November 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

I Am Complete in Thee

Almighty God, Everlasting Good, Spirit, Maker of all things and Keeper of my Life, Thou art All.

Infinite Presence within, in Whom all live; Joy Supreme, flooding all with gladness, I adore Thee.

Eternal Peace, undisturbed and quiet, I feel Thy calm.

O Thou Who dost inhabit Eternity and dost dwell within all Creation, Who Dost live through all things and in all people, hear Thou my prayer.

I would enter Thy gates with joy and live at peace in Thy House.

I would find a resting place in Thee, and in Thy presence live.

Make me to do Thy will and from Thy wisdom teach me the ways of Truth.

Compel me to follow Thee and let me not pursue the paths of my own counsel.

O Eternal and Blessed Presence, illumine my mind and command my will that my Soul may be refreshed and that my life may be renewed.

As deep cries unto deep, so my thought cries unto Thee and Thou dost answer.

I am renewed and refreshed; my whole being responds to Thy love, and I am complete in Thee.

All my ways are guarded and guided, and I shall live with Thee eternally.

O Lover of my Soul and Keeper of my Spirit, none can separate us, for we are One.

So shall Thy Wisdom guide me, Thy Presence dwell within me, Thy Love keep me and
Thy Life envelop me now and forevermore.

I rest in Thee.

October 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT The MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Cosmic Consciousness ~ Illumination (Concluded)

"In moments of deepest realization, the great mystics have sensed that One Life flows through all, and that all are some part of that Life.  They have also seen Substance, a fine, white, brilliant stuff, forever falling into everything; a Substance indestructible and eternal.  It is at such times of complete realization that they have been blinded by the LIGHT of which we have been speaking.

Remember, all of this takes place in a perfectly normal state of mind and has nothing whatever to do with the psychic state.  It is not an illusion but a reality; and it is during these periods that real revelations come.  Perhaps a good illustration would be to suppose a large group of people in a room together, but unaware of each other's presence; each is busy with his own personal affairs, suddenly the room is illuminated for a second and they all see each other.  Afterwards they try to tell what they saw.  In flashes of illumination, the inspired have seen into the very center of Reality, and have brought back with them a picture of what they saw and felt.  Briefly, these have been their conclusions:  they have been firmly convinced of immortality...immortality NOW, not to be achieved at some future date; individuality, God as personal to the individual; the inevitable overcoming of all evil by good.

Therefore, they have taught that in such degree as one's concept of God is sufficient, evil disappears.  How are we going to make this practical, other than feeling this in our meditation for practical work, for healing, for demonstration?  This is what we mean by a method, a procedure a technique and a realization:  that accompanying the method and technique should always come as much of the realization as we can generate at that time.  In the method and the technique, something is said.  This is a moving thing, but when we reach that other place - illumination - nothing is said...something is FELT."

October 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT The MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Cosmic Consciousness - Illumination (Continued)

"Illumination will come as man more and more realizes his Unity with the Whole, and as he constantly endeavors to let the Truth operate through him.  But since the Whole is at the point of the Inner Mentality, it will be here alone that he will contact It.  "Speak to Him, thou, for He hears."  Always in such degree as one has spiritual sense, he realizes universality in his own soul.  The great mystics have had that sense and have felt the possibility of an immediate communion with the Universal Spirit.  This essence has run through all theologies and has been the cause of much of their vitality.  Theology with all its weakness has been stronger in its strength than it has been weak in its weakness, because the vital elements in it have been greater than the devitalizing ones.  It would not have lived unless this were true.

The only God man knows is the God of his own Inner Life; he can know no other.  To assume that man can know a God outside himself is to assume that he can know something of which he cannot be conscious. This does not mean that man is God; it means that the only God that man knows is within, and the only life man has is from within. God is not external but is Indwelling, at the very center of man's life.  This is why Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is within and why He prayed:  "Our Father which art in Heaven."

