November 13 ~ The Sciend of Mind in a Year

THE PRACTICE of SPIRITUAL MIND HEALING
Ernest Holmes

"No matter what the need may be, whether we call it physical disease, poverty, unhappiness, lack of opportunity, or need for love and friendship, we should conform the words in our treatment to meet the necessity of the case.  Because we are all members of one another, the word of the practitioner will rise through the consciousness of his patient into experience.  There is a law in physics which says that water will reach its own level by its own weight.  There is a law of metaphysics corresponding to it; consciousness will externalize at is own level, by its own recognition.  We may call this faith, we may call it embodiment, we may call it whatever we will, there is something in the Universe which responds and corresponds to our mental states.

Therefore, it is imperative that we turn from the relative, because TO VIEW LIMITATION IS TO IMPRESS IT UPON THE MIND, and accentuate the state of consciousness which produced it.  It is not always easy to turn from fear, from poverty and pain, and from the hurt of human existence, to that which is perfect.  But whoever can do this - and will train himself to do it - will be like the man healed of blindness.  He had little comprehension of how it had been done; he could only say:  "Whereas I was blind, now I see.""

November 1 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

Inspiration

Come, Thou Great and Infinite Mind and inspire me to do great deeds.

Acquaint me with Thy knowledge and in Thy wisdom make me wise.

I would be taught of Thee, Inner Light, and inspired by Thy presence.

I will listen for Thy Voice and it will tell me of great things to be done.

I will walk in Thy Paths and they will lead me into All Good.

I will be inspired from On High.

O Wonderful Presence, flooding me, filling me with Thy Light, Thou dost inspire me!

I feel the inspiration of Spirit.

The Dawn Has Come

Out of the darkness of the long night the Dawn has come.

I rise to meet the new day, filled with confidence and strength.

I arise and go forth into the dawn, inspired and refreshed by the Living Spirit within me.

O Day, you shall never die; the sun shall never set upon your perfect glory.

For the Lamp of the Soul has been re-kindled with the oil of Faith,

And Love has cleansed the windows of Life with the spirit of gladness.

They shall nevermore grow dim with fear, for Perfect Love casteth out all fear.

My light has come.

October 10 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

The Way Is Made Clear Before Me

The Way is made clear before me; I do not falter nor fall.

The Way of the Spirit is my Way, and I am compelled to walk in it.

My feet are kept on the Path of Perfect Life.

The Way is prepared before me, and that Way is a Path of Peace, of Fulfillment and Joy.

The Way is bright with the light of Love and Kindness.

The Way I tread is a pleasant and happy one.

I see the Way and I walk in it.

September 4 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS from the NEW TESTAMENT
Ernest Holmes

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

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

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

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

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

Wickedness in High Places (Eph. 6:12)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS from the NEW TESTAMENT
Ernest Holmes

Mental Expansion (II Cor. 3:18)

""But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

As our thought is opened and we behold the image of eternity within ourselves, we are changed by this image into a newness of Life.  This is accomplished by the Spirit of God.

The subjective state of thought is the creative medium within us, which fact psychology has proven beyond any question of doubt.  Emerson tells us that we are inlets and might become outlets to the divine Nature.  We are already inlets, but we must consciously become outlets.  A great mystic tells us that the upper part of the soul is merged with God and the lower part with time and conditions.  Plotinus says that when the soul looks to God alone for its inspiration, its work is done better - even though its back is turned to its work.  And Jesus tells us to seek the Kingdom of god first and that all else will be added unto us.

Now the image of God is imprinted upon each of us and all reflect the Divine Glory to some degree.  Indeed we are part of the Divine Glory.  When our thought is turned from limitation to the greater glory, we then reflect that glory.

When the subjective state of our thought receives its images from Reality, it, in turn, reflects this Reality into all that we do.  Gradually, as this process takes place, the outer man becomes changed, and as his concepts become enlarged, so his conditions and physique take on a newness of life.

