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."

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 21 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT the MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

What Is a Mystic?

"A mystic is not a mysterious person but is one who has a deep, inner sense of Life and of his unity with the Whole.  Mysticism and psychism are entirely different.  One is real while the other may, or may not, be an illusion.  There is nothing mysterious in the Truth, so far as It is understood, but all things seem mysterious until we understand them.

A mystic is one who intuitively perceives Truth and, without mental process, arrives at Spiritual Realization.  It is from the teachings of the great mystics that the best in the philosophy of the world has come.  Who was there who could have taught such men as these?  By what process of mentality did they arrive at their profound conclusions?  We are compelled to recognize that Spirit alone was their Teacher; they were indeed taught of God.

Our great religions have been given by a few who climbed the heights of spiritual vision and caught a fleeting glimpse of Ultimate Reality.  No living soul could have taught them what they know.

The great poets have been true mystics who, through their poems, have revealed the Presence of God.  Men like Robert Browning, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Homer, Walt Whitman, Edward Rowland Sill, and others of like nature, have given us poetry which is immortal, because they had a spiritual sense of life.

Great spiritual philosophers are mystics.  The old prophets were mystics - David, Solomon, Jesus, Plotinus, and a score of others, all had the same experience - the sense of a Living Presence.  The greatest music ever composed was written by the hand of a mystic, and the highest and best in art has come from men of spiritual perception."

August 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
Ernest Holmes

Heart Trouble

"The heart is the center of Divine Love and perfect circulation.  Its action is harmonious, vital, adequate and complete.  There is no false action and no wrong action.  The pulsations of life are steady, unceasing and perfect.  "Let not your heart be troubled."  Love is at the center of man's being, and the calm, continuous, pulsations of life are governed by Love.

Solomon is accredited with many words of wisdom, none of which are more appropriate just here than his admonition:  "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."  (Prov. 4:23)  In the days when we had no knowledge of whether the emotions should be expressed, repressed or suppressed, the reference to the heart was hardly as significant as it is today.  Now, in the light of experience, there is no question but that anything that touches the sympathetic nature of man has within it the power to build up or destroy the physical body of man.  The daily record of fatalities from "heart trouble," bears evidence of this.  Sudden shock, terrific loss - particularly loss of love - FEAR, all kinds of fear, are some of the thoughts which quickly manifest in the body of man as "heart trouble."  The remedy for this is LOVE.  "Perfect love casteth out fear;" and a Divine fearlessness, a singleness of purpose, a determination to think only God-like thoughts, should be used in treating heart trouble.

Almost every case of heart trouble can be traced to thoughts of strain and inharmony; sometimes to disappointment or disagreement with a loved one; or to a feeling of loss from financial reverses.  A belief that we can be in a position from which God absents Himself.  We reiterate, a remedy for all heart trouble is LOVE.  The heart is known as the center of love, which is the healing balm for every inharmonious thought.  As we recognize our Oneness with Infinite Intelligence, we are set free from uncertainty and pain.  As long as we realize that our heart is a living center, through which the Love of God flows to bless eternally, not only our own lives but the lives of all whom we contact - as long as we realize this, our heart cannot be troubled.

Another thought to be handled in treating any kind of heart trouble is the thought of age.  The race-suggestion carries a strong belief about the unpleasant conditions which may present themselves as one "grows old."  Among these is the physical condition termed hardening of the arteries, which hinders the free flow of blood to the brain.  A treatment must be so formulated as to recognize that there is but One Mind, consequently, no thought of depression, fear, or suggestions of imperfection can flow through It.  Man is birthless, deathless, ageless Spirit; and this should be the consciousness of our work.  This leaves nothing to be born, mature, decay and die.  Life cannot grow old.  God - in us, and through us, as us - can only express according to His Own Nature, which is Perfection.  Therefore, the Law of our being is the Law of perfect assimilation, elimination and circulation; and it is the law of obliteration to anything unlike Itself.  A knowledge of our Oneness with the God-Life all about and within us, that this life is governed by Divine Law and Harmony within us, that our only need is to cooperate mentally with this Law of Life, will heal when we recognize Its presence and activity within us.

Some physicians now claim that the action of the heart is a reflex action, and that the dilation and contraction of the heart is controlled by sympathetic nerve centers in the spine; and while they say that will does not control the heartbeat, emotions do affect the heart and sudden and unexpected grief often causes instant death.  Loving thoughts for all will remove tenseness, stimulate the heart into healthy action, and send new life to every part of the body.  "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.""

August 17 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

FROM the TEACHING of JESUS

By Ernest Holmes

Why Jesus Had Such Power

"In this book no attempt is made to discuss all the sayings of Jesus.  He lived in a world of spiritual realization far beyond that of which the average man has any understanding.  As spiritual things must be spiritually discerned, so the full meaning of his sayings can never be clear to us until we have attained a consciousness equal to his.  But in the record of his sayings there is much which bears witness to our own belief, and, no doubt, could we penetrate the meaning of his teaching, we should have a perfect explanation of our own philosophy.

Jesus discerned spiritual truth.  Why or how we do not know, nor does it make any difference.  The world has not produced another like him and, until it does, he must receive a unique place in the history of human character.

Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone (Matt. 4:4)

What did Jesus teach?  "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Who eats of bread alone, will continually hunger.  To the physical benefits of the human board must be added the spiritual strength of divine wisdom."

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.”

July 2 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

"Spiritual knowing is correct mental treating.  Love is the impulsion of mental treatment.  A consciousness of the Divine Presence in the one we are seeking to help is necessary, for we must provide different mental equivalents for healing than those which create disease.

