February 1 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

GENERAL Summary ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"The Mind of man is some part of the Mind of God, therefore it contains within itself unlimited possibility of expansion and self-expression.

The conscious mind of man is self-knowing, self-assertive; it has volition, will, choice and may accept or reject. It is the only part of man's mind which can think independently of conditions.

The sub-conscious mind of man is simply the Law of Mind in action.  It is not a thing of itself but is the medium for all thought action.  It is the medium by which man may call into temporary being whatever he needs or enjoys on the pathway of his experience.

The Mind of God is Infinite.  The mind of man is some part of this Infinite, Creative Mind of God.  Therefore the mind of man is as infinite as is man's capacity to understand his true relationship to God or Spirit.  The mind of man is continuously unfolding into a greater recognition of its real plan in the creative order of the Universe.  It does not yet comprehend its own power or scope but it does know how, in some measure, to consciously co-operate with the Infinite.

Spirit is really the only Mind there is.  It is Eternal.  It never began nor will It ever cease to be.  It is complete and perfect, happy and whole, satisfied and at peace with Itself.  The Spirit is the only Conscious Intelligence in the Universe.  Therefore It is the only Directive Intelligence in the Universe.

Because the mind of man is the Mind of God in man, the mind of man is conscious and directive.  It is to man what God is to the Universe.

God is Spirit.  That is, without parts.  A Universal Unity and Wholeness.  God is Mind.  The self-knowing Mind of God is the Spirit of God and at the same time the Spirit of man.  Mind in its self-knowing state is Spirit.  The Mind of God and the Mind of man is the same Mind.  The conscious mind of man is part of the Self-Knowingness of the Mind of God.  The conscious mind of man is the Self-Knowingness of Spirit operating through the thought of man.  Hence its creativeness.

The conscious mind of man is that part of, or unity with, the Supreme Spirit which enables man to be an individual unit, separate in identity without becoming separated from, the Whole Spirit of God, the Whole Mind of God.  Without this conscious mind of man in an individualized state of God, or the Spirit, would have no independent offspring, therefore God would not be completely expressed.  The Eternal has placed Himself at the center of man's being in order that man may function individually.  The discovery of this, the greatest truth about man, is the greatest discovery of the ages.

It is this Divine Self-Knowingness in man which distinguishes him from all other creation.  It belongs to man alone.  It appears full-orbed in man alone.  Man alone is able to consciously work out his own destiny, to determine what manner of life he shall lead.  For it is written that God created him but little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor."

January 31 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Metaphysics and Physics ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

The laws of Mind, or spirit, are not different from the laws of chemistry and physics.  Metaphysics begins where physics leaves off.  Everything is movement; everything we can take hold of and analyze, all things in the physical world or the world of form are in a certain rate of vibration and are an effect.  This is the result of "an Infinite Thinker thinking mathematically."

To reduce this proposition to the practical life of the individual, our belief is that anything the mind thinks, it can unthink.  If, therefore, by the law of cause and effect we have produced unpleasant conditions, we should be able by this same law to produce an entirely different effect.

Another principle which is fundamental to our practice is, that not only what is set in motion can be changed; but that the Truth known is demonstrated.  The knowledge of Truth and its demonstration is both simultaneous and instantaneous.  Since we are dealing with that which is Limitless, knowing no big and no little, the possibility of our demonstration rests not in the Principle, but in our acknowledgment of, and embodiment in it, of the ideas we desire experienced!  The saying of "peace" will not produce peace unless back of the word is a realization of the meaning of peace.  So in the simplicity of our own language, we try to convince ourselves of the reality of that for which we are treating, knowing that in such degree as we have an embodiment of the idea, it is thrown into a mechanical field and must operate.

"Spirit is the Power that knows Itself."  Whatever that power within us is that knows itself, constitutes the part of us which is spirit or spiritual.  To be self-conscious, is to be a spiritual entity.  Mind, in Its self-conscious form, cannot be differentiated from Spirit.  Mind, in Its subjective or subconscious state, is the Law of Spirit.  Man is a spirit while God is The Spirit.  Man is an individual, while God is the Universal, but since the individual comes from and is in the Universal, it follows that man is a little world within himself.  This is what Jesus meant when he said that man has inherent life within himself.  The meaning of inherent life is real life...creative life.

