July 10 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHING OF JESUS
By Ernest Holmes

God Can Only Give Us What We Take

"God cannot give us anything unless we are in a mental condition to receive the gift.  The Law cannot do anything for us unless it does it through us.  Belief is absolutely necessary to right demonstration.

We are on the path of experience, just waking to the real fact of our true being; as we awake, we find we are surrounded by many false conditions, but there is something within which remembers the real state.  If one will sit in quiet contemplation of good, as an inner experience, he will experience the good which he contemplates.  He can do this only as he turns from that which is evil and dwells on the good alone.  The Universe will not be divided.

The Universe Holds Nothing Against Us

The Universe holds nothing against us.  No matter how many mistakes we have made, we are still perfect beings within, and the within may become the without, if we will carefully train ourselves to listen to the inner voice of truth which speaks to us in our moments of quietness and solitude.

There is nothing in the Universe that wishes evil to anyone.  Indeed, it is only as we experience good that God is expressed through us.  The more completely we realize good, happiness and success, the more perfectly do we express God and the more of God do we become, that is, the more does God become personified through us.

As the prodigal returns to his father's house, so must we return, not with a morbid mind, but consciously and definitely, with direct intent and a complete concentration of purpose.  The journey back should be fraught with happiness and joyful expectation for we shall be met with a smile from the Universe and shall be folded in the arms of love forever.

The Eternal Completion

Substance and supply exist eternally in the Father's House; health, happiness and success are native to the Heavenly Home, and God Himself shall be our Host.  More we could not ask, more could not be given than that which has been given from the foundations of the Universe.

Discord, misery, and unhappiness are the result of a misuse of our true nature, the result of ignorance.  Ignorance of the law excuses no one from its effects; but knowledge clothes us in the seamless robe, while wisdom puts the ring of completion on our finger and understanding feeds us with the fat of the land.

No one who has tried this has failed; it would be impossible to do so.  If any have thought they have failed, let them realize that somewhere they have fallen short of the divine calling.  The Truth cannot fail, for it is God, the Absolute and Unconditioned One, who is the Truth.

Let us no longer fight the old; let us no longer remember that we were once on the outer rim; let us forget the past and live in the eternal present of God's happy smile.  Today is good; tomorrow will be even better, and that vista of tomorrows that stretches down the bright eternities of an endless future will all be good, for the nature of Reality cannot change."

February 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Unity ~ Ernest Holmes

"Our teaching is that man actually has a body; that he actually has a subjective life and that he actually is a spirit.  Body, soul, and spirit represent a point where individuality is accentuated in Universality.  It is only through this conception that we can arrive at a consciousness of the Unity of the Whole.  In other words, if I have one mind and you have one mind and God has another Mind...three separate minds...I cannot talk with you and you cannot talk with God.  If your mind and my mind were not the same mind, we would have no way by which to communicate with each other.  Thus we are forced to the conclusion that there is but One Mind.  Each individual, however, is a unique variation in the Universe; no two people are alike and yet all people are rooted in that which is identical. 

We recognize, then, in man's self-knowing mind his Unity with the Whole; for while a drop of water is not the ocean, yet it does contain within itself all the attributes of the limitless deep.  Man's self-knowing mind is the instrument which perceives Reality and cognizes or realizes Truth. All illumination, inspiration, and realization must come through the self-knowing mind in order to manifest in man.  Vision, intuition and revelation proclaim themselves through man's self-knowing  mind; and the saints and sages, the Saviours and Christs, the prophets and seers, the wise and learned have all consciously perceived and proclaimed this fact.

Every evidence of human experience, all acts of kindness and mercy, have interpreted themselves through man's self-knowing mind.  All that we consciously know, say or think, feel or believe, hope or long for, fear or doubt, is some reaction of the self-knowing mind. Subjective memories we have, and unexpressed emotions we feel, but to the self-knowing mind alone comes realization. Without this capacity to consciously know, man would not exist as an expressed being; and so far as we are concerned, would not exist at all.  The self-knowing mind of man proclaims itself in every thought, deed or act, and is truly the only guarantee of his divinity. It is his unity with the Whole, or God on the conscious side of life, and is an absolute guarantee that he is a center of God-consciousness in this vast Whole.

We will say, then, that in Spirit man is One with God.  But what of the great Law of the Universe?  If we are really One with the Whole, we must be One with the Law of the Whole, as well as One with the Spirit.  Again psychology has determined the fact to be more than fancy. The characteristics of the subconscious mind of man determine his Subjective Unity with the Universe of Life, Law and Action.