If the manifest universe is the outward form of the thought of Spirit; if it is a result of the Self-Knowingness of God, and if we are of like nature to the Supreme Mind, then it follows that in giving mental treatment we are going through a mental process of self-knowing.  Consequently, only that kind of treatment will be effective that knows it will be effective.  This is the true meaning of faith for faith is not a foolish fancy, it is a dynamic fact.

The treatment will find an outward correspondence in the objective world which will exactly equal its inward conviction, when it is given, plus the necessity of its finding mental acceptance by the one for whom it is given.  The more we think this over the more rational it will appear to be.

Faith in God is such a complete conviction that the Spirit will make the gift, that there is no longer any subjective contradiction.  This faith can exist only in such degree as the conviction is in line with Reality.  We cannot believe that any law of the Universe will ever change its own nature because we desire it to do so.  AS WE COME INTO THE SPIRITUAL REALM - which is a perfectly natural and normal realm - WE HAVE TO COME INTO IT IN ITS OWN NATURE.  It is a unity.  There must be nothing vicious in it.  Remember what Jesus said?  "Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift."  Why?  Because we cannot enter into peace while we are in a state of confusion.  It cannot be done.  We cannot manifest love when we have a mental equivalent of hate in our hearts and minds."

June 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Suggestions for Treatments ~ Ernest Holmes

"In giving mental and spiritual treatments, it is better not to dwell too much on the negative, since we are liable to give it undue importance.  To affirm the presence of God is better than to deny the presence of evil.  However, if the presence of evil persists in making its appearance, it is sometimes well to deny it, to know it is neither person, place nor thing, that it does not belong to us, and that it cannot operate through or around us.  It is neither cause, medium, nor effect.  It is neither imagination, idea, nor reflection.  It is neither visible nor invisible.  It cannot emanate from God, and does not emanate from man.  The devil is a myth, and heaven is lost merely for the lack of an idea of harmony.  "Stand still and watch the sure salvation of the Lord."  This Lord Is always an indwelling Presence.  The individual "I" which is an incarnation of the Universal "I Am."

A practitioner should think of his patient as a perfect entity, living in a perfect Universe, surrounded by perfect situations and governed by perfect Law.  The entire Universe is devoted to his good.  "All the Father hath is thine."  "Arise, O Son, and take."  This taking is better accomplished through an affirmative attitude of  mind than by dwelling too much on the negative.  "Behold!  The kingdom of heaven is at hand," but this kingdom must be recognized.  The recognition is a mental act.  We must know that the All-Powerful Spirit is ever available and ever equal to the healing of any discordant condition of body, mind or affairs, but we must never look outside of ourselves to find this Spirit, since It is indwelling.  What we really do is to look within our own consciousness, and "pray to the Father who is in secret and the Father who seeth in secret, shall reward us openly."  The sincere practitioner will be sure his own thought is clear, that his own faith is equal to the demands made upon it.  Above all else he must be careful not to be caught in the negative stream of consciousness.  Jesus could not have raised Lazarus from among those who were believed to be dead if he had been afraid to "roll away the stone," nor if he had listened to the wailing of those about him.  To be spiritually minded is to enter that tranquil atmosphere of pure thought, that "Heavenly Consciousness" which is "the secret place of the Most High" in man.

In beginning a series of treatments for any person, we start with the idea of Perfect God, Perfect Man, and Perfect Being.  In every case it is well to begin by the removal of doubt and fear, to assure ourselves that the one whom we are seeking to help is complete and perfect, harmonious and whole.  Next we must conform our arguments, statements and realizations so that they may measure up to this high ideal.

It is easy to believe that God is perfect.  We must also believe that the spiritual man is perfect, and since it is difficult to believe that the objective man is perfect, we must confine our statements to a realization of the spiritual perfection of man.  In such degree as our realization becomes a subjective embodiment, the objective healing will automatically take place.  We know the background of human thought is, to a great extent, one of negation, a denial of an harmonious and spiritual Universe; consequently, our outlook on life must be transformed by the renewing of the mind, and even when the results are not immediately forthcoming, we must still maintain a calm serenity of thought.  We must relight the torch of our imagination by "fire caught from heaven."  We must remain faithful to this vision for a realization of the Presence of God is the secret power of our work.

The following examples are not to be considered dogmatic; they are merely suggested ways by which one may do effective work.   The practitioner must realize that all power is given unto him.  He must believe that man is spiritual and he must be certain that his statements about the spiritual man will find a corresponding outlet in the physical man.  However, he is very careful never to treat the physical man, but to think of man's entire being as spiritual, and if man's entire being is spiritual, then his physical being must reflect spiritual ideas.  The practitioner supplies these spiritual ideas and lets the Law of Mind do the rest.  To begin the treatment by a silent assurance that man, being spiritual, is exempt from negation, is a correct starting point.  Infinite Love harmonizes man's entire being.  The healing currents of Life flow through him, taking away every negative thought and manifestation, and adjusting his whole physical being to the idea of Divine Harmony."

May 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Only Our Own Concepts Limit Us ~ Ernest Holmes

“Realizing that conscious thought operates through a Power which is Infinite, we see there can be no limit to the power to heal, other than the limit of our ability to conceive that Power as healing.  We are limited, not by Principle, but by our own inability to see perfection.  Our thought can bring out a condition as perfect as we can conceive.  Therefore, the man whose thought is the most God-like – that is, the truest, the highest, the most noble, the most complete, the most peaceful – will be the best healer.  His thought reflects a greater perfection.  That is why we cannot divorce true mental healing from true spiritual work.  When thought reaches a higher degree of perfection, as the race consciousness unfolds and evolves, it will bring out a still greater development of life than we know now.”

