February 8 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

BODY ~ Ernest Holmes

Definition

The Universe has been called the Great Trinity, or Triune Unity of Spirit, Soul and Body - the Body being the result, the effect, the objectification of Spirit.  Soul is the immaterial, plastic and receptive Medium.  It is primordial or Cosmic Stuff, unmanifest form.  Body is the result of Spirit working through Soul or Law.  THE ENTIRE MANIFESTATION OF SPIRIT, BOTH VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE, IS THE BODY OF GOD. There is One Body of the Universe.  Within this One Body is included all lesser bodies.

Body means the entire manifestation of Spirit on all planes.  "In my father's house are many mansions," said Jesus.  We do not, of course, see all these mansions.  Science has revealed to us that many exist which we do not see and revelation has shown that the Universe is Infinite..."For we know in part, and we prophesy in part."

The word "body" as used in the Science of Mind means all objective manifestations of the invisible Principle of Life.  The body is distinguished from the idea, in that the body is seen while the idea is invisible.  The physical universe is the Body of God - the invisible Principle of all life.  Our physical being is the body of the unseen man.  Behind the objective form of the rose is the idea that projects the rose.

Body is always an effect, never a cause.  Body expresses intelligence, its apparent intelligence being lent by the consciousness which permeates it.  We would not say that consciousness is in the body, but rather that body is in consciousness!  If one is unconscious he has neither pain nor fear.  Pain and fear are in consciousness, but consciousness so completely envelopes the body that it appears to be intelligent.

Perhaps the human body is an exact counterpart of an invisible body which is non-material as we now understand matter and physical form.  The physical body is evolved for the purpose of allowing consciousness to function on this plane.  The body is necessary to this plane, since only through a physical body can we properly function here.  When the body is no longer a fit instrument the soul deserts it and continues to function on another plane.

To say that the body is unreal is a mistake.  It is real but is an effect, not an entity.  It may yet be proven that the mind completely controls the body, and that the body is but a reflection of the mind.  In no way would this contradict the reality of the body nor the experience of pain and sickness, but it might help in an understanding of these experiences.  While we may affirm that the body is not a thing of itself, we cannot say there is no body.  The simplest way to think of body is to realize that it is the objective manifestation of a subjective mind and consciousness; and if we are to be well and happy, not only the body but the mind also must be peaceful and harmonious.

Psychology has shown that physical (or subjective) disturbances produce physical reactions in the body.  If the body is to be permanently well, the soul or subjective life must be in poise, the mind peaceful and happy.  It may be considered as a general rule that when the soul is poised in true spiritual realization the body will be normal and healthy.  This is the purpose of mental healing, whether it be approached from the psychological or metaphysical angle.  Psychology and metaphysics are but two ends of the same thing.  So we treat the body as a legitimate effect, controlled by the soul life.

February 7 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help and Healing ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"In these short meditations I have tried to set forth some ideas which my experiences in mental healing have given me.  I have found that a few brief statements, mentally affirmed, followed by a silent meditation, have been most effective in the healing work.

Most of these meditations have been written in the first person in order that those using them may be able to do so just as they are written.

It is not claimed that there is any occult power in the words, but that words similar to these are effective in inducing a greater realization of life.

First, decide which meditation you wish to use; then become quiet and composed.  Then carefully read the meditation several times, phrase by phrase, endeavoring to realize the meaning of the words and trying to enter into the atmosphere of the thought.  After having done this, meditate upon the words, following that meditation until  you feel a sense of realization."

My Profession

My profession is the Activity of the Great Mind working through me.

As such It is a Divine Activity and is constantly in touch with Reality.

I am inspired in my work from On High with lofty ideals, And my thought is illumined by the All-Knowing One.

February 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Subjectivity Never an Entity (continued) ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

When we give a treatment, that treatment is a spiritual entity in a subjective world, and it has ways and means and methods to project itself, which the conscious mind knows nothing of, and yet it is subject to the conscious thought!  Plotinus had a clear concept when he said:  "Nature is the great No Thing, yet It is not exactly nothing, because it is Its business to receive the impressions of Spirit."  He spoke of that which we call undifferentiated substance as an indeterminate thing having no mind of its own.  Its mind is always made up for it.

Most of this chapter has dealt with the Universal Soul, but in another chapter we shall discuss more fully the manner in which man re-enacts the Nature of God.

February 5 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Soul Reasons Deductively ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

Before we leave this subject of Soul, we should understand perfectly that it is impossible to divide Mind. We speak of the conscious and the subjective; the self-conscious and the unconscious, and the terms are confusing unless we remember that consciousness is always a unity.  We arbitrarily divide the different activities of consciousness in order that we may discuss how thought works.

There are two ways of reasoning , the inductive and the deductive method.  Inductive reasoning is an inquiry into the truth; it is a process of analysis.  Deductive reasoning follows an already established premise. It is from the whole to the part.

