November 10 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE PRACTICE of SPIRITUAL HEALING
Ernest Holmes

"We must conceive of the Spirit, God, as governing, controlling and directing man's activity.  God is not a failure.  Therefore, we must resolutely turn away from every experience which has been negative, from every experience which has been a failure, and from every experience which denies God.  The mental and spiritual practitioner should deal with his field alone.  He is not opposed to the medical practitioner, he does not say, "I cannot treat this man if he takes a pill."  Unless the practitioner can prove that the man does not need to take a pill, the patient had better take it if it will benefit him.  There is nothing weird about the application of Truth.  We should not be superstitious in using the Law of Mind.  But the mental practitioner should remain in his own field, which is always the field of thought.

If one is working for a person who has "high blood pressure" or "low blood pressure," after a few treatments he might have his patient go back to his physician for a physical check-up.  "But," one may ask, "can I have spiritual treatment if I do this?"  This is a superstitious reaction and all superstition is ignorance.  If the mental and spiritual practitioner can restore normal blood pressure for his patient, a doctor who can weigh and measure it, can quickly ascertain if the work has been done.  When this is understood, the closest co-operation will be brought about between physician and metaphysician.  It is inevitable that the day shall come when they will understand each other.  They are working in two separate fields, which at the same time have a fundamental unity in one primal principle.  But the mental and spiritual practitioner works in the field of Mind alone."

September 30 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

GENERAL SUMMARY
Ernest Holmes

"Mind is forever conscious of Itself and of what It does.  Its consciousness is Its law.  Its consciousness is perfect and Its laws are perfect.  Mind cannot be conscious of anything but Itself, since It is all.  Spirit is conscious of man since man exists and since God must be conscious of all that is.  Therefore man is, because God is conscious of him.  And God's consciousness of man must be complete and perfect.  Generic man must be held in the Mind of God as a complete and perfect manifestation of the Divine.

Mind is all-inclusive and all-pervading. Mind is also self-governing and self-propelling.  Spirit is conscious of love as Its is conscious of life.  It is inspired by love and Its government is one of love.  Thus love is the fulfilling of the perfect law.  Law is the outcome of love and love is the outpusher through law.  Love and law go hand in hand to produce a complete and perfect manifestation.

Man's consciousness of God constitutes his real and immortal self.  There is really only one man viewed from the Universal sense, but in this one, or "grand man" as it has been called, there are innumerable persons.  Each is in direct relationship to the Whole.  Each is an image of God but God is not lessened by being represented in innumerable forms and through limitless numbers of mentalities any more than the figure five would become exhausted by being used by innumerable mathematicians.

Our consciousness of God is our real self and at the same time it is both personal and impersonal.  It is personal in that it is personified through us and it is impersonal in that we are all using a universal power.  When we know that we are using such a power all doubt as to our ability to use it will vanish and our words will be spoken with spontaneous reliance on Truth.

In spiritual healing the practitioner deals with thought alone.  He is not dealing with a sick body or a sick man.  There is no one to be healed in the Truth and we must think in the Truth if we expect to heal.  There is no material body to be healed and no material man to suffer pain or anguish.  Disease is neither person, place nor thing to the one who wishes to heal.  The practitioner must try to become conscious of perfection alone and nothing else.  In whose mind is he to become conscious of perfection?  In the only person's mind he can ever be conscious of anything, in his own mind.  The first man to be healed is the practitioner.

Here in his own mind he meets the belief in the necessity of sickness or discord.  He repudiates this belief and explains to himself what the real truth is.  He is conscious, as his explanation goes on, that he is meeting and neutralizing false claims held to be true about his patient.  Knowing that they are false, he resolves them into thoughts and heals the thought.  The whole process is one of thought and realization and could not be anything else.

The practitioner works within his own mind until he is mentally satisfied, until the whole reaction in his thought causes him to understand that his patient is now healed.  This healing is really the action of Spirit upon the mind of the healer, the active Principle of truth, goodness and harmony.

Since the Divine must hold us as some part of Its eternal perfection, we are fulfilling our destiny when we think of ourselves as already Divine and perfect.  To contemplate that Divine Life which is at the very center of everyman's life - this is the very essence of mental healing.

This is what we mean by realization.  Words carry the mind forward to a place in thought where realization begins.  At this point the most effective work is done.  It is an inward feeling, a silent sense of Divine Reality.  Troward tells us that the Divine Spirit is the limitless potential of human life.  Which means that the human is really Divine but will ever evolve into newer and better states of conscious being.