April 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

My Word Comes Back to Me

My word comes back to me laden with the fruits of its own speech.

My word is the Law unto my Life, and the Law unto everything that I speak.

O Word, go forth and heal and bless all humanity.

Tell them of their Divine Birthright.

Tell the stranger that he is not alone, but that One goes with him

Who knows and cares.

Tell the sick that they are healed and the poor that they cannot want,

Tell the unhappy of the joy of the Soul, and break the bonds of those who are in prison.

My word shall come back to me blessed of God and man.

My Word Shall Bear Fruit

The Word of my mouth shall bear fruit.

It shall accomplish and prosper, and shall not return unto me void.

My Word is the law unto the thing whereunto it is sent, and it cannot come back empty-handed.

I send out my Word and it is the law unto my life.

My Word is the Law unto the thing whereunto it is spoken, and will become fulfilled in the right way and at the right time.

My Word is complete and perfect, and is the Presence and the Power of the One Mind that is in and through all.

I speak the Word and know that it will accomplish.

I wait in perfect confidence for the Word to fulfill itself in my life.

My Word Is Law.

April 17 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

Whose Right It Is to Come

He has come Whose right it is.

He has made His home within me, and will nevermore depart from me.

I shall walk no more alone, for One walks with me

Who knows the path of Life, and Whose feet will never falter nor fail.

My Inner Light shines through the mist of human beliefs

And frees me from the bondage of fear and limitation.

I shall walk with You, my Friend, and shall learn of You the ways of Life and Freedom.

We shall travel together from this day, and none can part us,

For we are united in the perfect bonds of an everlasting unity.

I walk with Thee.

I Control My Mental Household

I conquer my mental household and cast out all fear and doubt.

Let my Word cast out all sense of fear and doubt

and let my thoughts be lifted unto Him Who lives Within.

My Word has dissolved all fear within me, and has cast out all doubt.

My Word shall guard my thought and make me receive only that which is Good and Perfect.

I control my life.

March 31 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

GENERAL SUMMARY ~ Ernest Holmes

"No form is permanent.  All forms return into the Formless.  The Formless is Eternal.  All form is temporary.  There is an eternal play of Life upon Itself.  This is necessary in order that Mind may be expressed.  Man is an expression of Original Mind and he can call temporary forms into being if he wills to.  Indeed he cannot stop doing this and thereby hangs the tale of good and evil.

Through our own individualized subjective mind we contact the Law of the Universe and make use of the Mind of God.  Our conscious mind is limited, but the Subjective part of us, being Universal, is without limit.  This Limitless Medium we may use for whatsoever purpose we will.  If we use It for destructive purposes we shall bring destruction upon ourselves.  The Universe is fool proof.  But there is no liability in using any creative power if we use it constructively.

We can tap the reservoirs of the Universal Mind through the use of our own thought.  We can use this power for the healing of the physical body or for the changing and the control of conditions around us, the reason being that both body and affairs are fluent.  They are Mind held in form.

Man's mind is the Mind of God functioning at the level of man's understanding of his place in the Universe.  Man contacts the Mind of God at the center of his own being.  It is useless to seek elsewhere.  "The Highest God and the innermost God is One God."  Through the medium of Mind man unifies with the Universe and contacts a Power that can do anything for him that he is able to conceive of Its doing. Of course, this Power will never deny Its own Nature.

This Law of Mind is man's access to the Original Creative Genius of the Universe, and has no intention for us other than the intention that we give It.  The Will of Spirit is already imposed upon It to do all those things which we call the automatic processes of nature, whether in our physical bodies or in the physical body of the Universe.

The Spirit has already ordained that nature shall be perfect.  It would be impossible for Spirit to ordain anything else since, in order to be at all, It must be perfect in Its nature.  God is Will and Representation.  A perfect cause must produce a perfect effect.  The normal functions of life are harmonious but we interfere with these in our ignorance and thus bring discord into temporary being.  In the life process of automatic functioning both in our bodies and throughout the universe as a whole the laws of being are set and immutable.  While in the use that we make of the Law of cause and effect in our individual experience we are responsible.  We are given, or by the necessity of our nature have, the power and the necessity of using the Law as though It existed solely for us.  It goes in the direction - in our mental affairs - that we give It. It can have no other direction for us and know no other. But, of course, in the Great Whole, the Universe is not run on the scale of man's ignorance.  Knowledge alone can free man from an ignorant and self-imposed bondage.

But so far as man is concerned, outside of the automatic and necessary functions of Universal Mind, man is free to do as he wills and the Universal Mind, as Law, can know about the individual only what he knows about himself.  The cosmic engine is started but man guides it in his own life.  It goes for him in the direction in which it is driven. This driving is not by force but by agreement, unification and acquiescence.  We must believe.  On this hangs all the law and the prophets.  Heaven and hell are tied up in man's beliefs.  It is the law of his life."

March 30 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Immortal Clothing (II Cor. 5:1-10) ~ Ernest Holmes

"This body, in which we seem to live, is not the eternal body.  We have a body not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  As our thought reaches up and on to that greater truth, we are clothed upon from heaven.  That is, we more perfectly pattern the Divine and consequently more completely manifest the Eternal.

