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"Speak
what you think today in words as hard as cannon balls ..." ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
As
we begin the Year 2006, it is of great value for each of us to review
the four Introductory Chapters of the Science of Mind. These four
chapters are the "essence" of the Science of Mind. It
has been stated that should a student embody the Truth as outlined in
these four chapters, they shall realize the Power that is available to
them at all times and in all ways ... and with certainty and confidence
will make use of this Power in the most amazing and delightful ways.
The following statements contain some of the most powerful statements
contained in this, the First Introductory Chapter, "The Thing
Itself" ...
The study of the Science
of Mind is a study of First Cause, Spirit, Mind, or that invisible
Essence, that ultimate Stuff and Intelligence from which everything
comes, the Power back of creation - the Thing Itself.
We accept this "Thing" and
believe in It. What we desire is to know more about It, and how to
use It. From proof alone, we know we are dealing with a definite
principle. If one (through the conscious us of their knowledge)
can produce a certain result, they must know with what they are dealing.
It may seem as though, in dealing
with metaphysics, we are dealing with something that is too abstract.
But what is tangible other than results? Principles are forever
hidden from our eyes. We accept the deductions of science in so
far as they are proved, and we recognize that they are built upon
immutable, but invisible Principles.
THE UNIVERSE NEVER PLAYS FAVORITES
We think of metaphysics, perhaps, as
something that only the most profound thinkers have known about, but we
should remember that we also are thinkers. The profound thought of
all ages has stood in awe of Life itself, realizing that here is a power
and potentiality, the highest possibilities of which the human intellect
cannot fathom.
Universal principles are never respecters
of persons; the Universe has no favorites. Therefore, it is
written: "And let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev.
22:17)
NOTHING SUPERNATURAL ABOUT THE STUDY OF LIFE
Let us then approach the Science of
Mind with awe, but not with fear; with truly a humble thought, but not
with a sense that we are unworthy. Let us approach it normally,
happily, willing to accept, glad to experiment, hoping and believing
that as the result of our efforts we shall each derive a great good - a
sound understanding of the natural laws of Life, as they apply to the
individual and their relationship to the whole universal scheme of
things.
This is the simple meaning of true
metaphysical teaching, the study of Life and the nature of the Law,
governed and directed by thought; always conscious that we live in a
spiritual Universe; that God is in, through, around and for us.
There is nothing supernatural about the study of Life from the
metaphysical viewpoint. That which today seems to us supernatural,
after it is thoroughly understood, will be found spontaneously natural.
We all know that many have been healed of
physical disease through prayer. Let us analyze this. Why
are some healed through prayer while others are not? Can we
believe that there is a God who picks out some people and says, "I
will honor your prayer, but I do not think so much of Mr. So and
So"? It is superstitious to believe that God will answer the
prayer of one above another. Jesus said that
God "maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt.
5:45)
Since some people have been healed through
prayer, while others have not, the answer is NOT
that God has responded to some and not to others, but that some have
responded to God more than others. Their prayer (their thought)
has responded by corresponding. The answer to prayer is in
the prayer. But what is prayer? A prayer is a movement of
thought, within the mind of the one praying, along a definite line of
meditation; that is, for a specific purpose.
What is the mind? No one living knows.
We know a great deal about the mind, but not what it is. By
mind, we mean consciousness. We are now using it. We cannot
locate mind in the body, for, while the body is a necessary vehicle for
consciousness while we are here, it is not consciousness. We
cannot isolate mind. All we know about it is not what it is, but what
it does, and the greatest philosopher who ever lived knows no more
than this ... except that he may tell us more of how it works.
THERE ARE NOT TWO MINDS
Mind ... the Thing,
Spirit, Causation ... is beyond, and yet not beyond, our grasp.
Beyond, in that It is so big; within, in that wherever we grasp at It,
we are It to the extent that we grasp It; but since It is Infinite, we
can never encompass It. We shall never encompass God, and yet we
shall always be in God and of God!
LIMITLESS POWER AT OUR DISPOSAL
Marvelous as the
concept may be, it is none the less true that man has at his disposal
... in what he calls his Subjective Mind ... a power that seems to be
Limitless. THIS IS BECAUSE HE IS ONE WITH THE WHOLE ON THE
SUBJECTIVE SIDE OF LIFE! Man's thought, falling into his
subjective mind, merges with the Universal Subjective Mind, and becomes
the law of his life, through the one great law of all life.
There are not two subjective minds. There is
but one Subjective Mind, and what we call our subjective mind is really
the use we are making of the One Law. Each individual maintains
their identity in Law, through their personal use of It. And each
is drawing from Life what they think into It!
To learn how to think is to learn how to live, for
our thoughts go into a medium that is Infinite in Its ability to do and
to be. Man, by thinking, can bring into their experience
whatsoever they desire ... if they think correctly, and becomes a living
embodiment of their thoughts. This is not done by holding thoughts
but by knowing the Truth.
Within us, then, there is a creative field,
which we call the subjective mind; around us there is a creative field
which we call Subjective. One is universal and the other is
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 the individual mind is really not individual
but is individualized. Behind the individual is the Universal,
which has no limits. In this concept alone lies the possibility of
eternal and endless expansion. Everyone is Universal on the
subjective side of life, and individual only at the point of conscious
perception. The riddle is solved, and we all use the creative
power of the Universal Mind every time we use our own mind.
DIVINE NATURE IS IN EVERYONE
We will say, then,
that in spirit, man is One with God. But what of the great Law of
the Universe? If we are really One with the Whole, we must be One
with the Law of the Whole, as well as One with the Spirit of the Whole.
If we try to find something difficult to
grasp, then we shall never grasp it, because we shall always think of It
as being incomprehensible. The mind which we discover within us is
the Mind that governs everything. This is The Thing Itself,
and we should recognize its simplicity. - Dr. Ernest Holmes
So, here we have the way to identify Universal
Power ... and next week we will learn "The Way It Works."
And
So It Is!
Letting
Love Use Me In Its Own Good Way,
Rev.
Bates
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