.  The Universe is not limited.  It is abundant, lavish, extravagant.  Nothing can be taken from, nor added to, It.  Creation is the play of Life upon Itself.

We know, by intuition, that there is something beyond what we have so far consciously experienced in this world. Poets have sung of it and there are moments, in the lives of all, when the veil seems thin between and we almost enter into the heavenly estate.  This is the meaning of coming to one's self.  We are still in the awakening state, we have not yet consciously entered the state of perfect wholeness.  We know that such a state is a reality, and that we shall yet attain this reality.  Nothing can dislodge this inner and intuitive perception from our mentality; we know it as certainly as we know that we live.  This is God in us knowing Himself.  We are awakening to the realization that the Universe is perfect and complete.  It gives.  It is love.  It is good and wills only good to all alike.

Self-Condemnation

The prodigal said, "I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son:  make me as one of thy hired servants."

This represents a theological state of mind which is quite common to all of us; one of self-condemnation and personal distrust; it is morbid and detrimental to our welfare; a theological state of introspective morbidity, which might be classed as one of our worst mental diseases.  Self-condemnation is always destructive and should never be indulged in by anyone, it is always a mistake.  There is no question but that all of us have done that which is not for the best.  From this viewpoint, all have been sinners, because all have fallen short of the Divine Calling.  If we have sinned, it is because we have been ignorant of our true nature and because experience was necessary to bring us to ourselves."

June 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

by Ernest Holmes

The Two Sons

"In presenting the parable of the Prodigal Son to his listeners, Jesus began by saying that the Father (which is the Universal Spirit) had two sons, meaning that, as the son of God, man has the right of self-choice.  This carries with it the possibility of an apparent duality (but, of course, not a real one) and the possibility of experiencing good and evil.  Moses referred to the same thing when he said that he had set a blessing and a curse before the Children of Israel, and they must choose whom they would serve.  The two sons referred to in this story, allegorically denote the two states of consciousness necessary to real individuality.  Man is a conscious, self-knowing mind, equipped with volition and choice; he is an individual and can do as he chooses.

God Does Not Argue (Luke 15:11-32)

"A certain man had two sons:  And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.  And he divided upon them his living."

When the younger son asked for his portion of good, God did not argue with him; did not try to dissuade him; did not suggest that he was using bad judgment.  God never argues.  To argue is to suppose an opposite and God has no opposite.  We argue to arrive at a correct conclusion.  God is already the correct conclusion of all things, therefore, He does not need to argue.  Plotinus tells us that Nature never argues, that It contemplates Itself; that Its contemplation creates a form, through which It may become expressed.  Undoubtedly, this is the whole meaning and process of Creation.

"And he divided unto them his living."  There was no argument.  God did not tell the son that it would be far better for him to remain at home.  He did not say that he might come to want and suffer, perhaps starve.  He did not tell him anything:  "He divided unto them his living."  The Universe gives us what we ask; experience alone will teach us what is best to have.  "He divided unto them his living."  No clearer statement of individuality could possibly be inferred than this.  The son received exactly what he asked for; no more, and certainly no less.  The cup of his acceptance was filled from the universal horn of plenty; he could do with it as he chose.

The Far Country

"And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living."

When the son had received his share of goods, he went into a "far country."  We are all in this "far country," for it symbolizes the descent of the soul, or the outer rim of spiritual existence.  It is omnipresent, we cannot escape the Divine Presence, so this "far country" means a state of consciousness which has separated itself from the eternal good.  The "true meaning," I believe, of the "far country" would be a conscious separation from God, an isolated state, one in which there appears to be no remembrance of God as an actual, living, and ever-present Reality; one where man feels himself to be separated and entirely apart from the Eternal good.

This "far country" has a real a meaning today as it had in the hills of Galilee, nearly two thousand years ago, for all of us have come from heaven and nearly all feel the isolation of this seeming apartness from the Eternal Good.  Indeed, the whole endeavor of mankind is to return to the Father's House.

Why We Are in Want

"And there wasted his substance with riotous living.  And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want."

When one separates himself from the Divine Fire, he becomes an isolated spark.  We are strong only when united with Life.  As soon as our consciousness is detached from spiritual wholeness, we can no longer draw from that inexhaustible reservoir of eternal existence, so we become exhausted - there is nothing to fall back upon.

Life is one perfect Wholeness.  The Universe is a Unit.  God is One.  IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR MAN TO FEEL SEPARATED FROM THE SPIRIT WITHOUT FEELING LOST AND IN WANT.  This is why Jesus said he could nothing of himself, but could work only as the currents of divinity ran through his personal mentality.  That subtle something which runs through all things and which we call "the Thing Itself," that energy without which nothing can be energized, that Life without which nothing can live, that Power without which nothing can move, and that Spirit without which nothing can be - IS GOD.  It is only as we live in conscious union with the Spirit, and consciously let It work through us that we really live.

