"The
spirit within humankind is God and only to the degree that we listen to
and seek to obey this Spirit shall we really succeed."
... Dr.
Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind
This
week's message contains the most powerful points in the 2nd Introductory
Chapter of the Science of Mind, The Way It Works. If you missed
the 1st Chapter's power points you can find it in the 2006
Archives. These chapters contain the essence of the Science of
Mind philosophy, which I have stated many times is the philosophy of the
Master Mind Jesus and other great mystics throughout the ages.
UNIVERSAL MIND, or SPIRIT, IS GOD
There is a Universal Mind, Spirit,
Intelligence, that is the origin of everything: It is First Cause.
It is God. This Universal Life and Energy finds an outlet in and
through all that is energized, and through everything that lives.
There is One Life back of everything that lives. There is One
Energy back of all that is energized. This Energy is in
everything. There is One Spirit back of all expression. That
is the meaning of that mystical saying: "In Him we live, and
move, and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
The life which we live is the Universal
Life expressing through us, else how could we live. Our thought
and emotion is the use we make - consciously or unconsciously - of this
original creative Thing that is the Cause of everything.
Therefore, we shall say that the mind, spirit, and intelligence which we
find in ourselves is as much of this original, creative God as we
understand. That this is not robbing God is a self-evident fact.
Since we are, then we are real and actual and have existence; and since
we can reduce all that is to a fundamental unit, we find that we have
this proposition:
There is Spirit - or this Invisible
Cause - and nothing, out of which all things are to be made. Now,
Spirit plus nothing leaves Spirit only. Hence there is One
Original Cause and nothing, out of which we are made. In other
words, we are made from this Thing. That is why we are called the
"son of God."
We now know that this is what we are -
because we could not be anything else - but we do not know how much of
this we are! When we see It as It is, then, we shall see ourselves
as we are! We can only see It by looking at It through our own
eyes. Hence, we shall find a better God when we shall have arrived
at a higher standard for man. If God is to interpret Himself to
man, He must interpret Himself through man. And the Spirit
can make no gift that we do not accept.
THE SEED OF PERFECTION IS HIDDEN WITHIN
The Original Life is Infinite.
It is good. It is filled with peace. It is of the essence of
purity. It is the ultimate of intelligence. It is power.
It is Law. It is Life. It is in us. In that inner
sanctuary of our own nature, hidden, perhaps from objective gaze,
"nestles the seed, perfection."
In our ignorance of the truth, we have misused
the highest power we possess. And so great is this power - so
complete is our freedom in it, so absolute the domain of law through it
- that the misuse of this power has brought upon us the very conditions
from which we suffer. We are bound because we are first free; the
power which appears to bind us is the only power in the universe that
can free us. This is why Jesus summed up His whole philosophy in
this simple statement: "It is done unto you as you
believe." The great Teacher looked so deeply into Nature,
that She revealed Her fundamental simplicity to Him. That
"believe" and that "as" symbolize heaven and hell.
And so we suffer, not because suffering is imposed upon us, but because
we are ignorant of our true nature.
SPIRIT WORKS FOR US BY WORKING THROUGH US
The Thing, then, works for us by
working through us and is us, always. It cannot work for us in any
other way. It spreads Itself over the whole universe and shouts at
us from every angle, but IT CAN BECOME POWER TO US ONLY WHEN WE
RECOGNIZE IT AS POWER.
We cannot recognize THAT IT IS, while we are
believing THAT IT IS NOT. Hence, it is written: "they
... entered not in because of unbelief." (Hebrews 4:6)
We may enter in because of our belief, but we cannot enter while there
is unbelief. Here we come to a house divided against itself.
If we can say we can only experience a little good, then we shall
experience but a little good. But, if we say, with Emerson,
"There is no great and no small to the soul that maketh all,"
then we may experience a greater good because we have conceived it.
Therefore, our belief sets the limit to our
demonstration of Principle which, of Itself, is without limit. It
is ready to fill everything, because It is Infinite. So, it is not
a question of Its willingness, nor of Its ability. It is entirely
a question of our own receptivity.
HOW MUCH CAN WE BELIEVE?
That we must go the way of the Law,
is a fundamental tenet of this Science, because Nature obeys us as we
first obey It, and our obedience to It is our acceptance of It.
How much can we believe? AS MUCH AS WE CAN BELIEVE WILL BE DONE
UNTO US.
When the consciousness speaks, the law receives
and executes. When a farmer plants a seed, he invokes the law.
That which follows is done by the mechanical side of Nature, which has
no volition of Its own. Involution is the cause and evolution is
the effect. When [we] think, or give a treatment, or make a
prayer, we are dealing with involution - the first step of the creative
order. This is what the Bible calls the Word. That which
follows is evolution, or the unfoldment of the word, or concept, into
objective experience.
We are thinking, willing, knowing, conscious centers
of Life. We are surrounded by, immersed in, and there is flowing
through us, a creative Something - call It what you will. The sum
total of all our thought, will, purpose, and belief, creates a tendency
in this Law that causes It to react to us according to the sum total of
that belief.
Ignorance of the law excuses no one from its
effects. If, then, certain specific ways of thought and belief
have produced limitations, other beliefs will change them. We must
learn to believe. The approach should be direct, and it should be
specific. [We do not will things to be done; things are brought
into being, not by will, but by the power of the self-assertive Truth.]
How much can we demonstrate? Just what
one can believe. How much can we see, how much can we accept, how
much can we find in our consciousness that is no longer repudiated by
our own denials? What that is, THAT MUCH WE CAN HAVE.
GOOD ONLY - NOT GOOD AND EVIL
We must instill into the mind the
fundamental proposition that good is without bounds. Only good and
loving-kindness shall "follow me all the days of my life."
(Psalms 23) We must accept this concept, rather than continuing to
think that there is a power of evil as opposed to the power of Good.
We experience good and evil because we perceive a presence of duality
rather than unity. [From the Book of Isaiah: "I, I am
the Lord, and besides me there is none other."]
Let us realize and work with this sound
knowledge and perfect faith: That as high as we shall make our
mark in Mind and Spirit, so high shall be Its outward manifestation in
our material world. - Dr. Ernest Holmes
The information above is
filled with so much that if we can "fix" it in our mind, will
change our lives so much for the better. The Life that we hope for
can be ours ... if we are willing to develop the consciousness that
"accepts" greater and greater Good ... and we can do it.
Next week, the 3rd Chapter, "What It Does."
And
So It Is!
Letting
Love Use Me In Its Own Good Way,
Rev.
Bates
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