December 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
Ernest Holmes

Rheumatism

"There is no bondage in the Spirit and we should endeavor to realize that the Spirit frees us from every type of bondage.  As perfect love casts out all fear and frees us from the bondage of stubbornness and unbelief we should be freed from the outward picturing and manifestation of the pain and congestion which appear as rheumatism.  Why should the system secrete impurities or why should there be any acidity if we are governed by Divine Intelligence as to what we should eat and by Divine Law as to how we should eliminate what does not belong to the system?  It is well to remind ourselves that the system is spiritual and divinely ordained.  God does not make mistakes and our muscles and joints do not need to store up waste matter which causes pain and physical distress.

To be washed clean by the Spirit should have a real meaning to us and the practitioner should believe that there is such a baptism of Spirit as this.  If anyone should criticize him for such a belief he would be a poor worker in this field who ever knew that such condemnation had taken place.  Of course we must expect to contradict human experience if we wish to transcend it, how else could Jesus have told the blind man to look up - He said up and not down.  The worker in the field of spiritual thought must not be afraid to mentally attach any physical condition with the full assurance that he is dealing with the power that first created and as easily recreates.  He does this by knowing that it is done.

Do not hesitate to know that you can heal; you can if you know that you can and not until then.  Bondage and freedom are but two possibilities of our use of the Law.  Let us affirm freedom, not bondage.

"My entire system is spiritual and my physical being is now quickened into life and truth.  It is cleansed and purified by the power of the word of God within me.  This word which I speak is the presence, the power and the Law of God working through me.

"The energy of the pure and perfect Spirit is now cleansing me from all impurities of the flesh.  My elimination is perfect.  The joy of the Lord God is within and around me.  I live in the sunshine of eternal truth and beauty.  I love and understand life.  My faith in the healing and the cleansing power of my word is complete.  This word penetrates the marrow and bone of my physical being and eliminates all waste substances.  My food digests perfectly.  I have perfect and complete circulation of love, truth and beauty through my entire system.  Love and life permeate every atom of my being.  I am washed, cleansed within.  I forgive all and am forgiven of all and by all.  Nothing remains in my being but love.  There is no pain or distress in the joints or in the muscles.  My body is the body of God, the Living Spirit Almighty."

Now take the time to realize the truth of the foregoing statements.  It is not so much what you say but the mental attitude you have when you say it, that counts.  Believe and you will be made whole, is the key thought.  Perfect God, perfect man and perfect being.  Confirm all statements to this proposition."

November 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
Ernest Holmes

Treating Stomach and Bowel Troubles

"No organ in the body is more quickly upset by a disturbed mental condition than is the stomach.  Frequently people, not even familiar with the manner in which thought controls the body, are heard to remark that a certain experience has "upset my stomach."

Even those who do not habitually say grace before meals would do well to lift thought in thanksgiving - putting aside all thought of worry, distrust, and anxiety - and thereby insure a wonderful digestant, a perfect aid to assimilation.

Sometimes a constant conflict in the emotional nature because of hurt feelings will become such an irritation that it manifests as hemorrhage or stomach ulcer.  Also, a deep-seated sense of discouragement and disappointment will objectify in a disturbed condition of the stomach and bowels.  (Constipation is treated under a separate head.)  A patient may need to be shown that super-sensitiveness is nothing more or less than an expression of selfishness, the presence of which may be unknown to him.

The very best mental remedy for stomach trouble is love and joy.  Say to  yourself:  "The glory of my thought makes me immune to negative experiences, even to negative suggestions.  The very life of God vitalizes my every organ and tissue.  I now have perfect and complete faith in God as my ever-present Good.  My faith fills me and elates my entire being.  As my thought relaxes, all the muscles of my body relax, the Life Spirit flows through me, and my body responds perfectly to Its healing activity, and every function of my body is now brought into perfect action.  The Infinite Life which is within me is now healing me, making me whole, after the pattern of an Infinite and Eternal Perfection.""

November 25 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
Ernest Holmes

Treating Kidney, Bladder and Liver Disturbances (Continued)

"Thoughts of greed, selfishness and jealousy cause congestion in various functions of the body, especially the kidneys.  The work of the kidneys is to eliminate the poisons of the body, but when our minds are filled with thoughts of anger, hatred and resentment, we are pouring into our body poisons in the making.  Too much of this makes a burden the kidneys are unable to carry and the upbuilding of body tissues is disturbed.  But degenerative thoughts can be turned into creative, energizing, vitalizing ones.  Anger can be turned into love, and the very power that has been destroying can be made to build up, not only the kidneys, but the entire body.

The liver, the great laboratory of the body, which abstracts certain materials from the blood, and converts them into new substances which can be used by the body for upbuilding, or eliminated when its work is done, functioning as it does with other digestive organs is an important factor in maintaining the orderly balance of the body.

When disturbances arise in the liver, it is important to erase every unpleasant experience from the memory; every hard, tense thought from the mind.  Just as the liver can convert certain substances into building material for the body, so the mind - filled with the knowledge that there is but One Divine, Powerful, Vital Essence - can change inharmonious thoughts into ideas that heal, cleanse and uplift."

August 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
Ernest Holmes

Heart Trouble

"The heart is the center of Divine Love and perfect circulation.  Its action is harmonious, vital, adequate and complete.  There is no false action and no wrong action.  The pulsations of life are steady, unceasing and perfect.  "Let not your heart be troubled."  Love is at the center of man's being, and the calm, continuous, pulsations of life are governed by Love.

