PRAYING WHEN THERE'S NOTHING WRONG

Crisis is not the only occasion for prayer. Although difficult situations are usually what motivate people to pray – and to seek spiritual counselling or prayer, there is a wide spectrum of other circumstances in which prayer can be a powerful tool for promoting wellbeing.
Prayer, in this sense, can be seen in a special light, offering not just healing but support, strength, direction, illumination and creative force as well.
Viewed from this perspective, prayer is not seen so much as a way to correct things that are wrong as to accelerate things that are already right.
A person seeking help with this idea in mind would not be doing so from the standpoint of feeling powerless or inadequate but rather from the standpoint of why ignore a rich source of support that can assist me in accomplishing my goal? This is true whether one is doing the prayer for oneself or getting assistance from a ministry of prayer.

We can consolidate these various prayer projects under the heading ‘self actualisation’ which includes the following:
1. Prayer to define your personal vision for life in terms of service or vocation. If you are praying for yourself, the prayer could be: “ I now accept that Divine Wisdom guides me into a path of service in which all my innate talents are employed successfully. Infinite Intelligence is revealing to me the ideal way in which I can find joy through work or service.”

Regular times can be set aside for declaring in prayer the results you wish to achieve. Becoming still, you can invite feelings you will have when those results come about; aligning yourself with those feelings is, assuredly, a form of prayer itself. Your prayer can also be supplanted by frequently visualising yourself in a happy, harmonious environment, performing work that is fulfilling.

2. Prayer to enhance job skills and learning capabilities in your chosen field. Such a prayer could be: “I now allow myself to be open to everything I need to know in this field, and I welcome all opportunities for Spirit’s inspiration to illuminate and expand my understanding.
I am strengthened in my resolve to seek out and discover all I need to know, and I am fully supplied with the energy necessary to carry out my purpose.”
The words of this prayer must be joined to a feeling of absolute acceptance, an unequivocal knowing that you have the power to accept the truth of what you have said, and that you do so now. You must assert complete and utter sovereignty over what is or is not accepted in the kingdom of your consciousness.

Then, sit in a period quiet or meditative thoughtfulness and acknowledge the efforts you have made up to this point. In those efforts recognise that there is an energy at your disposal to carry you still further in this learning process. Mentally search for and find the inner momentum you have already created and declare that this dynamic momentum will sweep you along until you know all that is needed.

3. Prayer to evolve spiritually and let the new you supersede the old you. This prayer could be stated: “I now declare that in the freshness of this moment, I release what has gone before and seize the change to express new light, never bound by the past. I choose to learn from my mistakes and love more wisely and genuinely this day. To this I am dedicated.
Again, sitting in quiet, listen inwardly to what follows after offering your prayer. In the solitude of your silent inner listening you will finally discover a sense of the sacred as you reflect on the source of your own nature. Soon you are aware of increased balance, poise, and the stately peace of your inner being. You have been drinking from the wellspring of the inner Spirit and this is the key to spiritual growth.

But what about the results? Can prayer truly provide support that is meaningful in accomplishing specific goals? The answer is yes.

Regardless of the issue, be it crisis-related or simply a desire to expand and explore, prayer figures as a most powerful ally, and it deserves respect. When we broaden our view of how and when prayer is applicable, we enable ourselves to have a richer experience of life.
And finally, if we want to appreciate prayer in its deepest sense, we can recognise that prayer ultimately moves beyond words and concepts altogether into realms where we may regard it in the same way philosopher Alan Watts regarded meditation, when he described it as “the art of suspending verbal and symbolic thinking for a time, somewhat as a courteous audience will stop talking when a concert is about to begin.

Thus our greatest and most powerful prayer may simply be to make our need known and then to quiet ourselves and listen to the Infinite as it plays across our attentive and receptive minds.

Blessings

CREATIVE EVOLUTION

Creative evolution is evolution you can do something about. It is the evolution of you. It is using the power of your mind to evolve yourself into the person you desire to be.

It is part of visualising yourself as a happy, peaceful, successful person. It is seeing yourself in a mental movie climbing the mountain peaks of life.

It is opening yourself wide open to the best in life. It is inviting goodness, truth, beauty, and inspiration to flow into every cell of your being.

It is associating with those upward reach and high expectations, that you may catch the sparks from their noble spirits.

It is releasing words from the pages of great books and putting them to work in your life.

It is setting goals for doing good works and organising yourself for achievement

It is being forever alert for ways in which you can improve yourself and serve more effectively.

It is dreaming magnificent dreams and building solid, realistic foundations under them.

It is seeking the light of Love to illuminate the path before you.

It is having such a burning desire to grow that nothing can stop you.

It is thinking of yourself as continuously becoming more than you are, day by day, month by month, year by year. This is creative evolution.

Words inspired by Wilfred A Peterson, ....making every day life more manageable.

USING FAITH TO BETTER ADVANTAGE IN OUR LIVES

Firstly we should begin with the idea that we are One with universal Mind and therefore we are united with Its creative action, which does things to us and for us by doing them through our consciousness. This creative action we think of a Law, or the Power that acts.

Next, we should consider that we are also centers of self-conscious awareness, individualisations of this Mind, with the ability to think, to choose, and to know; and that according to the sum total of all our thoughts we are either attracting good to us or repelling it from us.

Finally, we can change our thinking to be affirmative; and, in so doing, cause the Law, the invisible creative Force, to respond to us in an affirmative rather than in a negative way. Faith itself is an affirmation that good is greater than negative, and it becomes an acceptance of that good.

Let us start to develop and use the first idea: We are already One with the universal Mind, and Its creative Power can do anything. This is the basis of dynamic faith and of all effective prayer; and since prayers have been answered, we may accept that this is certain. It is why Jesus told us that when we pray we are to believe we have what we desire. He implied that there is that can, will, and must react to us. It has no choice other than to react to us, in an affirmative manner if that is the way we think.

That is why it is that when we pray or mediate we must do so in the present tense. We must say or think of our desire as taking place now. Up to the time of Jesus, people believed that God might help them; that there we concessions He might make if people pleased Him, or performed certain rites or ceremonies. Jesus brought a new kind of teaching – today we call it “affirmative thinking”. He talked about a Power that operates on our belief the way we believe it; and that we may see definite results or our belief in our experience.

We find that faith must be an affirmative belief. There is a Power that operates upon our thought the way we think it, and we can use our faith consciously and definitely and intelligently and for specific purposes. When we do, we should expect something to happen, and we are not to deny it in the meantime!

The Law can bring us only as much good as we can mentally accept. This accepting g is an act of our own consciousness; it is an act of faith. There must be an acceptance in our mind, a belief within our own consciousness, a belief that does not deny itself. It is a belief that says, “It is so.

Perhaps we ask for something, or accept something, or affirm something, and then it seems as though we are not going to get it. We must continue to know that we are dealing with a Power that causes the invisible to become visible! We are creating a pattern upon which the creative Power is always acting. This is one of the greatest ideas concerning thought, but we seem to overlook its full and complete meaning.

Second proposition

We are thinking, choosing centers of awareness in this Mind; and according to the sum total of all our thoughts, we are either silently attracting good to us or repelling it from us.

Let us consider certain attitudes of thought that ought to be salutary. For instance, the necessity of having an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is not a virtue but it also is part of a practical philosophy of daily life. There is no wiser way of living than to remember every morning what Life has given us, and to life up thought in thankfulness for every bounty we possess.

We occasionally need to put ourselves on a strict mental regimen, in which we would we would speak no negative word; refrain from faultfinding or condemnation or anyone or anything.

It is the sum total of our thinking that we need to consider; and in doing this one of the first things to learn is that about ninety percent of out thinking is entirely subconscious – we are not aware of it while it goes on. Our success or failure in life is largely a subconscious process, and of course our happiness or misery is almost entirely so.

Scientific investigation verifies that you and I are talking about a reality. Most of our thought processes are subconscious. Here is where the habit patterns are caught and laid down, even from infancy. It should be our purpose to find out what these thought patterns are; and when they are unhappy, or morbid, or filled with fear, change them in order that the natural, normal flow of Life Itself shall be resumed.

Now we have the basic premises developed to where we can use them, because we know what we are doing, and so we come to the third idea:

We can change our thinking, and by so doing enable the Law, the invisible creative Force, to act for us in an affirmative rather than in a negative way.

Jesus gave us a technique that when we pray we should enter the closet of the self, close the door of the senses, and make known our request. We must affirm the good and forget the negative. When we do this, we should be certain that we accept the answer, and know we are going to receive it.

When we pray we must believe that we have, and we shall have. We actually can change our thinking and permit, the Law to give us freedom.