The great mystics like Jesus have taught that as we enter into the One, the One enters into us and becomes us and is us.  They have taught the "Mystical Marriage," the union of the soul of man with the Soul of God, and the Unity of all Life.  The great mystics while sensing this Unity - the Universality of all things - have also sensed the individualization of Being and the individuality of Man as a Divine Reality.  Tagore, in seeking to explain this, says that the individual is immersed in, but not lost in, Nirvana, and he uses the illustration..."as an arrow is lost in its mark," still remaining an arrow.  The mysticism of Buddha did not teach the annihilation of the soul, but the eternality of an ever-expanding principle of the soul."

October 15 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT The MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Cosmic Consciousness - Illumination (Continued)

"The intelligence in an animal which directs its actions and tells it where to go to find food and shelter, we call instinct.  It is really Omniscience in the animal.  The same quality, more highly developed, makes a conscious appearance in man and is what we call intuition.  Intuition is God in man, revealing to him the Realities of Being; and just as instinct guides the animal, so would intuition guide man, if he would allow it to do so.

Here again we must be careful not to mistake a psychic impression for an intuitive one.  Psychic impressions may control; intuition remains in the background and waits for recognition.  "Behold I stand at the door and knock."

All arbitrary control of man must have stopped as soon as he came to a point of self-knowingness.  From this point, he must discover himself; but intuition, which is nothing less than God in man, silently awaits his recognition and co-operation.  The Spirit is  always with us if we would but sense Its Presence.  Mystics have felt this wonderful Power working from within; and have responded to It; and as certain evidence that they were not laboring under delusions, THEY HAVE ALL SENSED THE SAME THING.  Had the impressions been psychic only, each would have seen and sensed a different thing, for each would merely have been seeing through the darkness of his own subjective mentality.

Cosmic Consciousness is not a mystery, it is the Self-Knowingness of God through man.  The more complete the operation of that Power, the more complete is man's conscious mentality, for the illumined do not become less, but more, themselves.  The greater the consciousness of God, the more complete must be the realization of the True Self - the Divine Reality."

October 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT The MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Evolution (Continued)

"To repeat:  The aim of evolution is to produce a man who, at the objective point of his own self-determination, may completely manifest the inner life of the Spirit.  Even the Spirit does not seek to control us.  It lets us alone to discover ourselves.  The most precious thing a man possesses is his own individuality; indeed, this is the only thing he really has, or is.  For one instant to allow any outside influence to enter or control this individuality is a crime against his real self.

In the bible we read:  "Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is."  Even though this process of evolution is still taking place - has not stopped and perhaps never will stop because we shall forever unfold - even in this state of incompletion, "NOW are we the sons of God."  As we more completely evolve, we shall see the Christ appear and "when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is," being transformed from glory to glory, by reason of that Divine Urge within each one of us.  Even now the Divine Reality is accomplished in Infinite Mind.  Within each one of us is an indestructible, an eternal, God-intended man, a perfect Being...our perfect being.

Always the idea of perfected man must have been in the Divine Mind; involved within the cause is its effect.  And in the Mind of the Eternal, man must be perfect.  God is perfect Mind and cannot conceive imperfect ideas, hence the idea of man as held in the Mind of God, must be a perfect idea.  The perfect man is the only man God knows!

Man, being an individual, may do as he wills with himself- as Browning said, he may desecrate but he can never lose his life.  The Spirit ever has a witness within us and the God-intended man already knows that he is One with the Whole; that Nature is comprised of One ultimate Power, using many instruments and having many avenues of expression.  The time has come in our evolution when we should awaken to the recognition that behind each one stands the Eternal Mind - that each has complete access to It; that each may come to It for inspiration and revelation - and that surrounding all is a Divine Law obeying the dictates of this Eternal Mind."

September 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT the MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Individuality (Continued)

"All of the great mystics have taught practically the same thing.  They have all agreed that the soul is on the pathway of experience, that is, of self-discovery; that it is on its way back to its Father's House; and that every soul will ultimately reach its heavenly home.