Solomon is accredited with many words of wisdom, none of which are more appropriate just here than his admonition:  "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."  (Prov. 4:23)  In the days when we had no knowledge of whether the emotions should be expressed, repressed or suppressed, the reference to the heart was hardly as significant as it is today.  Now, in the light of experience, there is no question but that anything that touches the sympathetic nature of man has within it the power to build up or destroy the physical body of man.  The daily record of fatalities from "heart trouble," bears evidence of this.  Sudden shock, terrific loss - particularly loss of love - FEAR, all kinds of fear, are some of the thoughts which quickly manifest in the body of man as "heart trouble."  The remedy for this is LOVE.  "Perfect love casteth out fear;" and a Divine fearlessness, a singleness of purpose, a determination to think only God-like thoughts, should be used in treating heart trouble.

Almost every case of heart trouble can be traced to thoughts of strain and inharmony; sometimes to disappointment or disagreement with a loved one; or to a feeling of loss from financial reverses.  A belief that we can be in a position from which God absents Himself.  We reiterate, a remedy for all heart trouble is LOVE.  The heart is known as the center of love, which is the healing balm for every inharmonious thought.  As we recognize our Oneness with Infinite Intelligence, we are set free from uncertainty and pain.  As long as we realize that our heart is a living center, through which the Love of God flows to bless eternally, not only our own lives but the lives of all whom we contact - as long as we realize this, our heart cannot be troubled.

Another thought to be handled in treating any kind of heart trouble is the thought of age.  The race-suggestion carries a strong belief about the unpleasant conditions which may present themselves as one "grows old."  Among these is the physical condition termed hardening of the arteries, which hinders the free flow of blood to the brain.  A treatment must be so formulated as to recognize that there is but One Mind, consequently, no thought of depression, fear, or suggestions of imperfection can flow through It.  Man is birthless, deathless, ageless Spirit; and this should be the consciousness of our work.  This leaves nothing to be born, mature, decay and die.  Life cannot grow old.  God - in us, and through us, as us - can only express according to His Own Nature, which is Perfection.  Therefore, the Law of our being is the Law of perfect assimilation, elimination and circulation; and it is the law of obliteration to anything unlike Itself.  A knowledge of our Oneness with the God-Life all about and within us, that this life is governed by Divine Law and Harmony within us, that our only need is to cooperate mentally with this Law of Life, will heal when we recognize Its presence and activity within us.

Some physicians now claim that the action of the heart is a reflex action, and that the dilation and contraction of the heart is controlled by sympathetic nerve centers in the spine; and while they say that will does not control the heartbeat, emotions do affect the heart and sudden and unexpected grief often causes instant death.  Loving thoughts for all will remove tenseness, stimulate the heart into healthy action, and send new life to every part of the body.  "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.""

August 11 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Fevers

"In mind healing the underlying thought in the treatment for fever, is Peace.  Any thought which tends to inspire, to comfort and to give peace to the mind is good.  Through our knowledge of the kingdom within, we are able to claim our power and dominion.

A general treatment like the following will be found effective in allaying fever:

"At all times, I am aware of my immediate Oneness with God; and the glory of my thought makes me immune to negative experiences, even to negative suggestions.  I desert fear and turn resolutely and joyously to faith, and swiftly into my experience comes the desired good.  I give thanks that I am Divine and that I know my Divinity.  A sacraed refuge is this inner place where my thought contacts and consciously becomes one with the Indwelling Almighty.""

August 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 5 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Asthma and Hay Fever

"Many medical men believe that "nervous persons, and those whose work is largely mental, are most often attacked by hay fever, and that hay fever attacks only those who are predisposed to it."  The general acceptance is that it is the result of an undue sensitiveness of the nostrils to the pollen of certain flowers or plants, or even the hairs of certain animals.

We should know that the claim of hay fever has no power over us, that we are inspired and directed by Infinite Mind, and that perfect discrimination and judgment are established in us.  In treating oneself, declare that every day you are capable of expressing the greater possibilities which are your divine inheritance; that you are busy expressing good and have not time for any fear thoughts of asthma and hay fever.

Know that you alone are the door-keeper to the "Temple of the Holy Ghost," your body.  You have the power to say what shall enter there.  No false thing can enter there while you are recognizing your Oneness with Infinite Life.  The pollen which you have thought irritated you is made from the very same Substance from which you are made.  You are sending out only thoughts of peace, love and joy, and no irritating thought or thing can come back to annoy or obstruct the perfect functioning of every organ of your body.  The passages of  your mind are open only to the inflow and outflow of good.  You are sensitive only to good, dwelling in the higher altitudes of consciousness, understanding Life in Its spiritual purpose, experiencing exhilaration, vitalization, and exaltation.

It is written that the breath of God animates creation, with the living presence of a pure divinity.  What breath are we breathing other than this true breath, unrestricted, flowing through channels of pure receptivity, from the Infinite Intelligence and the perfect Life of God?  Let your thought dwell, not on breath nor lack of breath, but on that which breathes.  Sense the freedom of this God-Life, flowing in and through you.  You did not create the Original Substance out of which your body was formed.  God Himself made your body, to be used as His Self-Expression.  This channel must be perfect.  With good-natured flexibility, free your thought from any sense of anxiety or strain, or indecision, or deep-seated worry and concern, knowing that you have only to keep your thought steady and clear, fixed upon the potential perfection of the Universe in which we live.  When you have lifted your consciousness in this manner, use this meditation:

"My entire body is now a receptive channel for the operation of God-Life.  My thought is pure, relaxed and peaceful.  My breathing is not obstructed (asthma) my thought is not sensitive to any discordant or disagreeable sentiment (hay fever), as Mind could not entertain a disagreeable sentiment.  I breathe in the eternal Life Essence.  By this breath I am purified and made strong.  I am freed from the belief in anything unlike Perfection.""