And this change in the outer is brought about by the Spirit of God.  The Spirit of God - being the One and Only Presence in the Universe - brings about events and re-molds conditions after Its own likeness.

The Ascending Scale of Life 9 II Cor. 3:7-12)

We are changed from glory to glory.  This implies that the divine scale is ever ascending,  There is no end to the Divine Nature and therefore no end to the possibility of our expressing It.  BUT WE MUST BEHOLD IT, we must look steadfastly into this Reality, if we are to image It in our own minds.

Here is no forlorn outlook, no limited concept!  All that God has, or IS, belongs to us and is ours to make use of.  We are not to separate Life from living, but unite the two into a perfect One.  ...The Thing and the way It works; the glory, and the image of the glory in common affairs of everyday life.  Nor hath eye seen nor can tongue tell the greater possibility of any soul.  Only God has revealed this through His Son.  And this Son is each one of us, from the apparent least to the apparent greatest.

The world is saturated with Divinity, immersed in Reality, and filled with possibility.  We must take this divine possibility and mold it into a present actuality in everyday experience.  This is the way to freedom, the pathway to peace and happiness."

August 19 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM the TEACHING of JESUS
Ernest Holmes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 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 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

Within Thy Law Is Freedom

O, My Soul within me, Great is Thy Presence

Within Thy Law is freedom to all who will believe.

I believe in Thy Law and I love Thy precepts.

I know that thy Law is perfect and It is a delight to my Soul,

for It is illumined with Thy Words of Power.

Thy Law is complete freedom to me, and to all for whom it shall be spoken.

I speak the Word of freedom to all, and all shall receive it.

I am free in Thy Law.

Beauty

I behold the Beautiful and the Pleasant.

My eyes see only that which is beautiful to look upon.

I will not see anything else nor believe in anything else.

I know that beauty has entered into my life, and will always remain there.

I see only the beautiful.

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 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS

By Ernest Holmes

Abundance Is My Inheritance

"Abundance is mine.  I cannot be deprived of my supply.  The trees do not lack for leaves, nor do the flowers fail to bloom.  Am I not as important as they?  "Consider the lilies of the field, they toil not neither do they spin, yet...Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these."

I look at the lavish wastefulness of Nature and know that God intended me to be as abundantly supplied, with everything that makes for beauty, well-being, progressive living and happiness.  I, myself, am to blame when these "fruits of the Spirit" fail to appear.

Since I know the Truth of my being.  I will no longer hinder or retard my good from coming to me.  I will expect and accept all that I need to make life happy and worth while; for I am a child of the Spirit, and every attribute of It - every attribute of Good - is my inheritance.

Nothing but lack of faith can keep my good from me, for I am one with the Universal Essence of Life, or Spirit, and Its Substance will manifest in my experience as I believe.  No longer will I go for my good, carrying only a dipper to be filled.  This day, as I turn to the Father within, I bring "all the empty vessels" knowing they will be filled, and my abundance will become manifest."

Abundance Is My Inheritance

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."

July 9 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS 
By Ernest Holmes

Perfect Action ... No Mistakes

"In mental work,, we must realize that there is One Infinite Mind, which is consciously directing our destiny.  Declare every day that:  "No mistakes have been made, none are being made, and none can be made."  Declare:  "There is One Supreme Intelligence which governs, guides and guards, tells me what to do, when to act and how to act."  Having done this in perfect faith, act with perfect assurance.  Declare further:  "Everything necessary to the full and complete expression of the most boundless experience of joy is mine now."  Know this, see it, feel it and BE it.  Do this every day for a few minutes.  We should all do this until the time comes when it is no longer necessary.  When that time comes we will know it because our demonstrations will have been made.