They have taught the Divinity of Man.  "I have said, Ye are Gods; and all of you are the children of the Most High."  They have old us that man's destiny is Divine and sure; and that creation is complete and perfect now.  The great mystics have all agreed that man's life is his to do with as he chooses, but that when he turns to the One, he will always receive inspiration from on High.

They have told us of the marvelous relationship which exists between God and man, and of a close Union that cannot be broken; the greatest of the mystics have consciously walked with God and talked with Him, just as we talk with each other.  It is difficult to realize how this can be.  It is hard to understand how a Being, so Universal as God must be, can talk with man.  Here alone, the mystic sense reveals the greater truth and knows that, infinite as is the Divine Being, IT IS STILL PERSONAL TO ALL WHO BELIEVE IN ITS PRESENCE!  It is entirely possible for a man to talk with the Spirit, for the Spirit is within him, and He who made the ears, can hear.

Since we see that personality is what one does with his individuality, we should turn within (as have all those great souls who have blessed the world with their presence), we should turn within and FIND GOD.  It should seem natural to turn to the Great Power back of everything; it should seem normal to believe in this Power; and we should have a sense of a Real Presence when we do turn toward the One and Only Power in the entire Universe.

This method is by far the most effective.  It gives a sense of power that nothing else can and in this way proves that it is a Reality.  It would be a wonderful experiment if the world would try to solve all of its problems through the power of Spirit.  Indeed the time will come when everyone will..."From the highest...to the lowest."

Undoubtedly the power of Jesus lay in His recognition of the Infinite Person as a Responsive, Conscious, Living Reality; while, on the other hand, He recognized the Law as an arbitrary force which was compelled to obey His will.  He combined the personal and the impersonal attributes of Life into a perfect Whole.  THE INFINITE IS PERSONAL TO EVERY SOUL WHO BELIEVES IN THE INFINITE.  It is a mistake to so abstract the Principle that we forget the Living Presence.  It is the combination of the two which makes work effective.  A sense of real completion can come only to that soul that realizes its Unity with the Great Whole.  Man will never be satisfied until his whole being responds to this thought, and then, indeed, will "God go forth again into Creation."  "To as many as believed, gave He the power.""

September 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT the MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Individuality

"The higher the sense of Truth, the greater will be the realization of the uniqueness of individual character and personality.  The real Self is God-given and cannot be denied.  It is the place where God comes to a point of Individualized and Personified Expression.  "I am the light of the world."

Individuality means self-choice, volition, conscious mind, personified Spirit, complete freedom and a Power to back up that freedom.  There could not be a mechanical or an unspontaneous individuality.  Individuality must be created in the image of Perfection and let alone to make this stupendous discovery for itself; it emerges from the Universal.  Psychology teaches the personification of this individuality, which is true as far as it goes, but metaphysics universalizes it by unifying it with the Whole.  There is a Universal nature of Man, inherent within him, which causes the manifestation of his personality.  The Spirit of God.

We have now discovered a unity with the Whole on the three sides of life, or from all three modes of expression.  We are one with the body of the physical world; One with the Creative Law of the Universe in the mental world; and One with the Spirit of God in the conscious world.

Could we ask or hope for more?  Would it be possible for more to be given?  We could not ask for more and no greater freedom could be given.  From now on we shall expand, grow and express only to the degree that we consciously cooperate with the Whole."

September 27 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT The MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Unity (Continued)

"In treatment there should always be a recognition of the absolute Unity of God and man:  the Oneness, Inseparability, Indivisibility, Changelessness.  God as the big circle and man as the little circle.  Man is in God and God is man, just as a drop of water is in the ocean, while the ocean is the drop of water.  This is the recognition which Jesus had when he said, "I and the Father are One."  There is a perfect Union, and to the degree that we are conscious of this Union, we incorporate this consciousness in our word; and our word has just as much power as we put into it, nor more and no less.

Within this Infinite Mind each individual exists, not as a separated but as a separate entity.  We are a point in Universal Consciousness, which is God, and God is our Life, Spirit, Mind and Intelligence.  We are not separated from Life, neither is It separated from us, but we are separate entities in It - individualized centers of God Consciousness.