August 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Paralysis

"Use the thought that Life cannot become paralyzed or inactive.  Life is forever present in Its fullness.  Therefore, where any form of inaction appears we should endeavor to recognize and realize the presence of Life and action.  The Spirit is neither inactive nor is It too active.  Its action cannot be cut off or need it be added to; where the seeming inaction is we should declare for right action.  As in constipation, there is a thought of restriction back of the manifestation of paralysis; often there is a very emotional nature to deal with, and often, though not always, a lot of stubbornness and resistance to heal.

Sometimes the husband or wife, having seen the other suffering from paralysis, will resent so thoroughly the bondage of the loved one, that further power is given to the belief, and the same condition begins to manifest in his or her body.  This person must be shown that in Mind there is perfect freedom, and that in this freedom nothing can bind him, either mentally or physically, that nothing which he ever did or thought or that anyone else did or thought, can bind him, that the very Life of God is his freedom, that this Infinite Life and Action compels him to act out the truth about himself on the objective plane.

When Jesus healed the paralyzed man, He first made him whole in consciousness, then told him to take up his bed and walk.  This is the perfect example for us to follow in the healing of any case of paralysis.  The practitioner should know, without shadow of doubt, that the very power by which the paralytic took up his bed and walked - the power by which Jesus raised His body - is exactly the same power by which paralyzed legs and arms are vitalized and made whole today.  A consciousness of the One Indwelling Presence must be built up, then the patient must accept this consciousness and act upon it.  Life is an idea everywhere present in Mind, and It must be accepted as present in the organs which seem paralyzed.  The following meditation is a good one to use:

"Infinite Spirit, Complete Essence of Life, is now my life.  That which is animated by Perfect Spirit or Life, must express or be like that which animates it.  My thought now rests in contemplation of my real self and that clarified thought makes easy the way for the operation of the Life Essence through me.

"There is no inaction or paralysis in Mind, the Mind of God.  There is no inaction or paralysis in Body, the Body of God.  All manifest life is some part of the Body of God.  My body is some part of the Body of God; right where the inaction appears to be, there is real life and action.  The free-flowing life of Spirit is now energizing every part of my being and quickening it into life and action.   The Spirit has never been paralyzed nor can It be.  I feel the life of the boundless action and energy of Spirit flowing through me.  I am free.

"The perfect co-ordination and functioning of the parts of my body, in their inter-related action, is in perfect rhythm and harmony.  I am conscious of this perfection...this beauty, this perfect action...first, in my thought, then I recognize it in my body as the thought becomes the thing.  I no longer entertain the thought of bondage.  I am no longer influenced by the belief that there is, or can be, any life or action apart from God.  I do not struggle.  I feel my freedom flow from within me.  It is complete, perfect and flowing now.  I am thrilled with the Almighty force of the Universe as it courses through every part of me.  It quickens every part of me into a newness of life and action.  I am the power of God within me, making the physical man perfect.  I am free.

"I know that there flows through me now the Perfect Life Essence.  My body is the abiding place of this Life.  The very stuff of which my body is formed is an Eternal and Perfect Substance.  My body reflects the perfect motion, the rhythmic ease of Mind in action.  Perfect Life is mine.""

July 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Skin

The skin represents a temporary, but perfect, outward cloak, forever responsive to that deep, inner calm, that place where Life is poised in Itself.  There is nothing in Spirit to break through and erupt, to congest or contaminate.  Within it is perfect. 

Arms and Hands

The arms and hands represent man's ability to grasp ideas.  To uphold his convictions of the truth.  To reach out and grasp Reality.  To be a partaker of the Divine Benefits.

Feet and Legs

The feet and legs represent man's ability to walk uprightly.  To be guided into all truth.  To be led by the ever-present Mind.

False Growths (Tumors, Cancer, Gallstones)

We must think of the subjective state of our thought as our atmosphere in the Universal Mind, for we cannot separate ourselves from the Universe.  There is but One Mind and we are in It.  We are in It as intelligence.  It accepts our thought and acts upon it.  Destructive emotions, desires or ideas, unless neutralized, will grow into some bodily condition, and may produce disease.  Disease without thought could not manifest, no matter what the disease may be.  We are surrounded by a Receptive Intelligence, which receives the impress of our thought and acts upon it.

If the thought of false growths can be erased, the manifestation can be healed.  Declare:  "Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."  The Heavenly Father is the Reality of man and is Eternal Presence and Perfection.  Dissolve the idea of false growths by knowing that there is nothing for them to feed upon.  Erase the belief, in your own mentality, and you will remove it from the mentality of the patient, and thereby project healing power to his body.

In treating cancers and tumors, there should be a harmonizing of the consciousness that will cleanse the blood.  Declare:  "Divine Love within me, removes from my consciousness every thought unlike God (Good).  In my physical body there is only room for perfection, because that thought which is sustaining and nourishing my body is aware only of perfection, nothing can come into being except from the One Creative Mind, and nothing can flourish unless there is something to nourish it.  Accordingly, I know that my thought does not sustain any false growth, either consciously or unconsciously originated.