No limit can be placed upon the spirit of man.  It merges with the Universal Spirit for the two are really One.  God is in us as we are in God - the same essence, the degree apparently different.  The one finite and  the other Infinite, and since the Infinite cannot come from the finite, it follows that the finite must come from the Infinite - a little circle within the big circle. 

Metaphysically, we recognize the Universal Spirit as the Source of all life and inspiration; an Infinite Self-Knowingness, which we grasp only in part but which is ever available, since the Infinite is omnipresent.  The mind of man is an extension of the Eternal Mind or Spirit, and his evolution is the unfolding of this everlasting Mind or Spirit through his thought.

Only One Mind

There is no such thing as your mind, my mind and God's Mind.  There is only Mind, in which we all "live and move and have our being."

Things are ideas in form.  What else could they be?  There is nothing from which to make things except ideas.  In the beginning, we behold nothing visible; there is only an Infinite Possibility, a Limitless Imagination, a Consciousness - the only action of this Consciousness being Idea.

That  which we call our subjective mind is, in reality, our identity in Infinite Mind.  It is the result  of our mental attitudes. It is our mental atmosphere, or center, in Universal Subjective Mind, in which are retained all of the images, impressions, inherited tendencies and race suggestions.  We see then that our subjective mind is the medium through which experiences come to us.

There is One First Cause - Spirit, Soul and Body - Cause, Medium, and Effect; the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  Not three gods, but the Triune Nature of the One God, the One Cause.  We think of Spirit as Absolute, Self-Conscious Intelligence.  We think of Soul as receptive to Intelligence and the Intelligence as always acting upon It.  Spirit and Soul inter-sphere each other and both have omnipresence.  The Spirit of the Universe permeates the Soul of the Universe, forever impregnating It with ideas.  The Soul of the Universe is the "Holy Womb of Nature," producing the forms which appear in the manifest universe.

The Body of the Universe is the result of the thought of Spirit, operating through the medium of soul  The Father is Absolute, Positive Intelligence; the Son is the Offspring of the Father; the Holy ghost is "The Servant of the Eternal Spirit throughout the ages."  Spirit is Absolute Intelligence, operating through the Soul of Receptive Intelligence, impregnating It with "the Divine Ideas."

The "Personalness" of God

We should think of God, not only as Principle, forever pushing forward into expression; but as Infinite Person.  In other words, if we merely think of an abstract Principle, and a mathematical Law of Cause and Effect, we shall lose all warmth and color.  We should be very careful in abstracting the Principle not to forget the Essence.

There is something in the human mind that desires to think of God or Spirit as Person.  Anything which has been in the human mind since time began - anything we are unable to erase from the human mind as a deep urge - arises out of Reality.

Let us not forget that there is inherent necessity for warmth and color.  The Universe is more than an inexorable Law of Cause and Effect.  PERSONALITY CANNOT EMERGE FROM A PRINCIPLE WHICH DOES NOT CONTAIN THE INHERENT POSSIBILITY OF PERSONALITY.  In each one of us, to each one of us, through each one of us, something is personalized and that which is personalized is personal to its own personification!  Spiritual evolution should make the Infinite not more distant; but more intimate.

January 30 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Action of Spirit Within Itself ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

God, the Self-Existent First Cause, speaks and it is done. His Word is Law.  God is Word, God is Law, God is Spirit.  Spirit knows Itself; the Law is the servant of the Spirit, and is set in motion through Its Word.  All law is some form of universal force or energy.  Law does not know itself;  Law knows only to do.  It is the medium through which the Spirit operates to fulfill Its purpose.

Did God make Law?  It is impossible to think of a time when Law did not operate; it is impossible to conceive that It was ever created.  Therefore, Law must be Co-Existent and Co-Eternal with Spirit, a part of the Causeless Nature of the Divine Reality.

The Spirit operates through Law, which is some part of Its own Nature; therefore, all action must be some action of Spirit as Law!  The Word of Spirit moves through the Law and, since the Law must be as timeless as the Spirit, we could not think of a time when Law was not, or a time when It would cease to be; neither can we imagine the Law ever failing to operate once It is set in motion.