What more could we ask? What more could anyone receive from Life? To learn how to think constructively is to learn how to prove or demonstrate what is good. We can be renewed and transformed by the renewing of our mind. There is One Mind, God –Mind, and this is the mind of man at the level of his understanding. Divine Intelligence stands ready to pour into our consciousness every idea of good, and an infinite Law within this Intelligence acts upon our acceptance or belief, making it visible in our experience.

THE LAWS OF MIND

Every one who takes up the study of the laws of mind will find that many of his life long views and ideas must give place to the truths we find in the new dispensation.

A willingness to give up the false way is in the highest degree essential to one who takes up the study with honest, sincere desire to grasp an understanding of Spiritual principles.

To read with honesty, openness and a sincere desire for truth regardless of what the world may say or think, will open ones mind to what otherwise would not appeal to ones judgement at all.

It is universally admitted that former ways of thinking, believing and doing, have always been more or less disappointing, and have not brought the comfort and happiness man has always hungered for.

Each year of a man’s life is an experiment, and every new scheme has its doubtful side. Men go on in life full with fear and uncertainty enough to weaken their efforts to a great extent, all because true principles are not understood and brought to bear upon their undertakings.

Harmony is the law of the universe, and it should be the aim of every man, woman and child to seek a knowledge of the Spiritual laws.

Man was created upright with dominion over all things. So long man maintains a consciousness of his divine nature, he will think and act in line with that divine harmony which gives dominion; otherwise the mortal gains supremacy and he loses his dominion, meaning when he allows the carnal mind to rule he is out of harmony with Divine Law.

We prove by demonstration that knowledge of Spiritual principles will bring harmony out of discord, and give health for sickness and strength for weakness.

By the knowledge and faithful practice of Spiritual principles, life may be made one continual blessing to oneself and every one about us, because the very nature of the law is harmony.

To gain practical knowledge of the principles, one has to be willing to begin at the very beginning of truth based on man’s son ship to God as Mind, Spirit, First Cause, which are all names of God. Man is the offspring of Divine Mind, and the image and likeness of the same; therefore we want to reason all the way in harmony with that statement.

To consider with deliberation what constitutes mind in the perfection we ascribe to God. We are forced to the conclusion that mind is the underlying substance from which emanates every attribute of Divinity, Life, Truth, Love, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Purity; all of which fill the universe and tend continually to good for the children of man.

As man in his essential nature is designed to be and to act perfectly as the image and likeness of God, all imperfect action and being are contrary to God’s design and contrary to God’s will.
We are not to gauge our course of action, nor our beliefs by what we see others do and think, nor depend upon what some one else knows or believe, but aim to know what is true for ourselves, and thus educate the judgement to see clearly how principles work in our lives.

Every one should understand and develop their own powers of mind, which powers are the gift of God to his children, to whom he gave dominion over all the earth.

Without knowledge of this divine power we are in bondage to ignorance; with it we are made free, and we then have the mind that was in Christ, and can do the works he did.

Truth is a great working principle, without which there can be no harmony, and we find an understanding of its working qualities essential in using it, else Christ would never have made the knowledge of truth necessary to freedom.

The lack of faith in what truth will do for us has always stood like an impenetrable cloud of darkness between the conscious mind of man, and the good things he desires.

We are not required to exercise blind faith in what we can not understand, but our faith should be based in philosophical reasoning, based upon the premise that God is the Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence Spirit. As God is Mind and man is the image and likeness of God, man is also mind in his essential nature, and he possesses the attributes of God consciously in proportion as he recognises and acknowledges them and lives in harmony with Divine law. To understand is to be able to give a reason for the hope within us.

Man was given dominion over all flesh in the beginning, and still retains it, provided he lives in accord with the principles of truth.

Harmony is the law of the universe. Harmony in the earth-life is Divine law manifest, when true principles are understood and acted upon, perfect harmony of mind and body is the result.


Affirmation

There is one Creator, one God, one Presence. I acknowledge my oneness with It. I cannot be separated from my good, which is ever expanding within the limitless Presence. I let go of the old, and embrace the new. Life is transformed for me by fresh ideas, new activities, greater breadth of vision, and a wider scope of accomplishment. I perceive Reality now.
I am serenely confident on the good Life offers me. I am thankful for my changed outlook. I let go of the past completely in this acceptance of abundant, joyous, creative living, now and always.


Sources of material: Jane W Yarnall (Practical Healing for Mind and Body: 1891) and Ernest Holmes (Science of Mind Magazine Mar 1973).

USING THE POWER OF MIND

Using faith to better advantage in our lives.

Firstly we should begin with the idea that we are One with universal Mind and therefore we are united with Its creative action, which does things to us and for us by doing them through our consciousness. This creative action we think of a Law, or the Power that acts.

Next, we should consider that we are also centers of self-conscious awareness, individualisations of this Mind, with the ability to think, to choose, and to know; and that according to the sum total of all our thoughts we are either attracting good to us or repelling it from us.

Finally, we can change our thinking to be affirmative; and, in so doing, cause the Law, the invisible creative Force, to respond to us in an affirmative rather than in a negative way. Faith itself is an affirmation that good is greater than negative, and it becomes an acceptance of that good.

Let us start to develop and use the first idea: We are already One with the universal Mind, and Its creative Power can do anything. This is the basis of dynamic faith and of all effective prayer; and since prayers have been answered, we may accept that this is certain. It is why Jesus told us that when we pray we are to believe we have what we desire. He implied that there is that can, will, and must react to us. It has no choice other than to react to us, in an affirmative manner if that is the way we think.

That is why it is that when we pray or mediate we must do so in the present tense. We must say or think of our desire as taking place now. Up to the time of Jesus, people believed that God might help them; that there we concessions He might make if people pleased Him, or performed certain rites or ceremonies. Jesus brought a new kind of teaching – today we call it “affirmative thinking”. He talked about a Power that operates on our belief the way we believe it; and that we may see definite results or our belief in our experience.

We find that faith must be an affirmative belief. There is a Power that operates upon our thought the way we think it, and we can use our faith consciously and definitely and intelligently and for specific purposes. When we do, we should expect something to happen, and we are not to deny it in the meantime!

The Law can bring us only as much good as we can mentally accept. This accepting g is an act of our own consciousness; it is an act of faith. There must be an acceptance in our mind, a belief within our own consciousness, a belief that does not deny itself. It is a belief that says, “It is so.

Perhaps we ask for something, or accept something, or affirm something, and then it seems as though we are not going to get it. We must continue to know that we are dealing with a Power that causes the invisible to become visible! We are creating a pattern upon which the creative Power is always acting. This is one of the greatest ideas concerning thought, but we seem to overlook its full and complete meaning.

Second proposition

We are thinking, choosing centers of awareness in this Mind; and according to the sum total of all our thoughts, we are either silently attracting good to us or repelling it from us.

Let us consider certain attitudes of thought that ought to be salutary. For instance, the necessity of having an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is not a virtue but it also is part of a practical philosophy of daily life. There is no wiser way of living than to remember every morning what Life has given us, and to life up thought in thankfulness for every bounty we possess.

We occasionally need to put ourselves on a strict mental regimen, in which we would we would speak no negative word; refrain from faultfinding or condemnation or anyone or anything.

It is the sum total of our thinking that we need to consider; and in doing this one of the first things to learn is that about ninety percent of out thinking is entirely subconscious – we are not aware of it while it goes on. Our success or failure in life is largely a subconscious process, and of course our happiness or misery is almost entirely so.

Scientific investigation verifies that you and I are talking about a reality. Most of our thought processes are subconscious. Here is where the habit patterns are caught and laid down, even from infancy. It should be our purpose to find out what these thought patterns are; and when they are unhappy, or morbid, or filled with fear, change them in order that the natural, normal flow of Life Itself shall be resumed.

Now we have the basic premises developed to where we can use them, because we know what we are doing, and so we come to the third idea:

We can change our thinking, and by so doing enable the Law, the invisible creative Force, to act for us in an affirmative rather than in a negative way.

Jesus gave us a technique that when we pray we should enter the closet of the self, close the door of the senses, and make known our request. We must affirm the good and forget the negative. When we do this, we should be certain that we accept the answer, and know we are going to receive it.

When we pray we must believe that we have, and we shall have. We actually can change our thinking and permit, the Law to give us freedom.

What more could we ask? What more could anyone receive from Life? To learn how to think constructively is to learn how to prove or demonstrate what is good. We can be renewed and transformed by the renewing of our mind. There is One Mind, God –Mind, and this is the mind of man at the level of his understanding. Divine Intelligence stands ready to pour into our consciousness every idea of good, and an infinite Law within this Intelligence acts upon our acceptance or belief, making it visible in our experience.