Since inductive reasoning is an analysis, an inquiry into Truth, it follows that God can only reason deductively, since God is Truth.  That which is Infinite does not have to inquire into the Truth.  Consequently, there can be no inductive reasoning either in the Spirit or the Soul of the Universe.  There can be no inductive reasoning in Spirit, because It already knows all things.  There can be no inductive reasoning in the Soul of the Universe, because It is the Creative Medium, and if It could reason inductively, It could reject certain thoughts because It could analyze; and Soul or Subjectivity can never reject.  It is bound by Its own Nature to accept.  It is impersonal and neither knows nor cares who uses It. It is formless, having no mind of Its own.  It has been called the Universal Feminine or the Holy Womb of Nature, because It is receptive and creative.  It is Karmic Law because It is subjective to the Self-Knowing Mind.  It is the medium of the law of cause and effect, of all race suggestion. 

If a convicted felon in a prison garden were to plant pink roses, the soil would produce just as lovely flowers for him as for the most beautiful picture star.  All that would be necessary in either case would be a compliance with the Law regarding the planting of roses.  So, the Soul is without conscious consciousness, but is conscious in relationship to the impressions It has received (whether they be Truth or only belief) and with mathematical certainty and precision, backed by the law of Its own being, it proceeds to execute the ideas given It.  Thus it is plainly seen that the Soul can only reason deductively.

Subjectivity Never an Entity

The Subconscious, or Subjective, is never an entity, although It acts as though It were.  The Creative Medium is a medium only, never a person.  It is necessary that we understand this, because one of the first things a practitioner has to do is to separate the belief from the believer. From the standpoint of the spiritual man, disease, poverty, unhappiness and misery, are neither person, place nor thing.

February 4 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

How Can Spirit Create? ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"No one has ever plumbed the depths of either the conscious or the subjective life.  In both directions we reach out to Infinity, and, since we cannot encompass Infinity, we shall always be expanding and always enlarging our capacity to know and to experience.  We do not need to ask why these things are so.  There can be no reason given as to why  the Truth is true.  How can Spirit of Itself create a new form?  I do not know.  As Newton said, the fact that we are able to announce the mystery is the mystery.  We do not say to the physicist who has studied and photographed the atom "WHY does it act as it does?"  He knows no more about the reason for its action than we do.  All that he knows is, that he has learned something of the way the laws of its nature operate.  We do not create laws and principles, but discover and make use of them.  Let us accept this position relative to the laws of Mind an Spirit and see what we can do with them, rather than how we may contradict their existence."

February 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

How We Use the Creative Principle ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

If, through the Law, thought is creative, we cannot say that one thought will create while another will not.  We must admit that all though is creative, according to the impulse, emotion or conviction behind the thought. Our theory is that the medium is a Universal, simultaneous Presence and in this Presence all live; and that whatever is known at one point in It is known at all points, instantly!  So if we, practicing this Principle in Los Angeles, declare the truth about some John Smith who lives in New York (or at any other place in the world) the speaking of his name draws the Law into the vibration of his personality, his individuality.  Mentally, physically, spiritually, he is now in It.  We have, so to speak, tuned into the keynote of his being  This being is also at the center of our being, therefore, the mental work is done in our being, for him; but it must, and does, operate through Law.  This Law is subjective.

Mind and Ether

In an interesting article by Sir Oliver Lodge (in which he writes about ether and the laws of the physical universe) he says that no two physical particles really touch each other, no two electrons.  They are all divided from each other by a space which is relative to the space between the planetary bodies, and they never once touch each other, throughout their existence, other than through the medium of this ether.  Lodge calls the ether "the cement of matter."  His theory is that just as the laws of attraction and repulsion, gravitation, adhesion and cohesion, operate through the ether, so there must be a Universal Mind that operates upon the ether, or upon Mind; or that Mind must operate upon mind, through the medium of the ether; or perhaps the ether is Mind?  His conclusion is that Mind and ether interact.

We think of the ether of Mind as a Universal Subjectivity, the Soul of the Universe.  Just as the ether of space is a medium for physical action, so this Universal Subjectivity is the medium for mental action.  Anything that has ever been thought at any time in the history of man, exists today in a subjective state in Universal Mind.  When we get into the field of Mind, there is no past, present or future.  They merge into one medium.

February 2 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

SOUL ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

Creative Medium

"We have spoken of the threefold Nature of Reality or God- the Trinity of Being- as Spirit, Soul and Body:  Conscious Intelligence, Subjective Law, and Form.  This threefold unity of Reality has been taught by most of the great spiritual philosophies and religions that have been given to the world.

We are using the word "Soul" in the sense of a Universal Soul, or Medium, through which Spirit operates.  It is the Holy Ghost, or third Person of the Chistian Trinity.  Like the creative soil, in which seeds are planted and from which plant life comes, the Soul of the Universe is the Creative Medium into which the Word of Spirit falls and from which Creation arises.