Suppose someone says, "I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, I had opportunities I did not grasp."  Every man has this feeling at some time in his life.  This is a direct belief that there is but one opportunity which comes to man and if he does not take it he will have no more.  This is a belief in limited opportunities and it must be denied completely and specifically.  It is not that we have made no mistakes, but if the belief in the necessity of mistakes stays in the consciousness, then there is bound to be a repetition.  It is scientific practice to declare that there have been no mistakes in man's consciousness, that if there have been they are now wiped out.  There are none in the Divine Plan, and there is no plan for man other than the Divine Plan.

If a man had had, and apparently lost, many opportunities, he must be shown that he stands at the point of limitless opportunity; that opportunity is right here today; that he sees and grasps it.  It recognizes him as he recognizes it.  We exist in Limitless Opportunities, which are forever seeking expression through us.

Know that there is no condemnation, for nothing can condemn unless we believe in condemnation.  Destroy the thought that would place limitation or bondage upon any situation or condition.  "Loose him and let him go."  Talk to yourself, not to the world.  There is no one to talk to but yourself for all experience takes place within.  Conditions are the reflections of our meditations and nothing else.  There is but One Mind, that Mind is our mind now.  It never thinks confusion, knows what It wishes and how to accomplish what It desires.  It is what It desires!"

July 8 ~ The Science of MInd in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

See Life Expressed

"One should analyze himself, saying, "Do I look at myself from a standpoint of restriction?  Do I see life limited to the eternal round of getting up in the morning, eating, going to work, coming home, going to bed, sleeping, getting up again and so on?"  Break the bonds of apparent necessity and see life as one continuous expression of the Infinite Self, and as this conception gradually dawns upon the inner thought, something will happen in the outer conditions to relieve the greater demands of necessity.  Free yourself forever from the thought that God may be pleased by a life of sacrifice, that the world is any better because of your misery, or that righteousness is more perfectly expressed through poverty than abundance.  Know that the greater abundance of every good thing which you are bringing out in your life, the more perfectly you are satisfying the Divine Urge within you.  ANYTHING YOU CAN DREAM OF is not too great for you to undertake, if it hurts no man and brings happiness and good into your life.  If one were doing the work he should be doing he would never become tired, because the energy which holds the universe in place is tireless.  The reason we become tired is that we have cross currents of thought about our work.  This arises from a belief in duality - a belief in both Good and evil.

In treating we conceive of the ultimate of the idea but never of the process.  Never treat a process.  We plant a seed and there is in the seed, operating through the creative soil, everything that will cause it to develop, unfold and produce a plant.  The ultimate of effect is already potential in its cause.  This is the mystical meaning of the words:  "I am Alpha and Omega."  Our word for the fullest expression of our life or for its smallest detail should be the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end of the thing thought of.  All cause and effect are in Spirit, they are bound together in one complete whole.  One is the inside, the other the outside of the same thing.

Never let anything cause you to doubt your ability to demonstrate the Truth.  CONCEIVE OF YOUR WORD AS BEING THE THING.  See the desire as an already accomplished fact and rest in perfect confidence, peace and certainty, never looking for results, never wondering, never becoming anxious, never being hurried nor worried.  Those who do not understand this attitude may think you are inactive but remember: "To him who can perfectly practice inaction, all things are possible."

What we know about Subjective Mind proves that It is unconscious of time, knows neither time nor process.  It knows only the completion, the answer.  That is why it is written, "Before they call, I will answer."  Cosmic Creation is from idea to object.  It does not know anything about process; process is involved in it but not consciously.  Correct practice should know that ultimate right action is now, today.  If we say, "Tomorrow it is going to be," then according to the very law we are using we hold the answer in a state of FUTURITY WHICH CAN NEVER BECOME PRESENT.   If a gardener holds his seed in his hand and says, "Tomorrow I am going to plant this seed," his garden will never start growing.  Therefore, Jesus said:  "When ye pray, believe that ye have and ye shall receive."  He did not say believe and you will immediately have.  He said, "Ye shall receive."  He did not deny the natural law of evolution and growth.  Nature operates according to a law of logical sequence."