The Fallen Man

So, the prodigal son "began to be in want.  And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine."

The symbolism here is most interesting, for it perfectly depicts the state of humanity while in the "far country."  The "citizen" referred to means the attempt, on the part of man, to find some cause outside of Spirit.  Man seeks to league himself with material forces alone, not realizing that there can be nothing outside the Unity.  Most of us seek the cause in the effect and unknowingly put the cart before the horse, not realizing that the flower is already in the seed, and that effects must follow causes.  There can be no true alliance apart from life and no good apart from a unity with the Whole.  "And he sent him into his fields to feed swine."  Jesus was a Jew.  The Jews did not consider the meat of the swine lawful to eat; consequently he used this term to show how completely the prodigal son had fallen from his high estate - he must even be compelled to feed the despised swine.  This demonstrated that his state of being was so low that it would be impossible for it to be any worse.  It had reached the outer rim of reality."

May 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

As Little Children (Matt. 18:3) ~ Ernest Holmes

"We must become as little children.  How we long for a return of that simple trust in life which children have; in their minds there are no doubts - they have not yet been told that they are sinners, destitute of divine guidance and spiritual life.  The life of the child is lived in natural goodness.  God is natural goodness.  The prison walls of false experience soon build themselves into barriers, shutting out the light, and the child grows into a man, often losing his sense of that inner Guide, leading his footsteps aright.

We must return the way we came.  As little children, who know that life is good and to be trusted, we are to approach our problems as though they were not.  Approaching them in this manner, they will vanish.

Let not the materialist deny us this right, nor the unbelieving cast any reflection of his blindness before our eyes.  There is a wisdom and power not of the flesh, which spring perennially from the inner life - all-powerful and all-wise.

Whatsoever Ye Shall Bind on Earth (Matt. 18:18)

Next we come to a passage difficult to understand and one which has caused confusion in many minds.  "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

A superficial reading of this passage might lead one to suppose that this earth provides the last chance for the salvation of the soul.  But this is not the meaning of the text which implies that the experience of death cannot change all.  As a man has lived on earth, so he will continue to live after death.  If he has been pure, he will continue to be pure.  If he has been otherwise, he will continue to be otherwise.

False experience will continue until the lesson is learned, until the soul turns from that which hurts to its greater good.  The spirit of man is of like nature to the Spirit of God, and it is impossible for the Spirit of God to remain in darkness.  The next life is a logical continuation of this one and could not be otherwise.

Divine Forgiveness (Matt. 18:21, 22)

In the next passage, Jesus clearly explains the meaning of divine forgiveness.  He says that we should forgive until seventy times seven.  This is but another way of saying that forgiveness is eternal and ever available.  What a load is dropped from the shoulders of personal responsibility, when we realize that the Eternal Mind hold naught against anyone!  But, to those who feel that this is unfair, it will be a hard saying.  "What," says one, "are not my virtues to be rewarded above those who have none?"  O, foolish one and blind, what do you know about virtue?  Has your life always been beyond reproach?  Have you never fallen short of the divine calling?  Who are you to point the finger of scorn at your brother?  The man who feels self-righteousness rise from his petty virtues, lives a life of self-delusion.

Know this:  Virtue does not know that it is virtuous, and could it know, it would immediately become vicious.  Virtue is sweet as the morning dew, soft as the evening star, and brilliant as the noonday sun.  Could the dew tell why it is sweet, the star say why its light is soft, or the sun say why it shines?  When we learn to put away our petty virtues with our petty vices, then shall we see clearly - not what either virtue or vice is - but what Truth is!

The mind which condemns, understands not the truth of being, and the heart which would shut the door of its bosom to one who is mistaken, strangles its own life, closing its eyes to a greater vision.  The biggest life is the one which includes the most.

Not that we foster vice or place a premium upon wrong-doing, but that we understand the frailties of human nature and learn to overlook much.  To him who loves much, much is forgiven."

May 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Who Would Save His Life Shall Lose It ~ Ernest Holmes
(Based on Matt. 16:24-27) 

"This is another of those mystical sayings of Jesus which must be carefully considered before accepting it.  Does God demand that we give up everything if we are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?  Of course not!  To suppose that God wills us to be limited, is to contradict the Divine Nature.  God's only will is to Be, and for all to Be, for God can conceive of man only as part of Himself.

It must be, then, that what we are to lose is the sense of living apart from Life.  We find ourselves in the Divine Idea, immersed in the Infinite Godhead, one with the Perfect Whole.  But should we think that we, of ourselves, without this relationship rightly established, can be, or can express, then we cut the cord that binds us to the main power line and lose what little power we have.

