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."
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."
