October 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT The MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Cosmic Consciousness - Illumination

"Dr. Bucke defines Cosmic Consciousness as:  "One's consciousness of his unity with the Whole."  The mystic intuitively perceives Truth, and often without any process of reasoning - immediately is aware, with what Swedenborg called a sort of "interior awareness," a spiritual sense.

There can and does descend into our minds - embody and personify in our person - a Divinity, a Unity, the Spirit of God, the direct incarnation of the Original Thing, in us - the mystical presentation of Christ.

Dean Inge, perhaps the best thinker in the Anglican Church of today, tells us that Plotinus had seven distinct periods of cosmic consciousness, in which state he was so completely unified with the Universe that he became One with It.  His spiritual philosophy was a result of these experiences.  Plotinus, you will recall, was one of the greatest of the Neo-Platonic Philosophers.

Dr. Buck, the author of that most rational book, "Cosmic Consciousness," cites many instances of known and authentic records of people who have had definite Cosmic experiences.  In his scientific approach to this subject, he calls attention to the necessity of distinguishing between psychic revelations and Cosmic Consciousness.

Reports of the experiences of most psychics are contradictory.  While on the other hand, the experiences of those who have entered into Cosmic Consciousness - over a period of thousands of years - tell us an identical story, once we get the key to their language - all tell the same story of Reality.  The psychic may or may not be true; the spiritual is always true. The psychic realm is the realm of the subconscious, or relative first cause.   The spiritual is the realm of First Cause.  Therefore, we may read Buddha, Jesus, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Swedenborg, Emerson, Whitman, Browning or any of the other great mystics, no matter in what age they have lived, and we shall find the same Ultimate.  By reading the writings of most psychics, we enter confusion; therefore, we must understand clearly this vital difference between psychism and mysticism.  One may or may not be true; the other is always true."

May 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

As Little Children (Matt. 18:3) ~ Ernest Holmes

"We must become as little children.  How we long for a return of that simple trust in life which children have; in their minds there are no doubts - they have not yet been told that they are sinners, destitute of divine guidance and spiritual life.  The life of the child is lived in natural goodness.  God is natural goodness.  The prison walls of false experience soon build themselves into barriers, shutting out the light, and the child grows into a man, often losing his sense of that inner Guide, leading his footsteps aright.

We must return the way we came.  As little children, who know that life is good and to be trusted, we are to approach our problems as though they were not.  Approaching them in this manner, they will vanish.

Let not the materialist deny us this right, nor the unbelieving cast any reflection of his blindness before our eyes.  There is a wisdom and power not of the flesh, which spring perennially from the inner life - all-powerful and all-wise.

Whatsoever Ye Shall Bind on Earth (Matt. 18:18)

Next we come to a passage difficult to understand and one which has caused confusion in many minds.  "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

A superficial reading of this passage might lead one to suppose that this earth provides the last chance for the salvation of the soul.  But this is not the meaning of the text which implies that the experience of death cannot change all.  As a man has lived on earth, so he will continue to live after death.  If he has been pure, he will continue to be pure.  If he has been otherwise, he will continue to be otherwise.

False experience will continue until the lesson is learned, until the soul turns from that which hurts to its greater good.  The spirit of man is of like nature to the Spirit of God, and it is impossible for the Spirit of God to remain in darkness.  The next life is a logical continuation of this one and could not be otherwise.

Divine Forgiveness (Matt. 18:21, 22)

In the next passage, Jesus clearly explains the meaning of divine forgiveness.  He says that we should forgive until seventy times seven.  This is but another way of saying that forgiveness is eternal and ever available.  What a load is dropped from the shoulders of personal responsibility, when we realize that the Eternal Mind hold naught against anyone!  But, to those who feel that this is unfair, it will be a hard saying.  "What," says one, "are not my virtues to be rewarded above those who have none?"  O, foolish one and blind, what do you know about virtue?  Has your life always been beyond reproach?  Have you never fallen short of the divine calling?  Who are you to point the finger of scorn at your brother?  The man who feels self-righteousness rise from his petty virtues, lives a life of self-delusion.

Know this:  Virtue does not know that it is virtuous, and could it know, it would immediately become vicious.  Virtue is sweet as the morning dew, soft as the evening star, and brilliant as the noonday sun.  Could the dew tell why it is sweet, the star say why its light is soft, or the sun say why it shines?  When we learn to put away our petty virtues with our petty vices, then shall we see clearly - not what either virtue or vice is - but what Truth is!

The mind which condemns, understands not the truth of being, and the heart which would shut the door of its bosom to one who is mistaken, strangles its own life, closing its eyes to a greater vision.  The biggest life is the one which includes the most.

Not that we foster vice or place a premium upon wrong-doing, but that we understand the frailties of human nature and learn to overlook much.  To him who loves much, much is forgiven."