July 7 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

How to Demonstrate a Home

"All our beautiful dreams, all our wishing and praying, for material good, will reach no higher level in our experience than our belief in the power of God and in His willingness to help us.  God's willingness to help us is expressed in the existence of that Immutable Law which gives us exactly the type of objective experience for which we build a mental likeness.  If we have the mental equivalent of a commodious home, roomy, light, cheery, and an income in keeping with it; if we are able to build in mind the kind of home we wish, and there is nothing in our subjective thought which denies this, then we shall be able to decide and demonstrate for ourself the kind of home we desire."

July 2 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

"Spiritual knowing is correct mental treating.  Love is the impulsion of mental treatment.  A consciousness of the Divine Presence in the one we are seeking to help is necessary, for we must provide different mental equivalents for healing than those which create disease.

If the manifest universe is the outward form of the thought of Spirit; if it is a result of the Self-Knowingness of God, and if we are of like nature to the Supreme Mind, then it follows that in giving mental treatment we are going through a mental process of self-knowing.  Consequently, only that kind of treatment will be effective that knows it will be effective.  This is the true meaning of faith for faith is not a foolish fancy, it is a dynamic fact.

The treatment will find an outward correspondence in the objective world which will exactly equal its inward conviction, when it is given, plus the necessity of its finding mental acceptance by the one for whom it is given.  The more we think this over the more rational it will appear to be.

Faith in God is such a complete conviction that the Spirit will make the gift, that there is no longer any subjective contradiction.  This faith can exist only in such degree as the conviction is in line with Reality.  We cannot believe that any law of the Universe will ever change its own nature because we desire it to do so.  AS WE COME INTO THE SPIRITUAL REALM - which is a perfectly natural and normal realm - WE HAVE TO COME INTO IT IN ITS OWN NATURE.  It is a unity.  There must be nothing vicious in it.  Remember what Jesus said?  "Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift."  Why?  Because we cannot enter into peace while we are in a state of confusion.  It cannot be done.  We cannot manifest love when we have a mental equivalent of hate in our hearts and minds."

July 1 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

The Prayer of Faith

"No class of people on earth believes more in prayer than we do.  Our whole theory is based not only on the belief in Spirit, but in the availability of It - Its immediate response.  We even go so far as to say in everyday language:  "Pray right and God cannot help responding"  This is as far as anyone can go in faith.  There is no confusion in the approach to Reality.  It should be calm and dispassionate but filled with feeling because feeling and emotion are creative.  We should combine the letter and the spirit of the Law.

Faith is the power of prayer.  Now what is faith?  When you analyze faith you find that it is a mental attitude against which there is no longer any contradiction in the mind that entertains it.  Unfortunately, we find there is great faith in fear.  Faith in the fear that one may lose his position; faith in the fear that one may lose material possessions; faith in the fear that one may lose his health, and so on.

If the mental attitude is in relationship to God, that is faith in God.  If it is in relationship to one's ability to write a poem, that is faith in one's creative ability.  FAITH IS A MENTAL ATTITUDE WHICH IS SO CONVINCED OF ITS OWN IDEA - WHICH SO COMPLETELY ACCEPTS IT - THAT ANY CONTRADICTION IS UNTHINKABLE AND IMPOSSIBLE.  Before such a mental attitude can be created, there must be nothing left in the subjective state of our thought which contradicts our objective affirmation.

Faith is mental assertion elevated to the plane of realization.  It is beyond the mere quibbling or mumbling of words for it identifies itself with Reality in such a manner that Reality becomes real to the believer.  The Invisible becomes visible to the mind, and the unseen real.

Faith is real to the one who experiences it and cannot be denied to the mind of the one who has proven it.  And what is this faith we should have?  We should have faith that there is but One Mind.  This Mind is both the Mind of man and the Mind of God.  We use the Mind of God since there is but One Mind.  This Mind is the essence of creativeness and the essence of goodness.  It is available to all.  It is no respecter of persons since It has already incarnated through all.  It is in all and through all.  Faith will not be denied, will not take no for an answer.  It speaks an affirmative language.  Faith knows that the universe is a Spiritual System, that man is part of this system.  It knows that man's environment is also a part of this System.  Because the system is perfect the condition may become perfect, and would be perfect it if were known to be so.  Faith knows that the life of Man is God, the birthless and the deathless Reality of all Being.