In practice we state clearly in words what these ideas mean to us and then we relate these statements to some needed experience or to some desired good which we have not been experiencing.  After using whatever words will bring conviction to our thought we pause and try to realize the presence of the All Power from which every special good comes.  This is the adding the Spirit to the letter of the Law.  However we should never forget that both the letter and the Spirit are necessary in our work.  The letter molds while the Spirit creates.  The thought is a mold, conviction is the molten substance poured into this mold.  One is not complete without the other and many people make the mistake of using only one of these essential states of consciousness.

When we live in obedience to the Power which is over us we shall be able to consciously direct the lesser conditions that are around us.  Adam was permitted to name all creation and man was supposed to exercise an authority over all that is below him.  This means his whole physical environment, of course.  But this power was abused and the experience of lack, sickness and limitation fell upon humanity.  Adam symbolizes everyman's experience. The allegory of Eden is the story of human evolution.

Wherever the image of thought is set, there the Power to create resides.  "God if thou seest God, Dust if thou seest dust." Can we see good where evil appears to be?  Then we can remove the evil.  When we bring a lamp into a darkened room, where does the darkness go?  The darkness neither came nor did it go, anywhere.  It never was a thing of itself, merely a condition.  And we have power over conditions."

June 2 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Physical Perfection - Concluded ~ Ernest Holmes

What Can Be Healed?

"What should we try to heal through spiritual treatment?  If we were dealing only with the power of a thought, we should not expect to heal anything; but if we are dealing with a Universal Principle, why should we set any limit to Its power?

Since the Law of God is Infinite, from the spiritual viewpoint, there is no incurable disease, as opposed to a curable one.  The Law knows nothing about disease; It only acts.  The practitioner realizes that this word is the presence, power and activity of Truth, which is in him, which is Almighty, which is God, "beside which there is none other."

This word is the law unto the thing whereunto it is spoken, and has within itself the ability, the power, and the intelligence to execute itself, through the great Law of all life.  This word being the spontaneous recognition of Living Spirit - Infinite, Ever-Present, and Active - is now made manifest in and through this person, or thing, about which the practitioner is thinking.

To Spirit there can be no incurable disease.  The word "incurable" means not susceptible of being cured.  The root definition of cured is "cared for."  If we say that a disease is incurable, we are saying that it is not sensitive to care.   As long as any cell is alive it is sensitive to care, which means that as long as a person is alive, the cells of the body respond to care.  Naturally, they are not being cured if they are not being property cared for.  We have already learned that disease is largely a state of mind, and we could hardly say that a state of mind is incurable, could we?  We know that thought is constantly changing, forever taking on new ways of expression.  It cannot possibly remain permanent.  It has to change.  Can we not, accordingly, change it to a better state instead of to a worse?

Materia medica is using the term "incurable" less and less frequently, for most disease in the field of medicine is being cured.  Let us then free ourselves from the assumption that any disturbed state of thought need be permanent ("incurable")."

April 27 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Different Methods of Treatment ~ Ernest Holmes

"Although several methods of treatment are used, there are but two distinct methods; one is called the argumentative and the other realization.

The argumentative method is just what the word implies, though the argument is never with another person - it is a process of mental reasoning in which the practitioner argues to himself about his patient.  He is presenting a logical argument to Universal Mind, or Principle, and if it carries with it complete evidence in favor of his patient, the patient should be healed.

The realization method is one whereby the practitioner realizes within himself - without the necessity of step by step building up a conclusion - the perfect state of his patient. It is purely a spiritual and meditative process of contemplating the perfect man, and if the practitioner arrives at a perfect embodiment of the idea, without confusion or doubt, it will at once produce a healing.  Treatment is for the purpose of inducing an inner realization of perfection in the mentality of the practitioner, which inner realization, acting through Mind, operates through the patient.

Another illustration:  Let us suppose that Mary is sick and John is the practitioner.  She comes to him, saying:  "I am sick"  He understands the power of Mind; she does not understand it.  He does not try to hold a thought over her or for her, nor suggest one to her.  He speaks her name and makes his declarations about this name.  He contradicts what appears to be wrong and declares the truth about her.  What happens?  His word, operative through Universal Mind, sets a law in motion, on the subjective side of life, which objectifies through her body as healing.

Mary thinks a miracle has been performed.  No miracle has been enacted. John has used a law, which all men may use if they will.  If Mary had been perfectly well, and her need had been for a position, the treatment would be of like nature; John would have declared into Mind what should be done for Mary.  There is only One Law; Mary could set It in operation for herself if she understood Its nature; sooner or later she must come to understand and make conscious use of this Law.