In the subjective mind of man we find a law obeying his word, the servant of his spirit, the mental law of his being, the creative factor within him.  This is our individual use of that greater Subjective Mind of the Universe, which is the seat of all law and action. Marvelous as this concept may be, it is none the less true that man has at his disposal in what he calls his subjective mind, a power which is Limitless.  Man's thought becomes the law of his life, through the one great Law of all Life. There are not two subjective minds; there is but One Subjective Mind, and what we call our subjective mind is really the use we are making of this One Law. 

Each individual maintains his identity in Law, through his personal use of Law, and each is drawing from Life what he thinks into it.  To learn how to think is to learn how to live.  Man, by thinking, can bring into his experience whatever he desires if he thinks correctly.  This is not done by holding thoughts, but by knowing the Truth. There is a vast difference, a difference which too few realize.

Modern science tends toward a teaching of Unity; tends to resolve the material universe into a physical universe, and the physical universe into energy. The tendency of modern thought is to return, by the route of inductive science, to the great spiritual deductions of the ages - that All is One.  But men are still puzzled, trying to reconcile the world of multiplicity - the objective world of many things - to their belief in the final necessity of Unity.  Every great spiritual teacher has known that God is One - not two. they have also known that evil exists in the world - what we mean by evil is apparent limitation - poverty, sickness, death and what we call sin, which is nothing more than a mistake.

How are we going to reconcile suffering and lack with the Goodness of God?  The difficulty is solved when we realize that all creation is an effect.  It is real enough - as real as it is supposed to be.  As you look about you, the mountain is a mountain, and the molehill is a molehill, the dust storm is a dust storm; but they are all effects.  As you enter your garden and observe the bamboo tree, the grape fruit, and the many other variations of form, you see each is rooted in the one creative soil, and each is individualizing out of this creative soil that which is unique. The type maintains its integrity always.

We observe in creation an atomic intelligence, then a simple consciousness; after which comes a personal consciousness, then a Cosmic consciousness.  These variations of consciousness are definitely defined and accepted by most investigators. As we watch the transition from the atomic to the simple intelligence, from the simple to the personal from the personal to the Cosmic, we find that we are merely going up a scale of Unity.  The Spirit is not something apart from matter so-called, but is something working through matter; the potential possibility of what we call the highest and the lowest is inherent in everything.  They are not different things. They are the same thing functioning at different levels. "It is neither Lo here nor Lo there, for behold the Kingdom of God is within."

There are different mental depths and heights fro which we may look out upon life; from whatever level we look, that which we see comes back to us  by an invariable law of attraction.  That which we look upon is real while we look at it.  We arrive at a consciousness of Unity only in such degree as we see that what we are lookin FOR , we are looking WITH, and looking AT. Heaven is lost merely for the lack of a perception of harmony.  Hell is the phantom abode of our morbid imaginations.  Heaven and Hell are states of consciousness."

February 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Freedom or Bondage ~ Ernest Holmes

"We, therefore, arrive at the conclusion that while bondage is an experience, there is a Reality to which bondage is not real.  To that Reality bondage is not even an illusion or hallucination; there is a part of us that is never fooled.  That is why, in the midst of the greatest trial, death, or any human suffering, something rises from within and says with Job:  "Though I die, yet shall I live."

Freedom of will means the ability to do, say, and think as one wishes; to express life as one personally desires, to be able merely to think and dream of freedom would not be liberty. A prisoner under a life sentence can do that.  To imagine, without the power to manifest such imagination, would be to remain in a dream world which would never come to self-realization; this is not the world in which man lives at all, for man's world is one of self-expression, even though this expression appears to limit him.

We are in an Infinite Mind and Infinite Mind is also in us.  It is by this Mind that we think.  This Mind is eternal therefore, we are eternal.  This Mind is complete, therefore, we are spiritually complete, thought we do not appear to be so.  This does not alter the fact that potential man is just as perfect as is the inherent God.  As Jesus said:  "Fear no, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom;" if it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom we should learn how to receive and use It.

A freedom under compulsion would amount to the worst kind of bondage.  The Bible says:  "If there had been any law whereby this freedom could be compelled, then verily by the law would that freedom have been given."  If there had been a way by which the Divine Creative Principle could have compelled man to suddenly appear on the scene of experience full-orbed with all his freedom - and still be an individual- then verily by the law would this have been done.  But even God could not do this. The only way God can evolve a spontaneous individual is to let him alone and allow him to awaken to himself.  "Behold I stand at the door and knock..."