Faith looks to the invisible and instead of seeing a void it fastens its gaze upon a solid reality.  Faith is not hope, it is Substance.  It does not look away from itself, being Substance it looks within itself.  In doing this it realizes that the life of God is also the life of man.  Faith affirms this and denies anything and everything that contradicts what to it is the supreme fact of existence.

Faith is essential to effective mental treatment, but this faith should be one of understanding.  So faith may be said to be scientific, that is, we are now dealing with a Principle that has been defined and we know something about the way It works.  We know how to use the Law governing It.  Faith in this Law helps us to use our understanding with greater conviction."

June 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

What Do We Mean by Mental Equivalents?

"Prayer does something to the mind of the one praying.  It does not do anything to God.  The eternal Gift is always made.  The Gift of God is the Nature of God, the Eternal Givingness.  God cannot help making the gift, because GOD IS THE GIFT.  We do not have to pray God to be God.  God is God.  Jesus revealed the nature of the Divine Being by his personal embodiment of the Divine Nature.  He said, "As ye believe, it shall be done unto you."

The whole teaching of Jesus was based on the theory that we are surrounded by an intelligent Law, which does unto each as he believes.  He implied the necessity of faith, conviction, and acceptance.  That is, it must be measured out to us according to our own measuring.  We must not only believe, we must know that our belief measures the extent and degree of our blessing.  If our belief is limited only a little can come to us, because that is as we believe.  We call this the law of mental equivalents.  How much life can any man experience?  As much as he can embody.  There is nothing fatalistic about this.  We are so constituted that we can continuously increase our embodiment.  We grow in grace, as it were.  We grow in power and theoretically there should be no limit to that growth.  But right today we can expect to demonstrate or to have our prayers answered according to our belief and the embodiment of that belief.

Lowell said, "The gift without the giver is bare," and it is just as true that there can be no gift without a receiver.  It is said, "To as many as received him, to them gave he the power."  We seek to uncover the science of prayer:  the essence of the Spirit embodied in it.  We find that the essence of the power of prayer is faith and acceptance.  In addition to the law of faith and acceptance, the law of mental equivalents must be considered.  These are the two great laws with which we have to deal and we shall never get away from either.  If prayer has been answered, it is not because God has been moved to answer one man and not another, but because one man more than another has moved himself into a right relationship with the Spirit or the Principle of Being - whichever one chooses to call It.

Faith, then, touches a Principle which responds, we may be certain of this.  We should have more faith than we do rather than less, nor is it foolish to cultivate faith.  ALL PRAYERS WILL BE ANSWERED WHEN WE PRAY ARIGHT.  The first necessity is faith.  Faith!  But someone may exclaim, "This is what has always been taught, this is nothing new!"  Correct, we have nothing new.  We simply have a new approach to an old truth, a more intelligent, a more systematic way of consciously arriving at faith.  This is what treatment is for."

June 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS
By Ernest Holmes

No One Gives to Us by Ourselves

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

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

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

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

The Great Awakening

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

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

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

Self-Condemnation

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

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

June 5 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

His Eye Is on the Sparrow

"His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me."

This is a blessed thought, for it means that we cannot wander from His Presence,

nor depart from His care.

Always He will watch over us and comfort us.

Forever we shall sit in His house and ceaselessly He will care for us.

The All-Seeing Eye cannot overlook any one, and all, all shall be kept in His care.

All are kept in His care.

Hope Cannot Die

Hope cannot die.  Eternal Hope is forever warm and fresh within me;

the deathless Hope built upon the rock of sure knowledge.

Oh Hope Sublime, O Life Supreme, behold I come to Thee as a tired child,

and Thou dost rekindle within me the fires of Faith.