We do not wish to be unclothed but clothed upon.  This is an interesting concept, for it implies that immortality clothes itself in definite forms, more beautiful than those which now appear.

We are to know no man after the flesh, but even Christ after the Spirit. Thus we are swallowed up of life.  Death is overcome, not by dwelling upon it, but by contemplating eternal life.  It is the belief of the writer that should one become completely unconscious of death and all fear of it, one would never know that he died, even though he went through the experience of passing from this life to the next.  Death would be swallowed up of life.

It seems probable that when the last enemy is overcome, we shall pass from one experience to another at will; that the soul will clothe itself in a body on whatever plane it finds itself - a body which will express the soul on that plane. We are to know no man after the flesh but the Spirit.

The Inner Man (Eph. 3:16)

"To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man."  The inner man is Christ, and Christ is the son of God.  The inner man is revealed by what he does.  As we do not see God, so we do not see the real man.  We never see causes, only effects; but the effect loudly affirms the nature of its cause.

The Spirit of God dwells in the inner man with power and might.  The outer man reflects this Spirit in so far as the intellect allows it to come forth into expression.

When Christ dwells in us in love, which is unity, we are able to understand the things that the saints have understood.  Saint simply means an unusually wise and good man - all saints have been human beings just as we are for God makes all people alike.  The universe plays no favorites.

To be filled with the fullness of God is to manifest our true nature, which is Christ, the Son of God - "the power that worketh in us." This power is the power of God, and if we admitted no other, we should ever be satisfied, happy, prosperous, well and complete.

The Endless Creation (Eph. 3:20,21)

"World without end."  This refers to the endless creation of the Almighty.  Particular worlds will always begin and end, as do cabagges and kings; but creation itself - the necessity of God's manifesting Himself in time and in space - will never end.  If creation could end, then God would end.  As this is unthinkable, it follows that "world without end," or worlds without end, are necessary to the expression of Spirit."

February 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Freedom or Bondage ~ Ernest Holmes

"We, therefore, arrive at the conclusion that while bondage is an experience, there is a Reality to which bondage is not real.  To that Reality bondage is not even an illusion or hallucination; there is a part of us that is never fooled.  That is why, in the midst of the greatest trial, death, or any human suffering, something rises from within and says with Job:  "Though I die, yet shall I live."

Freedom of will means the ability to do, say, and think as one wishes; to express life as one personally desires, to be able merely to think and dream of freedom would not be liberty. A prisoner under a life sentence can do that.  To imagine, without the power to manifest such imagination, would be to remain in a dream world which would never come to self-realization; this is not the world in which man lives at all, for man's world is one of self-expression, even though this expression appears to limit him.

We are in an Infinite Mind and Infinite Mind is also in us.  It is by this Mind that we think.  This Mind is eternal therefore, we are eternal.  This Mind is complete, therefore, we are spiritually complete, thought we do not appear to be so.  This does not alter the fact that potential man is just as perfect as is the inherent God.  As Jesus said:  "Fear no, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom;" if it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom we should learn how to receive and use It.

A freedom under compulsion would amount to the worst kind of bondage.  The Bible says:  "If there had been any law whereby this freedom could be compelled, then verily by the law would that freedom have been given."  If there had been a way by which the Divine Creative Principle could have compelled man to suddenly appear on the scene of experience full-orbed with all his freedom - and still be an individual- then verily by the law would this have been done.  But even God could not do this. The only way God can evolve a spontaneous individual is to let him alone and allow him to awaken to himself.  "Behold I stand at the door and knock..."

So man must be created with the possibility of limitless freedom and let alone to discover himself.  On the road to self-discovery he must be subject to the Law of Reality, and if in ignorance he violates this Law, he must thereby suffer.  This is not, however, because any Divine decree ordains suffering but simply because it is the necessity of the case.  God never intended man to suffer.  Suffering may be salutary in that it leads us to a place where we learn that it is unnecessary!  We shall cease to suffer as we more and more comply with the Laws of the Universe, all suffering is the result of some infringement of these Laws. It is a solace to the mind when we come to understand that all human limitation, from the standpoint of the Divinity within us, is unnecessary.  We recognize that we experience pain, but how could there bean eternal reality to pain?  If this were true, we would have a suffering Universe, a suffering God, an agonizing Deity, all of which seem untrue, unreal and impossible.

We must know definitely and consistently that the Universe is for us and not against us.  But someone will say "The Universe is not for us, look at the evil, the limitation, lack and physical pain and anguish of the human race."  We shall have to learn that evil is neither person, place nor thing of itself, but is an experience which we are allowed to have - because of our divine individuality - until through negative experiences we learn to use the Law affirmatively, to cooperate with It, and thus to enjoy Its full benefits, for the true Law is a Law of Liberty and not of bondage.  The Universe is fool-proof.  It does say we can have what we can take, while at the same time we must expect toe experience the logical result of our thought and act, be it good or what we call evil.

The meaning of freedom implies the possibility of suffering, because if we are free we are free only by virtue of the possibility of choosing more than one course of action as an experience.  There is no freedom or happiness, as a spontaneous individuality, unless there can be a temporary restriction of bondage and unhappiness through the wrong use of freedom.  (All things are possible to the Infinite, but the Infinite forever remains true to Its own nature and never contradicts Itself.)

If man takes his images of thought only from his previous experiences, then he continues in the bondage which those previous experiences create.  If we talk about discord, we shall become more discordant.  The more the world arms for war, the more certain it is that there will be war. People who spend all their time talking about their unhappiness become more unhappy.  Jesus understood these great laws of cause and effect in the Universe, which work sometimes with apparent slowness but always with sureness.  Eventually we shall understand that all human bondage is an invention of ignorance."