THE AFFIRMATIVE LIFE

Negative thoughts attract negative conditions, even if they do not actually create them, and it must be evident that there can be no real happiness until this destructive practice is discontinued;

Every sensible man and woman who has suffered from negative thinking in the form of worry, fear, suspicion or jealously has suffered from some form of bodily discomfort. It is reasonable to suppose then that they have tried to overcome such thoughts as have made such misery-producing consequences in their bodies usually by exercising will-power, and while they in many cases suppressed the external manifestation of their inner emotions, it has been at the cost, all too frequently, of setting up other negative conditions which have been just as injurious as if they had given them free reign.

Will-power has its limitation, hence, when the will would be something of itself, it is like a car with insufficient gas; it can go just so far and no farther. We cannot, for an instance, will ourselves to believe in the sphericity of the globe and thus assert the nothingness of the sunrise, but we can learn that the globe is a sphere, or nearly so, and by so learning we can prove to ourselves that the sphere revolves and the sun stands still. In such a matter the will does not enter at all, unless it is the determination to get at the facts in the case, but it is always this that we must get at if we would arrive at correct conclusions. “Knowledge is Power”, therefore it is the knowledge of our inserverable connection with the Source of all Being that is required, if we would live the affirmative life. The affirmation of Jesus, “I and the Father are one”, established a truth, which when grasped, makes for a power which nothing else in all the world can confer.

As the warmth and light of the sun are one with the sun and inseverable from it, so man in his true relation to the Infinite is one with the Infinite, as effect is one with the cause. This one-ness of man with his Maker is a truth, but unless we know this truth, it will be of little real use to us, for to be a thing and not to be aware of it, is the same as if we were not it.

Looking at ourselves from the standpoint of the material, merely, and knowing no other law than the material, we are subject to it with its penalties of general unhappiness.

The affirmative life requires that we admit, first of all, that anything that is really worthwhile is possible, and secondly that we go to work to prove this fact.

The demand for better conditions of mind, body and possession has not moved God to create a new supply for peace, power and plenty, it has simply opened the door of thought inward, so that man may see that the things he seeks are not external to himself but rather “within” him as God-implanted potentialities, to be worked out through intelligent affirmations of the eternal and demonstratable Good in his own nature.

Paul’s statement, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me,” is positive and scientific for it reveals the Source from which Paul is assured of support. Like his Master he knows that “of himself he can do nothing,” and this is necessary for everyone to know. Without the underlying spiritual substance of things, words and affirmations are like “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals”. The reason why results follow affirmations, when there is no knowledge of the underlying substance which gives them their own power, is due to the fact that this power is employed even when there is no consciousness of its being employed, on the same principle that one will get light by merely touching a button even when he knows nothing at all about electrical science.

Intelligent cooperation with the law is better for it is true mental healing, as it is true of all other things.

W John Murray – Mental Medicine

THE PRINCIPLE OF BEING

Truth teaches us that God is Good, all Life, the only Reality there is. That God is not a person, but that God is the “Absolute,” nothing being comparable to God.

We read: God created man in His own image, God is Spirit and that God is Mind. Spirit:- an intelligence conceived apart from any physical organism or embodiment; the intelligent, immaterial part of man. Mind:- the entire spiritual nature, that which thinks, feels, wills and desires; From Spirit: we deduce that God (Mind) is the Creator; man is that which is created. Man is an expression of thought generated in Mind (God). Therefore man, the true creation, is God-likeness . Grasping this idea man reasons truly that there can be but one conclusion at which to arrive, that he is the son of the Creator.

As a son of God, man has as his rightful inheritance all the attributes of the God-head. To know man as made in the “image and likeness of God, is to him as expressing all of God’s Divine Qualities, Love, Life, Health, Wisdom. However, unless man accepts the gifts bestowed upon him and uses the privileges given him; unless he manifests his divine mission, thereby living as the heir, man will remain in ignorance of the Truth regarding God.

The Spirit in man is like unto its source, perfect, true, illimitable. This consciousness of Truth inspires him to a higher and nobler life.

Man has withheld from himself his rightful position as heir and son of God. To whom all things are possible. Whilst believing the words of Christ as true, man failed in that he did not do the works. Jesus tells us that we should be doers of the word.

The thing that stands between man and God is the personal self, and only by putting it under control of the Divine self can man hope to stand in God-likeness. As we look on the bodily manifestation of man, he is personal; but in his spiritual being he is an individual. The personal is not the real man; the real man is the spirit which is in the Image and Likeness of God. To overcome personality does not mean losing individuality. God (Good) radiates life to the individual; again the individual should radiate Good to those about him, and this he will do when he understands his oneness with the Creative Power.

Therefore in accepting the teachings of Jesus we must put them into practice which is doing the works. Man must rid himself of the idea that he is of the earth, earthy. Christ in saying: “I am from above, acknowledged his own divinity. He proclaimed the divinity of all mankind when he said, “I am in my Father, and ye in me and I in you.”

Let us express in our body the power we have within ourselves by claiming for it Purity, Love, Health, Strength, and all good. Man must cease to look upon himself as other than the Son of God, made in His Image and Likeness. Man must know that he is complete in God, then will he grow into God-Likeness.

To unfold spiritually, man must separate himself in thought from the “I am not.” The unreal, and know only the good. So long as man allows the material self to deny the Christ, or true Self, just so long will he be kept out of his inheritance. Now is the time to assert our self and be what God knows us to be.


Man is the Son of the Intelligence, therefore intelligent. He loves, or is capable of loving because the Essence of his being is Love;

To advance along the line of truth we must get thorough understanding of the Principe of Being; we must know the true Self (the “I am,” ”Spirit of Christ,” “Son of God.”) is in the “Image and Likeness of God,” the highest good, which is Divine.


Truth

I and my Father are one. I am a child of God created in His Image and Likeness. The Spirit is the same in me as it was in Jesus. I claim my divinity. I know only the good.



































Source of material: Isidora H. Minard (Prove Me Now “Ten Lessons in Truth” 1926)

THE ESSENCE OF PRAYER

In order to help ourselves and others through prayer, we have to have a clear consciousness and a deep sense of the inward meaning of what we do. We have to have realization that each one of us is an outlet of the Infinite because we are an inlet to It. Then we have to realize that there is nothing separate from God. When we use the word God we mean the Truth, Life, the Absolute, the Infinite, the Spirit; everything that means That Presence and Power and Intelligence in the universe, which is the universe.

By the word God we mean Life, Intelligence in action, the Spirit within all nature, animating everything and animating ourselves. When we use the word God we are saluting the Divine Presence in each other and in everything – the beauty that sees and imagines and paints the glory of a sunset or the soft-ness of an early dawn, the aroma of the rose, the enthusiasm of the child at play, the intelligence of the philosopher, the worshipful attitude of the devotee. This is all God.

The moment we draw a line against some part of the eternal Presence which is in all things we shut ourselves off from It. In spiritual mind treatment, or prayer, our purpose is to become actively aware of the unrestricted wholeness of the Divine Presence.

Nothing ever happened to you or to me that need bind us if we free ourselves from the belief in it. This is why Jesus forgave people their sins. He knew that a new world is born every moment; a new spiritual time track, as it were, is created every moment;

He knew that there is nothing that can bind man except ignorance of his true nature. Right now, today, any sequence of cause and effect may be intercepted and changed and everything made new in our lives. If this were not true Jesus never would have forgiven people their sins. If this were not true no one could be healed physically or psychologically today.

Analytically psychology and psychosomatic medicine would be impossible, no new habits could be formed, no transcendence of ancient experience. There would be no invention in science.
That which has brought comfort to modern man, that which has brought luxury that other ages did not have, is not because the time had come when God decided to give us a gas range or an electric light or an automobile, but because man gradually accepted more of that which was there to be loosed. Out of the God that is, the world is eternally discovering a better God.

Whatever in our experience seems to restrict, whatever appears to limit, whatever seems to be the cause of our disturbances must be negated. Now that means that we turn from all our beliefs of bondage, whatever they may be. It doesn’t matter who or how many people have believed in them, God the Absolute, God the limitless Infinite, God the eternal Love and Givingness, is right where we are, in fullness. Our own past must not be held against us else we create a new bondage out of the old image.

As we turn within to that Divine Presence, we know that all the ages of the past, all the experiences we have ever had, do not matter today. Here and now we stand forth free from the burden of the past. If there has been what the world calls sin, we are forgiven.

If there has been a sense of rejection, we now know that we are included in the Divine Love and Wisdom. If there has been a sense of separation, we now reunite our imagination and will with that from which we have never been separated, nor could have been. There is One Life, that Life is God, that Life is perfect, that Life is our life now, and we are that Life. “I am that which Thou art; Thou art that which I am” – eternal and perfect, forever blessed.