Strong, swift and sure, Faith springs forth into action

and my entire Being rises to meet the Dawn.

Hope, Faith and Love are in me.

June 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Suggestions for Treatments ~ Ernest Holmes

"In giving mental and spiritual treatments, it is better not to dwell too much on the negative, since we are liable to give it undue importance.  To affirm the presence of God is better than to deny the presence of evil.  However, if the presence of evil persists in making its appearance, it is sometimes well to deny it, to know it is neither person, place nor thing, that it does not belong to us, and that it cannot operate through or around us.  It is neither cause, medium, nor effect.  It is neither imagination, idea, nor reflection.  It is neither visible nor invisible.  It cannot emanate from God, and does not emanate from man.  The devil is a myth, and heaven is lost merely for the lack of an idea of harmony.  "Stand still and watch the sure salvation of the Lord."  This Lord Is always an indwelling Presence.  The individual "I" which is an incarnation of the Universal "I Am."

A practitioner should think of his patient as a perfect entity, living in a perfect Universe, surrounded by perfect situations and governed by perfect Law.  The entire Universe is devoted to his good.  "All the Father hath is thine."  "Arise, O Son, and take."  This taking is better accomplished through an affirmative attitude of  mind than by dwelling too much on the negative.  "Behold!  The kingdom of heaven is at hand," but this kingdom must be recognized.  The recognition is a mental act.  We must know that the All-Powerful Spirit is ever available and ever equal to the healing of any discordant condition of body, mind or affairs, but we must never look outside of ourselves to find this Spirit, since It is indwelling.  What we really do is to look within our own consciousness, and "pray to the Father who is in secret and the Father who seeth in secret, shall reward us openly."  The sincere practitioner will be sure his own thought is clear, that his own faith is equal to the demands made upon it.  Above all else he must be careful not to be caught in the negative stream of consciousness.  Jesus could not have raised Lazarus from among those who were believed to be dead if he had been afraid to "roll away the stone," nor if he had listened to the wailing of those about him.  To be spiritually minded is to enter that tranquil atmosphere of pure thought, that "Heavenly Consciousness" which is "the secret place of the Most High" in man.

In beginning a series of treatments for any person, we start with the idea of Perfect God, Perfect Man, and Perfect Being.  In every case it is well to begin by the removal of doubt and fear, to assure ourselves that the one whom we are seeking to help is complete and perfect, harmonious and whole.  Next we must conform our arguments, statements and realizations so that they may measure up to this high ideal.

It is easy to believe that God is perfect.  We must also believe that the spiritual man is perfect, and since it is difficult to believe that the objective man is perfect, we must confine our statements to a realization of the spiritual perfection of man.  In such degree as our realization becomes a subjective embodiment, the objective healing will automatically take place.  We know the background of human thought is, to a great extent, one of negation, a denial of an harmonious and spiritual Universe; consequently, our outlook on life must be transformed by the renewing of the mind, and even when the results are not immediately forthcoming, we must still maintain a calm serenity of thought.  We must relight the torch of our imagination by "fire caught from heaven."  We must remain faithful to this vision for a realization of the Presence of God is the secret power of our work.

The following examples are not to be considered dogmatic; they are merely suggested ways by which one may do effective work.   The practitioner must realize that all power is given unto him.  He must believe that man is spiritual and he must be certain that his statements about the spiritual man will find a corresponding outlet in the physical man.  However, he is very careful never to treat the physical man, but to think of man's entire being as spiritual, and if man's entire being is spiritual, then his physical being must reflect spiritual ideas.  The practitioner supplies these spiritual ideas and lets the Law of Mind do the rest.  To begin the treatment by a silent assurance that man, being spiritual, is exempt from negation, is a correct starting point.  Infinite Love harmonizes man's entire being.  The healing currents of Life flow through him, taking away every negative thought and manifestation, and adjusting his whole physical being to the idea of Divine Harmony."