So man must be created with the possibility of limitless freedom and let alone to discover himself.  On the road to self-discovery he must be subject to the Law of Reality, and if in ignorance he violates this Law, he must thereby suffer.  This is not, however, because any Divine decree ordains suffering but simply because it is the necessity of the case.  God never intended man to suffer.  Suffering may be salutary in that it leads us to a place where we learn that it is unnecessary!  We shall cease to suffer as we more and more comply with the Laws of the Universe, all suffering is the result of some infringement of these Laws. It is a solace to the mind when we come to understand that all human limitation, from the standpoint of the Divinity within us, is unnecessary.  We recognize that we experience pain, but how could there bean eternal reality to pain?  If this were true, we would have a suffering Universe, a suffering God, an agonizing Deity, all of which seem untrue, unreal and impossible.

We must know definitely and consistently that the Universe is for us and not against us.  But someone will say "The Universe is not for us, look at the evil, the limitation, lack and physical pain and anguish of the human race."  We shall have to learn that evil is neither person, place nor thing of itself, but is an experience which we are allowed to have - because of our divine individuality - until through negative experiences we learn to use the Law affirmatively, to cooperate with It, and thus to enjoy Its full benefits, for the true Law is a Law of Liberty and not of bondage.  The Universe is fool-proof.  It does say we can have what we can take, while at the same time we must expect toe experience the logical result of our thought and act, be it good or what we call evil.

The meaning of freedom implies the possibility of suffering, because if we are free we are free only by virtue of the possibility of choosing more than one course of action as an experience.  There is no freedom or happiness, as a spontaneous individuality, unless there can be a temporary restriction of bondage and unhappiness through the wrong use of freedom.  (All things are possible to the Infinite, but the Infinite forever remains true to Its own nature and never contradicts Itself.)

If man takes his images of thought only from his previous experiences, then he continues in the bondage which those previous experiences create.  If we talk about discord, we shall become more discordant.  The more the world arms for war, the more certain it is that there will be war. People who spend all their time talking about their unhappiness become more unhappy.  Jesus understood these great laws of cause and effect in the Universe, which work sometimes with apparent slowness but always with sureness.  Eventually we shall understand that all human bondage is an invention of ignorance."

February 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

BODY ~ Ernest Holmes

Definition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

How to Use It (Continued) ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"We should be able to look a discordant fact in the face and deny its reality, since we know its seeming reality is borrowed from illusion, from "chaos and old night."  Our standard is one of perfection.  "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"  (Matt. 5:48)  We should be able to look at a wrong condition with the knowledge that we can change it.  The realization that we have this ability must be gained by the application of our knowledge. 

The practice of the Science of Mind calls for a positive understanding of the Spirit of Truth; a willingness to let this inner Spirit guide us, with the conscious knowledge that "The law of the Lord is perfect."  (Psalms 19:7)  And we must believe this to be a fact.  IN SO FAR AS OUR THOUGHT IS IN ACCORD WITH THIS PERFECT LAW, IT WILL ACCOMPLISH AND NOTHING CAN HINDER IT.  "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away,"  (Matt. 24:35) said the beautiful Jesus, as he strove to teach his disciples the immutability of the Law of Righteousness.

A practitioner uses thought definitely and for specific purposes, and the more definitely he uses the Law, the more directly will It respond to him.  A false fact is neither person, place nor thing to the one who uncovers it, and once uncovered it has no place in which to hide.  The illusion, seen and understood, is made negative in the experience of the one who suffered by it.  While it is true that wrong conditions exist, they could not remain unless there were someone to experience them.  Consequently, the experience must be in consciousness.  Change the consciousness and the false condition will disappear.  Conditions are not entities, we are entities.  Cannot that which is conscious cast out that which has no consciousness?  If we properly understood, we would be able to remove false conditions as easily as Jesus did.  He knew, but our faith is weak.  We must strengthen it and we can.

Let us analyze this:  One finds himself impoverished.   He wishes to change this condition.  He knows that it is not in accord with Ultimate Reality; that the Spirit imposes no limitations.  Therefore, he knows that his apparent limited condition has no rea law to support it; it is simply an experience of consciousness  He wishes a definite result in the opposite direction.  First, he realizes that the Law of Life is a Law of Liberty, of Freedom.  He now states that this Law of Liberty is flowing through him and into all his affairs. But the image of his limitation persists. Her is a definite contradiction of his statements of freedom.

