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 5 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT The MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Ultimate Salvation for All (Conclusion)

"There cannot be a Law in the Universe which demands evil, lack, limitation, and the experience of unhappiness, to provide shades to magnify Its glory.  Therefore, the mystics have taught that evil has only the power to destroy itself; that it is not God-ordained.  From the viewpoint of reality, it is an illusion, but they have not denied it as an experience.  It is an experience all have had.  The great have not failed to recognize the appearance of evil, but they have separated the appearance from the reality.  They have done away with evil as a cosmic entity - NO DEVIL, NO HELL, NO TORMENT, NO DAMNATION outside of one's own state of thought, NO PUNISHMENT outside of that self-inflicted, through ignorance; and NO SALVATION OUTSIDE OF CONSCIOUS CO-OPERATION WITH THE INFINITE.  Heaven and Hell are states of consciousness."

September 22 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT the MYSTICS TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

What is a Mystic? (continued)

"Man has compelled nature to do his bidding.  He has harnessed electricity, caught the wind, trapped steam, and made them do his will.  He has invented machines to do the work of thousands.  He has belted the globe with his traffic and built up a wonderful civilization; but in a few cases has he conquered his own soul.  The mystic has revealed things that do not pass as ships in the night.  He has revealed Eternal Verities and has plainly taught us that there is a Living Presence indwelling ALL.  This constitutes the greatest intellectual and spiritual heritage of the ages.  The balance of our knowledge of God must come as a direct impartation from Him.  We must learn it for ourselves.

The mystic does not read human thought, but rather he senses the atmosphere of God.  The mystics of every age have seen, sensed and taught THE SAME TRUTH!  Psychic experiences, on the other hand, bear the exact opposite testimony, as they more or less contradict each other, for each psychic sees a different kind of mental picture.  But the mystic experiences of the ages have revealed ONE AND THE SAME TRUTH!

A psychic sees largely through his own, or another's subjective mentality.  Consequently, his impressions are more or less colored by the vibration of his own or another's thought.  He is subject to hallucinations and false impressions of every description.  That is why, generally speaking, no two psychics see the same thing.  Mystics have all sensed one identical Reality, and their testimony is in no way confusing, because the Spirit within them has borne witness to the same Truth.

The mystics have been perfectly normal people.  They did not think of themselves as mystics, that was their language.  It was natural to them - perfectly normal.  They have been people like Jacob Boehme, a cobbler, pegging away at his shoes, who, looking up, saw in the geranium plant the reflection of the Cosmos - the very soul of God; like Jesus looking into the heart of nature; like Moses reading God's Law from a burning bush."

July 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

By Ernest Holmes

When We Are Strong (John 5:19)

““The Son can do nothing of himself.”  We are strong only as we are in unity with good, which is God.  But the Father showeth the Son, that is, it is revealed to us, through the innermost parts of our being, that there is a complete unity, a perfect wholeness.  As this concept of unity takes place, it brings with it great authority.  The Father quickens the Son, the Son quickens whom he will.

Here is a lesson in the practical application of the Science of Mind.  As the subjective state of thought becomes unified with goodness and love, it automatically reflects these in whatsoever direction the thought goes.  The tendency of this inner thought sets the tendency of the outward life.

Let us make this plain.  IF ONE IS NOT ATTRACTING GOOD INTO HIS LIFE, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIS UNCONSCIOUS THINKING.  The subjective state of his thought is wrong.  As the subjective state of his thought constitutes the sum total of his belief, it is his habitual attitude toward life and living.  This inner thought content is the sole medium between the Absolute and the relative, between causes and condition.

When this inner thought is clarified, that is, when it knows the truth, it will reinstate the outer man in peace, poise, health and happiness.  This inner thought becomes clarified as we unify with good; this is the inner quickening.  Following this is the outer quickening – the outward sign of the inner belief.

The Word of Power (John 5:26)

As the Father has life, so the son has life.  Again we have the teaching that there is but One Life, Mind or Spirit.  This Life is now our life, and manifests through us as we believe in It.  When our word is spoken in this consciousness of life, power and action, then our word IS life, power and action.

THE word has power only as it is one with power.  The word is a mold which decides what form the thought is to take as it assumes shape and becomes a part of our conditions.  Mental treatment is for the purpose of forming the word into such shapes and designs as are desirable for experience.

The word gives form to the unformed.  The greater the consciousness behind the word, the more power it will have.  Just words, without conviction, have no power, and just conviction without words, will never stir up latent energy.  There must be a combination of the two to make a complete thing.