Within each one of us, circulating and flowing through the rhythm of the heart beat of the Universe is but the one heart. There is but one circulation, unimpeded by anything we have done, and that whole system of circulation is the harmony and the joy of the flow and the return circuit of Divine Intelligence and Wisdom.

We are guided and governed and sustained by Infinite Mind which knows what to do within us, how to do it, and does it.

There is One Mind, that Mind is God, that Mind is in what we are doing just as It is in planting the acorn and bringing it into an oak tree. The eternal process of that Mind, forever manifesting Its limitless imagination and activity, is at the point of our own intelligence, thinking in what we are thinking, creating in what we are doing, and being what we are. There is nothing else. And we shall not be bound even by our own mistakes.

We let no doubt or fear or thought or limitation restrict the flow of that which is omnipotent and present and forever blessed. We are animated by the essence of vitality and energy, we are stimulated by the enthusiastic imagination and will of That which creates everything in the universe, and we abide in the stillness and tranquillity and call of the infinite Peace which knows no confusion or fear, the eternal Life which needs no resurrection.

Transcendent, triumphant, new and perfect, springing perennially from the heart of the Universe is our own heart and mind and will and imagination. All creation is a proclamation of the Creator. All that is beautiful is the atmosphere of that eternal Beauty that flows in harmony and symmetry through everything and makes one grand music of the spheres- the only Presence in everything, the God eternal. We identify ourselves with this living Presence.

Ernest Holmes: Science of Mind-August 1972

The Starting Point

We learn from the Bible that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Whatever power there is in God’s Word, the same power is also in our own words. There is no avoiding the fact that the Bible claims for us the same power in our own life and our own world that it claims for God. In the lives of the majority, many do not realise that the Word is in their own mouths.

Do we who are endeavouring to realise the greater truths of life always govern our words? If any word has power, it follows then all words have power. At the same time it is not in the few moments of spiritual meditation that we demonstrate, but we bring out the possibilities of the hidden word when we are allowing our thoughts to run in any direction, in those long hours stretching themselves into days, months and years we are always using the word, that is what we demonstrate in our lives.

An hour a day spent in silent meditation will not save us from the confusion of life; the fifty one percent of a persons thinking is what counts.

We thus find that the process of creation is always an inner thought process. We should keep in mind, that, the Spirit makes all things out of Itself, that the Word, which is the inner activity of thought comes first in the creative series and all else comes from the effect or the Word operating upon a universal substance.

The Creative energy of the Universal Mind may be safely trusted to work through the specialising influence of our own thought. The more we bring our thought into harmony with the Life, Love and Beauty which the Spirit is, the less negative conditions will obtain.

We must if we wish to prove the power of the Spirit in our lives, look not to outside things or effects, but to the Spirit alone.

When we realise that man is like God, (and he could not be otherwise, being made out of God), we will realise that man’s word also has power. If there is but One Mind, then it follows that our word, our thought is the activity of that One Mind in our consciousness. Man’s life is identical with that of the Spirit, not something sent forth to wander away by itself, but something included in and forming part of Greater Life.

We who wish to practice metaphysics must first, last and all the time, realise that we are centers of the divine activity; we must know that whatever God is in the Universal, God is in the world in which we live.

We must discover for ourselves that we stand in the midst of an eternal creative power which presses itself around our own thoughts, and that It casts back to us glorified all that we think. If it awakens within our consciousness the realization that the mind of the Universe (which is the only mind there is), is our own mind, that the creative power of this mind is ours also, that the manifestation of this mind is our own individuality; that the love and power and peace of this mind is within ourselves, then we would have come to the light and some deeper mysteries and meaning of life for then we’ll live in harmony of this Power.


Meditation:

My life is God in action! I give my attention today to this living Presence animating my body and expressing in my affairs. I realise how my own belief in God can limit or enlarge His action through me because of the creative nature of my own thoughts. The choice of ideas is mine, but the action upon them by the Law of Mind is automatic. I discover that as my thoughts embrace God’s nature I find His Intelligence, Love, Peace and Harmony reflected in every aspect of my life.

ASSURANCE UNLIMITED.....final

If there are other doubts assailing us, the still small voice bids us read further, learn more of the teachings of this Perfect Man. It bids us remember how he went even so far as to ask us, if we would not believe his words, to believe the actual words he performed, the actual healings of the sick and maimed, the restoration of sight to the blind, of life to those believed dead, the providing of abundant food for the multitudes. It bids us remember that these were only a recorded few of the many deeds performed.

The intellect might still argue that these seeming miracles were performed two thousand years ago, that things are far different today. But, deep within our hearts we hear the assurance of Jesus,”Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full,” and we know that the only limit to our joy and health and supply is of our own making.

Never, in any of his teachings, did Jesus limit his followers in the deeds they could perform, in the words they were to speak, the manner in which they were to spread the gospel of Divine Love, “Greater works than these shall ye do,”.. “It is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit” he declared, for he knew of the possibilities of the Christ nature within all men.

He professed to be the way and the truth and the life, but his pattern was not intended to restrict his followers. It was, and is, a broad pattern, ready always for growth, and expansion. He pointed the way, and still continues today in the heart of everyone willing to accept his teachings to point toward a way of thinking and living that moves beyond the horizons of the intellect and all previously constructed, manmade beliefs.

His way and his promises are so wonderful, so full of hope and love and joy, we hesitate to accept them as “natural” and as meant for such as we.

Instead, daily we allow limited, biased, restricted thoughts and words and actions to govern our life, Here is a simple example, showing but one of the prevailing habits formed by the intellect, the need for guidance the still small voice in the reformation of our thoughts.

We need to constantly open wide our consciousness to the limitlessness of the goodness of God, to the truth that our Father is not only the Source of our Life, Health, Supply and Happiness, but our Infinite Life, Infinite Health, Infinite Supply and Infinite Happiness, without beginning or ending.

Everything that hints of limitation should be denied and replaced with recognition of God as Eternal Good.

Then we will soon come to realise the truths which the still small voice constantly whispers, know that no goals is beyond our reaching, no overcoming too difficult, that growth is eternal ; that nothing is ever “finished”, that undreamed-of worlds or expression yet remain to be developed, untouched beauty yet to become manifest, more lasting love and joy and inspiration to fill our soul.

We will realise our thoughts can step at any time from the undesirable abode of limitation into the consciousness of the “many mansions” of the Heavenly Kingdom as we become willing to listen, patient in learning, and try to love more the Divine Creative Spirit in ourselves and in all men.

We will find the still small voice within us urging the unity of two seemingly separate entities which, in meeting, blend into but One Existence. This is the moment of oneness which acknowledges no separation from All-Good. In this moment we accept the basic truths of Being as the only reality, the fact of the eternity of life and love, the infinity of the possibilities of the goodness of God.

This wonderful, still small voice will reassure us that we will at the proper time , in the right order , told all we need to know, be given all the strength and courage and joy needed to continue in our progression toward perfection. It will assure us that with God, all things are possible, that without Him nothing is completely expressed.

It will remind us of the words of our beloved Master, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that he may be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him; ye know him ; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you.”

ASSURANCE UNLIMITED

In times of doubt and confusion, times when we feel limited by undesirable appearances or conditions, we need to cock one ear toward God, be patient and still, and listen with all our heart and soul for the “still small voice.” That will bring the answer, the freedom, the assurance and relief vital to a happy and victorious life.

What is this still small voice? How and where can we find it? What is its message? We are familiar of course, with our conscience. We know when it “bothers” us, or when it “speaks” to us do we not? This is but the beginning rustle and stir of Holy Spirit within, the beginning of our awareness of the still small voice which lives with us and within us, whether or not we follow its guidance.

When we silence the clamour of self –will, resentment, agitation and rebellion concerning our problems we will be able to hear and recognise the true wisdom from above, that wisdom which is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated...”(Jas.3:17).

This quiet but magnificent Guide, the Christ Self, urges us continually to awaken and grasp the opportunity to behold the Truth of Being about ourselves and the Heavenly Kingdom provided for us.

It is impossible to explain completely the wondrous content of its message, for it would be somewhat like trying to put all the thrilling beauty of a colourful sunset into a few words. To one, the flaming sky might be a glorious inspiration to compose a beautiful melody, to another it may mean a riot of colour to be put upon canvas, to another a flow of expressive words; in another it may arouse supreme strength needed to rise above an unhappy situation, in another, new trust and faith to keep on “keeping on.”

Each a different message, but a wonderful one, moulded according to the individual need, aspiration and desire.

One quality however, the message of the still small voice of Truth forever contains the quality of limitlessness, eternity, infinity. As we listen to this voice within, we will find it possible to drop all hurry, anxiety and confusion, accepting the simple conviction that all negation is only temporary while the goodness of God, His love for us, is eternal.

