October 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

SOME PHASES of the SUBJECTIVE LIFE
Ernest Holmes

Mental Atmospheres

"Each person has a mental atmosphere which is the result of all that he has thought, said and done, and consciously or unconsciously perceived.  The mental atmosphere is very real, and is that subtle influence which constitutes the power of personal attraction, for personal attraction has but little to do with looks.  It goes much deeper and is almost entirely subjective.  This will explain our likes and dislikes for those with whom we come in daily contact.  We meet some only to turn away without a word, while others we are at once drawn toward, and without any apparent reason.  This is the result of their mental atmosphere or thought vibration.  No matter what the lips may be saying, the inner thought outspeaks them, and the unspoken word often carries more weight than the spoken."

September 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

WHAT the MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT
Ernest Holmes

Individuality

"The higher the sense of Truth, the greater will be the realization of the uniqueness of individual character and personality.  The real Self is God-given and cannot be denied.  It is the place where God comes to a point of Individualized and Personified Expression.  "I am the light of the world."

Individuality means self-choice, volition, conscious mind, personified Spirit, complete freedom and a Power to back up that freedom.  There could not be a mechanical or an unspontaneous individuality.  Individuality must be created in the image of Perfection and let alone to make this stupendous discovery for itself; it emerges from the Universal.  Psychology teaches the personification of this individuality, which is true as far as it goes, but metaphysics universalizes it by unifying it with the Whole.  There is a Universal nature of Man, inherent within him, which causes the manifestation of his personality.  The Spirit of God.

We have now discovered a unity with the Whole on the three sides of life, or from all three modes of expression.  We are one with the body of the physical world; One with the Creative Law of the Universe in the mental world; and One with the Spirit of God in the conscious world.

Could we ask or hope for more?  Would it be possible for more to be given?  We could not ask for more and no greater freedom could be given.  From now on we shall expand, grow and express only to the degree that we consciously cooperate with the Whole."

August 10 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION
By Ernest Holmes

"Hardening of the arteries should be treated by thoughts of love.  A  knowledge that body is controlled by mind and need not grow old will help eliminate the fear of this condition, which race-suggestion says comes to many people with what is called "old age."  Treat to know that Love is stronger than any other force in the Universe, and that steadily and rhythmically the Life of God is pulsing through your body.  Persistently know the truth that God's Life flows ceaselessly out through your life and back to Him, where it is renewed, purified and refreshed; and that the pulsing power of divine Love propels it.

Suppose someone comes to you who has high blood pressure.  You wish to treat to remove this sense.  Your work will be recognized as effective if, after you have done your work, he can be examined and his blood pressure is found to be normal.

Take the idea of high blood pressure, or nervous pressure and all that goes with it, and transpose it for the spiritual sense that there is a divine circulation, it is the Spirit that is circulating through this person.  There is nothing to inhibit It, there is nothing to accelerate It; It is always perfect circulation, there is no thought of fear or congestion.  Undoubtedly the condition exists, as an experience, but as a mental practitioner, you are not dealing with objective symptoms but with thought alone.

If the circulatory system seems inadequate, then the practitioner should realize that his patient's circulation is equalized in Spirit, that Divine Life and Energy flow freely to every part of his being, cleansing, revitalizing , and restoring him to complete wholeness.  There is one circulation, which is the Spirit flowing through man.  There are no degenerative processes in the Spirit.

You sense this person as a being Divine, the Spirit indwells him.  There is no man outside of God.  The more convinced a practitioner is of this, the more certain he is that there now is a divine and uninhibited circulation, and that the blood pressure is normal in the experience of the one whom he is treating - the more definite will be the results.

In every case, the mental practitioner proceeds on the assumption that Spirit is already in his patient.  He thinks of Spirit back of the fact:  the Spirit of perfect circulation, uninhibited - that thing which must automatically eliminate everything that does not belong to that person.  Nothing can impoverish that flow; nothing can increase or diminish that pressure.

For any irregularities of the blood, the following simple meditation might be used:

"My existence is a harmonious progression, that of a son of God entering fully into conscious sonship.  My career through life is a joyous, happy expression, a daily expansion into realms of life and living.  My life in God is ageless, deathless, abiding.  I now surrender every personal doubt, fear or hard feeling that would retard the perfect flow of life through me.  There is no obstruction, no barrier in my mind, veins or affairs.  I am harmonious, peaceful, free and unafraid."

July 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MENTAL EQUIVALENTS
By Ernest Holmes

"Assume a case of treatment for prosperity.  Suppose one comes to you and says, "Business is bad.  There is no activity."  How are you going to treat him?  Are you going to treat activity, business, customers, conditions or what?  There is but one thing to treat, as far as the practitioner is concerned, and that is HIMSELF.  The practitioner treats himself, the reason being that his patient's mind and his own mind are in the One Mind.