We are surrounded by a spiritual consciousness and a mental law.  From combinations of these two, all things are made.  We unify with the spiritual consciousness as we become aware of it, we speak it into form as we believe in the power of our own word.  In treatment, there should be first a realization of power then a spoken word.  One generates, the other distributes.

The Meat Which Perisheth (John 6:27)

“Labour not for the meat which perisheth.”  Jesus knew that we need food to eat while in the flesh, so he could not be referring to literal food, but rather to that inner substance which is spiritual.

Starvation takes place on more than one plane.  More people are starved spiritually and intellectually than physically.  A full stomach will never appease an appetite for learning, nor can a loaf of bread satisfy the inner craving for reality.  The whole being needs to be fed – bread and meat for the body, knowledge and wisdom for the soul, atmosphere and consciousness for the Spirit.

We live on three planes at the same time.  To attempt to desert any one of these, to the cost of the others, is abnormal.  To live only on the physical plane is to become a brute.  To live on the intellectual plane alone, might produce a learned and a scientific man, but he would lack true perception.  To live only on the spiritual plane, might cause one to become a dreamer without any practical way of making his dreams come true.

The Three Planes of Life

Man is a threefold principle of life and action; he is spirit, soul and body.  From the Spirit he receives inspiration and guidance; in the soul he finds a perfect Law of life; and through the body he proves that he is a real individualization of the Invisible Principle.

Man’s mind should swing from inspiration to action, from contemplation to accomplishment, from prayer to performance.  This would be a well-balanced existence.  The Spirit fires the soul with energy and understanding; the soul, which is the subjective mentality, vitalizes the body and animates all that we do.

No greater mistake could be made than to think we must separate life from what it does.  We must unify and not divide.  The spirit must go forth into creation through law and action.  Life must enter living, and God must flow through man, if there is to be a real representation of the Divine through the human.

Let us feel that our purposes are animated and inspired from on high and then let us go forth and make our dream come true in human experience.  With an invisible  Intelligence to guide, and an immutable Law to direct, let us take our place in any legitimate activity, and thus cause our dreams to come to full fruition.”

May 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Seeing Perfection ~ Ernest Holmes

"When Jesus said to the man, "Stretch forth thine hand," he undoubtedly saw a perfect hand!  If everything is mental, and if Jesus saw an imperfect hand instead of a perfect one, no good would have resulted, according to the law of cause and effect. A practitioner does not treat a sick man, he deals only with the idea, a spiritual man; otherwise, he would enter into the vibration of suffering and might himself experience the result of such vibration.  From what we know, Jesus must have seen only the perfect hand.  Even though he might have recognized the false condition, as far as his word of healing was concerned, it must have been a recognition of perfection...else it could not have healed.

Healing is not creating a perfect idea or a perfect body; it is revealing an idea which is already perfect.  Healing is not a process, it is a revelation, through the thought of the practitioner to the thought of the patient.  There may be a process in healing, but not a process of healing.  The process in healing is the mental work and the time it takes the practitioner to convince himself of the perfectness of his patient; and the length of time it takes the patient to realize this perfectness.

Back of what we call the human body, there must be a Divine Body.  It is not necessary to visualize this spiritual body, but we should sense body as a spiritual idea, that the flow and circulation of life through it is complete.  It is not inhibited...not congested.

It is necessary that the practitioner believe in a perfect body.  He cannot realize this unless he has already become convinced that the perfect body IS there.  If he has come to this conclusion, he must not deny it.  There is a perfect heart and a perfect idea of heart, a perfect head and a perfect idea of a head, perfect lungs and a perfect idea of lungs.  The practitioner must realize that back of the appearance is the Reality, and it is his business to uncover this Reality.  He does this through a process of obliterating false thought.  He must deny false conclusions, bring out the evidence of perfection, and produce the healing.  Disease is a fact but not a truth; it is an experience but not a spiritual reality.

We must transcend the appearance, even though we admit it as a fact.  We are not so cold-blooded as to say to a person with pain that there is no such thing as pain.  That is not our idea or purpose.  We admit the fact.  IT IS QUITE A DIFFERENT THING TO ADMIT ITS NECESSITY.  We admit that there is unhappiness, but it would be unthinkable to admit that one has to be unhappy.  Can it be true that there could be a Universal necessity for unhappiness.  IT CANNOT.  And the time will come when no one will be unhappy!  I do not know when it will come.  I am not going to wait for it to come, but it is certain that such a time will arrive; and it will come to you and to me NOW in such degree as we will let it come.  We shall be able to let it come in such degree as we are able to convince our consciousness that it is there, and when it finally does come, we shall find that it was always there!