January 18 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Scientific Method ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

If we observe any scientific discovery, we shall see that this is the way it works.  Some man's mind discovers the law, or principle, governing the science; this is the way of Love, of personal volition, of choice - this is the spontaneous element in the universe.  Following this knowledge of the way the principle works - having discovered the operation of the Law - the spontaneous element now rests its case on immutable reactions inherent in the Law.  All science is based upon proven principles.

But we should not overlook the significant fact that it is the MIND which discovers and makes use of the mechanical law!  Is not this mind the Spirit in us?  We can never completely fathom the Infinite Mind:  we shall always be discovering new lands.  Consequently, evolution is an eternal unfoldment of the more yet to be.

Since it is the mind which must first come to see, know and understand - and since all future possibility for the race must first find an avenue of outlet through someone's mind - we shall do well to look to the mind for the answer to all our problems.

Undoubtedly we are surrounded by, and immersed in, a perfect Life:  a complete, normal, happy, sane, harmonious and peaceful existence.  But only as much of the Life as we embody will really become ours to use.  As much of this Life as we understand and embody will react as immutable law - the reaction of the mechanical to the volitional.  The concept is wonderful and fraught with tremendous significance.  In it is bound up our hopes and fears, our expectations, and our future and present realizations.

Since an understanding of any law must pass first through our conscious mind before we can make use of it, it follows that with all our getting, we should get understanding.  Should we wish to know a certain truth, we should state that this truth is already known in Mind and this statement will be true, but the Over-Mind must be accepted into our mind before we can understand It.  How, then, are we to accomplish the desired result?  By stating and feeling that our mind knows the truth about the thing we desire to know.  In this way we draw the Infinite Mind into our mentalities, for definite knowledge of some particular good.

Contains All Knowledge

The Universal Mind contains all knowledge. It is the potential ultimate of all things.  To It, all things are possible.  To us, as much is possible as we can conceive, according to law.  Should all the wisdom of the universe be poured over us, we should yet receive only that which we are ready to understand.  This is why some draw one type of knowledge and some another, and all from the same source - the Source of all knowledge.  The scientist discovers the principles of his science, the artist embodies the spirit of his art, the saint draws Christ into his being - all because they have courted the particular presence of some definite concept.  Each state of consciousness taps the same source, but has a different receptivity.  Each receives what he asks for, according to his ability to embody.  The Universal is Infinite; the possibility of differentiating is limitless.

Life always becomes to us the particular thing we need when we believe that It becomes to us that particular thing.  The understanding of this is the essence of simplicity.  As all numbers proceed from the fundamental unit, as all material forms are but different manifestations of one formless stuff, so all things proceed from that which is neither person, place nor thing, but is the essence of all things.

Our thought and conscious receptivity differentiate this Universal Possibility, by drawing It through our minds and causing It to flow into particular channels, through the conscious receptivity of our different faiths.  One state of consciousness will differentiate one kind of a result, another mental state a different manifestation.

Mental Work is Definite

Mental work is definite.  Each state of thought taps the same Principle, each uses the same Law, is inspired by the same Spirit, but each draws forth a different result.  Here is multiplicity proceeding from Unity.  This is what Emerson meant when he said that Unity passes into variety.

But, someone will ask, can we bring out both good and evil from the One Source?  Of course not.  The First Principle is goodness, and only in so far as our thought and action tend toward a constructive program, will it eventually succeed.  We cannot fight the Universe.  It refuses to be budged from Its course.  We can only go with It.

But there is ample latitude for personal expression.  How then, are we to know what is right and what is wrong?  We are not GOING to know; we already do know.  Every man knows right from wrong, in its broadest sense.

It should be considered right to live and to enjoy living.  To be well, happy, and to express freedom, is to be in accord with Divine Law and Wisdom. Here is latitude enough for the most expectant, and the most enthusiastic.

January 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Spirit Works for Us by Working Through Us ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"The Thing, then works for us by working through us and is us, always. It cannot work for us in any other way  It spreads Itself over the whole universe and shouts at us from every angle, but It can become power to us ONLY WHEN WE RECOGNIZE IT AS POWER.

We cannot recognize that It is, while we are believing that It is not.  Hence, it is written:  "they...entered not in because of unbelief."  (Heb. 4:6)  We may enter in because of our belief, but we cannot enter while there is unbelief.  Here we come to a house divided against itself.  If we say we can only experience a little good, then we shall experience but a little good.  But, if we say, with Emerson, "There is no great and no small to the soul that maketh all," then we may experience a greater good because we have conceived it.

Therefore, our belief sets the limit to our demonstration of a Principle which, of Itself, is without limit.  It is ready to fill everything, because It is Infinite.  So, it is not a question of Its willingness, nor of Its ability.  It is entirely a question of our own receptivity. 

How Much Can We Believe?

That we must go the way of the Law, is a fundamental tenet of this Science, because Nature obeys us as we first obey It, and our obedience to It is our acceptance of It.  How much can we believe?  AS MUCH AS WE CAN BELIEVE will be done unto us.

When the consciousness speaks, the law receives and executes. When a farmer plants a seed, he invokes the law.  That which follows is done by the mechanical side of Nature, which has no volition of Its own.  Involution is the cause and evolution is the effect.  When a practitioner thinks, or gives a treatment, or makes a prayer, he is dealing with involution - the first step of the creative order.  This is what the Bible calls the Word.  That which follow is evolution, or the unfoldment of the word, or concept, into objective existence.