We have then, an Infinite Spirit and an Infinite Law...Intelligence and the Way It works.  GOD WORKING THORUGH LAW, which is unfailing and certain.  Creation - the activity of God, the activity of Spirit - the passing of Substance into form, through a Law, which is set in motion by the Word of Spirit.  Spirit is "the same yesterday, today and forever," so our thought cannot picture a time when the activity of Spirit will cease.

The whole action of Spirit must be within Itself, upon the Law (which is also within Itself) and upon the Universal Stuff, which is also within Itself.  The three in reality are One - The Trinity.  There is something called God that makes things out of Himself (or Itself) by becoming the things It makes, according to law and order.   As nearly as the intelligence of the human race is able to judge, Spirit creates by contemplation.

How We Understand Its Operation

The philosophy of applied metaphysics rests upon two or three very simple, theoretical propositions.  ALL INVISIBLE PRINCIPLES ARE THEORETICAL, in that we cannot appraise them with our physical senses; we cannot weigh and measure them.  Life, love, and beauty may be considered theoretical, in that no one has ever seen them.  We see only their manifestations; but because of such manifestations, we reason that the reality exists.

Metaphysical work rests upon the theory that the Universe is a thing of Absolute Intelligence, that this Intelligence is Self-Existent - Spirit was not created.  It was, is and ever will be.  We are compelled to assume the actuality of an Original Creative Energy and Intelligence, before which nothing comes.  God, the Divine or Universal Life Principle, or whatever we choose to call It, is an Original, Uncreated, Changeless Being.  Not a Being with parts, but BEING with potentialities. There is a vast difference.

A present interpretation of the Universe, according to one learned physicist, is that of "an Infinite Thinker, thinking mathematically."  The Infinite thinker is a spontaneous Thinker.  The Infinite Thinker thinks, and what follows is in a sequence of law and order, of cause and effect; this is the mathematics.  The Infinite Thinker, in movement, is Principle.  The Being of the Infinite Thinker is pure Spirit, and may be thought of (in a sense which we but dimly comprehend) as the Infinite or abstract Essence of concrete personality, and the Cause of all objective and subjective manifestation.

To express this more simply, God thinks.  As the result of God's thought, Law is set in motion - or The Thought moves as Law - in a field of Cause and Effect.  Its movement is now mathematical.  The only thing that is spontaneous is the Creative Thought Itself - the Contemplation of Spirit.

January 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Spirit ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

The Definition of Spirit

"The nature of Being is a Unity, with three distinct attributes:  Spirit, Soul, and Body.

The definition of Spirit is:  "life or intelligence conceived of entire lay apart from physical embodiment.  It is vital essence, force, energy, as distinct from matter."

Probably the definition of "Spirit" is more easily understood, more readily accepted, than any other term used in describing Deity.  Jesus in talking with the woman of Samaria, explained:  "God is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.". 

The nature of Being is a Unity, with three distinct attributes:  Spirit, Soul, and Body.

Spirit is the active and Self-Conscious Principle.  Spirit is First Cause or God - the Absolute Essence of all that is.  It is the great or Universal I AM.  Spirit is Conscious Mind and is the Power which knows Itself.  It is conscious Being.

The Spirit is Self-Propelling.  It is Absolute and All.  It is Self-Existent and has all life within Itself.  It is the Word and the Word is Volition.  It has choice because It is Volition.  It is Will because It chooses.  It is Free Spirit, because It knows nothing outside Itself, and therefore nothing different from Itself.

Spirit is the Father-Mother God, because It is the Principle of Unity back of all things.  The masculine and the feminine principles both come from the One.  Spirit is all Life, Truth, Universe that knows Itself.  The Spirit could know nothing outside Itself, that would be God and something else.  SPIRIT IS ALL - the Center and Circumference of everything that exists - both manifest and unmanifest.  It has no enemies, no differences, no otherness, no apartness, no separation from Itself.  It is Undivided, Complete and Perfect within Itself, having no opposites and no opposition.  It know s only Its own ability and since It is All, It cannot be hindered in any way, shape or manner.

It is impossible for a finite mind to comprehend such a complete Life and Power.  in moments of real inspiration, we realize, to a degree at least, that God is All - That which has within Itself all that really is - the Life in everything ant he Love through everything.  The One Presence and the One Infinite Person, Whom we call god or Spirit; within this One all live.

Its Nature

The fundamental premise upon which the philosophy of the Bible is developed is that Spirit is One, and that CREATION IS THE RESULT OF SPIRIT'S ONE MODE OF ACTION.

