April 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Let Us Not Fool Ourselves ~ Ernest Holmes

"But we should not fool ourselves about any demonstration.  We know there is a state of consciousness which can heal instantly, but if we do not arrive at this in a moment, we should never admit defeat.  Let us not despise our sums in addition because we cannot at the outset extract the cube root.

The kind of demonstration we believe in is the kind that can be checked by a physician, if one so desires.  If we are treating for the removal of a cancer, we have not made a demonstration until the cancer is gone and the wholeness of the body is evident to anyone.  This is not a process of saying "Peace" when there is no peace.

A practitioner working for one whose blood pressures is high might say, "Go every week or so and have your blood pressure tested."  If one's blood pressure is high, a demonstration will not have been made until it is reduced to normal.  To claim that he is perfectly normal, while the blood pressure remains high, would be to affront the intelligence of any sane individual.

While it is possible that we might have to work on a case for some time, there should be some sign of improvement from the first treatment.  If the practitioner admits to himself that it is going to take a long time, he is losing sight of the fact that he is dealing with the instantaneous now and the ever-present here.

Our theory rests entirely upon the supposition that it is impossible to have a true subjective concept, without there being a positive, absolute and equal objective fact.  The two will exactly balance.  For every action there is always an opposite and equal reaction.  If this is true and the equal and opposite reaction is automatic - like a reflection which nothing can stop - then the practitioner does not try to create the reflection; he tries to embody the image.  There cannot be an embodiment of the image without the appreciation of what the image means.  A man who is always distraught cannot give a good treatment for peace.  So there must not only be the image in the man's mind who is giving the treatment but there must be an appreciation of what the image means, before the image can reflect itself; otherwise, it is a word and not an embodiment.  There is a great difference between the two.  The word which carries power is the one which has conviction back of it.  Let us not blithely repeat words and say the treatment has gone forth and the healing work accomplished, unless we have the evidence that our word has accomplished "that, whereunto it was sent."  Let us not deceive ourselves about our treatments.

This matter of self-deception about the truth of a demonstration is the most prolific field for delusion in our system of thought.  There is nothing in all our teaching which calls for lying to ourselves or others.  The more natural we can be, the more spontaneous we can be, and the more we can discharge the obligation of giving the treatment without taking on the responsibility of healing the condition - of putting the power into the treatment - the more power we shall have.

There is nothing in the world more specific than a scientific treatment, but there is nothing that should be so released from the outline as a scientific treatment.  However, there is no secret in this business of demonstrating.  The only secret is the persistent ability to use the Law, and the determination to continue to use It until we prove It."

April 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Prayer is Essential to Happiness ~ Ernest Holmes

"Prayer is not an act of overcoming God's reluctance, but should be an active acceptance of His highest willingness.  Through prayer we recognize a spiritual law, that has always existed, and put ourselves in alignment with it.  The law of electricity might have been used by Moses had he understood this law.  Emerson said:  "Is not prayer a study of truth, a sally of the Soul into the unfound Infinite?"

Prayer is constructive, because it enables us to establish closer contact with the Fountain of Wisdom, and we are less likely to be influenced by appearances around us - to judge "according to appearance."  Righteous prayer sets the "law of the Spirit of Life" in motion for us.

Prayer is essential, not to the salvation of the soul, for the soul is never lost; but to the conscious well-being of the soul that does not understand itself.  There is a vitality in our communion with the Infinite, which is productive of the highest good.  As fire warms the body, as food strengthens us, as sunshine raises our spirits, so there is a subtle transfusion of some invisible force in such communion, weaving itself into the very warp and woof of our own mentalities.  This conscious commingling of our thought with Spirit is essential to the well-being of every part of us.

Prayer has stimulated countless millions of people to higher thoughts and nobler deeds.  That which tends to connect our minds with the Universal Mind lets in a flood of Its consciousness.  If we think of God as a Heavenly Dictator - something apart from that which lives and moves and has Its being where we are - then we are certain to believe ourselves disconnected from this Infinite Presence; and the inevitable consequence of such thinking would be a terrible fear that we should never be able to make contact with Him!  But if we know God as an Indwelling Presence, our prayer is naturally addressed to this Presence in us. We long for, and need, a conscious union with the Infinite.  This is as necessary to the nature and intellect of man, as food is to the well-being of his physical body."

April 2 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Laws Governing Prayer ~ Ernest Holmes

"Most men who believe in God believe in prayer; but our idea of prayer changes as our idea of God changes; and it is natural for each to feel that his way of praying is the correct way.  But we should bear in mind that the prayers which are effective - no matter whose prayers they may be - are effective because they embody certain universal principles which, when understood, can be consciously used.