We are thinking, willing, knowing, conscious centers of Life.  We are surrounded by, immersed in, and there is flowing through us, a creative Something....call It what you will.  The sum total of all our thought, will, purpose, and belief, creates a tendency in the Law that causes It to react to us according to the sum total of that belief.

Ignorance of the law excuses no one from its effects.  If then, certain specific ways of thought and belief have produced limitations, other beliefs will change them.  We must learn to believe.  The approach should be direct, and it should be specific.

Suppose one is laboring under the idea of limitation.  His whole thought is a picture of limitation.  Where is he placing himself in Mind?  Is he not, in substance, saying:  "I cannot have and enjoy good things"?  And he is demonstrating that he cannot have, or accomplish, good.  It may take time to reshape the basis of his thought; he must commence by saying, "I perceive that because I am what I am - because of this Infinite Thing that over-shadows eternity and finds Its abiding place in me, I know that good is now mine - all good."  There is no mental coercion in this.  We do not will things to be done; things are brought into being, not by will, but by the power of the self-assertive Truth.

How much can one demonstrate?  Just what one can believe.  How much can we see, how much can we accept, how much can we find in our consciousness that is no longer repudiated by our own denials?  Whatever that is, THAT MUCH WE CAN HAVE.

Good Only - Not Good and Evil

The gardener goes forth in faith to sow his seeds.   He has learned that as he sows, so shall he reap; that the law works for all alike.  We must accustom ourselves to the concept of the impersonalness of the law, the availability of the law, and the mechanical accuracy of the law.  If we can conceive only a little good, that is as much as we can experience.

We must instill into the mind the fundamental proposition that good is without bounds.  Only good and loving-kindness shall "follow me all the days of my life."  (Psalms 23)  We must get this concept, rather than continuing to think there is a power of evil as opposed to the power of Good.  We experience good and evil because we perceive a presence of duality rather than unity.

Then, knowing that The Thing can work for us only through us, let us begin to accept today more good than we experienced yesterday, and to know that we shall reap a harvest of fulfilled desires.  The time must come when we shall have left the apparent evil behind; when it shall be rolled up like a scroll and numbered with the things which were once thought to be.

Let us realize and work with this sound knowledge and perfect faith:  That as high as we shall make our mark in Mind and Spirit, so high shall be Its outward manifestation in our material world."

January 11 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Way It Works by Ernest Holmes ~ The Science of Mind

The Science of Mind is not a special revelation of any individual; it is, rather, the culmination of all revelations. We take the good wherever we find it, making it our own in so far as we understand it.  The realization that Good is Universal, and that as much good as any individual is able to incorporate in his life is his to use, is what constitutes the Science of Mind and Spirit. 

We have discussed the nature of The Thing as being Universal Energy, Mind, Intelligence, Spirit - finding conscious and individualized centers of expression through us - and that man's intelligence is this Universal Mind, functioning at the level of man's concept of It.  This is the essence of the whole teaching.

Universal Mind, or Spirit, Is God

There is a Universal Mind, Spirit, Intelligence, that is the origin of everything:  It is First Cause.  It is God.  This Universal Life and Energy finds an outlet in and through all that is energized, and through everything that lives.  There is One Life back of everything that lives.  There is One Energy back of all that is energized.  This Energy is in everything.  There is One Spirit back of all expression.  That is the meaning of that mystical saying:  "In Him we live, and move, and have our being."  (Acts 17:28)

The life which we live is the Universal Life expressing through us, else how could we live.  Our thought and emotion is the use we make - consciously or unconsciously - of this original creative Thing that is the Cause of everything.  Therefore, we shall say that the mind, spirit and intelligence which we find in ourselves is as much of this original, creative God as we understand.  That this is not robbing God is a self-evident fact.  Since we are, then we are real and actual and have existence; and since we can reduce all that is to a fundamental unit, we find that we have this proposition:

There is Spirit - or this Invisible Cause - and nothing, out of which all things are to be made.  Now, Spirit plus nothing leaves Spirit only.  Hence there is One Original Cause and nothing, out of which we are made.  In other words, we are made from this Thing.  That is why we are called the "son of God." 

We now know that this is what we are - because we could not be anything else - but we do not know how much of this we are!  When we see It as It is, then, we shall see ourselves as we are.  We can only see It by looking at It through our own eyes.  Hence, we shall find a better God when we shall have arrived at a higher standard for man.  If God is to interpret Himself to man, He must interpret Himself through man.  And the Spirit can make no gift that we do not accept.

The Seed of Perfection is Hidden Within

This Original Life is Infinite.  It is good.  It is filled with peace.  It is the essence of purity.  It is the ultimate of intelligence.  It is power.  It is Law.  It is Life.  It is in us.  In that inner sanctuary of our own nature, hidden perhaps from objective gaze, "nestles the seed, perfection."

In our ignorance of the truth, we have misused the highest power we possess.  And so great is this power - so complete is our freedom in it, so absolute the domain of law through it - that the misuse of this power has brought upon us the very conditions from which we suffer.  We are bound because we are first free; the power which appears to bind us is the only power in the universe which can free us.  This is why Jesus summed up His whole philosophy in this simple statement:  "It is done unto you as you believe."  The great Teacher looked so deeply into Nature, that She revealed Her fundamental simplicity to him.  That "Believe" and that "as" symbolize heaven and hell.  And so we suffer, not because suffering is imposed upon us, but because we are ignorant of our true nature.