"The depression, the misunderstanding, the maladjustment, the frustration which may have taken place in my life, is now eradicated.  God is the One Causation back of all manifestation, and there could not be cause for a development of any kind contrary or superfluous to the divine order.  Therefore, there cannot remain within my body anything which does not express perfection.  God-Life, in and through me, forever cleans, heals, and renews every organ, and every atom in my body, after the pattern of perfection."

False mental causes are removed by a freshness of thought, sustained by an affirmative outlook of faith and trust in the perfection of life.  The only accretion which takes place in the body is that produced by the activity of Perfect Principle, and what the body cannot use is passed freely on.

We have learned that there is only One Substance, out of which everything is made...cabbages and kings, hands and houses, money and men...consequently, any wrong condition in the human body is made from exactly the same substance from which the most perfect form is created.  The pure and perfect light of Spirit dissipates and dispels every discordant form, for those things which are not implanted by Divine Spirit have no law to support them.

Whether it be cancer, fibroid tumor, a wen, a cyst, or gallstones, the practitioner must know that the Spirit indwelling his patient is perfectly and completely manifested, and that every shadow of erroneous conclusion is wiped out.  False growth is neither person, place nor thing; it has no life to sustain it, cannot take root in Truth; it has no vitality, no substance and no power, and cannot be fed nor nurtured by Truth."

July 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

Constipation

"Never think a sick person is one who merely has a sick body.  If you do, you will find yourself treating the body.  Why should we not treat the body?  For the simple reason that the cause of the disease is not in the body.  The body is an effect and not a cause.  You must know that bodies and conditions never move, they are always moved upon.  A sick person is one who has a sick thought as well as  a sick body.

Constipation is often due to a belief in limitation or burden, and is mentally helped by knowing that there is no restriction, no inaction, no limited action, no bondage, no fear, no congestion.  Realize that all action is normal, harmonious and perfect.

Any thought which produces a mental tension - fear of lack, of trouble, of disease of all kinds, fear of loss of friends, or loss of position - is likely to manifest itself as constipation.  Any kind of fear thought retards the free action of the life forces, thus greatly interfering with the functions of the body.

In such cases a treatment for complete relaxation should be given.  It is well to know:  "Infinite Intelligence within me rules me, and controls and directs all of the organs of my body, so that they function perfectly according to their nature.  I am an open channel for good to flow in and through me, freely, generously, cheerfully."

Every thought of cruelty is disturbing to the entire body.  Solomon tells us that "he that is cruel, troubleth his own flesh," and every adverse thought is cruel.  Thoughts of peace and good will, a recognition of the unity of all men, will produce harmony, and bring about perfect elimination in the body.

It is necessary that we release all thoughts - as well as things - that clutter  up our lives.  We are reminded that there is something resembling the Divine in the intelligence and fearlessness of the organs of our body, in the way they take that which is necessary to their sustenance and well-being, and release that which is not needed.  If the organs of the body followed the average tactics of man in his acquisitive habits, if the lungs hoarded the air they take in, if the heart kept the fresh blood stored within its walls, refusing to allow it to circulate, if the stomach retained the food taken in for nourishment, what a static condition we would have!  But the very reverse is true.  Such perfect assimilation, elimination and circulation has never been equaled by man in anything he has invented.

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  The is a promise we have all proven, in a degree.  Could we but comprehend the full significance of spiritual substance, we should be forever freed from all congestive thoughts - selfishness, greed, undue acquisitiveness - all of which have been called the waste products of the mind.  Understanding this, it naturally follows we should be freed from their effects.

Very often the word of healing is spoken and does not appear to operate because hindered by some obstruction.  Some people are obstinate, resistant, stubborn, and they must be healed of these beliefs.  The practitioner must know that there is no resistance to Truth, and no thought anywhere which can prevent the consciousness from perceiving the Truth.  Whatever the false condition is, array mental argument against it.  Turn the thought over and over, until either by reason or by chance, you hit upon the thing that is wrong.  Anyone can help the sick who can get away from the effect long enough to perceive a different cause...a perfect cause, back of what appears to be an imperfect effect.

A thought of Love is always healing, and particularly so in the case of constipation.  If the practitioner has a full realization that Love fulfills all the laws of life - his life and the patient's life - that there are no restrictions, no burdens, no inhibitions in Love, which is the very life within, healing will follow.

If one would take time, once a day at least, to let go of all that is not true and lay hold of Reality; let go of doubt, distrust, worry, condemnation and fear, and lay hold of Life in Its expressions of beauty, truth and wholeness, his mental congestion would be healed.  Keep the mind and body open to the reception of Truth.  It is the static, fixed, inflexible outlook, which produces a tendency on the part of the body and its muscles and functions to become tense and underactive.  Hold steadfastly to the thought that all of life is in a state of eternal flow.  Relax your thought and allow the free flow of the Life Essence, in and through you, and your body will respond to Its healing activity.  Inaction will quickly disappear into its native nothingness, in the rhythm and harmony of all your bodily functions."

June 25 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes


Treating Lung Trouble

"The spiritual idea of lung itself is universal and perfect, nothing has ever happened to it.  It was, is, and ever will be - perfect.  But man, through the creative medium of his thought, has caused an appearance of disease in the lung.  Back of all such trouble is a consuming passion, an unexpressed emotion, a strong desire.  Healing will take place to the degree that the practitioner neutralizes this belief and perceives the presence of a perfect lung.

