July 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE LAW of ATTRACTION
By Ernest Holmes

Attracting Success

"We mean by demonstration, bringing into our experience something which we had not experienced before; bringing it in as the result of conscious thought; and unless it is possible to do this, our whole science is a mistake and a delusion.  Unless there is a Divine Principle, Universal Soul or Subjectivity, or Medium, which, of Itself - without any help or assistance - can produce things, and will, then there is nothing in this teaching.  But there is a Divine Principle; and what It does for us It must do through us.  Our part in the demonstration is to set the word in motion, thus compelling, through the Law of Subjectivity, the result or manifestation. 

The subjective state of a man's thought decides what is going to happen to him in his objective experience.   The subjective state of his thought is the sum total of his thinking and knowing. It is the medium between the relative and the Absolute, between the Limitless and the conditioned.  Whatever is involved in it, will evolve.  Therefore, when there is no longer anything in our mentality which denies our word, a demonstration will be made; nothing can stop it, for the Law is Absolute.

We should approach the Law normally and naturally and with a sense of ease.  There is nothing peculiar or weird about it.  It is a natural Law, working in a normal way, and must be thought of in this light.  We should come to consider the Law and the Spirit as friends and think of them as such.  In this way we shall gradually go from good to more good and from peace to greater peace.  This is the natural unfoldment of Reality through man.  We should EXPECT THE BEST, and so live that the best may become a part of our experience.

Suppose one wishes more activity in his business, more success.  Every day he should see his place filled with people.  See them looking at and finding pleasure in his merchandise; see them comparing prices and realizing that he is offering good values; see them delighted with the service he is giving; see them cheerful, beaming, expansive, as they enjoy the atmosphere of his place; see the uplift which the spirit of his good-will gives them.  Make a mental picture of it all.  We are dealing with Intelligence, and we should recognize the Power we are working with - realizing our Oneness with It - and then we should ask for what we wish and take it.

If we were treating for activity in a store we owned in Boston, we should not be treating someone in Kalamazoo for the mumps and expect that the store would demonstrate more success.   WE MUST BE SPECIFIC IN WHAT WE DO, while at the same time never outlining how it shall be done.  Remember we are dealing with Intelligence.   IT IS GOING TO EVOLVE OUR CONCEPT EXACTLY AS WE INVOLVE IT.  If one could take a picture of his objective circumstances and a picture of his subjective mentality, he would find them to be identical, for one is the cause of the other.  One is the image and the other is the reflection of that image.

So our success in business, the activity which we generate through the operation of the Law, depends upon our ability to conceive.  At all times, we are either drawing things to us or pushing them away.  In the average individual, this process goes on without his knowing it, but ignorance of the law does not change its result.  "What," someone will say, "do you think that I thought failure or wanted to fail?"  Of course not.  Perhaps you thought that failure might come, maybe you even feared it would come, or in some other way gave it entrance to your mind."

July 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

Definite Plan

"We will say there are four men, "A", "B", "C", and "D".  "A" receives $15.00 a week; "B" receives $50.00; "C" receives $75.00; and "D" receives $100.00.  Suppose these four men are all without positions and each comes to a practitioner for mental treatment to obtain employment.  Please do not think this is a material presentation of a spiritual truth for in the last analysis, in our philosophy, the Universe is either all matter or It is all Spirit.  If it is all matter, what we formerly called matter is Spirit.  If the Universe is all Spirit, what we used to call Spirit is matter.  The Spiritual Universe should no longer be divided against Itself.  The Bhagavad-Gita says that we shall never arrive at peace while we deal with the Pairs of Opposites.  Let us not say that fifteen dollars is material and the Lord's Prayer is spiritual.  Even in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus said, "Give us this day our daily bread," and He had already told them they would receive as much bread as they expected.  He did not say what the size of the loaf would be.

These four men are all without positions, as we have said, and they come to a practitioner for mental treatment.  The practitioner takes the thought that there is nothing but activity.  He heals the belief in inactivity and declares that each one of these men is divinely active, occupied and compensated.  Without question he has set a law in motion which will produce something for each of these four.  We will suppose that his treatment is a good and an effective one.  They accept it and consequently each finds a position.  As a result probably "A" will receive $15.00 again; "B" $50.00; "C" $75.00; and "D" $100.00 per week.

"But," one might say, "the practitioner spoke the same word for each, why did they not all receive $100.00 per week?"  Because the Law says that we can have only WHAT WE CAN TAKE.  The practitioner's word was used for each in like manner but each could receive only his fill - only his mental capacity to comprehend.  He can have more, but how is he to get it?  Will a pint dipper ever hold more than a pint?  One might build up the edge and rim of the dipper somewhat and make it hold more and more, so one can continuously increase his consciousness.  It is just the old law that we can expand the finite but we cannot contract the Infinite.