We came from Life and are in Life, so we are One with Life; and we know that Instinctive Life within - which has brought us to the point of self-recognition - still knows in us the reason for all things, the purpose underlying all things; and we know that there is nothing in us of fear, doubt or confusion which can hinder the flow of Reality to the point of our recognition.  We are guided daily by Divine Intelligence into paths of peace, wherein the soul recognizes its Source and meets It in joyful union, in complete At-One-ment.

The power of Jesus is understood when we study His method of procedure.  Consider His raising of Lazarus from the dead.  Standing at the tomb, He gave thanks; this was recognition.  He next said:  "I know that thou hearest me always;" this was unification.  Then He said:  "Lazarus, come forth," this was his command.  The method is perfect and we shall do well to follow it.  This method can be used in all treatment.  First, realize that Divine Power is; then unify with It; and then speak the word as "one having authority," for the Law is "the servant of the Eternal Spirit throughout all the ages."

Jesus prayed that all might come to see the Unity of Life.  "That they may be One even as we are One," was His prayer as He neared the completion of His great work - the prayer that enabled those closest to Him to understand the Unity of Spirit, in which man clearly recognizes his Oneness with his Creator and with all Creation.  All mystics have sensed that we live in One Life:  "In Him we live and move and have our being."

The Unity of Good is a revelation of the greatest importance, for it teaches us that we are One with the Whole and One with each other.  The Fatherhood of God and the actual Brotherhood of Man will be made apparent on earth to the degree that man realizes true Unity."

September 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT the MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Unity

"Reason declares that that Which is Infinite cannot be divided against Itself.  The Infinite cannot be divided against Itself.  The Infinite is, therefore indivisible and consequently a Perfect unit.  "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord."  It is also "That Whose Center is everwhere and Whose Circumference is nowhere."

All of It is present at any and every point within Itself.  It is not approaching a point nor receding from it, but is always at the point.  The whole of God is present at any and every point within God.  It was to this Indwelling Spirit that Jesus prayed, for God is within man as well as throughout all creation.  It is "That thread of the All-Sustaining beauty which runs through all and doth all unite."  His lines have gone out into all places."  "There is no place where God is not."

This concept enabled Job to say, "In my flesh shall I see God." All life is bound together by One common Law of Love, and Love is the Self-Givingness of Spirit.  It was the realization of this One Presence which illumined the saints and sages of the past.  "I and the Father are One."  "The Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works."  We must come to sense this marvelous Presence, for this is the secret of successful metaphysical work:  God in all and through all.

All manifestation of Life is from an invisible to a visible plane, through a silent, effortless process of spiritual realization.  WE MUST UNIFY IN OUR OWN MENTALITIES WITH PURE SPIRIT.  To each of us, individually, God or Spirit is the Supreme Personality of the Universe - the Supreme Personality of that which we, ourselves, are.  It is only as the relationship of the individual to the Deity becomes enlarged that one has a consciousness of Power."

September 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS

By Ernest Holmes

The following meditation is printed just as it was given in class and group work.

I Represent The Principle of Perfection

"In each human being, the Whole is represented, and the entire knowledge of wisdom, of health, and the perfection of every act, manifests - is represented - and it is through this Inner Divine Voice, the Divine Nature within us, that we are able to perceive and trust, and come into conscious contact with, this Divine Principle.  In the sight of this Within, we are perfect.  We must try to see ourselves as God sees us, free and filled with vitality and sufficiency for every occasion.

It is not enough to confess that God is the only Power there is.  It is only when this consciousness of power is hooked to the dynamo of the mind that there is generated, through the imagination, an embodiment of that which is able to loose it in any direction it sees fit.  It is not enough merely to say that there is One Mind and that Mind is God.  To this we must add:  "That Mind is my mind now."  That completes the thought, makes possible a loosing of the Divine Intelligence through our own imagination.