Perhaps the one point on which we are all agreed is that whatever the Nature of First Cause or Spirit, It is creative.  If this were not true, nothing could come into existence.  It is impossible to think of Creative Life expressing Itself other than in livingness.  Jesus undoubtedly meant just this, when he explained that he had come "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Another point on which we are all agreed as to the Nature of First Cause is, that It is harmonious.  If there were an element of inharmony, discord or decay anywhere in Its Nature, It would destroy Itself.

It has always been taught that the Soul of the Universe is that receptive medium into which the Spirit breathes forth the forms of Its thought.  It is subjective to the Spirit.  That which is subjective is always impersonal, neutral, plastic, passive and receptive.  Wherever we find subjective law, we shall find something that is compelled to receive that which is given it, and compelled to act upon it.  Consequently, the Soul of the Universe has been called "a blind force, not knowing, only doing."  It has been called "The Servant of the Eternal Spirit throughout the ages."  It is the medium of the thought, power and action of Spirit.

Spirit, the Changeless

Creation does not mean making something out of nothing.  Creation is the passing of Spirit into form and is eternally going on.  Spirit cannot change, for being All, there is nothing for It to change into.  This is self-evident.

It is necessary for us to understand that the only active Principle is Spirit...Self-Conscious, Self-Knowing Life...and that all else is subject to Its Will.  The Spirit is conscious of Its own Thought, Its own Desire, Its own manifest Action; and It is conscious that Its Desire is satisfied.  Consequently, It is conscious of that which It manifests; but It is not conscious of any effort or process in Its manifestation.

It is necessary that Soul and Body should exist because Spirit, without manifestation, would construct only a dream world, never coming to Self-Realization.  In order to express, there must be a medium through which Spirit manifests and there must be a manifestation, hence, Soul and Body.  The teaching of the great thinkers of all time is, that we live in a threefold Universe of Spirit, Soul and Body - of Intelligence, Substance and Form."

January 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

How to Use It - Conclusion ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"A treatment is a spiritual entity in the mental world and is equipped with power and volition - as much power and volition as there is faith in it, given to it by the mind of the one using it - and, operating through the Law, It knows exactly how to work and what methods to use and just how to use them.  We do not put the power into this word, but we do let the power of the Law flow through it, and the one who most completely believes in this power will produce the best results.  The is the Law of cause and effect, again. 

When one gives a treatment for right action, and does not believe that right action will be the result, he makes his own treatment negative.  Therefore, we should spend much time in convincing ourselves of the truth of our treatments.  Now this is not a power of will, but a power of choice.  We do not put the power into the treatment, and we will take out of the treatment ONLY AS MUCH AS WE BELIEVE IS IN IT!

If one doubts his ability to give an effective treatment, he should specifically treat himself to remove this doubt.  He should say something like this, but not necessarily these words:  "I am convinced that this word has power, and I firmly believe in it.  I trust it to produce the right results in my life, (or in the life of the one for whom I am using my word)."

We should work, not with anxiety but with expectancy; not by coercion but with conviction; not through compulsion but in a state of conscious recognition and receptivity.  We do not have to drive or push but we must accept and believe.  We should, then, leave everything to the Law, expecting a full and complete proof of our faith.  We shall not be disappointed nor chagrined, for the Law is our faithful servant.

One should treat any given proposition until he proves his Principle, no matter how long it takes.  We should treat until we get results - until there comes into our objective experience the actual outpouring of our subjective words.  When working for someone else, speak the name of this person - into Mind - then proceed with the treatment.  Should someone come to you with the question, "Am I too old to find my rightful place?", what are you as a practitioner to reply?  You explain that there is no recognition of age in the truth; that everyone has his place in Truth; that God does not withdraw Himself from us at a certain age, for God is Omnipresence.  In this Presence, every being is fully provided for at every age.

A practitioner consciously removes the apparent obstruction, and leaves the field open to a new influx of Spirit.  He resolves things into thoughts, dissolves the negative appearance in the condition, by recognizing only perfection.  THE PRACTITIONER MUST KNOW, AND MUST STATE, THAT THERE ARE NO OBSTACLES IN THE PATHWAY OF TRUTH.  He must know that his word, being the activity of the Truth, removes all obstructions from the pathway of his patient, or the one for whom he is working.