January 10 ~ Science of Mind in a Year

The Voice of God in Creation by Ernest Holmes ~ The Science of Mind

"The argument has been something after this manner: The Ultimate Cause back of all things must be ONE, since Life cannot be divided against Itself.  The Infinite must be ONE for the could not be two Infinite Beings.  Whatever change takes place must take place with this ONE.  But this ONE must be Changeless, for being One and Only, It could not change into anything but Itself.

All seeming change is merely the play of Life upon Itself; and all that happens must happen by and through some inner action upon Itself.  What would be the nature of this inner action?  It could not be physical - as we understand physics - but would have to be by the Power of some inner movement of Life, i.e., the Voice of God - God standing for the First Great and Only cause of all that is.

The Thought of God - The Word of God

The World of God means the power of Spirit to declare Itself into manifestation, into form.  The word of God means the Self-Contemplation of Spirit.  The manifest universe, as we see it, as well as the Invisible Universe which must also exist, is the result of the Self-Contemplation of God.  'He spake and it was done.'  'The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.'  The starting point of all creation is the Word of Spirit.  The Word is the Concept, Idea, Image or thought of God.  It is the Self-Knowing Mind, speaking Itself into manifestation.  The Word back of everything is its Initial Cause.

The term "thought" seems to mean more to us than any other term, in this connection.  It seems to cover the meaning better, for we know that thought is an inner process of consciousness.  The Thought of God must be the Cause of all that really exists; and as there are many existing things, there must be many thoughts in the Mind of the Infinite.  This is logical to suppose, for an Infinite Mind would necessarily conceive an infinite variety of ideas.  Hence the world of multiplicity or many things.  But the world of multiplicity does not contradict the world of Unity, for the many live in the One.  This concept of Unity is the mystical secret of the ages, the key to spiritual wisdom and to the teaching of Jesus.

Spirit Knows Itself

It is impossible to conceive of anything other than the Word of God being that which sets power in motion.  God speaks and it is done!  It is evident that First Cause must be Self-Existent, i.e., It must be Causeless.  Nothing could come before That Which was First.  Hence the Being Whom we call GOD must be Self-Existent.  GOD SPEAKS AND IT IS DONE.  If God speaks, His Word must be Law.  The Word of God is also the Law of God.  GOD IS WORD, GOD IS LAW, GOD IS SPIRIT.  This is self-evident.  We arrive at the conclusion that God as Spirit is Conscious Life.  This is the inner meaning of the teaching of the "I AM."

Volition

There is but one volitional factor in the Universe, and this is Spirit, or the Self-Knowing Mind.  God did not make God, this is self-evident.  God did not make Law; Law is Co-Eternal with God.  God did not make Substance, this is also Co-Existent and Co-Eternal with God. BUT GOD DID MAKE, AND DOES MAKE, and IS MAKING AND WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE, FROMETERNITY TO ETERNITY, FORMS.  We life in a universe of Infinite Substance and numberless forms, where in nothing is moved unless Intelligence moves it, in accord with law.

It follow that everything that Spirit thinks must take form.  The Spirit, being Self-conscious Life, knows and cannot stop knowing.  To suppose that It could stop knowing would be to suppose that It could stop being!  Since It cannot stop knowing, It must forever be setting in motion the Law of Its being, which Law must forever be projecting the form of Its thoughts, thereby producing things.  Creation is always beginning but never ending. The slightest thought of Intelligence sets power in motion through the Law, producing a corresponding thing.  Things may come and things may go, but Creation goes on forever.  This is, indeed, a wonderful concept, for it means that there will always be a manifestation of Divine Ideas. They cannot cease so long as God exists, and since God will forever be there will forever be some kind of manifestation.  The Invisible will always be made manifest on some plane.

January 9 ~ Science of Mind in a Year

Describing the Infinite by Ernest Holmes ~ "The Science of Mind"

"Any account of Creation however brief implies, first of all, a Universal Intelligence which is omniscient, all-knowing.  We call this Intelligence God.  In philosophy, the word Reality is used. In science, the word Principle.  The Reality of philosophy, the Principle of science and the God of religion all have much the same meaning - the nature of the Universe in which we live.  We describe It as God, Spirit, Reality, Truth - Absolute Intelligence.

Absolute Intelligence

We believe in an Absolute Intelligence because such an intelligence is manifest throughout the universe in which we live.  Wherever we look we see It at work, whether it be the intelligence in the atom or the convolution of thought operating through the brain of a Socrates or an Einstein.  Consequently, we state our First Principle as an Absolute Intelligence.  It is impossible for thought - whether it be philosophic, scientific or religious (and these are the founts from which we gather knowledge) - to deny such Intelligence. 

We believe in an Absolute Intelligence and an Absolute Consciousness.  We are in the universe and we are conscious, so we have reason to believe that consciousness exists.

Creation means the giving of form to the Substance of Mind or Spirit.  Spirit being All and Only, there is nothing for It to change into but Itself.  Therefore, It is the Changeless, within which must take place all change or manifestation of Itself.  The Infinite of Itself is Formless but within It are contained all the forms which give expression to Its consciousness.  Spirit is the Limitless within which is all space.  Spirit is Timeless, within which is all time.  Creation and experience are eternally going on, but any particular experience is measured by time and has a beginning and an end.