There is but one activity, which is perfect.  Nothing has happened to it, nothing can cut if off, it is always operating.  There is no belief in inactivity.  What is this statement for?  To neutralize the belief in inactivity.  A word spoken in Mind will reach its own level in the objective world by its own weight; just as in physical science we know that water reaches its own level.  You must destroy the thoughts of inactivity.  Man cannot become either discouraged or afraid if he realizes that there is but One Mind which he may consciously use.  The real man knows no discouragement, cannot be afraid, and has no unbelief.  And he who knows of the power with which he is dealing and who plants a seed of thought in Subjectivity, knows that it will come up and bear fruit.

Bring out the idea of Substance.  Make consciousness perceive that Substance is Spirit, Spirit is God, and God is all there is.  Once you acquaint the consciousness with this idea, it is implanted in the Creative Power which is externalized in your life.

Continue to declare there were no mistakes, there are none and there never will be.  Say, "I represent the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.  It is unerring, It never makes mistakes.  There are no mistakes in the Divine Plan for me.  There is no limitation, poverty, want nor lack.  I stand in the midst of eternal opportunity, which is forever presenting me with the evidence of its full expression.  I am joy, peace and happiness.  I am the spirit of joy within me.  I am the spirit of peace within me, of poise and of power.  I am the spirit of happiness within me.  I radiate Life; I am Life.  There is One Life and that Life is my life now."

It is not enough to say:  "There is One Life and that Life is God."  We must complete this statement by saying:  "That Life is my life now," because we must couple this Life with ours in order to express It.  We are not becoming this Life, but are now in and of this Life.  There is no other Life.  God is not becoming:  God IS.  God is not growing; God is complete.  God is not trying to find out something; God already knows.  Evolution is not the expression of a becoming God, but is simply one of the ways that a God Who already IS, expresses Himself; and as such it is the logical result of involution and is eternally going on.

For the man who believes that "business is bad"; for the one who thinks he has made many mistakes and will make more; for the man who sees nothing but inactivity about him, the following meditation might be used:

"I know I am now at the threshold of all good, wisdom and Truth.  All the good I can embody is now mine.  I have only to open the portals of my soul and accept that which is ready to express through me.

"I expect, fully and emphatically, the answer to my prayer today.  Right now do I possess this thing I so greatly desire.  I remove my fear of lack and negation, for it is the only barrier which stands in the way of my experience of good.  I alone can remove it, and I do remove it now.

"In this moment my good comes to me, enough to spare, to give and to share. I can never be exhausted, my good can never be depleted, because that Source from which my good comes is inexhaustible.

"Today, in this moment, the Law responds to my thought.  My word is one of affirmation, rising from the knowledge that the Good, the Enduring and the True are Eternalities in my experience.  I cannot be apart from that which is my good.  My good is assured me by God, the Indwelling Essence of my life.""

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."

May 19 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Healing is Clear Thinking ~ Ernest Holmes

"Scientific mental healing is the result of clear thinking and logical reasoning, which presents itself to consciousness and is acted upon by Mind.  It is a systematic process of reasoning, which unearths the mental cause or idea underlying disease, and presents the Truth about man's being.

For instance, say to yourself:  "God is all there is.  There is only One Life."  When you are treating, if there is any slight point which is not clear, do not continue with the treatment.  Stop at once, go back to your analysis of Ultimate Reality and build your whole argument upon It, in order to get a clear consciousness.

Repeat:  "God is All.  There is but One Power, Intelligence and Consciousness in the Universe, but One Presence.  This One Presence cannot change into but Itself.  It is Changeless, and It is my life now, It is in me now."  Claim that no form of race-suggestion, belief in limitation, subjective idea of limitation, thought of karma, fatalism, theology or hell, horoscope, or any other false belief, has power.  Accept none of them.  If you have ever believed in them, if you have ever believed that the stars govern you, or that your environment governs you, or that your opportunities govern you, recognize this as an hypnotic condition into which you have fallen, and deny every one of them until there is no longer anything in you that believes in them.

This is a good way to clear your consciousness.  We can readily see what it does:  it induces a clear concept of Reality, which must reproduce Itself.  This process of clear thinking, if carried out every day, will heal.

When you are giving a treatment, you are thinking.  You are meeting, opposing, neutralizing, erasing and obliterating suppression, fear, doubt, failure, morbid emotion and sense of loss - whatever the trouble may be.  Every time your thought hits fairly and squarely, it erases just as definitely as one would erase a chalk line.  Such is the mystery of the appearance and the disappearance of thought."

April 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The First Requisite ~ Ernest Holmes

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

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

A Practitioner's Business

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

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

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

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

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

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

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