Contrary to wishful thinking, fanciful day-dreams, the truths arising from the depths of the Holy Spirit contain the important basic facts about all creation, about our Real Self. The Still small voice is ever ready to tell us of these truths, but the intellect, the argumentative mind, denies their practicality, declares them “too good to be true”, and prefers to accept thoughts of a restricted, limited content as more natural.”

The intellect tells us that it is natural for man to catch a cold from his neighbour, be sick and weak occasionally, suffer failure and unhappiness. The still small voice bids us reject these beliefs in favour of the pattern laid down for us by the man Jesus, the man who set the example of what we truly are, spiritually perfect beings, created after the image and likeness of our Heavenly Father.

The intellect insists that our success and prosperity depend upon certain material circumstances; that it would be unnatural for everyone alike to be plentifully supplied. Again, the still small voice bids us to learn of the teachings of the way shower; bids us be still and listen to His words “Be not therefore anxious, saying what shall we eat.... your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

(Matt. 6:31, 32) He tells the source of our every supply is always God, impartial, loving, and ready to give to those who seek and ask in His name.

If there are other doubts assailing us, the still small voice bids us read further, learn more of the teachings of this Perfect Man. It bids us remember how he went even so far as to ask us, if we would not believe his words, to believe the actual words he performed, the actual healings of the sick and maimed, the restoration of sight to the blind, of life to those believed dead, the providing of abundant food for the multitudes. It bids us remember that these were only a recorded few of the many deeds performed.

To be continued.....

HOW SHALL WE APPLY THE TRUTH OF OMNIPRESENCE

Purpose: To show that, through the application of Truth to the experiences of the day, each one of us may banish sickness and all inharmony.

This little book is for students, and it is taken for granted that you who are reading this lesson now have been faithful in your study and practice of Omnipresence, and that consequently you have realized the blessedness of a fuller understanding of its Truth.

Now, the questions come: How can I make this Truth practical in my own life? How can I apply it more definitely to the experiences of the day? How can I use it in helping others to freedom from sickness and inharmony of every kind?

The following suggestions are helpful:

Let us think of Omnipresence as Mind - the Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding of the Universal One, which evidences Itself as intelligence in the forms and forces of nature. In this understanding our affirmations will be:

Omnipresence is Mind, the Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding of the Universe.

Mind is here.

Mind includes me.

The province of Mind is to think.

The Universal Mind thinks according to Its Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding.

Thought, the activity of Mind, is the Creative Power of the Universe.

All things (forms) are thoughts of God.

The Law of the Universe is--Like begets like; thought is like the thinker.

God-Thought is Godlike; hence, God pronounces His Creation Good.

Universal Intelligence--God Mind active everywhere--Substance in manifestation--is Form, Man, the Individual.

Like begets like--the Individual is Godlike.

The individual is begotten of God-Substance, Spirit; is formed by God-Intelligence; is partaker of God-Nature, Goodness.

This is the true state of Man.

All Substance is God-Substance; hence all Substance is perfect.

Substance does not change its nature by taking form.

Man, begotten of the Father, the Perfect Source, is perfect.

Each man can say, My true state is perfection.

Study the foregoing until it is yours.

Now let us apply this Principle to the problems of the day.

In sickness what should we do?

Sit quietly and alone. Think for a few moments: “God is here” Read thoughtfully the preceding affirmations. When our thought, through this method, has been fully withdrawn from externals, let us repeat several times: “God is Love; God is Peace.” There comes a wonderful sense of the Presence; a great joy fills us because we are certain, very certain, of God and of God’s Goodness.

While the blessedness of this realization is upon us let us turn our thought in deep love to the one whom we wish to help. We must forget the claim of sickness, or weakness, that is being made for him and by him, and know only the Truth. It helps sometimes to think directly to the person: “You are God’s child; God’s love surrounds you and cares for you; God’s Life is yours. In the light of the Great Reality I see you perfect, free from the delusion of sin, sickness, death. I see you whole with God’s Wholeness; I rejoice to speak this word for you; it is the Father that speaketh in me. The word of God is powerful to bless.”

Never stop treating until you have made yourself certain of the truth, and with this certainty comes a feeling of rest; personal responsibility slips away as the assurance of God, the Living Factor in our lives, comes.

However, do not think that you have done your full part with this treatment. There is more help that you can give, and that is to take with you into the activities of the day this faith that you have realized in your time of meditation. Do not give credence to human opinion in regard to your patient.

Have faith in God’s Presence as the Reality that is greater than climate, food, so-called material conditions, or human conceptions.

Again, if you wish to bring about concord between two persons where inharmony has seemed to prevail, the method would be the same. The thought emphasized should be that they both partake of the One Nature, Love, and that “Love is the Divine Adjuster.”

If you wish to realize supply, withdraw thought from the contemplation of lack and its accompanying inconveniences, and give full attention to ever present abundance.
Live as if you believed in abundance; pay every debt, no matter how great the sacrifice; be true in every business transaction; be generous in attitude.

Rejoice in your good.

Demonstration is money in hand. Do not spend ahead of your realization, but get the realization of plenty. God is Abundance, and the Father has said, “All mine is thine.”

What is the conclusion of the whole matter? What is the psychology of Divine Science? That we live in a Universe of Mind whose activity is Thought or Life.

That there is but One Mind. That we are dealing with One Mind, not many minds.

That all of our functions have a spiritual import. That we think and act in and by the One Mind. Hence, Life abounds in the richness of Universal Thinking. The truth of life is the truth of the Individual, Life’s expression. Each man can say, “I live in Universal Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding. This realization frees me from every limitation placed upon me by my misconceptions or those of the race.”

“God is my Father; I have no human heritage of thinking or of doing.”

“God is my environment; I know no other presence.”

“Love is my nature; I acknowledge no opposite.”

“In God I am complete.”

Source: Nona L Brooks - Short Lessons in Divine Science

SCIENTIFIC PRAYER: What It Is – How You Can Use It

Our faith is based upon the conviction that the infinite Mind has all Intelligence, all Ability, all Power, all Wisdom, and knows how to create anything. We can think of the most difficult thing it is possible for finite minds to imagine, and can rest in the assurance that Mind knows how to solve the problem or to create the new conditions.

Our faith is likewise based upon the fact that the Universe is a system of Law and Order, and the Law of Mind always responds according to the nature of our thought. The Law never reasons with us, saying, “You know, I don’t think that would be a good thing for you to have.” We have faith in the undeviating neutrality of the Law. It has no preferences. It never draws backs and says, “That goes against the grain with me.” It is absolutely neutral. If It could talk to us if would say, “You go ahead and name it, and I’ll make it. “It does not like to make one kind of things more than another. It is willing to create whatever we dictate through out pattern of thought. The Law is an intangible principle of Mind that operates in this unswerving, obedient way because Its nature is to do so.

We are able to consciously avail ourselves to the action of the Law when we recognise its nature. When we understand that the mind in man is an individualisation of the Mind of God, Spirit, then we know when we speak our word of Good that it is the word of Spirit which is being spoken, which is the Law of its own fulfilment. We rise far above the idea of man standing erect and calling upon the great Creative Mind to do his bidding.

For when man speaks his word, being the expression of God, that word becomes the word of God and is manifest.

When we pray, we have a definite intention in our thought and the prayer is being given for a specific purpose. We become quiet within our thought and reassure ourselves of the reality of the infinite Power with which we are dealing, erecting an altar of faith and conviction in the sanctuary of our consciousness.

Next we make a series of statements, which should flow from our conviction, since there’s no magic in the words themselves. The statements used should flow spontaneously from our awareness of the Perfection of God now manifesting.

We are convincing ourselves

If we wish to pray for an increased activity in our affairs, our statement must be so formulated as to convince ourselves of that activity. Our whole endeavour is to convince ourselves and assure ourselves that there is a Divine activity in our affairs, that this activity is functioning in everything we do. It is surrounding us with love and friendship; it goes before us and prepares our way; it opens the doorway of opportunity for us and compels us to make right judgements, to act intelligently; it inspires both our thoughts and our actions. Spirit enlightens our minds and gives enthusiastic buoyancy to our acts.

We also can state that our word removes all doubt, fear and uncertainty.

When a prayer is released, it is a completed thing. It is then in the hands of the Law and will be carried forward into manifestation, just as it is.

The person who speaks his word, releases it, but is filled with doubt and misgiving as to whether it will ever be fulfilled, has his answer right then. That prayer will be answered, but in reverse.

All prayers are answered, although not always in the way we would like. But they area answered according to the individuals pattern of thinking and conviction at that time.

If our prayers are released, as Jesus’ were, with the fullest confidence that the Law can do nothing else but answer them, our demonstrations will come thick and fast. If they are released with only partial acceptance, then they will be only partially answered. If they are released with little or no inward conviction, then the answers will be of a like nature. There is no escape from this, and no exception. Remember, we are dealing with inexorable Law, which never deviates and never varies. It knows only to obey.