Between "John" and "Mary" there is One Universal Medium, which is also in John and in Mary.  It is not only between them but in them and around them.  As John, right where he is, knows the Truth, since there is only One, he is at the same time knowing the Truth right where Mary is, because his word is operative through a field which is not divided, but a complete Unit or Whole.  As he knows within himself, he is knowing within the same Mind which operates through the person whom he mentions in his treatment, no matter where that person may be.  There is no absent treatment, as opposed to a present treatment.  When you know in one place, you know everywhere.  When you give a treatment, you never send out a thought, or hold a thought, or make a suggestion.  A treatment is a conscious movement of thought, and the work begins and ends in the thought of the one giving the treatment.  The practitioner must do the work within himself.  He must know the Truth within himself, and as he does this the Law unfolds; a thing which is known by any part of Universal Mind is known by every part of It, for It is an undivided Whole.

If one were treating "Henry Black," who is in another city, he would say:  "I am treating Henry Black of such and such a place."  Then he would forget all about Henry Black as a personality and give the treatment.  It is not necessary to specify the trouble.  Occasionally, there might be reason to mention a thing, in denying its existence, but this is not the best method.  Of course, there are certain thoughts back of certain things, and a knowledge of the disease might better enable some practitioners to know what thought to deny.

Another illustration of the difference between the argumentative method of treatment and the realization method, will be found in the following:

Mary Jones come to John Smith and says, "I have tuberculosis."  In answer to this, he states:  "the word I now speak is for Mary Jones.  She is a perfect and complete manifestation of Pure Spirit, and Pure Spirit cannot be diseased, consequently, she is not diseased."  This is an argument in the mind of "John Smith" trying to bring out the evidence in favor of "Mary Jones'" perfection; it is an argument which produces certain conclusions in his mind, and as a result it sets a certain law in motion for Mary Jones.  As John does this, day after day, he gradually becomes convinced of her spiritual perfection.  This is the argumentative method of treating.  All argumentative statements merely conduct the mind of the practitioner to a place where he believes what he is saying!

In using the method of realization, "John Smith" would say:  "The word that I now speak is for Mary Jones."  Then he would begin to realize the Perfect Presence, the ONLY Perfect Presence.  "God is all there is; there is nothing else.  God is in Mary Jones, she is now a perfect being, she is now a spiritual being."

It makes no difference, however, which method one uses as each produces the same results.  One method is a logical argument in the mind of the practitioner, by which he convinces himself of the Truth of Being; the other is the instant cutting through of all appearances to the Reality back of all things.  Undoubtedly, when we can pursue only the way of pure realization, we will have attained the ideal method.

But since we do not at all times realize man's perfection, we go through this process called "treating" to find it out.  Do not be afraid of this scientific approach; do not be afraid to set down on one side all of the negative appearances, admitting them as a condition; and on the other side bringing all the arguments, one at a time, which offset these apparent conditions, and finally realization will come.

This argumentative method of treatment is a series of affirmations and denials, for the purpose of building up in the mind of the practitioner a state of realization and acceptance.  The power is in the realization, but there is also power in the argument.  The one giving the treatment believes that there is a Power and a Presence that responds to his thought.   No matter what all the world believes, no matter what anyone says, he must believe that this Power does respond to his word.  As Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."  This is conviction, and if a practitioner does not have such conviction he must acquire it.  After much experience, he will learn how best to build up a faith in the Power of Spirit.  We are to approach this Presence simply, directly and easily, for It is within us.  We can never get outside ourselves; we shall always be interior in our comprehension, we are here and It also is here.

In giving spiritual treatments we find that the more completely the mind turns away from lack, the more completely the thought stops trying to figure out how the demonstration can be made, the more completely it refrains from will power, and, strange as it may seem, the less it tries to concentrate, THE MORE POWER IT HAS.  Treatment has nothing to do with any effort which attempts to concentrate the Energy of God.  The Energy of God is already concentrated everywhere.  The gardener does not will potatoes and cabbages into being, but he has a willingness to comply with the law of nature, and provides the conditions which make it possible for this law to produce them."

April 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The First Requisite ~ Ernest Holmes

"The first requisite for the mental and spiritual practitioner is a full sense of the sacredness of his trust; the sacredness of the confidence of his patient, which impels him to pour out his very soul.  This confidence, a practitioner should keep sacred, inviolate.  He should no more betray this trust than would a priest who officiates at the confessional, a lawyer who handles the business and finances of his client, or a physician who cares for the physical well being of his patients.

Practitioners do meet occasionally and discuss cases, as doctors might in a clinic, but they should never mention the names nor the personal affairs of those under treatment.

A Practitioner's Business

It is the practitioner's business to uncover God in every man.  God is not sick.  God is not poor.  God is not unhappy.  God is never afraid.  God is never confused.  God is never out of His place.  The premise upon which all mental work is based is perfect God, perfect man, perfect being.