We should not, however, think of Soul and Spirit as separate from each other.  They are really two parts or aspects of the same thing, each being Self-Existent and Co-Eternal with the other.  The term Subjective Mind is used in speaking of the Univeral Soul, rather than the term Subconscious Mind, to avoid the impression that subjective means unconscious.  MIND NEVER COULD BE UNCONSCIOUS!  The Soul is subjective to Spirit, receives impressions from Spirit.  The Subjective Mind which we call Soul, is not a knower in the sense that Spirit is, i.e., It is not Self-Conscious.  It knows only to do without knowing why It does.  It is a doer or executor of the will of the Spirit and has no choice of Its own.  It is the business of Soul to reflect the images that Spirit casts into It.

Subjective Intelligence

The Soul is immaterial as we think of matter, but It is the Substance of Spirit and perhaps we could use the expression, "the matter of Spirit."  As all matter in the physical world is supposed finally to resolve into the ether form which it came, we may think of the Substance of Soul as we think of the ether of science, and realize that all form finally becomes Soul-Stuff again.

Perhaps the simplest way would be to think of It as the last and final analysis of matter.  (We continue to use this word in the face of the knowledge that scientists, in theory, have already done away with matter.)  We know that matter comes from somewhere, and the teaching is that Soul-Stuff is the source from which it comes.  We must, however, distinguish Soul-Stuff from Soul.  Soul is Subjective Intelligence, the Principle just beneath Spirit; for, while Soul may not have the conscious Intelligence to choose, It certainly has the Intelligence to execute the desire of Spirit.  IT IS NEVER IN ANY SENSE UNCONSCIOUS.  The Soul of the Universe is next in Principle to Spirit and is the servant of Spirit.  The term "Soul-Stuff" refers to the primordial or undifferentiated Substance from which all things are made.

While the Soul may not choose, having no self-consciousness of Its own, yet It has an Intelligence which is infinite, compared to the intelligence which we exhibit.  For instance, the combined intelligence of the race could not create the life of a plant, yet the Intelligence in the creative soil of the earth will produce as many for us as we ask, when we plant the seed of that which we wish to have created.

The same principle holds good in that greater Creative Medium of the Spirit, which we call the Soul of the Universe.  It has the Intelligence and Power to produce, but no choice as to what It is to produce.  Having no conscious mind of Its own, It receives all ideas given It, and tends to create a form around them.  If It could choose, It could reject, and this is as impossible as for the soil to say, "You must not plant spinach this year, you must plant cauliflower."  We can imagine what consternation would prevail throughout the world if just once the soil failed to function according to the law of its nature.  We need not be disturbed by such a fear.  It is bound to accept and to act.  It does not argue but at once begins to create a likeness of the pattern given it.  If we say "petunias," right back to us it says "petunias," and begins immediately the business of producing them.  Being a neutral, creative medium which knows neither good nor bad, it is conscious only of its own ability to do.  This is why some of the earlier philosophers referred to the Universal Soul, or Creative Medium, as a "blind force, not knowing, only doing."  This we know to be true of the nature of all law.  We are not discussing the Nature of the Spirit.  We are talking about Law.

Law

It must be apparent by now that the Creative Medium of Spirit is the great Mental Law of the Universe.  It is the Law, obeying the Will of the Spirit; It is the Universal Law of Mind.  All law is Mind in action.  Soul is the Medium through which all Law and all Power operate.  Being subjective, It cannot analyze, dissect or deny.  Because of Its Nature, It must always accept.  The Karmic Law, which means the Law of Cause and Effect, works through the medium of the Universal Soul, which is the Creative Principle of Nature and the Law of Spirit.

Let us bear in mind that neither Spirit nor the Soul of the Universe were ever created.  Each is eternal. Because this impartial, impersonal Soul is the medium through which Spirit works, and because It is a "blind force not knowing, only doing," It was called by the ancients "Maya," from which arose the teachings of the illusions of the mind - the mirror of the mind.

What is termed Subjective Mind, as the average person comprehends it, has no existence.  In reality, there is no such thing as your subject mind and my subjective mind.  If our subjective minds were isolated and things of themselves, we would be so completely separated that there would be no means by which we could communicate with each other. The next great bridge that psychology must cross is a recognition that what is called your subjective mind and my subjective mind is merely the place where Universal Subjectivity, the Creative Medium Itself, reacts to our personal use of It.

Within us, then, there is a creative field which we call subjective mind, and around us there is a field which we call Universal subjectivity.  One is Universal, the other individual, but in reality they are one.  There is One mental Law in the Universe and where we use It, It becomes our law, because we have individualized It.  It is impossible to plumb the depths of the individual mind, because it is not really individual but individualized.

Behind or within the individualized point is the Universal, which has no limits.  In this concept alone lies the possibility of an endless and an eternal expansion.  Everyone is Universal on the subjective side of life and individual only at the point of conscious perception.  We use the power of the Universal Mind every time we think!"