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"A
foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little
statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great
soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with
his shadow on the wall." ... Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance
Powerful
points in the 3rd Introductory Chapter of the Science of Mind, What It
Does, is the message this week. If you missed the 1st and 2nd
Chapter's power points you can find then in the 2006
Archives. These chapters contain the essence of the Science of
Mind philosophy. I strongly urge you to read these chapters in
full and study them until you are satisfied with your understanding of
the principles presented in them.
THE UNIVERSE IMPERSONAL
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. When
we stand in the light, we cast a shadow across the pathway of our own
experience. Emerson advises that we get our bloated nothingness
out of the way of the divine circuits.
A RIDDLE OF SIMPLICITY
It is a beautiful and true thought
to realize that every one stands in the shadow of a mighty Mind, a pure
Intelligence, and a Divine giving-ness! Not alone unto the great
comes the soft tread of the Unseen Guest. The arrogant have not
perceived the simplicity of faith, but the pure in heart [teachable] see
God. The intelligence by and through which we perceive that there
is a Spiritual Presence and an Infinite Mind in the Universe,
constitutes our receptivity to It, and decides Its flow through us.
We have made a riddle of simplicity; therefore, we have not read the
sermons written in stones, nor interpreted the light of love running
through life.
Spiritual wisdom says that God manifests
through everything and is incarnated in everyone; that all is Divinity
and that Nature herself is the body of God. The mechanical laws of
nature are set and immutable, but the spontaneous recognition of these
laws gives us the power to bring them into practical use in everyday
life and experience.
Here we have a dual unity; law and order,
spontaneous choice, volition, conscious action, and automatic reaction.
The laws of the universe are to be trusted but we must come to
understand them before we can use them. Once understood, any law
is available and is impersonally responsive to each and all alike.
LOVE RULES THROUGH LAW [PRINCIPLE]
In an intelligent study of the
teachings of the Science of Mind, we come to understand that all is Love
and yet all is Law. Love rules through Law. Love is the
Divine Giving-ness; Law is the Way. Love is spontaneous; Law is
impersonal. We should study the nature of Reality with this in
mind, and in this way we shall avoid two grave mistakes: either
viewing life as made up only of mechanical laws, or viewing it as made
up only of spontaneous actions, irrespective of law and order.
As we gain the broader viewpoint, we
shall see that Life must contain two fundamental characteristics.
We shall see that there is an Infinite Spirit, operating through an
Infinite and Immutable Law. In this, Cosmos, and not chaos, finds
an eternal existence in Reality. Love points the way and Law makes
the way possible.
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
[We] should not overlook the
significant fact that it is the MIND which discovers and makes use of
the mechanical law. Is not the mind the Spirit in us? We can
never completely fathom the Infinite Mind: we shall always be
discovering [something new]. Consequently, evolution is an eternal
unfoldment of the more yet to be.
Since it is the mind which must first come to
see, know and understand - and since all future possibility for the race
must first find an avenue of outlet through someone's mind - we shall do
well to look to the mind for the answer to all our problems.
Undoubtedly we are surrounded by, and immersed
in, a perfect Life: a complete, normal, happy, sane, harmonious
and peaceful existence. But only as much of this Life as we can
embody will really become ours to use. As much of this Life as we
understand and embody will react as immutable law - the reaction of the
mechanical to the volitional. The concept is wonderful and fraught
with tremendous significance. It it is bound up our hopes and
fears, our expectations, and our future and present realizations.
Since an understanding of any law must pass
first through our conscious mind before we can make use of it, it
follows that with all our getting, we should get understanding
[Solomon]. Should we wish to know a certain truth, we should state
that this truth is already known in Mind and this statement will be
true, but the Over-Mind must be accepted into our mind before we can
understand It. How, then, are we to accomplish the desired result?
By stating and feeling that our mind knows the truth about the thing we
desire to know. In this way we draw the Infinite Mind into our
mentalities, for definite knowledge of some particular good.
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 they
wish to experience it. Therefore, we must make our mind receptive
to it and we must do this consciously. There is no hocus-pocus in
a mental treatment [scientific prayer]. 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
treatments [prayer]. It is just the reverse. Simplicity
should mark our every effort and positive-ness should accompany all
statements that we make into the law of Good.
THE SECRET ALREADY KNOWN
A treatment [scientific prayer] 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.
Undoubtedly, each of us is now demonstrating
their concept of life, but trained thought is far more powerful that
un-trained, and the one who gives conscious power to their thought
should be more careful what they think that the one who does not.
The more power one gives to their thought - the more completely they
believe that their thought has power - the more power will it have. -
Dr. Ernest Holmes
Next week we will review
the fourth and final Introductory Chapter of the Science of Mind,
"How To Use It" ... and we shall learn to use It for the
highest and the best experience that Life has for us.
And
So It Is!
Letting
Love Use Me In Its Own Good Way,
Rev.
Bates
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