Right here, he must stop and declare that these images of limitation are neither person, place nor thing; that they have no power, personality nor presence and no real law to support them.  He does not believe in them and they cannot operate through him.  He is free from their influence, forever.  He then begins to fill his thought with the idea of faith, the expectancy of good and the realization of plenty.  He senses, and mentally sees, right action in his life.  He puts his whole trust in the Law of good, and It becomes very real to him as he definitely speaks It into being - into his being and into the being of his affairs. He denies anything and everything that contradicts his realization of this truth.

At this point of realization, he meets a friend(?) who immediately begins a tale of woe about hard times, bad business condition, etc., and, should he listen to this "tale of the serpent," he might reverse his previous affirmations and make negative his former mental and spiritual concept!  This does not mean that he should refuse to hold conversation with people, for fear they will neutralize the position which he has taken in his mind, but that he should refuse mentally to accept the false position.  Then he can talk with anyone and not be disturbed.

The time will come when we will let our "conversation be in Heaven," and refuse to talk about, read or think about, those things that ought not to be.  But, someone will say, "Should we refuse to look at sickness, poverty and unhappiness"  This is not what we are discussing.  We will not refuse to help the helpless or lift up the fallen, but we will refuse to wallow in the mud because of our sympathies.  "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."  (Matt. 15:14)"

January 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Turn Entirely from the Condition ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

""Behold thou my face forevermore." "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."  That is, look up and not down. The reason a man has difficulty in throwing off some weakness of character - while believing in Spirit implicitly and having faith that he is going to overcome his limitation - is because he has not induced the necessary images in mind. If he had, he would have overcome his trouble. Thinking of his weakness keeps the image of it before him.  We cannot be too insistent on this all-important point:  in treating, we must TURN ENTIRELY AWAY FROM THE CONDITION.  Disease and limitation are neither person, place, nor thing.  Turn entirely from the condition, or limited situation, to its opposite, to the realization of health, happiness and harmony.  Spiritual treatment starts with Perfect God, Perfect Man, and Perfect Being, which statement consciously removes any belief which denies such manifestation.

Look Only at What You Want

Never look at that which you do not wish to experience.  No matter what the false condition may be, it must be refuted.  The proper kind of a denial is based upon the recognition that, in reality, there is no limitation, for Mind can as easily make a planet as an acorn. The Infinite knows no difference between a million dollars and a penny.  It only knows that IT IS.

It is the consciousness back of the word that forms the word.  Consciousness means the inner embodiment of an idea through the recognition of Truth and a direct relationship to the Divine.  The greatest teacher who ever lived was the most spiritual man, for the more universal and comprehensive the thought, the more Godlike it must become.

A good treatment is always filled with the recognition of the Presence of God, or Good.  This automatically wipes out any picture of undesirable conditions, for the Spirit of God is a law of elimination and obliteration to everything unlike Itself!  Even in what we term spiritual things, we are still dealing with the law of cause and effect, for God is Law.  The more exalted, the more heavenly, the more boundless, the more Godlike or Christlike the thought it, the more power it will have.  This is why the greatest teacher became the Savior.  A spiritual genius would have to be a  Savior.

Never Limit Your View of Life

Never limit your view of life by any past experience.  The possibility of life is inherent within the capacity to imagine what life is, backed by the power to produce this imagery, or Divine Imagination.  It is not a question of failing or succeeding. It is simply a question of sticking to an idea until it becomes a tangible reality.  The illusion is in the way we look at things.  We have looked at poverty, degradation and misery until they have assumed gigantic proportions. Now we must look at harmony, happiness, plenty, prosperity, peace and right action, until they appear.

When we are making a demonstration, we pay no attention to what happens in the objective world.  We interpret causes by conditions, only as we realize that a condition must partake of the nature of its cause.  If there appears to be confusion in the condition, then there must have been confusion in the thought back of it.  We pay no attention to the right subjective recognition.  The way scientifically to work out a problem is daily in thought to conceive of it as already being an accomplished fact in experience.  We realize the desire is already embodied in the Absolute.  We are dealing with nothing less than the Absolute - with REALITY.

During the process, many things may happen that appear to be destructive.  We may pass through good fortune and bad, but if we can come to the point where we are not disturbed by "things" we can have found the secret.  If, as Jesus said, we "judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment," remembering that "things which are seen are not made of things which do appear;" if, I repeat, we can judge in this manner, OUT OF ANY CHAOS WE CAN PRODUCE HARMONY."