The practitioner realizes there is a perfect body, perfect being, perfect God, perfect man, perfect expression, perfect bronchial tubes, perfect trachea, perfect lungs!  The practitioner, if he would heal, must elevate his own thought.  The word he speaks is law, it is power; it knows itself to be what it is.  It is the law unto the case.  He is now conscious that the word he speaks will neutralize and entirely destroy the false thought and condition.  He says:  "There is one body; this body is the Body of God, and is Perfect; It is never depleted, Its vitality is never lowered.  There is no wasting away, nor burning up of substance, for substance is eternal, changeless and perfect.  This Body is the body of my patient right now."

He continues until he covers what, in his own thought, appears to be the mental cause of the false condition.  If he does this day after day, the patient will be relieved, though the practitioner never thinks of his patient, other than that the word of Truth is being spoken for him.  He never wonders whether his word is taking effect, because he speaks into Intelligence and lets It act.

Human life is the incarnation of God in man.  With every indrawn breath, we breathe in life, and with every outgoing breath, we give it forth.  The lungs are constantly renewed by every respiration.  With every new inspiration of renewed thought we appropriate something of God.  With every out-pouring of life, expressed in faith and good deeds, we are expressing God.  When we associate our breathing with the very Life and Light of God, nothing can retard the flow of life through us.  A good meditation for practitioner or patient, who has any fear of lung trouble, is:

'The One Infinite Life and Substance is the only Life and Substance in existence; and this Life and this Substance is my Life now.  I express through a spiritual body, which is and must continue to be, perfect.  There is no wasting or destruction of any part, for that which is Eternal can never be non-existent.  Any tissues that appear to be impaired are now renewed by the very Life of God, which is flowing in and through me.

"I erase from my consciousness the belief that the tissues of my body can be impaired, inflamed or destroyed.  Joyfully, peacefully, trustingly, confidently, I give my body - every tissue, atom, and function - over to the Spirit of Life, which in Its perfection does now renew and rebuild me, even out of Itself.  That Substance out of which my body is created is Spiritual, and is maintained by the all-powerful Essence of Spirit.'"

June 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
Ernest Holmes

Headache

"Confused, worried, anxious, tense thoughts can produce a congestion in the head.  Those who worry over trifles, and think they are subject to the conditions which surround them, often suffer from headaches, but a realization of the vitalizing power of Spirit through the entire body quickly removes tension and brings a sense of relaxation to the body.

Back of nearly every discord or disorder, there is some subjective complex, or mental knot, that needs to be untied; generally, some suppressed emotion, which perhaps is centered around the affections - the likes and dislikes, the loves and passions, and everything which goes with them.  These knots must be untied, and it is the business of the practitioner to untie them.

A treatment for peace, alone, often brings quick results when one is suffering from headache.  If one can stop long enough to realize:  "Infinite Intelligence within me lifts me out of worry, confusion and doubt," many times nothing else is necessary.  And a safe rule for the prevention of headache is thinking correctly.  Think only "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report."  Following is a suggested treatment:

"There is neither congestion nor confusion in Spirit, and this man is spiritual.  There is neither ache nor pain in the Consciousness of god as It flows through man.  All ideas are assimilated, find perfect expression in joy through the life-giving Source which cannot be congested, retarded, nor strained.  Ideas are comprehended fully and completely, their spiritual significance is assimilated, and there is no strain as they pass into self-expression.  The flow of Life-force to the brain centers is always unretarded, sufficient and sustained.""

June 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Depend Upon Principle ~ Ernest Holmes

"Principle is the Power that made everything.  It is Absolute, It will not and cannot be denied.  The only thing that can deny God is yourself.

Do not think of disease as an entity, but as in impersonal thought-force.  In healing, you are separating the false from the true.  The work is definite and dynamic, and is consciously done, always with a clear purpose in mind.

If your own thought is clear, and you are able to realize the Presence of Spirit in your patient, your work will be effective.  Through the proper use of this great Subjective Law, you can impress a definite idea upon it, and if you, yourself, do not withdraw that idea, or neutralize it by an opposite one, the Law will bring it into manifestation.

What we need, then, is to learn the Law governing this Principle.  When you give a treatment, you are definitely setting a Universal Law in motion, which must not only accept what you say but the way in which you say it.  If your treatment is given with a sense of struggle, it will manifest in that way.  If it is given with a sense of peace, then it will manifest in a peaceful manner.

Remember that you need to assume no personal responsibility for the recovery of your patient, but you do have a definite obligation, which is to give the treatment...properly, clearly, fully, and conscientiously...when you have agreed to.  Back of all appearance to the contrary, it is your business to mentally see the spiritual perfection of your patient.

When you have occasion to treat yourself, call your own name, and proceed with the treatment as though you were treating someone else.  Or you may say, "I am thus and so..."

Disease will be healed, provided you get at its cause and remove it - and by getting at its cause, we mean getting at the mental cause - and provided the one for whom you are working is willing to surrender that cause.  You cannot heal anyone of his trouble, if it is the result of some mental attitude which he will not surrender.  In this case, find out what the mental attitude is and remove it, by showing the patient the right mental attitude.  It is the practitioner's duty to uncover false ideas of life, and replace them with the truth.  If this can be done before disease destroys the physical body, a healing will always follow."