The Law of Mind is impersonal, like the law of electricity, which will move into action for anyone who observes the principles governing its flow. Anyone may press the button, the electricity doesn’t care who it is, for its nature is to flow at the touch of that button.

The Law of Mind will always flow in the direction of constructive creative activity when we understand and apply the principles by which It works. We have the mightiest force in all the world to command. We can step out of a prison of ignorance and fear, and into the light of a constructive expectancy which will remake our world for us.

The Value of Giving Thanks

In releasing our word to the action of the Law we do so with a glad and thankful heart. Giving thanks is a further indication that we have fully released our word. It means that we are sure of the completion of the creative process; that there are no lingering doubts.

When one has done his work thoroughly and well, he can turn his back upon the prayer, give thanks for its certainty, and rejoice in its fulfilment, even though he has not seen it outwardly fulfilled as yet.

At some time or another we have to become quiet and in the solitude of our own thought, discover for ourselves what we actually believe, and then proceed to put that faith into creative action through patterns of thinking build around that faith.

Theories are fine but meaningless except for idle speculation unless we practically apply them to any and all problems and situations which may confront us. It is wonderful to say we believe in prayer, but what can it mean to us unless we pray?

There comes a time in the process of our own growth and development when we have learned enough and we must start using what we have learned. Otherwise we can find ourselves spending a lifetime gathering together ideas which will be just a mass of interesting information of no practical value.

Regardless of how little or how much we may feel we have learned about the Science of Mind, the only time to start to make use of it is now. We have to start using today whatever we may know or we shall find that the time never comes when we feel we know enough.

The real secret to the practical application lies not in how much we know, but in the application of what we do know. And the application means only that we have to apply it, not just think about applying it.

The results, large or small, much or little, depend entirely on the degree of conscientious endeavour, enthusiasm and joy, conviction and faith we can bring to bear on any particular situation.

No one else can do any of this for us. We alone must do the applying, for the Science of Mind is to be a practical dynamic factor in everyday living. It’s up to us.




Source: Ernest Holmes (Science of Mind Magazine- July 1987)

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Reverence for the Eternal is the first thing in knowledge... Proverbs 1:7 (Moffat)

The Universal Mind contains all knowledge. It is the potential ultimate of all things.

Reverence for life is fundamental to understanding the meaning and purpose of living. Our consciousness of God is the well-spring through which we express the Eternal.

Though we are told the “Universal Mind contains all knowledge.... the potential ultimate of all things, “we still can receive only as much of this wisdom and knowledge as we are receptive to, and we keep only that which we can embody and make our own.

Unless we can recognize our relationship with the Eternal, we will not be able to understand and utilize our Divine nature to its fullest. To know God is to properly venerate His Life in us; to have both a profound honor for, and love of, all He creates.

We turn now to this Creator, our heavenly Father, and claim all that our Sonship implies – an inheritance of limitless Good.

AFFIRMATION

I am one with the Eternal. I love God, my Creator, my Source of knowledge, wisdom, and their limitlessness. Divine Intelligence in me helps me possess a greater realisation of God’s Life in me. In calm trust I meet every situation.

All the good I do prospers. I bring to all my activities a vital freshness of approach which opens every door to God’s bounty.

My consciousness of God flows into every experience. I revere His Life in me and in my fellowman. At peace with my God, and with myself, my world unfolds its every benefit. And so it is!

THE DIVINE FORGIVER

Jesus taught three great truths, and we find them running through everything he said. The first, of course is, that God is all there is, whether it is here or hereafter.

God is Life, God is Good. The Divine forever gives of Itself to us.

The next is that there is a Power greater than we are and a Law of Mind which we are all using, whether or not we are aware of the fact. He told us exactly what this Law is and how to use It.

And he said It will never fail us because it is done unto us as we believe.

Perhaps the third is even more important than the other two; Jesus taught that the Divine Giver is also the great Forgiver, and that love will finally heal every wound, somewhere, sometime, somehow, either here or hereafter.

Knowing that the great Giver is also the Divine Forgiver, we release everything that denies this Divine givingness. We forgive ourselves and everyone else for any mistakes we or they may have made.

Therefore, say to yourself, quietly and with deep conviction: Believing that God is all the Presence there is.

I feel this Presence in everything and everyone. Realising that God is Love, I open my thoughts to such a complete inflowing of this Divine Life that I see It and feel It everywhere – the one perfect Life which is God, in people, in nature, animating every act, sustaining all movement. My faith in this Life is complete, positive, and certain.
Knowing that all things are possible to faith, I say to my own mind: Be not afraid. Faith goes before me and prepares the way.
Believing that God is in everyone, I meet Him in people and I am one with everyone I meet. Knowing that God is Peace, I open my mind to the quiet influence and the calm certainty of Peace. Knowing that God is Joy, I meet every situation in happiness. I recognise that Life within me can do all things with complete assurance, and does guide me with assurance into a greater experience of love and good.

From Ideas of Living by Ernest Holmes

WHAT IS REAL AND WHAT IS ILLUSION?

Purpose: To lead the student to deep insight into, and true evaluation of the world about him; that he may delight in it as only the spiritually discerning can.

Man in all ages and in every stage of his development has sought Something higher than himself, and seeking, has found. “Man is incurably religious.” Civilized men have simply continued the search begun by primitive men ages ago. Both have found; each in his own way.

It is essential that men hold the right belief about God, for the history of man accords with his belief in God; our weakness or our strength as world citizens is determined thereby.

The following statements are true: As man is, so is his God; as is man’s conception of God, so is man. Man conceives God according to his own development; and his conception reacts upon him as an individual. Until he becomes enlightened, man conceives God to be manlike; the conception of a tyrannical God sprang from tyrants, and has brought tragic experiences into the world--persecution, the inquisition, and mental cruelty. The conception of a loving God, as taught by Jesus, is transforming men’s lives’ it is impelling them to translate the theory of human brotherhood into daily practice. The need through the ages has been a concept of God that will bring out the nearness--the oneness of God and Man; the Divine Science idea of God as Infinite and Immediate Presence, does this for me.

In Divine Science we think of God as the Infinite Expanse of Consciousness--the Fundamental Being of the Universe; but we also know God as infinitely loving Presence “closer than breathing, nearer than hands or feet”--the very Essence of our Being, the LIFE that you and I are.

There are myriads of ways in which this Life expresses, from the grain of sand to the solar system, from the wayside flower to man, but all is one Life. God Life is expressing Itself as creation. God is sharing His Life with us, his children; He is truly in us, through us, around us. Man is always being lived by God; the Father of us all is not only the far, He is the near; the Fatherhood of God is both infinite and immediate.

The truth that God lives in each one of us makes the individual potentially infinite.

There is no limit to what he can comprehend and to what he can do, as he comes to realize his oneness with the Father. It is not of ourselves, remember, that we are powerful; it is of the Father which dwelleth in us and worketh through us. The life of the individual is endless, and each one of us will go on throughout eternity, realizing more and more the truth of God-Life. Truth is changeless, but our conceptions change; these grow deeper and broader and truer as we unfold.

The Law of God is eternal, and our interpretation of the Law deepens and broadens and becomes truer as we develop.

Let us suppose that Jesus had said, “I see a new interpretation of law, but what Moses said must not be changed; we must live by the old.” Think of the loss to humanity such a conception would have meant. Jesus taught, on the contrary, that the Spirit of Truth would lead men into greater and greater knowledge. “When he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” Led by the Spirit of Truth we are finding the fundamental things of life, and the welfare of man is being assured by this deepening, enlarging, and strengthening of his concept of God.

We are coming to see that the universe of form is the manifestation of Infinite Consciousness and that the intelligence of God is everywhere in the universe.

God Idea is taking form. What shall we do with the inharmony that we see around us? Does God create deformity, sin, and suffering? At this point let us take up the question as to what is real and what [is] illusion.

Each philosophy has its own vocabulary. To some the real means the actual, the objective only. This concept leaves out the part of the Universe that is most important. There are others to whom the real means the subjective wholly; to them outer force, outer action, and form are not real. Here again a part of the Universe is denied.

The one who thinks of the actual in the sense of what he can see, hear, and touch, and calls this the only real is dealing with the outer merely, and is accepting the doctrine of materialism. The one who believes that only the invisible or subjective is real excludes an important part of the universe.

The materialist is looking at the external only; if he were willing to look through the external, he would find God and God in action. The real is more than that which is becoming or coming forth; it is more than that which is visible or than that which is invisible. Let us hold the bigger attitude. Why try to wipe out the visible or refuse to accept the invisible? God is all. Truth is eternal. Because we do not see the whole of Truth, let us not deny the part. Human ignorance cannot do away with the visible, for the visible is God in expression, but it is a mistake to believe in the visible alone.