Disease, accordingly, is a fact but not a truth.  It is not an eternal verity.  It was a fact in human experience for ages that people did not broadcast over a radio, but it was not a truth that they could not.  It was not a divine Reality, because had they known how to manufacture a radio and talk over it, they could have broadcast in any age.  So we must try to see and sense that always, back of the appearance, PERFECTION IS."

March 22 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Where Did Man Come from and Why? ~ Ernest Holmes

"To inquire why Life itself is, is useless, for Life is self-existent, and all of the science, wit and art of man can never fathom that which is self-existent.  "I am that I am."  Since we are, we must have evolved from, or become manifested in, that which is.  Our physiological and psychological reactions, are reactions to something which has an actual existence, intelligence and consciousness.  Our actions and reactions can be analyzed.  The invisible Life Principle incarnated in us cannot be analyzed.  Any attempt to do so is futile.

Facts admit of proof, Life announces Itself.  We know that we are; even a flat denial of our existence would constitute a bold affirmation of its reality.  If we were to push our history back to some beginning, we should still be compelled to make the simple statement that man is.  If man's life is of God, then it comes from a Source that had no beginning, so the question as to WHY he is, must forever remain unanswered.  God could not tell why God is!  To suppose that Life could give an excuse or reason for being would be to suppose an absurdity.  Life IS, and right at this point all inquiry into Truth starts, and from this point alone must this inquiry continue.

We are not so much interested, however, in why we are, as in what we are.  That we are some part of Life, no one can deny and keep faith with reason."

February 25 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

THE NATURE of BEING (continued) ~ Ernest Holmes

"Man's idea of Deity evolves with his other ideas. After a belief in many gods, he comes to realize there is One Mind and One Spirit back of all manifestation.  One Spirit, or Self-Conscious Life, acting through the medium of One Mind or Subjective Law, producing many manifestations. Multiplicity comes from Unity without breaking up the Unity of the Whole.

Spirit is Self-Knowing, but Law is automatic and obeys the Will of Spirit, having no alternative other than to obey.  Like all law, the Law of Mind is an impersonal force, and because of Its nature It is compelled to act.

Soul and Universal Subjective Mind have the same meaning, and are the Creative Medium of all thought and action.  Soul is also the Substance of Spirit, the unformed Stuff, from which all forms are evolved.

Spirit, acting upon Soul, produces Creation.  Spirit, Soul and Substance intersphere each other, each being omnipresent.  Creation takes place within Spirit, and is the result of the contemplation or the self-knowingness of Spirit.  Creation is eternally going on; change is always taking place within that which is Changeless.  forms appear and disappear in a Medium which of Itself is formless.

Spirit thinks or knows within Itself, and, as a result of this inner action, Creation manifests.  Creation is the play of Life upon Itself, through Divine Self-Imagination.  Spirit must create in order to be expressed.  Spirit, Life, Soul, Substance, Law and Unity are all Co-Existent and Co-Eternal with each other.  The only thing that changes is form.  Spirit makes things out of Itself by becoming the thing It makes.  There is no effort in the process.

Conscious Mind and Spirit have the same meaning:  that part of Reality which is Self-Knowing.

Subconscious and Subjective Mind, Soul and Mental Medium, Universal Subjectivity and Law, all have the same meaning:  that part of Reality which acts as Law.

Body, Creation, or the manifest universe, is the result of Spirit acting through Law.  Body, Creation, or the manifest Universe is a result of the Knowingness of Spirit.

Spirit alone is Self-Conscious.  Law and manifestation are automatic reactions to Spirit.

Soul, or Subjective Mind, Substance or unformed Stuff, and Conscious Spirit permeate all things and all people.  There is an Intelligence acting through everything, and everything responds to this Intelligence.

It cannot be too plainly stated that Spirit, or Conscious Intelligence, is the only Self-Assertive Principle in the Universe.  "Spirit is the Power that knows Itself," and is the only Power that is self-knowing, everything else is subject to Spirit.  The sole and only operation of Spirit is through Its Word, acting as Law through Substance, producing Creation."

February 17 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Punishment and Reward ~ Ernest Holmes

"Before we leave this subject of bondage and freedom, we wish to make clear that there is no sin but a mistake, and no punishment but an inevitable consequence.  Wrong doing must be punished, for the Law of Cause and Effect must be eternally operative. Right acts are rewarded in the same manner.