June 1 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Summary of Part Two:  Spiritual Mind Healing ~ Ernest Holmes

First Division:  Ideation

A recognition of the Power, and the thought and purpose back of mind healing.

"The possibility of spiritual mind healing, changing environment, controlling conditions, etc., through the power of right thinking, rests entirely upon the theory that we are surrounded by a Universal Mind, which reacts to our thought - and always according to Law.

Spiritual Man is Perfect, but his individual use of Life and Law enables him to cover a perfect idea with an apparently imperfect cloak.

Sickness is not a spiritual Reality; it is an experience - an effect and not a cause.  The body, devoid of mentality, could neither know nor experience sensation; it is entirely an effect.  The body of man is made from the same undifferentiated Spiritual Substance from which all Creation is formed.

Man comes into objectivity with the tendency of the race already subjectified within him, through race-suggestion.  The race experiences sickness and limitation, and this suggestion is more or less operative through all people.  It works through the subjective race thought and operates through the individual.

Man need not consciously think negation in order to produce physical disturbance, but the physical correspondent is a logical outcome of what he thinks.  Thus we see not only how important it is to entertain right thoughts, but also the necessity for having a constructive basis for our thinking.

We find that prayer is essential to happiness, for righteous prayer sets the law of the Spirit of life in motion for our good.  Prayer is essential to the conscious well-being of the soul.  Prayer has stimulated countless millions to higher thoughts and better lives.  Prayer is its own answer.  Before our prayer is framed in words the possibility of its answer already exists.

We find that faith in God is a spiritual quality of the mind; and an understanding faith is based on Immutable Principle.  Its action is higher than that of the intellect, because it is born of intuition.

One should have faith in himself, faith in his fellowman, in the Universe, and in God.  Our mind must be steady in its conviction that our life is some part of God, and that the Spirit is incarnated in us.  "Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen."

A spiritual practitioner is one who recognizes man as a Spiritual Reality.  Since there is but One Mind, the practitioner makes this recognition within his own mind.  Through the medium of the One Mind, his statements rise to objective conditions in his patient, according to his belief and the patient's receptivity.  Healing is accomplished through the act of setting Subjective Law in motion.  The more spiritual or Godlike the mentality of the practitioner, the more powerful the treatment.

A mental treatment begins and ends within the thought of the practitioner, because he is in the same Mind in which his patient lives.  Treatment is the act of inducing right concepts on the subjective side of life.

Absent and present treatments are the same, for there is no absence in the One Presence.  So far as the practitioner is concerned, there is no difference between an absent and a present treatment.  He needs only to know whom he wishes to help, realizing that in the field of Mind and Spirit there is no apartness, and then he speaks the word for the other person, in full confidence that the Law will operate upon it.  He is not concerned where the person is whom he desires to help, or what he may be doing at that particular time.  He is concerned only with his own thought relative to his person, endeavoring to bring out in his own mind the realization that this person is a spiritual entity, governed by a perfect Law, directed by positive Intelligence, and animated by Divine Life, Love, and Law.

There is no personal responsibility in healing.  We should not feel that we put the power into the word.  The practitioner directs the Power and lets It work.  One does not hold thought in mental healing; he looses thought.  A practitioner does not try to suggest, hypnotize or mentally influence; he simply seeks to know that man is now a spiritual being, and he holds to that belief no matter what the appearance may be.  Right mental treatment does not tire the one giving the treatment.

Personal magnetism has nothing to do with mental healing.  The whole basis of the possibility of mental healing rests upon the premise that we all live in One Creative Mind which reacts to our belief.  It is as though there were a Universal Ear, listening to and hearing everything that we say, feel or think, and reacting to it.

Healing is not a process but a revelation; for the revealing of the perfect man always heals.  The process, if there is one, is the time and thought that it takes to arrive at the correct understanding of man's perfect state in Spirit.

Anyone can heal who believes that he can, and who will take the time to set that belief in motion through the Law.  To daily see the perfect man, and to daily declare for his objective appearance, is correct mental practice and will heal.

A treatment recognizes that all is Mind, and that everything is mental.  It dissolves all disease into thought; neutralizes the false thought and recognizes the true.  Nothing can stop it from operating except a lack of faith in the reality of Truth and man's ability to use It.

In giving mental treatment, the practitioner first realizes his own being as spiritual; he then recognizes the spiritual state of his patient's being; then he attacks the false claim and brings the evidence of Truth to bear against it, thinking in such a manner as to completely destroy the false claim and realize the Truth.  In such degree as this acknowledgment is complete, petition is transmuted into acceptance, and the mind actually feels that the object of its desire is already an accomplished fact.

The greatest good that can come to anyone is the forming within him of an absolute certainty of himself, and of his relationship to the Universe, forever removing the sense of heaven as being outside himself.

Such an understanding teaches us that there can never come a time when we shall stop progressing; that age is an illusion, that limitation is a mistake, that unhappiness is ignorance.  This understanding will rob man of his loneliness and give him a sense of security which knows no fear, a peace without which no life can be happy, a poise which is founded on this peace, and a power which is the result of the union of peace with poise."

May 14 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Disease Is Impersonal ~ Ernest Holmes

“The word disease means lack of ease – dis-ease.  Ab-normal, absence of a normal condition.  In order to do his work, it is necessary for the practitioner to know that disease is not an entity, any more than darkness (which is the absence of light) is an entity.  From the standpoint of the mental practitioner, disease is an impersonal thing, attempting to operate and personify itself, a thought force, a misconception, a conviction in the mind of the one who has it, and of course, an actual experience to the one who is suffering from it.