We are powerful only as we unite with Power.  We are weak when we desert this Power.  Not because God is jealous, but because this is the way things work.  The idea of a false renunciation - of the given up of all pleasure and benefits in this life - is not even suggested in the teachings of Jesus.  Self-effacement, the neglect of the body, the belief that we must be unhappy and poor in order to serve the Truth, all these are immature ideas which deny the divine birthright of the soul, the incarnated Spirit of the Most High within us.

When we are willing to lose a personal sense of responsibility; when we let go of the thought of isolation and claim a real unity with God, then we lose the personal and find the Universal.  But remember, as the greater always includes the lesser, so the Universal always includes the personal, which is a personification of Itself.

Man is to lose the small estimate of himself, the isolated person, and is to find the greater reality, the incarnated and real ego.  The image of the Father cannot be defaced nor can all the wit or the sham of man really obliterate this image.  The Eternal Light is God, and this Light illumines the pathway of the personal when there are no obstructions.

Who leans on the Truth, throwing all - with an undivided attention - on the scales of Reality, will find them balanced rightly, through the great law of compensation, which weighs and measures everything exactly as it is.

Fasting and Prayer ( Matt. 17:21)

We are not to suppose that the physical act of fasting, or the metaphysical act of prayer, can move the throne of grace to a kindness which is otherwise withheld.  God plays no favorites and the Law of the Universe cannot reverse Its own nature.  Fasting and prayer often do bring our thought closer to Reality, not because of the fasting or the prayer, but because they open up greater fields of receptivity in our minds.

If one wishes to embody an ideal and is willing to give up all else to attain it, then he is fasting and praying!  He is sublimating an old idea with a new and a better one. If he is willing to abstain from the old and cling to the new, then he is giving greater reality to the new, and in this way contacting the Law from a more affirmative angle.

A steadfast determination to attain some purpose, the letting go of all that opposes it, a complete reliance upon the Law of Good, and an unqualified trust in Spirit - this is true fasting and real prayer.

The scientist, in profound thought and meditation before his problem - deserting all to solve it - is praying a true prayer to the principle of his science.  The poet, waiting in the silence of his own soul for inspiration, is praying that he may invoke the spirit of poetry to his listening ear.  The sculptor, chiseling at his marble, contemplating the beauty to be brought forth, prays to his god of art; and the farmer, kneeling beside his cabbage patch, trusts in the natural Law of Good to bring his seed to harvest.

We live in a fasting and praying world, but often we do not read the signs aright.  We are too used to the outward sign to realize its inward significance.  The world is much better than it knows or feels itself to be.

Healing the Lunatic (Matt. 17:14-19)

What majesty and might do we see in the calm words of Jesus!  "Bring him hither to me."  No doubt is here, no sense of approaching failure, no lack of trust in the perfect Law which governs all.  "And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him."

Surely this lesson should teach us that evil is but an obsession and - from the standpoint of eternal Reality - a complete illusion.  Could we cast out evil from our thought if evil were a real entity or had actual power?  The answer is self-evident, we could not.  Evil flees before Reality and to the mind which knows it, evil is not."

March 30 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Immortal Clothing (II Cor. 5:1-10) ~ Ernest Holmes

"This body, in which we seem to live, is not the eternal body.  We have a body not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  As our thought reaches up and on to that greater truth, we are clothed upon from heaven.  That is, we more perfectly pattern the Divine and consequently more completely manifest the Eternal.

We do not wish to be unclothed but clothed upon.  This is an interesting concept, for it implies that immortality clothes itself in definite forms, more beautiful than those which now appear.

We are to know no man after the flesh, but even Christ after the Spirit. Thus we are swallowed up of life.  Death is overcome, not by dwelling upon it, but by contemplating eternal life.  It is the belief of the writer that should one become completely unconscious of death and all fear of it, one would never know that he died, even though he went through the experience of passing from this life to the next.  Death would be swallowed up of life.

It seems probable that when the last enemy is overcome, we shall pass from one experience to another at will; that the soul will clothe itself in a body on whatever plane it finds itself - a body which will express the soul on that plane. We are to know no man after the flesh but the Spirit.

The Inner Man (Eph. 3:16)

"To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man."  The inner man is Christ, and Christ is the son of God.  The inner man is revealed by what he does.  As we do not see God, so we do not see the real man.  We never see causes, only effects; but the effect loudly affirms the nature of its cause.

The Spirit of God dwells in the inner man with power and might.  The outer man reflects this Spirit in so far as the intellect allows it to come forth into expression.

When Christ dwells in us in love, which is unity, we are able to understand the things that the saints have understood.  Saint simply means an unusually wise and good man - all saints have been human beings just as we are for God makes all people alike.  The universe plays no favorites.

To be filled with the fullness of God is to manifest our true nature, which is Christ, the Son of God - "the power that worketh in us." This power is the power of God, and if we admitted no other, we should ever be satisfied, happy, prosperous, well and complete.