If the obstruction is the result of a "hang-over" of belief from past years, the practitioner must know that no past mistake can hinder or obstruct the flow of Divine Intelligence through God's idea - which is perfect man, manifesting the attributes of God in freedom, happiness, activity and power, and that this Truth is now made manifest in his life.

The patient should try to be receptive, not to the will of the practitioner, but to the purpose of the Universe.  That is, the patient should expect results and should be willing to give up anything and everything that would hinder the demonstration.  Perfect belief is the beginning and the end of all good mental work.

The mental attitude of the practitioner is one of denial toward every false condition that opposes the principle of Life as one of absolute perfection.  God's world is perfect, and this is the Principle we have to demonstrate.  Spiritual things must be spiritually discerned and when we are ready and willing spiritually to discern, we shall find a ready response from the Invisible into the visible.  Let us do our work conscientiously and thoroughly and leave the results to that Law which is perfect.

A new light is coming into the world.  We are on the borderland of a new experience.  The veil between Spirit and matter is very thin.  The invisible passes into visibility through our faith in it.  A new science, a new religion, and a new philosophy are rapidly being developed.  This is in line with the evolution of the great Presence and nothing can hinder its progress.  It is useless, as well as foolish, to make any attempts to cover this Principle, or to hold It as a vested right of any religion, sect or order.  The Truth will out; the Spirit will make Itself known.  Happy are we if we see these things which, from the foundation of the human race, have been longed for by all aspiring souls.

True thought deals directly with First Cause; and this Science is the study of First Cause, Spirit or the Truth, that Invisible Essence, that Ultimate Stuff and Intelligence from which everything comes - the Power back of creation - The Thing Itself."

January 27 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

How to Use It (Continued) ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

Of all the people in the world, the ones who have come the nearest to touching the seamless garment of Truth have been the most sympathetic and the greatest lovers of the race.  Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up, ....(not dragged down) will draw all men unto me."  (John 12:32)

We are in the world and of it and it is good that it is so.  The world is all right when we view it correctly.  Who knows what would transpire if all men would speak the truth?  It has never yet been tried, but let not the mouth of the profane hinder those who would enter, thereby keeping them from entering.  The world has never yet followed the simple ethics of Jesus, yet it is loud in its proclamation that it is Christian.  This statement is not written in a spirit of controversy, it is one of conviction, and will make its appeal only to those who are convinced  "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."

Let us return to the man who really wishes to demonstrate the supremacy of spiritual thought force over apparent material resistance.  Let us put his treatment in the first person - impersonating him for the purpose of clarity.

"I am a center in the Divine Mind, a point of God-conscious life, truth and action.  My affairs are divinely guided and guarded into right action, into correct results.  Everything I do, say or think, is stimulated by the Truth.  There is power in this word that I speak, because it is of the Truth and it is the Truth.  There is perfect and continuous right action in my life and my affairs.  All belief in wrong action is dispelled and made negative.  Right action alone has power and right action is power, and Power is God...the Living Spirit Almighty.  This Spirit animates everything that I do, say or think.  Ideas come to me daily and these ideas are divine ideas.  They direct me and sustain me without effort.  I am continuously directed.  I am compelled to do the right thing at the right time, to say the right word at the right time, to follow the right course at all times.

"All suggestion of age, poverty, limitation or unhappiness is uprooted from my mind and cannot gain entrance to my thought.  I am happy, well and filled with perfect Life.  I live in the Spirit of Truth and am conscious that the Spirit of Truth lives in me.  My word is the law unto its own manifestation, and will bring to me or cause me to be brought to its fulfillment.  There is no unbelief, no doubt, no uncertainty.  I know and I know that I know.  Let every thought of doubt vanish from my mind that I may know the Truth and the Truth may make me free."

The Truth is instantaneous in its demonstration, taking only such time in Its unfoldment as is inherent in the law of a logical and sequential evolution.  In this invisible law of unfoldment, we must come to trust, and although we do not see the way, we must believe that the way IS and IS OPERATIVE.  We must trust the Invisible, for It is the sole cause of that which is visible... "...things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."   (Heb. 11:3)

Healing and demonstration take place as our minds become attuned to the truth of Being.  There is no process of healing, but there is generally a process in healing.  This process is the time and effort which we undergo in our realizations of Truth.

