May 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

A Formula for Effective Prayer (Matt. 21:21, 22) ~ Ernest Holmes

"THE THINGS WE NEED, WE ARE TO ASK FOR - and WE ARE TO BELIEVE THAT WE RECEIVE THEM!  This plumbs the very depths of the metaphysical and psychological law of our being, and explains the possibility of an answer to our prayers.

When we pray we are to believe that we have.  We are surrounded by a universal law which is creative.  It moves from the thought to the thing.  Unless there is first an image, it cannot move, for there would be nothing for it to move toward.  Prayer, which is a mental act, must accept its own answer as an image in mind, before the divine energies can play upon it and make it productive.

As we must plant a seed before we can reap a harvest, so we must believe before our prayers can be answered.  Prayer should reach a point of acceptance, an unqualified and undisputed place of agreement.  Let us take the mental images of our desires to the bosom of the Creative Life, and here make them known by impressing them upon It with positive belief.  If we do this, our prayers will be answered.

But let us remember that true prayer is always universal.  There can be no good to us alone, only as that good is for all.  This does not mean that we are to refrain from asking what we desire, but that we should wish only for that which is good.  For instance, it is good to have a home; it is good for all people to have homes while here on earth; it is right to ask for one, but it would not be right to ask for one belonging to another.

If we wish to pray for a home, we should take the idea of a house with us into the silence and meditate upon its actual being.  We should believe that we have and own a home, but we should leave the idea free to fulfill itself, without any definite choosing of how, where, why or when.  In this way, we pray aright and when we so pray, we pray effectively.  God wills us to have everything.  As we express life, we fulfill God's law of abundance, but we do this only as we realize that there is good enough to go around - only as we know that all of God's gifts are given as freely and fully as the air and the sunshine...alike to all.

The Two Great Commandments (Matt. 22:36-41)

The two great commandments are to love God and our brother man.  On these hang all the law and the prophets.  Love is a complete unity with life, and we cannot enter this state unless we are in unity with all that lives, for all life is One.  To love God alone is not enough, for this would exclude our fellowman.  To love our fellowman alone is not sufficient, for this would be too limited a concept of God.

When we realize that God and man are One and not two, we shall love both.  We shall love man as an expression of God, and God as the Life Principle in all.

From this teaching, we are not to suppose that we are to love that in each other which does not savor of right, we are to love the right alone.  We are to look for God in each other and love this God, forgetting all else.  But would this compel us to accept from people that which is not good?  Of course not!  It is not necessary for one to make a doormat of himself in proving that God is love, for this would be like suffering for righteousness' sake, which is always a mistake.

We should be wise in the ways of the world, as well as imbued with Divine wisdom.  We are not to mistake a counterfeit for the real, nor accept every man's doctrine lest we disagree.  The Truth is positive but non-combative; It is sure of Itself, but never argumentative.  It loves sincerity and abhors deceit.  Above all else, the Truth is wise, It represents the All-seeing Eye, from which nothing can be hidden.  The student of Truth will receive all that comes in the name of the Lord, that is, all that is of the Truth; all else will fall by its own weight.

History Proves the Reality of Truth (Matt. 26:52)

As we glance over the pages of history, this saying of Jesus stands sure and true:  "...for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."  Those nations who have risen by the sword have fallen among the ruins of their own false hopes.  History has proven that strife begets strife, that the way of the transgressor is hard.

In international strife, all nations are beaten, in so far as they have taken up the sword in hate, avarice or lust.  We do not recognize this apparent power which lasts for a day, for it is but a false gesture, defeating its own purpose as falseness ever must.

Jesus speaking from the viewpoint of Eternal Truth, said that all who take the sword shall perish with it.  THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THE BEST TO THE WORLD HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BEST REMEMBERED BY IT, AND MOST LOVED THROUGHOUT THE AGES.  If we attempt to measure existence from this short span of life, it would not be explained, and we should find no real answer to life itself.  Hate begets hate and strife produces strife.  Love alone overcomes all and justifies the eternity of her dominion.

God Turns to Us as We Turn to Him (Luke 15)

The parable of the Prodigal Son constitutes one of the greatest spiritual lessons in the history of religious education.  It is an attempt, on the part of the Great Teacher, to show that God turns to us as we turn to Him; that there is a reciprocal action between the Universal and the individual mind; that the Spirit is ready to help us whenever we turn to It.

The greatest lesson we have to learn is the unity of Love and Law; the necessity of law in shaping a divine individuality and the necessity of experience in awakening to this divine individuality.

God is Love and God is Law; the Love of God is omnipresent and the Law of God is omnipresent.  The Love of God is the Divine givingness: the eternal outpouring of Spirit through Its creation.  The Law of God is the Law of Cause and Effect, which says that we can have only what we take.  Since this taking is a mental and spiritual (as well as physical) act, we can take only that to which we are receptive.  Jesus taught that it is done unto us as we really believe.  "The thought is ever father to the act.""

May 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Spiritual Mind Healing ~ Ernest Holmes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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