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 19 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Principle Re-stated ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"Let us restate our Principle.  We are surrounded by an Infinite Possibility.  It is Goodness, Life, Law and Reason.  In expressing Itself through us, It becomes more fully conscious of Its own being.  Therefore, It wishes to express through us.  As It passes into our being, It automatically becomes the law of our lives.  It can pass into expression through us only as we consciously allow It to do so.  Therefore, we should have faith in It, and Its desires and Its ability to do for us all that we shall ever need to have done.  Since It must pass through our consciousness to operate for us, we must be conscious that It is doing so.

The one who wishes to demonstrate some particular good must become conscious of this particular good, if he wishes to experience it.  Therefore, he must make his mind receptive to it and he must do this consciously.  There is no hocus-pocus in a mental treatment.  It is always definite, conscious, concrete and explicit.  We are dealing with Intelligence, and should deal with It intelligently.

There is no occult trick in giving scientific treatments.  It is just the reverse. Simplicity should mark our every effort and positivity should accompany all statements that we make into the law of Good.

The Secret Already Known

A treatment is a statement in the Law, embodying the concrete idea of our desires and accompanied by an unqualified faith that the Law works for us, as we work with It.  Let us waste no further time looking for the secret of success or the key to happiness.  Already the door is open and whosoever will may enter.

Undoubtedly, each of us is now demonstrating his concept of life, but trained through is far more powerful than untrained, and the one who give conscious power to his thought should be more careful what he thinks than the one who does not.  The more power one gives to his thought - the more completely he believes that his thought has power - the more power will it have.

Treatment Active, Not Passive

A treatment is an active thing.  When one gives a treatment, he is not sitting around, hoping that something may happen.  He ids definitely, constructively, actively stating, sensing, knowing some specific good.  This is in accord with the Principle which we seek to demonstrate.   If we give treatments without a definite motive in mind, the most we can accomplish will be to promote a salutary atmosphere.  A passive meditation will never produce an active demonstration, any more than an artist can paint a picture by sitting down with his paints but never using them.

The mind must conceive before the Creative Energy can produce; we must supply the avenue through which It can work.  It is ready and willing.  It is Its nature to spring into being through our thought and action.

In an iron foundry, the pig iron is thrown into a great furnace and melted.  That which was solid becomes liquid, and is then poured into molds which are fashioned in different shapes.  The iron itself neither knows nor  cares what particular form it takes, it is formless, ready to take any form supplied.  If we did not place it in the property molds, the liquid would assume no particular form.

This is the way it is in dealing with the subtle energy of Spirit, but the molds are made in our own subjective minds, through conscious and specific thought, purpose and direction.  We should be very careful not to think that because we make the mold, we must create the substance.  It already exists; It is part of the Life in which we live, a part of the Universal Energy.  Definite molds or concepts decide the shape which is to be created from the general liquid.  This should prove to us that there is a specific technique in mental treatment which we should not overlook.  If we wish a certain good, we must instill into our own minds a realization of this specific good and then - as this idea is the mold we place in mind - it will be filled by the substance necessary for the complete manifestation of this good in our lives.

Therefore, if a man is seeking to demonstrate, he must tell himself that he has faith in his power, in his ability, in the Principle, and in the certainty of the demonstration for which he works.  Faith, being a mental attitude, is according to law; and even though one doubts, he can overcome his doubts and create the desired faith, definitely.  If this were not so, only those who by nature have faith in God could ever hope to understand the Principle of the Science of Mind and Spirit, which is subject to certain, definite, immutable and impersonal laws.  However, even though faith is a necessary attitude, it is something that can always be established by explaining the theory and proving the Principle."

January 18 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Scientific Method ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

If we observe any scientific discovery, we shall see that this is the way it works.  Some man's mind discovers the law, or principle, governing the science; this is the way of Love, of personal volition, of choice - this is the spontaneous element in the universe.  Following this knowledge of the way the principle works - having discovered the operation of the Law - the spontaneous element now rests its case on immutable reactions inherent in the Law.  All science is based upon proven principles.

But we should not overlook the significant fact that it is the MIND which discovers and makes use of the mechanical law!  Is not this mind the Spirit in us?  We can never completely fathom the Infinite Mind:  we shall always be discovering new lands.  Consequently, evolution is an eternal unfoldment of the more yet to be.

Since it is the mind which must first come to see, know and understand - and since all future possibility for the race must first find an avenue of outlet through someone's mind - we shall do well to look to the mind for the answer to all our problems.

Undoubtedly we are surrounded by, and immersed in, a perfect Life:  a complete, normal, happy, sane, harmonious and peaceful existence.  But only as much of the Life as we embody will really become ours to use.  As much of this Life as we understand and embody will react as immutable law - the reaction of the mechanical to the volitional.  The concept is wonderful and fraught with tremendous significance.  In it is bound up our hopes and fears, our expectations, and our future and present realizations.

Since an understanding of any law must pass first through our conscious mind before we can make use of it, it follows that with all our getting, we should get understanding.  Should we wish to know a certain truth, we should state that this truth is already known in Mind and this statement will be true, but the Over-Mind must be accepted into our mind before we can understand It.  How, then, are we to accomplish the desired result?  By stating and feeling that our mind knows the truth about the thing we desire to know.  In this way we draw the Infinite Mind into our mentalities, for definite knowledge of some particular good.

Contains All Knowledge

The Universal Mind contains all knowledge. It is the potential ultimate of all things.  To It, all things are possible.  To us, as much is possible as we can conceive, according to law.  Should all the wisdom of the universe be poured over us, we should yet receive only that which we are ready to understand.  This is why some draw one type of knowledge and some another, and all from the same source - the Source of all knowledge.  The scientist discovers the principles of his science, the artist embodies the spirit of his art, the saint draws Christ into his being - all because they have courted the particular presence of some definite concept.  Each state of consciousness taps the same source, but has a different receptivity.  Each receives what he asks for, according to his ability to embody.  The Universal is Infinite; the possibility of differentiating is limitless.

Life always becomes to us the particular thing we need when we believe that It becomes to us that particular thing.  The understanding of this is the essence of simplicity.  As all numbers proceed from the fundamental unit, as all material forms are but different manifestations of one formless stuff, so all things proceed from that which is neither person, place nor thing, but is the essence of all things.

Our thought and conscious receptivity differentiate this Universal Possibility, by drawing It through our minds and causing It to flow into particular channels, through the conscious receptivity of our different faiths.  One state of consciousness will differentiate one kind of a result, another mental state a different manifestation.

Mental Work is Definite

Mental work is definite.  Each state of thought taps the same Principle, each uses the same Law, is inspired by the same Spirit, but each draws forth a different result.  Here is multiplicity proceeding from Unity.  This is what Emerson meant when he said that Unity passes into variety.

But, someone will ask, can we bring out both good and evil from the One Source?  Of course not.  The First Principle is goodness, and only in so far as our thought and action tend toward a constructive program, will it eventually succeed.  We cannot fight the Universe.  It refuses to be budged from Its course.  We can only go with It.

But there is ample latitude for personal expression.  How then, are we to know what is right and what is wrong?  We are not GOING to know; we already do know.  Every man knows right from wrong, in its broadest sense.

It should be considered right to live and to enjoy living.  To be well, happy, and to express freedom, is to be in accord with Divine Law and Wisdom. Here is latitude enough for the most expectant, and the most enthusiastic.