The one who wishes scientifically to work out his problems, must daily take the time to meditate and mentally treat the condition, no matter what the apparent contradictions may be.  He is working silently in the Law and the Law will find an outlet through his faith in It.  This Law is the Law which puts the act into all action.  It is the invisible actor, working through us to will and to do.  As a result of right treatment, the mold formed in the subjective mind by the treatment makes possible a concrete manifestation.  The treatment is an intelligent Energy in the invisible world.  It is a spiritual entity, working through the Law of Mind, and it is an actual force now consciously directed.  Therefore, it must produce specific results.

This will not seem strange to those who have given thought to the subject.  As the primordial Word of the Creator is the only thing which explains creation, so every man's word - partaking of this original nature as it does - must reproduce the creative function in his life, at the level of his consciousness of One Life back of, in, and through all.

January 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

How to Use It (Continued) ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

"We should be able to look a discordant fact in the face and deny its reality, since we know its seeming reality is borrowed from illusion, from "chaos and old night."  Our standard is one of perfection.  "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"  (Matt. 5:48)  We should be able to look at a wrong condition with the knowledge that we can change it.  The realization that we have this ability must be gained by the application of our knowledge. 

The practice of the Science of Mind calls for a positive understanding of the Spirit of Truth; a willingness to let this inner Spirit guide us, with the conscious knowledge that "The law of the Lord is perfect."  (Psalms 19:7)  And we must believe this to be a fact.  IN SO FAR AS OUR THOUGHT IS IN ACCORD WITH THIS PERFECT LAW, IT WILL ACCOMPLISH AND NOTHING CAN HINDER IT.  "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away,"  (Matt. 24:35) said the beautiful Jesus, as he strove to teach his disciples the immutability of the Law of Righteousness.

A practitioner uses thought definitely and for specific purposes, and the more definitely he uses the Law, the more directly will It respond to him.  A false fact is neither person, place nor thing to the one who uncovers it, and once uncovered it has no place in which to hide.  The illusion, seen and understood, is made negative in the experience of the one who suffered by it.  While it is true that wrong conditions exist, they could not remain unless there were someone to experience them.  Consequently, the experience must be in consciousness.  Change the consciousness and the false condition will disappear.  Conditions are not entities, we are entities.  Cannot that which is conscious cast out that which has no consciousness?  If we properly understood, we would be able to remove false conditions as easily as Jesus did.  He knew, but our faith is weak.  We must strengthen it and we can.

Let us analyze this:  One finds himself impoverished.   He wishes to change this condition.  He knows that it is not in accord with Ultimate Reality; that the Spirit imposes no limitations.  Therefore, he knows that his apparent limited condition has no rea law to support it; it is simply an experience of consciousness  He wishes a definite result in the opposite direction.  First, he realizes that the Law of Life is a Law of Liberty, of Freedom.  He now states that this Law of Liberty is flowing through him and into all his affairs. But the image of his limitation persists. Her is a definite contradiction of his statements of freedom.

Right here, he must stop and declare that these images of limitation are neither person, place nor thing; that they have no power, personality nor presence and no real law to support them.  He does not believe in them and they cannot operate through him.  He is free from their influence, forever.  He then begins to fill his thought with the idea of faith, the expectancy of good and the realization of plenty.  He senses, and mentally sees, right action in his life.  He puts his whole trust in the Law of good, and It becomes very real to him as he definitely speaks It into being - into his being and into the being of his affairs. He denies anything and everything that contradicts his realization of this truth.

At this point of realization, he meets a friend(?) who immediately begins a tale of woe about hard times, bad business condition, etc., and, should he listen to this "tale of the serpent," he might reverse his previous affirmations and make negative his former mental and spiritual concept!  This does not mean that he should refuse to hold conversation with people, for fear they will neutralize the position which he has taken in his mind, but that he should refuse mentally to accept the false position.  Then he can talk with anyone and not be disturbed.

The time will come when we will let our "conversation be in Heaven," and refuse to talk about, read or think about, those things that ought not to be.  But, someone will say, "Should we refuse to look at sickness, poverty and unhappiness"  This is not what we are discussing.  We will not refuse to help the helpless or lift up the fallen, but we will refuse to wallow in the mud because of our sympathies.  "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."  (Matt. 15:14)"