Regardless of its particular source, disease is an experience operating through people, which does not belong to them at all.  Recognize that it is neither person, place nor thing, that there is no spiritual law to support it, that it is discord fleeing before harmony, that there is nothing but the Truth.  You must know that the Power you are using is definite, scientific, dynamic, spiritual, absolute, complete, and that It will work.  Let no fear come into your thought.

The first thing a practitioner does is to separate the belief from the believer.  It is a personal, not a Cosmic problem.  Evil is not a problem to God, it is only a problem to the individual.  Therefore, we separate the belief from the believer, and begin to perceive the individual as a spiritual being, no longer subject to this belief, and even now the embodiment of perfection.  If the practitioner is able to see only perfection, wholeness, he will see health manifested in his patient.  The practitioner, then, recognizing that Mind, or Intelligence, or Spirit – whatever he chooses to call It – is the groundwork of all movement, definitely, specifically and consciously, speaks his word into this creative medium.

Begin to use this principle, no matter how slight you feel your knowledge, and the result will inspire you to perceive new ways and methods of approach, until you gradually grow into deeper assurance.

Man is fundamentally perfect, this is our whole premise – Perfect God, Perfect Man, Perfect Being – this is the whole basis of our argument.  Always mentally separate disease from the one suffering from it.  In mental practice, NEVER LOCATE DISEASE, because thoughts are things.  Separate the belief from the believer, for the spiritual man has no disease, and you are talking only about the spiritual man.”

May 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Spiritual Mind Healing ~ Ernest Holmes

"Never forget that Conscious Mind is the only Actor in the Universe and in man; that the unconscious or subjective mind is compelled - by reason of its nature - to accept.  It can never reject.  The body is an effect, with no intelligence of its own.  We can now see that a mental treatment is a real, tangible, specific operation, working in perfect accord with known law.

When a practitioner treats anyone, he does not just hope that his patient will get well, he does not ask that the patient may be healed, he does not simply desire that he may be healed; he convinces his own mind that the patient is perfect - a definite piece of mental work, bringing out in his own consciousness (in his own self-contemplative, conscious mind) an understanding that the patient is healed and is perfect.

Treatment is the act, the art, and the science of inducing thought within the mentality of the one treating, which thought shall perceive that the body of the patient is a Divine, Spiritual and Perfect Idea.  Treatment does not necessarily treat every organ of the body specifically, but it does declare the body to be harmonious, and that every specific idea in it is harmonious.  It then pays especial attention to what appears as the physical disorder.

As a result of this treatment, Subjective Mind - which is Universal and Omnipresent - accepts the images of the practitioner's thinking, and reflects them in the direction he specifies...to his patient.

The practitioner is not trying to send out a thought, hold a thought, or suggest a thought.  The practitioner is trying to realize the state of perfection of the patient.  We must be certain that we differentiate between suggestion (which is all right as far as it goes, but limited)  and real metaphysical healing.  In metaphysical healing, we are conscious that we are dealing with a Universal Principle or Law, which takes the impress of our thought and acts upon it.  We are dealing with Something that cannot, and does not argue.  We are directing It for definite purposes, telling It to do certain things, which It does.  This is what occurs when we give a treatment.

We leave the field of materia medica to do its own work.  Our work is done entirely in the field of mind.  Without controversy, we work side by side with any doctor the patient may desire - we, in the field of mind, the physician in his own field.  If this is persisted in over a period of years, the two fields will be brought closer together.  This will be one of the greatest steps ever undertaken in the curative art.

When one begins treatment for another, there is sometimes a great sense of personal responsibility.  The practitioner, through sympathy, may feel a sense of doubt and burden, but always this is built upon the idea that he, himself, has to accomplish the results!  Should this occur, the practitioner should begin at once to treat himself against this thought, for as long as he has it there is a barrier to healing.  Why?  Because, when you sift that sense of responsibility down to its last analysis, it is a belief that you cannot heal!  Do not give in to that belief - not even for a second - because it is nothing but a thought which says you cannot heal.  Nothing but a thought is saying, or could be saying it, and since it is only a thought which says it, it is only a thought which can unsay it.  Declare:  "My word has the power to heal," and you will find the doubt slipping away.

The practitioner must treat himself to know that the word he speaks is entirely independent, even of himself.  If we walk out on the roof of a high building and drop a chair over the side, it will fall to the ground.  There is a law which draws it there, we are not responsible for the law, we do not have to make the chair hit the ground.  In like manner, if this treatment is through the medium of a Law on the subjective side of life, it is our business to give the treatment:  it is the business of the Law to execute it.

However, as practitioners, we do have an obligation - to treat a case if we take it.  If someone says to you casually, "hold a good thought for me today," you should reply:  "Do you mean you wish me to give you a treatment, to take a definite time - thirty minutes, more or less - and do specific mental work for you?  Is that what you wish?"  People unfamiliar with this work may still be under the impression that the word done consists of "Holding a good thought."

People must come to realize that treatment is a specific thing.  Each case is specific, and no two can be treated entirely alike.  One is dishonest if he contracts to take a larger number of cases than he has time to intelligently treat."

May 4 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION ~ Ernest Holmes

What We Understand About Healing

"There is no question that people throughout the ages have been healed through prayer and faith, that they have mentally contacted a healing Law in this spiritual Universe of Law and Order.  How did they contact this Law?  All prayer is mental, being a certain mental attitude, a certain way of thinking, a certain way of believing, an uplifting process, a belief in God.  Some prayers fall short of this state, while others reach a state of spiritual awareness.