IF GOD EVER ANSWERED PRAYER, HE ALWAYS ANSWERS PRAYER, since He is "the same yesterday, today and forever."  If there seems to be any failure, it is in man's ignorance of misunderstanding of the Will and Nature of God.

We are told that "God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."  The immediate availability of the Divine Spirit is "neither in the mountain nor at the temple; neither Lo, here, nor lo there, for behold the Kingdom of God is within."

This is a true perception of spiritual power.  The power is no longer I, but "the Father who dwelleth in me."  Could we conceive of Spirit as being incarnate in us - while at the same time being ever more than that which is incarnated - would we not expand spiritually and intellectually?  Would not our prayers be answered before they were uttered?  "The Kingdom of God is within you."  When we become conscious of our Oneness with Universal Good, beliefs in evil, sin, sickness, limitation, and death tend to disappear.  We shall no longer "ask amiss," supplicating as though God were not willing, begging as though He were withholding.

"If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you."  This gives great light on an important law governing the answering of prayer.  Abiding in Him, means having no consciousness separate from His consciousness - nothing in our thought which denies the power and presence of Spirit.  Yes, we can readily see why prayers are answered when we are abiding in Him.

Again we read, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do."  This sounds simple at first, but it is another profound statement like unto the first; its significance lies in the phrase:  "in my name."  In His name, means like His Nature.  If our thought is as unsullied as the Mind of God, if we are recognizing our Oneness with God, we cannot pray for other than the good of all men.  In such prayer we should not dwell upon evil or adversity.  The secret of spiritual power lies in a consciousness of one's union with the Whole, and of the availability of Good.  God is accessible to all people.

God manifests Himself through all individuals.  No two people are alike; each has a unique place in the universe of Mind; each lives in Mind; each contacts It through his own mentality, in an individual way, drawing from It a unique expression of Its Divine Nature.  If one makes himself receptive to the idea of love, he becomes lovable. To the degree that he embodies love, he is love; so people who love are loved.  Whoever becomes receptive to the idea of peace, poise and calm - whoever embodies these divine realities -finds them flowing through him and he becomes peaceful, poised and calm.

There is a place in us which lies open to the Infinite; but when the Spirit brings Its gift,by pouring Itself through us, It can give to us only what we take.  This taking is mental.  If we persist in saying that Life will not give us that which is good ("God will not answer my prayer.") It cannot, for Life must reveal Itself to us through our intelligence.  The pent-up energy of life, and the possibility of further human evolution, work through man's imagination and will.  The time is now; the place is where we are, and it is done unto us as we believe."

March 7 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Self-Healing Must Come First of All ~ Ernest Holmes

"If we think we can guide our brother aright, while our own feet still walk in darkness, we are mistaken.  We must first clarify our own vision, then we shall become as lights, lighting the way for others.  But can we teach a lesson we have not learned?  Can we give that which we do not possess?  To suppose so is hypocrisy, a thing to be shunned.  Jesus tears the mantel of unreality from the shoulders of hypocrisy, winnowing from the soul of sham and shallowness it last shred of illusion.  We cannot see Reality until our eyes are open; until the light of eternal Truth has struck deeply into our own souls.

Scientific Prayer (Matt. 7:7)

We now come to a definite teaching regarding prayer. we shall receive that for which we ask.  It shall be opened to us when we knock and we shall find that for which we are searching.  This teaching implies the definiteness of spiritual and mental work.  God is Intelligent Mind and Spirit, and there is a direct response from this Universal Intelligence to our intelligence.  If we ask for bread, we shall not receive a stone.  But we are told we must ask believing, if we are to receive.

Here again we are meeting the Law of Cause and effect in the teachings of Jesus.  Prayer is a mental, as well as a spiritual, function of intelligence.  It is a certain manner of approach to the Spirit, a conscious act of the mind, a concrete experience of the knowing faculty.  Prayer should be direct and specific, and should always be accompanied by a positive receptivity.  God cannot answer prayers which have no meaning. The answer to prayer is in the prayer when it is uttered or thought.  We do not "pray aright" when we are in opposition to the fundamental harmony.  The whole teaching of Jesus, relative to prayer, is that God will answer when we pray aright.  Jesus points to the fact that if we, being human and consequently limited, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will God give good gifts to those who ask; and he explicitly tells us to ask directly for what we want."