In the beginning of any creative series there is Absolute Intelligence alone, pure Spirit, all-inclusive, everywhere, infinite.  This All-Spirit could not have the impulse to move unless It were conscious.  Therefore, "Spirit is the Power that knows Itself."  The account of Creation, which says "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," does not refer to a time when there was no creation, but rather to the process of an eternal creation, which is a continual manifestation of Spirit.  An eternal creation is proved by the fact that we must suppose Spirit to be Conscious Intelligence, and there can be no Conscious Intelligence unless It is conscious of something!  Spirit is conscious and must be conscious of something.  Therefore, It must always create. What a glorious concept is such an idea of an Eternal Creative Principle.  There is no stagnation in spirit, nor should there be any in our idea of spirituality.  To be spiritual is to create!  The Spirit is alive, conscious, aware and active.

A Deep Inquiry

If we were to examine the basic principles of the religions of the world, we would find a great similarity.  Each points to One central Life, from Whose Self-Existence all draw their livingness, and without which nothing could exist.  The Christian Religion gives more value to the individual life than do most others. That is why it has made such an appeal to the more vital races of the world.  In  many respects, the Christian Bible is the greatest book ever written, and does truly point a way to eternal values.  But it is only ONE explanation and cannot be considered the ONLY light on religion, for there are may others whose combined teachings weave the story of Truth into a complete and unified pattern.

The deep thinkers of antiquity, as well as the philosophers of all ages, have meditated long and earnestly upon the nature of the Divine Being.  Knowing that there could be but One Ultimate Reality back of all things, they have pondered deeply as to the nature of that Reality, and it is significant that most of the great thinkers have arrived at similar conclusions."

January 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

"In the Beginning, God!"  Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

(Blogger's Note: For the purposes of this writing, the pronoun He, Him has been changed to It when referring to "God")

The Beginning

We wish to discover what to believe in, why we believe in it, and why such a belief is reasonable; and in so far as possible to enter into the nature of the invisible Cause of this manifest life of ours.  We wish to discover how this Cause works; Its relationship to us and our relationship to It, and how we may use this knowledge.  The world is tired of mysteries, does not understand symbols, and longs for Reality.  What is Reality, where may It be found and how used?  These are some of the questions one should like to have answered.

"In the beginning, God!" In the beginning, Spirit or Intelligence only.  No manifest universe!  No system of planets!  No visible form, nothing but the Life Principle.  God, the Spirit, had not yet moved upon the waters.  Then this All-Being moved or began to create.  Where did Spirit move?  Upon what did It move?  From whence came Its pattern?  What means or power did It employ?  Through what agencies did It work?  In short, out of what is the world, ourselves included, made?  How did we and all other physical manifestations come into being?

If we suppose Spirit to be the Life Principle running through all manifestation, the Cause of all, then we must supposed that It has Substance within Itself.  It is Self-Existent Consciousness, and also Self-Existent Substance.  SPIRIT MAKES THINGS OUT OF ITSELF THROUGH SOME INNER ACT UPON ITSELF.  This inner act must, of course, be an ace of consciousness, of self-perception, of self-knowingness.  What God knows IS.  This has been called the Word of God and the Self-Contemplation of God.

The Story of Creation Simplified

Without repeating the well-known account (rather accounts, for there are two) of Creation, as given in the Bible, let us say that someone - generally thought to have been Moses - in expounding his idea of how Creation came into being, put his thoughts into the form of an allegory or symbolic story.  Let us restate this story, in our own words, and see what we shall have:

God (meaning the Supreme Spirit or Intelligence of the Universe) was conscious of Itself, prior to the creation of any special world system. Being thus conscious, and desiring to manifest in form, It did so manifest through the power of It's Word, which is Law.  God is not only pure Spirit or Intelligence, It is Universe through the power of It's word).  Hence, when It speaks, It's Word becomes Law.  The Law must obey.  The Law is mechanical, the Word is spontaneous.  God cannot speak a word which contradicts It's own nature.

Since God is pure Intelligence and endless Being, It is always creating.  It is It's nature to create but being All It must act within Itself.

The World of God, spoken within Itself, sets the Law (which is also in Itself) in motion.  The result is Creation.  The Word is the mold, which acting through Law produces form.  As there are many words so there are many forms, each distinct and each an individualized idea of God.

Since the Word of God is permanent, when It speaks, that Word is equipped to perpetuate Itself, even as the seed contains within itself all that is necessary for the reproduction of its kind.  It does not become another kind, for this would produce confusion and the Divine Mind is never confused.

God made the mechanical universe, the plant and animal life, but this did not satisfy It, for It wished to create a being who could respond to and understand It.  So It created a being who had real life within itself.

It could do this only by imparting It's own nature to this being whom It called man.  It must make man in Its own image and likeness.  Man must be created out of the stuff of Eternity, if he is to have real being.  Humanity must partake of the nature of Divinity if it is to have real life.  So God made man from the essence of Itself and clothed this subtle essence with definite form.

And God said within Itself something after this fashion:  "If I wish to have a man who is a real being, I must give him self-choice.  He must be spontaneous, not automatic.  He must have dominion over everything I have created and he shall have all things to enjoy, for his life must be full and complete if he is to express My nature."

So God gave man dominion over all earthly things.  Man was not given the power to govern the universe, but he was given the power to have dominion.

And God viewing all that It had created saw that it was good, "very good."  How could it be otherwise since It had created it?  How could God, being Goodness, see other than good?

This, briefly, is the story of Creation.  The reader need not be startled by this rather human narrative.  Remember we are putting into human language a story which can only be imagined.  Let us see how much of this may have meaning for us - how much of it we may prove.