Let us not forget that, in treatment, we must sense the embodiment of that which we wish to experience.  The statements which are made in the treatment are for the purpose of delivering to the imagination, in a certain form, THAT WHICH WAS TRUE BEFORE WE MADE THE STATEMENTS.  The whole problem is not one of creation, but one of direction, and there is no direction unless there is first an embodiment.  Let us try this in our meditation.  We know that we reflect the Divine Perfection and that there is an intuition within us which guides us.  We know that all the power there is and all the presence there is, is this perfect Spirit, this Divine Reality, which is around us and through us and in us.  Now, each turning directly to his own thought says:

"The Spirit within me, which is God, the Living Spirit Almighty, is Perfection.  It is Wholeness; It is Peace.  It is Divine Guidance, Perfect Peace, Complete Wholeness, Absolute Perfection, and right now, this moment, this Spirit governs every act of my life.  It surrounds me with Light, in which there is no darkness, no gloom, no heaviness and no fear.  In this Light, I live and move and have my being.  And this Light dispels all darkness and casts out all fear.

"This Divine Wisdom within me guides every act, directs everything in my life, toward happiness, toward peace, toward power, and being the Spirit of Love, It surrounds me with beauty, with friendship and with joy.  Being the Giver of Life, every day I receive that which is perfect, abundant, happy, joyful and free.  Being that Divine Thing which individualizes in me, It is entirely individual, personal and unique.  I am the expression of my own complete self, and there is no barrier or bar to that self-expression.  Being the Spirit of Substance, that Spirit within me is the Father of Supply, and It brings to me everything necessary to my unfoldment, and keeps me in the wisdom through which It governs me, now and forever."

I Represent the Principle of Perfection

September 18 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS

By Ernest Holmes

One with Perfect Action

I am One with Perfect Action.  Everything I do, say or think is quickened into action through this right understanding and this correct knowing.

The harmonious action of the great Whole operates through me now and at all times.

I am carried along by this Right Action and am compelled to do the right thing at the right time.

There is nothing in me that can hinder this action from flowing through me.

The action of God is the only action.

September 15 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

The Power Within Blesses All

The Power within me is blessing all mankind, and is forever healing all with whom I come in contact.

The Power within me is God, and It must bless and help and heal all who come near It.

Silently the work goes on, and silently all are being helped by this Inner Power which is operating through me.

I will give thanks that my Power within is silently blessing and helping every one to whom my thought reaches.

The Life within me blesses all mankind.

September 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS

By Ernest Holmes

(The following meditations is printed just as it was given in class and group work.)

My Ideal Merges into the Real

We now let go of everything and enter into the contemplation of peace and good and truth and beauty.  We are conscious that God is All there is, there is nothing else.  We are certain that the Spirit of Reality is our spirit, flows into our spirit and through our spirit.  And we are conscious that Love does guide and direct, lead, maintain and sustain.  We know that each one of us is a center of this Divine Life, in this Perfect Peace, this Complete Happiness, and this Absolute wholeness; and we know that this Perfection - which is the center of our very being - is projected into every atom of our being.

We know that the Law of this Being is perfect and there is no obstruction to Its operation.  We know that the Principle within us guides us, not only into the way of truth, but in the way and the performance of that knowledge.  WHATEVER IS FOR OUR BENEFIT IS ALREADY PROVIDED.  It is all one thing.  It is all One Presence, operating through One fundamental Law, therefore, everything necessary to our well-being (whether we think of it as spiritual, mental or physical), everything necessary to remove any belief in obstruction and the inflow and out-push of that Spirit, is brought into our experience.  All good, all substance, all supply, all activity, all opportunity for self-expression is ours now!

My Ideal Merges into the Real

September 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

No Misrepresentations

No one can misdirect; none can mislead me.

I am free from the belief in all lies and untruths;

I know and speak only the Truth, and the Truth alone can be spoken to me.

I know the false and can understand the Real

I cannot be fooled nor misled; I am guided by Truth alone.

There is no lie nor liar.