The Endless Creation (Eph. 3:20,21)

"World without end."  This refers to the endless creation of the Almighty.  Particular worlds will always begin and end, as do cabagges and kings; but creation itself - the necessity of God's manifesting Himself in time and in space - will never end.  If creation could end, then God would end.  As this is unthinkable, it follows that "world without end," or worlds without end, are necessary to the expression of Spirit."

March 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

More...FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS ~ Ernest Holmes

Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole (Matt. 9:20, 21)

""And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him and touched the hem of his garment; for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole."

It is said that Jesus was aware of her presence and turned to her with the words, "Thy faith hath made thee whole."  This is a lesson in impersonal healing, showing that the spiritually-minded are surrounded by an atmosphere of Reality the very presence of which heals.  Again, we find Jesus emphasizing the teaching - that it is done unto us as we believe.  "And the woman was made whole from that hour."

In healing the blind men, Jesus asked them if they believed that he was able to restore their vision, and upon their acceptance of his ability to do so, he said, "According to your faith be it unto you."  Again he was showing the necessity of faith and belief, as supreme requisites in the demonstration of spiritual power.

The Law of Circulation (Matt. 10:8)

"Freely ye have received, freely give."  When the law of circulation is retarded, stagnation results.  It is only as we allow the Divine current to flow through us on and out, that we really express life.  The law of giving and receiving is definite.  Emerson tells us to beware of holding too much good in our hands.

Because of the unity underlying all life, no man lives entirely unto himself, but through himself, he lives unto the whole, which whole embodies all other lives. Therefore, "he that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life, shall find it."

When a man's thought rests entirely upon himself, he becomes abnormal and unhappy; but when he gives himself with enthusiasm to any legitimate purpose, losing himself in the thing which he is doing, he becomes normal and happy.  Only as much life enters into us as we can conceive, and we conceive of life - in the larger sense - only when there is complete abandonment to it.  Let the one who is sad, depressed, or unhappy find some altruistic purpose into which he may pour his whole being and he will find a new inflow of life of which he has never dreamed.

Whom Shall We Try to Help?  (Matt. 10:12, 13)

But Jesus was wise in the ways of the world, as well as in heavenly wisdom, and he counselled his followers against attempting to help people,when they wished no help.  He said, "And when ye come into a house, salute it.  And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it:  but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you."

This is a lesson which sincere students of Truth often discover to their great chagrin.  People do not always receive their message, and when this happens there should be no controversy, no argument, and no sense of disturbance; but, abiding in the conviction of the ultimate acceptance of truth by all, they should let their peace return unto themselves and go calmly on their way, undisturbed, unprejudiced, non-combative, but certain of themselves...certain of the Truth upon which they stand.  If however, they are called upon to defend their faith, they should remember that the Spirit, indwelling their lives, will put into their mouths the very words which they should speak; the great teacher said:  "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."  (Matt. 10:20) Never forget that there is an indwelling Spirit which knows."

March 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Jesus Forgives a Man and Heals Him  (Matt.9:5,6) ~ Ernest Holmes

"Now some of the scribes who heard Jesus tell the sick man that his sins were forgiven said, he blasphemed God in attempting to forgive sins.  But Jesus - reading their thoughts and knowing what was in their minds - asked them if it were easier to forgive or to heal.  "For whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk?"  In order to prove his position, he healed the man, saying:  "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house."

This incident has to do with a great psychological law.  If one labors under a great burden of past mistakes, he devitalizes his body and if the condemnation is great enough - it might render the body incapable of moving.  Jesus, seeing that the sick man was laboring under a load of condemnation, told him that his sins were forgiven.  This removed the weight from the man's consciousness, making it possible for him to receive the healing word.

Would Jesus have forgiven the man if he had thought that God held anything against him?  Certainly not.  He knew that the Eternal Heart is one of love, and that God forgives from the foundation of the universe.  Indeed, he knew that the Divine Mind is too pure to behold evil and knows nothing about sin.

God Knows No Evil

Why should it disturb anyone to be told that God knows nothing of his sin, nothing of his want, nothing of his lack of any kind?  The tragedy would be if God did know.  If God knew sin, He would be a sinner, for what the Infinite Mind knows must BE!  Sin or mistakes are outside the province of Reality.  Jesus knew this.  He also knew that while man labors under the sense of condemnation, the burden of his thought weighs him to the dust.  Being able to read thought, he knew just what step to take in relieving the burden of this man's mind, before telling him to arise and walk.

We shall do well to remember this lesson.  How often we condemn when we should forgive, how often censure when we might praise!  What untold grief of heart might be relieved by words of cheer and forgiveness.  Especially should this lesson be remembered in the training of children, for they so readily respond to the thought of others.  Remembering that the Spirit holds no evil toward man, and that God is Love, we should emulate this divine lesson and forgive all, that our hearts may be free from the burden of our own condemnation."