The Universe is one--visible and invisible.

Divine Science gives the truest interpretation of the Universe that I have found.

Again we are told that, “What is, is real.” But I ask, “Do we really know what is?” The senses do not report aright. They do not tell us what is. As we stand on the back platform of a rapidly moving train our eyes report that the rails are coming together behind us. Is this true? The senses report that the sun rises in the east every morning and sets in the west at evening. For thousands of years men believed that the earth was flat, because it looked that way to the eye. As we look over the plains our eyes show us that the earth and the sky meet; while natural science proves that there is limitless space above and around us.

We have all heard people say, “I know this is true because I have seen it.” Is seeing believing? It is not, according to the latest theories advanced by natural scientists. You and I look at a piece of furniture--a chair or a table. Do we see it as it is? What appears to us as solid substance, firm and hard, is really atoms, vivid with life activity, vibrating in unison with one another.

There is no inanimate matter.

Natural science tells us that the only difference between various kinds of material, such as air or wood or steel, lies in the number of electrons that revolve around each of the nuclei that make up the material. We do not become aware of this pulsating life activity through the report of the senses.

Is seeing believing? I say that I went downtown today and bought blue material for a dress. Really the material I bought is blue because it isn’t blue; the color that you and I see is what we call blue because the material does not absorb certain rays and does obsorb others. That which it rejects and reflects gives the material its color. It is evident that we cannot rely upon the senses.

Are you saying, “I learn by experience?” Is this true? Are our experiences always based upon Truth? What shall we trust since we have found that the report of the senses is not dependable? The subconscious? No, we cannot trust it, for the subconscious accepts without question what is said to it by the senses, until it is trained by the right thinking of the individual to higher standards. The subconscious inherits much ignorance, and it believes in sin, sickness, and death until you and I teach it better. Since the subconscious may report negatively, we dare not rely upon its promptings. Generations have done this; mankind has gathered its records of the past in this way. As a consequence, many times we are working from the wrong basis. The subconscious tries to report to us that we are creatures of a dire heredity, bound by past mistakes and wrong beliefs.

We are, in Truth, sons of God, free to progress eternally.

God, we affirm, is the one Reality of the Universe. “What,” I hear someone say, “I have understood that Divine Science believed in nature, the created world. Now you are denying it.” And I reply, “No, I am not denying the universe of form and force; these are Immanuel, God with us.”

Here comes an exceedingly vital point:

Perceiving Omnipresence clearly brings the realization of health, supply, abundance, power, and joy.

Before man does anything, the idea is in his mind. For example, the architect has the plan in mind before attempting to build; the real cathedral is in mind. An engineer works out his plans for construction in his thought before he builds. A dressmaker has the plan of the dress worked out mentally before she cuts the material. So it is with God!

Every created thing is Idea in Divine Mind before it is expressed.

One of the unchanging laws of the Universe is that, like produces like. Jesus stated this law in these words: “Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?”

“Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.”

We are not surprised, since like produces like, that God looked upon the works of His creation and pronounced these good. Yes, very good! They were Godlike! God is looking upon His work today, and He is pronouncing them good. Blessed is the man who discerning Reality-- God-Presence --pronounces all Good.

Are we prepared in the light of what has been said, to define the Real? Divine Science says that the Real is That Which Eternally Is-- God and God in action. This means Mind and its Ideas, the principles and laws of the Universe, and That Which God Does.

What God is and What God Does Is the Real.

What man conceives apart from God or in belief of separation from God is the outcome of ignorance and does not accord with God-Idea, nor with Universal Principle; hence it is the unreal or illusion.

Glenn Clark in The Soul’s Sincere Desire, discriminates between the real and the unreal in the following words: “Reality, in the eyes of the practical man, is made up of cold, hard facts. And what are the cold, hard facts of life? As we look about us in this world, what we see all too frequently are quarrels, bickerings, unhappiness, unfaithfulness, treachery, covetousness and materialism everywhere. These are the facts of life. Fact comes from the word, factum, meaning something that we do or make. Are these facts of life identical with the realities of life? Not according to Jesus.

To him Reality does not consist of that which is made, but of that which eternally is.

Love is--quarrels are made; joy is--unhappiness is made; truth is--lies are made; loyalty is--betrayals are made; purity is--impurity is made; life is--sickness is made.

Is nature real according to our definition of Reality? Let us look at a flower; richness of color, beauty of form, and sweetness of fragrance are there. The flower is real because it conforms to the fundamental conception of its Being, the God-Idea of it, although temporarily expressed. The idea of the flower in God-Mind is eternal and real; and its expression is temporal and real.

All expression, true to Idea and Principle, whether coming directly from God or from God through man, is real.

You say that the sunset is temporal; its glory is passing: Is it any the less beautiful for this reason? The sunset in all its colorful glory passes, but the Idea of the sunset is eternal. The principle upon which it is based and by which it is expressed is Real, the permanent Real, while the sunset itself is the temporary real.

How rich, wonderful, and beautiful Creation is! Some philosophers say “amen” to all that I have said--One God Omnipresent; One Creator, God; One Creation, Godlike, hence perfect; and in the next breath, perhaps, they speak of man’s creation. Here is a strange teaching. We do not agree with it. This is where Divine Science stands true to its basic principle.

When we speak the word, Omnipresence, we mean that One and One only is the Reality.

Illusion is believing in more than one--the many; it teaches an opposite to the One wholly good--the devil or evil. Divine Science recognizes One Creator and only One, and this Creator is God.

We believe that unillumined thinking is the only evil in the universe.

Since God is Omnipresent, Life, Health, Beauty, Power, Intelligence and Joy are Omnipresent. Belief in aught else is delusion. From the point of view of Omnipresence we can say, “Whatever is, is Real.”

There is only God and God in action.

Our conception that there is an opposite of God-Life, of harmony, and of good, is substanceless and has in it no power. Such misconceptions as that of the existence of two powers, one good and one evil, keep us from realizing the blessings of the Kingdom of God within us, of the Kingdom of Heaven at hand. As long as man is ignorant of Reality he will suffer the pangs of delusion--sin, sickness, and death.

We must know the Truth about Life. Jesus says, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

Knowledge of God gives us understanding of Reality; in the light of God-Consciousness all illusion falls away, and through the practice of the Presence of God in thought, word, and deed, we come to know with unswerving certainty that there is only One Reality--God and God in action.

Nona L. Brooks Short Lessons in Divine Science

WHAT IS THE GREATEST HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT?

Purpose: To emphasize this Truth: That to know God’s will and to fulfill His purpose in our lives is the greatest human achievement.

In one sense there is no human achievement, for whatever we accomplish is wrought by the power of Divine Wisdom and Love inherent within us. God works by means of man, and every achievement is the outcome of this Presence and Power. The greatest human achievement is not to be found in externals, not in the building of cities, nor in the execution of great commercial schemes, not even in our wonderful works of art.

Our highest attainment comes through the inner revelation; it is to learn God’s Plan and to realize this Divine Purpose within ourselves.

In order to fulfill our destiny, we must know God as the Omnipresent One, whose nature is goodness, love, life, power. We must come into the realization of our oneness with the Father; we must see that we are destined to become the companion of the Infinite; we must attain unto the measure of the stature of Christ.

That to which we give attention becomes magnified in our mentality.

If our thought is centered upon disease, lack, sorrow, our mental sun will cease to shine, and the world will be very dark to us. On the other hand, when we refuse to entertain these hobgoblins and persistently give ourselves to the Truth of God-Presence with its infinite Goodness, the great light of Love, Joy, and Peace, breaks within us, and problems are no more. They cannot stand in the light of Truth.

In order to outgrow problems, we must have faith in the laws of Life; God wishes us to know the Truth, wishes us to be free. What we call law is but God’s method of bringing about his own purposes. Therefore, the laws of Life are working to bring to us the knowledge that is our freedom. Faith in law means that we do not resist the processes of our unfoldment, but trust the law absolutely, because we know that it is bringing us to the realization of our good. Our growth will be entirely harmonious when we have this perfect trust. It is resistance, through lack of faith in the working of the law, that makes conditions hard.

The non-resistant attitude that comes from faith in the working of the law, is powerful to dissolve every inharmonious condition.

One of the breeders of problems is our absorption in the getting of things.

We should abound in all good things; but we shall realize this abundant supply of health, and of all else, only when our supreme purpose is Truth and Righteousness.