We come to understand, then, that the answer to prayer is in the prayer when it is prayed - the belief of the one praying sets in motion the Law of Love, which is the fundamental Law of the Universe.

Man's life, in reality, is spiritual and mental, and until his thought is healed, no form of cure will be permanent.  We understand that health is a mental as well as a physical state.  We seek to heal men's mentalities, knowing that to the degree in which we are successful, we shall also be healing their bodies.  We know, too, that to the degree in which we are able to see a perfect man, he will appear. We feel that the spiritual or real man is perfect and we seek to uncover this perfection which is within every man's life.  This is spiritual mind healing.

Man will deliver himself from sickness and trouble in exact proportion to his discovery of himself and his true relationship to the Whole.  Law is Law wherever we find it, and we shall discover that the Laws of Mind and Spirit must be understood, if they are to be consciously used for definite purposes.  The SPIRIT KNOWS and the LAW OBEYS.  Hidden away in the inner nature of real man, is the law of his life.

As the Laws of God are broad, so should we be in dealing with them.  In this Science, we believe that man's life is a drama which takes place on three planes:  the physical, the mental, and the spiritual.  We should have no objection to any form of healing, for anything that helps to overcome suffering is good, whether it be a pill or a prayer.  We believe in any method which produces results, for each has its place in the Whole.

We believe in every church and in all forms of worship.  Above all, we certainly believe in God!  Because Truth is Infinite, It must be continuously unfolding in the consciousness of man and no one will ever have a complete understanding of Truth.  A complete understanding of Truth would be a complete understanding of God, and a complete comprehension of God would be to become God.  We know that more light will be given as we use that which we have, and we repudiate any belief which says that all of Truth has been given."

May 1 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS  for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

The Healing of the Flesh

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

It is kept perfect through the Law of God.

"In my flesh shall I see God."

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

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

My flesh is Perfect.

There Is No Pain

There is no pain nor inflammation.

All fear is swept away in the realization of Truth.

I am free from every belief in pain.

The Spirit cannot pain, and I am Pure Spirit.

I am free from all pain.

April 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for SELF-HELP

Ernest Holmes

I Do Not Inherit Disease

There is no inherited tendency to disease nor ill health.

I am born of Pure Spirit.

False ideas cannot be transmitted from one to another, and I am free from race-suggestion.

My Life is from Above, and I remember that I was always Perfect and Complete.

An Inner Light shines forth and frees me from the bonds of false belief.

I came from the Spirit.

No Congestion

There is no congestion nor stoppage of action.

Life, flowing through me, is Perfect and Clear;

It cannot be stopped, retarded nor hindered.

I feel the One Life flowing through me now.

It eliminates all impure secretions and cleanses my thought from any suggestion of false deposits in the flesh.

I am Clean, Pure and Perfect, and my Word eliminates all else.

There is no congestion.

The Science of Mind in a Year ~ Ernest Holmes

Thoughts Are Things ~ Ernest Holmes

"Health and sickness are largely externalizations of our dominant mental and spiritual states.  An emotional shock, or a mind filled with thoughts of fear, has been known to cause the momentary stoppage or acceleration of the heart.  Physicians now testify that, under emotional stress, particularly anger, the blood leaves a chemical deposit around the joints in the body.  Worry, fear anger, jealousy, and other emotional conditions, are mental in their nature, and as such are being recognized as the hidden cause of a large part of all the physical suffering to which the flesh is heir.  A normal healthy mind reflects itself in a healthy body, and conversely, an abnormal mental state expresses its corresponding condition in some physical condition.  Thoughts are things!

Modern psychology affirms that all the thoughts and emotions we have experienced since we came into conscious existence are still present in Mind, where ceaselessly active they manifest themselves as subjective tendencies that mold the body in health or sickness; and determine, as well, our reactions to all life and experience.

We do not maintain that this or that specific disease is always the result of thinking about such a condition; but we do assert that a prolonged discordant mental state is certain to eventuate in some form of physical ailment.  People have died of great grief; of broken hearts; of outburst of temper; of deep and continued resentment; of excessive worry, and many other mental states, in which there was no specific thought of sickness at all.  The point to remember is, that all mind activity inevitably tends to create its physical correspondent, so that an unhealthful and morbid mental state projects itself into the physical body.

Thoughts are things, they have the power to objectify themselves; thought lays hold of Causation and forms real Substance.  The word of man is the law of his life, under the One Great Law of all Life.  Thoughts of sickness can make a man sick, and thoughts of health and perfection can heal him.  Thought is the conscious activity of the one thinking, and works as he directs, through Law; and this Law may be consciously set in motion.  This Law will work for him to the fullest extent of his belief in, and understanding of, It.  A realization of the Presence of God is the most powerful healing agency known to the mind of man.

One with God

Until we awake to the fact that we are One in nature with God, we shall not find the way of life. Until we realize that our own word has the power of life, we will not see clearly.  The Bible points out that man has the same power, in his own life and in his own world, that it claims for God.  "The Word was with God and the Word was God," is an oft-repeated but little understood statement.  The promise to man is equally positive:  "The word is nigh thee, even in thine own mouth that thou shouldst know it and do it."  If any word has power, it follows that all words have power.  It means that every word which we hear, speak or think, has some power."