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"People
become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do
things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of
success." - Norman Vincent Peale
"The
Science of Mind" written by Dr. Ernest Holmes, begins with the
"Introduction" which contains four chapters; I The Thing
Itself, II The Way It Works, III What It Does, and IV How to Use It ...
the first four weeks of January, 2007, I will focus on these
Introductory Chapters. This week I will focus on Introductory
Chapter III, What It Does. (Chapter I & 2 are posted on the 2007
Archives page of this site.)
As we go through this study of
Introductory Chapter III, "What It Does," we will find that we
are "immersed" in an Infinite Intelligence; a Mind that knows
all things ... BUT WHAT WE DRAW FROM IT WE MUST DRAW THROUGH THE CHANNEL
OF OUR OWN MINDS. In other words, we must "choose" It.
Dr. Holmes states that a "unity must be established, and a
conscious connection must be made, before we can derive the benefits
which the Greater Mind is willing to reveal or impart to us.
[The Science of Mind]
The Universe is impersonal. It gives alike to all. It is no
respecter of persons. It values each alike. Its nature is to
impart, ours to receive. ... Emerson advises that we get our bloated
nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits. [our doubts, our
fears, our inferiorities]
As we understand the Bible
statement, "in Him we live and move and have our being" ... we
understand that this "Him" ... is Infinite Mind. And as
we know this Mind as Infinite Intelligence, then we know that It imparts
to us through our mind ... INTELLIGENTLY. It is the Source of our
ideas and imagination, our intuition and our intelligence. It is
the Thing back of each idea that we have for our life ... and It is back
of each thought that we think. Our mind is the channel in which
Infinite Mind communicates with us and through us. Our state of
mind is the "filter" of receptivity to the One Mind. Our
awareness of this relationship of our finite mind to the Infinite Mind
determines the ideas and thoughts that our mind is conscious of.
If our state of mind is filled with limitation and limited concepts of
life, then we become unconsciousness to ideas that can free us from
limitation.
[The Science of Mind]
Life always becomes to us the particular thing
we need when we believe that It becomes to us that particular thing.
The understanding of
this is the essence of simplicity. As all numbers proceed from the
fundamental unit, as all material forms are but different manifestations
of one formless stuff, so all things proceed from that which is neither
person, place nor thing, but is of the essence of all things. [our
consciousness differentiates the results]
[The Science of Mind]
MENTAL WORK IS DEFINITE
... Each state of thought taps the
same Principle, each uses the same Law, is inspired by the same Spirit,
but each draws forth a different result. Here is multiplicity
proceeding from Unity. This is what Emerson meant when he said
that Unity passes into variety. ... But, someone will ask, can we bring
out both good and evil from the One Source? Of course not.
The First Principle is goodness, and only in so far as our thought and
action tend toward a constructive program, will it eventually succeed.
... We cannot fight the Universe. It refuses to be budged from Its
course. We can only go with It.
[The Science of Mind]
THE PRINCIPLE RE-STATED
... Let us restate our Principle.
We are surrounded by an Infinite Possibility. It is Goodness,
Life, Law and Reason. In expressing Itself through us, It becomes
more fully conscious of Its own being. Therefore, It wishes to
express through us. As It passes into our being, It automatically
becomes the law of our lives. It can pass into expression through
us only as we consciously allow It to do so. Therefore, we should
have faith in It, and Its desires and Its ability to do for us all
that we shall ever need to have done. Since It must pass
through our consciousness to operate for us, we must be conscious that
It is doing so. ... The one who wishes to demonstrate some particular
good must become conscious of this particular good, if he wishes to
experience it. Therefore, he must make his mind receptive to
it and he must do this consciously. There is no hocus-pocus in a
mental [prayer-]treatment. It is always definite, conscious,
concrete and explicit. We are dealing with Intelligence, and
should deal with It intelligently. ... There is no occult trick in
giving scientific [prayer-]treatments. It is just the reverse.
Simplicity should mark our every effort and positivity should accompany
all statements that we make into the Law of Good.
[The Science of Mind]
THE SECRET ALREADY KNOWN
.. A [prayer-]treatment is a
statement in the Law, embodying the concrete idea of our desires and
accompanied by an unqualified faith that the Law works for us, as we
work with It. Let us waste no further time looking for the secret
of success or the key to happiness. Already the door is open and
whosoever will may enter.
As we study "What It Does," we are
preparing ourselves for "How To Use It" the fourth and final
Introductory Chapter of the Science of Mind. And in this
final Introductory Chapter we will focus on spiritual mind-treatment or
prayer-treatment.
Radical religious science is spiritual mind-treatment and spiritual
mind-treatment is radical religious science. Prayer-treatment is
consciously using our thoughts and words in a definite way to
"choose" the desires and ideas that we want to see made
manifest in our lives. It is the manner in which we lift our
thoughts to the Infinite in a definite way. With God all things
are possible, but what It does, It must do through us ... and It can ...
as we study and practice ... prayer-treatment daily.
AND SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev. Hank
Bates
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