September 9 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM The TEACHINGS of JESUS
Ernest Holmes

The New Birth (John 3:3-9)

""Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Jesus is referring to the heavenly birth, which means being born into the knowledge of Truth.  He refers to this as being born of water and Spirit.

The symbol of water is used to express the idea of a complete immersion in Spirit.  As water flows in and around, so we are immersed in an everlasting Spirit which flows around, in and through us.  To be immersed in water symbolizes our recognition that we are surrounded by pure Spirit.  It is the outward sign of an inner conviction.  But water alone cannot make us completely clean or whole.  We must be born of the Spirit, for "that which is born of the spirit is Spirit."

Man partakes of the Divine nature and the Divine nature is man.  The recognition of this is being born of the Spirit.  But we cannot be born of the spirit unless we do the will of the Spirit and the will of the Spirit is goodness, peace, mercy, justice and truth.  It is conscious union with God.

The new birth comes not by observation nor by loud proclamation, but through an inner sense of reality.  We cannot tell where this comes from, if we look to outward things, as it proceeds from the innermost parts of our own being.

Heaven (John 3:13)

"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he hath came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."  Here is another of those hidden meanings which places Jesus among the great mystics.  He says that no man can go to heaven unless he came from heaven, and that he can neither go to, nor come from, heaven unless he is already there!

This is in line with the idea that the Truth knows neither yesterday, today nor tomorrow.  It knows sequence but not time.  Only that can return to heaven which was born in heaven, and since heaven is not a place, but a state of consciousness, the return must be a recognition that heaven is already within.  The son of man, who is also the son of God, is already in heaven and knows it not.

The Son of Man (John 3:14)

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so Jesus tells us must the son of man also be lifted up.  By looking on and believing in this son, we are saved.  Jesus could not have been referring to his own personality, for he knew that this would soon be taken from the sight of humanity.  We must look for a deeper meaning.

We must be lifted up, that is we must realize our Divine nature and relationship to the Truth of God.  This relationship is one of complete unity.  The cross represents the tree of life and may also be thought of as the tree of unity.

When Moses lifted up the serpent, those who looked upon it were healed.  This understanding produced a consciousness of unity, which had healing power.  The Life Principle is either looked up on as material or spiritual.  When looked upon as material, it casts us from the Garden of Eden - the garden of the soul.  The Life Principle viewed only as matter is death, but viewed as life and unity, It becomes life everlasting.  Moses elevated the Life Principle and Jesus did the same.  The son of man must be lifted up, even as Moses lifted up the Life Principle, symbolized by the serpent.

We are reminded here of another symbol, one used in the Old Testament, that of the serpent which cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.  The serpent meant the outer rim of spiritual existence - the Life Principle viewed from an isolated and materialistic basis.  The worship of material existence, apart from God, cast Adam and Eve from the Garden of Perfection.  The attempt to live in effects, apart from True Cause, always does this.

The story of the Fall, taken literally, would be ridiculous to the point of absurdity; hence it is necessary to look for a deeper meaning.  The writer was trying to teach a Cosmic lesson ... the lesson of right and wrong.  The Garden of Eden typifies life in its pure essence.  Adam means man in general, generic man.  Man exists in pure Life and has all of Its agencies at his command.  This si the meaning of his being told to till the soil and enjoy the fruits of his labor. 

The Tree of Life is our real being, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means the possibility of dual choice - that is, we can choose even that which is not for our best good.  Man is warned not to eat of the fruit of this tree, for it  is destructive.

Eve, the woman in the case, was made from a rib of Adam.  this story suggests the dual nature of man as a psychological being.  The woman is made from the man.  She must have been in him else she could not have been made out of him, and the story clearly states that she was taken from his being.

Adam and Eve are potential in all of us.  The serpent represents the Life Principle, viewed from a material basis, which beguiles us in this way:  he says that evil is as real as good; that the devil has equal power with God; that negation equals positive goodness, and that the Universe is dual in Its Nature.  From the acceptance of this argument, we experience both good and evil.  And should we come full-orbed into individuality, without having learned the lesson of unity, we should live forever in a state of bondage.  This is the meaning of God saying, "He shall become as one of us and live forever."  The eternal Mind does not wish us to live forever in bondage, and this is what would happen unless we first learn the lesson of right and wrong.