First, perfect God, then perfect man.  There is a spiritual man who is never sick, who is never poor, unhappy; never confused nor afraid...who is never caught by negative thought.  Browning called this "the spark which a man may desecrate but never quite lose."

These are the tools of thought with which a practitioner works.  Where does he do his work?  IN HIS OWN MIND.  Never anywhere else.  Always in his own thought.  A practitioner never tries to get away from the mind within.

We are practicing scientifically when the mind refuses to see the apparent condition and turns to the Absolute.  A scientific treatment cannot be conditioned upon anything that now exists, upon any experience less than perfection.  In treatment, we turn entirely away from the relative - entirely away from that which appears to be.  We might begin a treatment with the statement:  "With God all things are possible, God can find a way."  We might say:  "They that dwell in the Secret Place of the Most High, etc."  It does not matter so much what one says, it is what one believes when he says it that counts.  He must believe, if he is going to be a successful practitioner, that his word is the law that whereunto it is spoken.

A practitioner, then, is one who, recognizing the power of Mind, definitely, specifically, concretely and consciously speaks from his objective mind into Subjectivity and gives direction to a Law, which is the Actor.

What the practitioner really does is to take his patient, the disease and everything that appears to be wrong, into his own mentality, and here he attempts to dissolve all false appearances and all erroneous conclusions.  At the center of the practitioner's own being, the healing work must be accomplished.

The more completely the practitioner is convinced of the power of his own word, the more power his word will have.  THERE MUST BE A RECOGNITION THAT THE POWER OF THE WORD, OPERATING AS THE TRUTH AND REALITY OF BEING, CAN DO ALL THINGS.  Therefore, the person whose consciousness is the clearest, who has the most complete faith, will be the best healer."

April 22 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Treatment Not Explained in the Bible ~ Ernest Holmes

"From beginning to end, in one way or another, the Bible teaches the law of cause and effect, based upon the premise that the Universe is a spiritual system, that the Infinite creates by the power of Its word or the contemplation of Its consciousness, and, as a complement to this, that man reproduces the Universal on an individual scale.

The bible does not tell us how to give a treatment.  It is only within the last hundred years that the science which we are studying has been given to the world.  It is not an old system of thought.  The old systems of thought did contain the Truth, but one would never learn how to give an effective mental treatment by studying them.  We would no more learn how to give a treatment by studying the Bible, than we would learn how to psycho-analyze a person.  The principle of spiritual treatment is implied in the Bible as well as in other sacred writings of antiquity, but one could not learn how to give a treatment from reading any of these Scared Books.  From all of these sources we gain a tremendous spiritual inspiration, but they do not teach how to give a treatment.

What Is a Practitioner?

The one who attempts to heal himself or another through a recognition of the creative power of Mind and the ever availability of Good, is a mental or spiritual practitioner.  Such a one refuses to allow negative thoughts to control his consciousness.   He endeavors to greet the divinity in every man he meets.

The one seeking to demonstrate the power of spiritual realization in everyday affairs should believe in Divine guidance.  He should affirm that his mind is continually impressed with the images of right action, and that everything in his life is controlled by love, harmony and peace; that everything he does prospers, and that the Eternal Energy back of all things animates everything which he undertakes.  Every objective evidence contrary to good should be resolutely denied, and in its place should come a sense of right action.  He should feel a unity of Spirit in all people, and running through all events.  He should declare that the Spirit within him is God, quickening into right action everything he touches, bringing the best out of all his experiences, and forever guiding and sustaining.  The greatest good which his mind is able to conceive should be affirmed as a part of his everyday experience.  No matter what the occupation of such a man, he is a mental and spiritual practitioner, and from such daily meditation he should venture forth into a life of action, with the will to do, the determination to be, and a joy in becoming!

The professional mental and spiritual practitioner is one who has dedicated his life - his time, his energies, his intelligence - to helping others, through mental and spiritual means and methods."

February 9 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

That Which Changes ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"We have learned that Spirit is the Absolute Being, that It is the only thing in the universe which has self-knowingness, volition, choice or will.  The Soul is the servant of the Spirit and has no choice and no purpose other than to execute the purpose given It.  The Spirit of the Universe cannot change; begin ALL, there is nothing for It to change into.  The Soul of the Universe must obey the Will of the Spirit.  THE BODY OF THE UNIVERSE CANNOT HELP CHANGING!  This is what constitutes the eternal activity of Spirit within Itself; the Spirit passing into form - creation eternally going on.  Since Spirit must be manifest in order to be conscious, there must be a way in which It manifests and there must be a manifestation.  So we have Soul and Body.  Body, the manifestation and Soul, the Way, or Law by which It manifests."