We do not say that man cannot sin; what we say is, that he does sin - or make mistakes - and he is thereby automatically punished AS LONG AS HE CONTINUES TO MAKE MISTAKES; but bondage is not real to the Universe and sin is not real to God. This does not mean that we can do whatever we wish, with disregard for the consequences; nor does the fact that we are punished for our mistakes mean that there is an evil power in the Universe; it does mean that there is an immutable Law of Cause and Effect running through everything. We are not punished for our sins but by them.  Sin is its own punishment and righteousness is its own reward!

The age-long discussion of the problem of evil will never be answered until we realize that evil is not a thing of itself.  It is simply a misuse of the Law of Freedom.  The problem of evil will be met only to the degree that we cease doing evil and do good, for the evil will disappear when we no longer indulge in it.  When the whole world sees the right and does it; then, and not until then, will the problem of evil be solved for the entire race.

Spirit, Soul, and Body

It is necessary that we understand the Unity of all life, the Unity of God and man on all three planes.  We have studied Universal Spirit; Universal Subjectivity, which is called the Soul of the Universe, and Universal Spirit in manifestation, which is called the physical Universe, or the Body of God.

Studying man, we find that his body - like the physical Universe - devoid of mind or intelligence, has no volition.  It may be permeated with intelligence, but it is not intelligent.  It is one with the Body of God, the physical universe.

What did we learn about the Soul of the Universe?  Remember the qualities that were discussed under the head of Subjectivity, and you will find all of them depicted in what is called the subjective nature of man; for our subconscious or subjective mind reproduces all of the attributes belonging to Universal Subjective Mind.  When we turn to the spirit of man, we find that it is one with the Spirit of God, i.e., man is a self-conscious, thinking, choosing center of individualized intelligence, or God-Consciousness, in the great Whole.

So we find that man is one with everything physical in the physical world; one with the Soul of the Universe in the subjective world; and one with the Spirit of God in the conscious world.  Through that which we call our objective or conscious mind, comes what we know of God and Life.  The objective, or conscious mind is the spiritual mind for which we have been looking, but it is not fully developed.  If this were not so, there would be no mind with which to look.  The objective mind must be the spiritual mind of man, since it is the only thing about him which knows that he has life and is conscious of itself!

The whole of Spirit is potentially focused in our individual objective consciousness, but we have not yet evolved to a realization of this, except in a slight degree.  We approach and contact the Larger Spirit through our own spirit or conscious mind.  The doorway to the Absolute stands open at the center of our intuitive perception. We enter the Absolute through that which appears to be finite, because the finite must be drawn from the Infinite.  This Spirit which animates us is the same Spirit which animates all life and everything that lives. Emerson said that we animate what we see and see what we animate, the reason for this being that only as we truly see can the Divine Harmony be reflected through us and animate that which is seen.

The spirit of man is equipped with decision, will, choice, volition, intellect and purpose.  It is the microcosm within the Macrocosm, which means the little world within the big world.  It is also called the image of God; it is Sonship, the Sonship of the Father; it is Emmanuel or God with us; it is the Christ or Logos, which means the Word, it can reason both inductively and deductively.

The spirit of man seems to have an external and in internal perception.  Its external perception is by appearance; its internal, through intuition. Appearances would limit the future possibility of man to the uses he has already made of Life, and thus circumscribe the Infinite, hence we are told to judge righteously and not by appearances.  Plotinus tells us that there are three ways by which we gather knowledge:  through science, through opinion, and through intuition or illumination.  These channels represent spiritual capacities since each is an avenue leading to self-knowingness, and self-knowingness is the very nature and essence of Spirit.  Science is spirit inducing Its own laws.  Intuition is Spirit knowing Itself. Opinion is our estimate of Reality.  All are spiritual faculties and should be so considered in the study of this Science.  The race is growing into a broader divinity, from age to age, as more and more of Reality opens before its onward march in its eternal progress.

We should think of our spirit as being some part of the Universal Spirit, and of our minds as open to the Divine Influx.  As any specific knowledge must come  from the center of all knowledge, it follows that whenever and wherever the mind of man is open to the Divine Influx, it will receive instruction directly from the center and source of All.  Science, invention, art, literature, philosophy and religion, have one common center from which, through experience, is drawn all knowledge.

We should neither separate Spirit from matter...physical form from that which gives form...nor Life from living.  To supposed that one must retire from the world to be spiritual is one of the greatest possible mistakes.  This is directly opposed to the self-evident truth that Spirit enjoys Itself only in Its own works, which is Its self-manifestation  We enter into the Spirit of Life only as we enter into the spirit of living."