And so that part of us which can be fooled eats of the fruit of dual experience and in so doing reveals its own nakedness.  The native state of man is one of purity, peace and perfection and it is only when we compare these with impurity, distress and imperfection, that we are revealed as naked.  Emerson tells us that virtue does not know it is virtuous.  It is only when virtue tastes of impurities that it becomes naked and must hide from itself.

The Voice of God, "walking in the garden in the cool of the day," means the introspective and meditative part of us, which in its moments of pure intuition and reason, sees the illusion of a life apart from God or Good.  Error is ever a coward before Truth, and cannot hide itself from Reality, which sees through everything, encompasses all and penetrates even the prison walls of the mind with Its clear effulgence.

The conversation between God and Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, represents the arguments that go on in our own minds, when we try to  realize the truth.  These arguments are familiar to all.  The expulsion from the Garden is a necessary and logical outcome of tasting of dual experience.  If we believe in both good and evil, we must experience both.

But, lest we should become discouraged, we remember that Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and those who looked upon it were healed.  The serpent means the Life Principle.  Viewed from a material basis alone, it casts us from a perfect state.  Lifted up, that is, viewed from a true meaning of the Unity of God, it heals.  Here is the choice again, only stated in different words.  The difference is not in the thing itself, but in the way we look at it.

The son of man is every man who ever lived or ever will live.  Our life is from Spirit, not from matter.  This viewpoint is the truth and truth alone makes free.  We come into everlasting life as we elevate this inner principle to a sense of the unity of man with God.  Each must lift himself to the cross of the tree of Life, thus unifying himself with Reality.  The concept is glorious and the reward certain.  The revelation of the self to the self - this is the great lesson of lessons."

September 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS from the NEW TESTAMENT
Ernest Holmes

The Unity of Life (Eph. 4:1-7)

"The unity of the Spirit is kept through the bonds of peace.  Other than peace suggests confusion and separation.  The Spirit is a perfect unit and we harmonize with this unity when we maintain a state of peace in our minds.

"There is one body and one Spirit."  The entire creation is this body - the Body of God, who is One Spirit.  Within this one Body are all bodies; that is, within the one creation - which is the product of the One Spirit - are all bodies.

We have learned that all material forms come form one ultimate substance.  Any special body is some manifestation of this original stuff.  The original substance takes many forms; multiplicity, or many, within unity, or the One.

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism."  One Lord, who is the indwelling Christ, generic man or the universal Son.  There is but one faith, for faith is an affirmative mental attitude toward the universe; and one baptism, which is the realization that we are in the One Spirit.

"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."  It would be impossible to make a clearer statement of Truth:  One Life behind all that lives!  One, One, One...never two.  The unity of all life.  To learn this is to know a secret of the ages.

Here is a mystical saying:  God is in all, through all, and above all, which means that we partake of the One Life...It is all of us...but we are not all of this Life.  No man can exhaust the Divine Nature, but all live by, in, and through It.  It is in us but also around us - It is what we are but infinitely more than we are!  We shall ever ascend into a greater expression of this One, but we can never completely encompass It.  This is a glorious concept, and one which fills us with wonder at the majesty of our own being - forever hid with Christ in God."

August 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

No False Habit

There are no vicious nor false habits.

Every desire of my thought and heart is satisfied in the Truth.

I do not long for anything nor feel the lack of anything.

I am not complete within myself; I am perfect within myself; I am happy and satisfied within myself.

I am One with All Life within me.

I am free.