All good is now ours, but we must realize it through spiritual consciousness. When we seek earnestly the best gifts, when our thought is aglow with aspiration for the highest, what we call the problems of the day do not disturb us. We pass no opinion upon these, but use them as stepping-stones to greater realization. If we are faithful in the practice of self-training in the great spiritual principles of living until the old habits of unbelief fall away, we receive the crown of life--perfect realization. In the new blessedness that comes to us, there is no darkness, no shadow of night, for lo, all things have become new.

God’s will must be Godlike.

We cannot conceive of God willing for us sickness or sorrow, weakness or sin. We have come to know that these inharmonies are the result of man’s ignorance. As he is enlightened by Truth they will disappear. God wills for us only life, health, goodness, love, and power. He wills that we should be wise in our day’s decisions. He wills that we should be loving, kind, uncritical, fearless, trustful, joyful. He wills brotherhood throughout the land; and, also that we should say with Jesus and Paul, “I of myself do nothing, the Father in me doeth the works.” If we understand God’s will in this way, and try steadfastly to fulfill it, we find ourselves gradually freed from bondage to race hypnotism. Self-centered thought-- selfishness-- goes. We forgive perfectly. We serve efficiently. From our earnest endeavor comes clear vision. We are led definitely not only to understand the great principles of right living but also to know God’s immediate intent for us. We know whether God wishes us to go forth or to be still, to give or to withhold, to cherish or to lose. Such is the life of power.

This is the greatest human achievement, this knowing the God-Will and fulfilling the Divine Purpose.

Let me make a suggestion to all of those who earnestly desire this great achievement. Since Jesus is the one who has attained beyond all others, let us study his life, not merely to get the historical setting or to be able to picture his personality and environment, but in order to lay hold of the knowledge that was his, the motive that impelled, the love that radiated through him. Jesus was conscious of God; so must we be. Jesus knew his own relation to God, “I and my Father are one”; so must we know our oneness with the Father. Jesus so lived and so loved, that his very presence was a healing power. So must we live and love, if we, like Jesus, are to bear witness unto the Truth, and thus attain to the great achievement.

Nona L. Brooks Short Lessons in Divine Science

WHAT IS THE GREATEST HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT?

Purpose: To emphasize this Truth: That to know God’s will and to fulfill His purpose in our lives is the greatest human achievement.

In one sense there is no human achievement, for whatever we accomplish is wrought by the power of Divine Wisdom and Love inherent within us. God works by means of man, and every achievement is the outcome of this Presence and Power. The greatest human achievement is not to be found in externals, not in the building of cities, nor in the execution of great commercial schemes, not even in our wonderful works of art.

Our highest attainment comes through the inner revelation; it is to learn God’s Plan and to realize this Divine Purpose within ourselves.

In order to fulfill our destiny, we must know God as the Omnipresent One, whose nature is goodness, love, life, power. We must come into the realization of our oneness with the Father; we must see that we are destined to become the companion of the Infinite; we must attain unto the measure of the stature of Christ.

That to which we give attention becomes magnified in our mentality.

If our thought is centered upon disease, lack, sorrow, our mental sun will cease to shine, and the world will be very dark to us. On the other hand, when we refuse to entertain these hobgoblins and persistently give ourselves to the Truth of God-Presence with its infinite Goodness, the great light of Love, Joy, and Peace, breaks within us, and problems are no more. They cannot stand in the light of Truth.

In order to outgrow problems, we must have faith in the laws of Life; God wishes us to know the Truth, wishes us to be free. What we call law is but God’s method of bringing about his own purposes. Therefore, the laws of Life are working to bring to us the knowledge that is our freedom. Faith in law means that we do not resist the processes of our unfoldment, but trust the law absolutely, because we know that it is bringing us to the realization of our good. Our growth will be entirely harmonious when we have this perfect trust. It is resistance, through lack of faith in the working of the law, that makes conditions hard.

The non-resistant attitude that comes from faith in the working of the law, is powerful to dissolve every inharmonious condition.

One of the breeders of problems is our absorption in the getting of things.

We should abound in all good things; but we shall realize this abundant supply of health, and of all else, only when our supreme purpose is Truth and Righteousness.

All good is now ours, but we must realize it through spiritual consciousness. When we seek earnestly the best gifts, when our thought is aglow with aspiration for the highest, what we call the problems of the day do not disturb us. We pass no opinion upon these, but use them as stepping-stones to greater realization. If we are faithful in the practice of self-training in the great spiritual principles of living until the old habits of unbelief fall away, we receive the crown of life--perfect realization. In the new blessedness that comes to us, there is no darkness, no shadow of night, for lo, all things have become new.

God’s will must be Godlike.

We cannot conceive of God willing for us sickness or sorrow, weakness or sin. We have come to know that these inharmonies are the result of man’s ignorance. As he is enlightened by Truth they will disappear. God wills for us only life, health, goodness, love, and power. He wills that we should be wise in our day’s decisions. He wills that we should be loving, kind, uncritical, fearless, trustful, joyful. He wills brotherhood throughout the land; and, also that we should say with Jesus and Paul, “I of myself do nothing, the Father in me doeth the works.” If we understand God’s will in this way, and try steadfastly to fulfill it, we find ourselves gradually freed from bondage to race hypnotism. Self-centered thought-- selfishness-- goes. We forgive perfectly. We serve efficiently. From our earnest endeavor comes clear vision. We are led definitely not only to understand the great principles of right living but also to know God’s immediate intent for us. We know whether God wishes us to go forth or to be still, to give or to withhold, to cherish or to lose. Such is the life of power.

This is the greatest human achievement, this knowing the God-Will and fulfilling the Divine Purpose.

Let me make a suggestion to all of those who earnestly desire this great achievement. Since Jesus is the one who has attained beyond all others, let us study his life, not merely to get the historical setting or to be able to picture his personality and environment, but in order to lay hold of the knowledge that was his, the motive that impelled, the love that radiated through him.
Jesus was conscious of God; so must we be. Jesus knew his own relation to God, “I and my Father are one”; so must we know our oneness with the Father. Jesus so lived and so loved, that his very presence was a healing power. So must we live and love, if we, like Jesus, are to bear witness unto the Truth, and thus attain to the great achievement.

Nona L. Brooks
Short Lessons in Divine Science

WHAT IS OUR HEREDITY?

These are answers to letters received by Miss Brooks, and are placed here because they deal with the subject.

"My dear Mary",

"God is your Father and you inherit His own Substance. His perfect activity is working in you always. When you realize this you will experience health.

You say, “The Bible teaches the inheritance of disease.” Remember the threat in the second commandment is “to them that hate me.” You are too enlightened to hate. The answer to this commandment is found in the eighteenth chapter of Ezekiel. Listen to these words:

“Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the Father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

“But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

“All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live.”

Again you say, “We see about us many cases of inherited disease.” True, but we must recognize the fact that what we see is the result of belief in human heredity.

When we refuse to believe anything but Divine Inheritance, we shall demonstrate perfect health.

Physical laws do not teach inheritance of disease. It has been demonstrated beyond a doubt that disease is never transmitted to offspring. The fact that parents believe in the possibility of such transmission conveys to the child a tendency in that direction. If the child can be taken into an entirely different environment and surrounded by an atmosphere of trust, the tendency is nullifed.

As to your being “a demonstration of it,” this demonstration is but evidence of race belief. When you realize that you are a manifestation of God, and that His Life, Love, Wisdom, and Power work in and through you, you will demonstrate and enjoy the blessing of perfect health.

May you soon come to this realization.

* * * * *

"My dear Tom,'

"You say that God permits disease even if He does not send it."

The truth is that God knows nothing about disease.

The Bible does not teach physical inheritances, although it seems to teach many things that could not be true of a God of Love. "

On the other hand we find there statements that declare us to be sons of God; that enjoin us to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect; that assert perfect freedom for us through knowledge of Truth.

The lesser teaching must give place to the greater. Let us read our Bibles, keeping ever in thought the omnipresence of a God of Love. Then shall we get the true understanding of this wonderful book.

We read, “If thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light.” When the eye is single to the light of God’s Love, there can be no conception of germs to tear down and to devour as you believe them to be doing in your case.

You say that you overworked, thus violating a natural law, and that you are suffering for this now. There is a higher law than the so-called natural law. Your activity is from God and your strength in Him is limitless. “Ye shall mount up on wings, as eagles, ye shall run and not be weary.” --from Isaiah 40:31.

You receive Life directly from God. He thinks you, creates you, perfect like Himself. He is living you now and sees you only as He creates you, pure and perfect. You inherit from God only that which is good--His Wisdom, Love, Health, Power, and Joy. In this perception of Truth is your salvation from every ill.

Will you not accept this truth about yourself? If you would only cease resisting!

“Nearer is He than breathing, Closer than hands or feet.”

Talk to this loving Presence. Work your tiny bit of faith, and make it grow.

Nona L. Brooks Short Lessons in Divine Science