Each man, "A", "B", "C", and "D" was full and no doubt running over when he received a position as a result of the treatment; but the positions they received, the molds which their perceptions of life had provided, were limited to the subjective remembrance already set in motion by themselves.  Each attracted to himself, out of the Universal Good, that which he could comprehend.  It is the old statement again that water will reach its own level by its own weight and without effort.  So a treatment will level itself in the objective world at the level of the subjective thought and realization which projects and receives it.

This does not mean that each of the above stated men will always have to receive the same compensation, for with an enlarged consciousness each might receive more.  There is nothing in the nature of finality about this because the man whose consciousness is now bringing him a smaller thing or a less important thing (we name it big and little and to us it is big or little), can if he so desires conceive the bigger thing, the more important position.  The same prayer answers the big and the little.

A man does not suddenly become affluent because he sits around and thinks, "I am a multi-millionaire."  But when he thinks affluently he does begin to demonstrate prosperity."

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 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

"Why is it that Jesus could say to the paralyzed man, "Take up thy bed and walk"?  Because Jesus knew when he said this that the man would get up and walk.  HE NOT ONLY BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING TO RESPOND TO HIM BUT HE HAD AN EQUIVALENT OF ITS RESPONSE, which is just as necessary.

The Law is Infinite and Perfect but in order to make a demonstration WE MUST HAVE A MENTAL EQUIVALENT OF THE THING WE DESIRE.  A demonstration, like anything else in the objective life, is born out of a mental concept.  The mind is the fashioning factor, and according to its range, vision and positiveness, will be the circumstance or experience.  For example:  If one sees only unloveliness in others, it is because unloveliness is a strong element in himself.  The light he throws on others is generated in his own soul and he sees them as he chooses to see them.  He holds constantly in his mind a mental equivalent of unloveliness and creates unlovely reactions toward himself.  He is getting back what he is sending out.  If a man believes himself to be a failure and that it is useless for him to try to be anything else, he carries with him the mental equivalent of failure.  So he succeeds in being a failure according to law.  This is his demonstration.   Having a strong picture or mental concept, and holding to that equivalent regardless of circumstances or condition, we must sooner or later manifest according to the concept.

It follows, then, that the range of our possibilities at the present time does not extend far beyond the range of our present concepts.  As we bring ourselves to a greater vision, we induce a greater concept and thereby demonstrate more in our experience.  In this way there is a continuous growth and unfoldment taking place.  We do not expect to give a treatment today, for prosperity, and have a million dollars tomorrow.  But little by little we can unfold our consciousness, through the acquisition of greater and still greater mental equivalents, until at last we shall be made free.

The way to proceed is to begin right where we are.  It is not scientific to attempt to begin somewhere else.  One who understands the systematic use of the Law will understand that he is where he is because of what he is, but he will not say, "I must remain where I am, because of what I am."  Instead he will begin to disclaim what he appears to be.  As his statements release wrong subjective tendencies, providing in their place a correct concept of life and Reality, he will automatically be lifted out of his condition; impelling forces sweeping everything before them, will set him free, if he trusts in Spirit and the working of the Law.

Stay with the One and never deviate from It, never leave It for a moment.  Nothing else can equal this attitude.  TO DESERT THE TRUTH IN THE HOUR OF NEED IS TO PROVE THAT WE DO NOT KNOW THE TRUTH.  When things look the worst, that is the supreme moment to demonstrate, to ourselves, that there are no obstructions to the operation of Truth.  When things look the worst is the best time to work, the most satisfying time.  The person who can throw himself with a complete abandon into that Limitless Sea of Receptivity, having cut loose from all apparent moorings, is the one wo will always receive the greatest reward."

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."

April 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

When and What Is a Demonstration? ~ Ernest Holmes

"In the language of metaphysics, a "demonstration" is made when the thing is accomplished which the one treating desires to achieve...whether it be health, happiness, or abundance.  A demonstration is a manifestation.  It is prayer answered.  When the word of a practitioner takes form, this is a demonstration.  When desire is given a subjective mold and then becomes objectified in the life of the one for whom the practitioner is working, this is demonstration.  The practitioner, of course, gives thanks as he makes his demand on the Infinite, knowing that supply and demand are one, and that his request is instantly manifest on the invisible plane.  "Before they call, will I answer," is the divine promise.

We cannot demonstrate beyond our ability to mentally embody an idea.  The argument is between our experience, what the world believes, and what we are convinced is the Truth.

It should be understood that we can demonstrate in spite of ourselves - in spite of all weakness, in spite of all fear, in spite of all that is in us - because such is the power of Truth.  We wait only for our own awakened thought.  The Law is neither good nor bad.  Law is and responds.

The possibility of demonstrating does not depend upon environment, condition, location, personality or opportunity.  It depends solely upon our belief and our acceptance, and our willingness to comply with the Law through which all good comes.  The Universe will never deny us anything, unless we conceive that it is possible for us to think of something that is impossible for the Universe to produce!  Everyone who asks receives, according to his belief."