August 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS

By Ernest Holmes

I allow Myself to Dip Deeply into My Divine Nature

This meditation is built from the idea that each one of us has within himself a deeper nature, and, of course, this deeper nature being an eternal unity with God, or with the Living Spirit, is more than man; it is where the being of man, or the nature of man, merges into the Being of God.  So, as we dip deeply into our own Divine Natures, let us realize that entering the Secret Presence of this Tabernacle of God, we will, like the Pilgrims of old, have to shed that which does not belong to the Kingdom of Good.  We have to deliberately drop that which would hurt.  We cannot enter this Gate of Good with a sword in our hands.

So we let go of everything and turn to that Divine Depth within our own nature, wherein the Spirit of God - the Spirit of Love and the Spirit of Peace - dwells with calm serenity.   We withdraw into that place within us which has never been hurt, nor has ever been sick, has always and forever lived in divine and eternal peace...the Kingdom of God, which is Good.  And this Inner Kingdom within is all-peace, all-power and all-perfection.  We drop all hate, all fear, all animosity, all resentment.  We cast out of our consciousness every doubt and every sense of uncertainty.  We know that we are entering into that atmosphere of Wholeness, of happiness and completion where there is no fear, no doubt, no uncertainty, no lack, no want.  Here is wholeness, perfection, peace, power beauty, love, supply and life.  We know that the abundance of this life is showered upon us; that we are guided and guarded into right action, into right decision; daily, hourly, minutely, the Principle of Intelligence directs us, the Presence of Love warms us, the Peace of God covers us.  And we are led into the pathway of this peace, into the knowledge of this perfection.

We are conscious of the Indwelling God, and we are conscious that the Indwelling God is filling (instantly renewing) our bodies, absolutely eliminating from us whatever there is that does not belong; co-ordinating every function, every organ, every action and reaction (the circulation, the assimilation, the elimination), making it perfect.  The Life Principle of every part of our being is perfect and harmonious and now functions perfectly in us.  The whole order of discord is changed into the natural order of harmony and wholeness, and we let that Divine Power be exactly what It is in us.  We are no longer afraid, for love casts out fear.  Our faith destroys all fear.  We awake from the dream of fear to the vision of Reality, where there is no shadow of which to be afraid.  We awake from the dream of lack and want and unhappiness to the knowledge of harmony, of abundance and of peace.

I Allow Myself to Dip Deeply into My Divine Nature

August 22 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

By Ernest Holmes

I Shall Not Doubt nor Fear

I shall not doubt nor fear, for my salvation is from On High,

and the day of its appearing is now at hand.

I shall not doubt nor fear, for my whole being responds

to the realization of Life within and around me.

I shall not fear, for the Hosts of Heaven are waiting upon me,

and the Law of the Universe is my Salvation.

I shall not fear.

August 21 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

OTHER TEACHINGS from the NEW TESTAMENT
By Ernest Holmes

Bless and Curse Not (Romans 12:14)

""Bless and curse not."  Here is the whole law and prophets.   We are to overcome evil with good.  Evil lasts but for a day, while goodness shines to eternity and loving kindsness is the very nature of Deity.  As the darkness has no power over light, so evil is overcome with good.

"Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."  This is a statement of the law of cause and effect.  God does not avenge, but the law of cause and effect exacts the uttermost farthing.  We need not worry how things are coming out; the law takes care of everything and returns to each exactly what is his due.

The Great Awakening (Romans 13:11)

"Now it is high time to awake out of sleep."  The belief in a life apart from Good is a dream from which we must awake, if we are to taste the waters of Reality, which flow from the Source of Life.

As one awakes from a nightmare, so the mentality awakes from the dream of living death to a realization of eternal life.  We cast off the works of darkenss when we realize that evil is not an entity but a fraud.  The armor of light is the Truth, the very knowing of which makes free.

This awakening is a process of evolution, a little here and a little there, until the whole eye is opened and we see that life is neither separate from God nor different from Good.  Life is God, and Good is the only power there is, or can be.

To awaken oneself is to be healed, made prosperous, happy and satisfied; to be made every whit whole, to be complete as we were intended to be.  God is a God of the living and not of the dead.  He sees and knows only perfection and completion; happiness and satisfaction.  When we shall think of ourselves as God knows us, then complete salvation will come to us."