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THE OPEN MIND
by Dr. Ernest Holmes
Dr. Ernest
Holmes, Founder of Religious Science and
author of The Science of Mind.
We know that things are not
always what they seem. For instance, the earth and the sky do
not
meet—the horizon is simply the limitation of our vision, but
not a thing of itself. We also discover that the hurt has
largely disappeared from experiences we have had, which at the
time we were having them seemed very trying.
We know that a two-dimensional mind looking at a cube would not
see the cube; to it, the cube would look flat. Similarly, at our
stage of evolution our three-dimensional minds might well be
looking at that which is four-dimensional or more. So if our
gaze is focused only on the physical, we might be looking right
at the spiritual, the mental, or the intellectual, and not see
it. Science has proven that there are almost infinite variations
of vibrations of color and sound that the human eye and ear do
not detect because they are not perfected enough.
There have been people like Jesus, and a good many others, who
have experienced what we call cosmic consciousness. They have
looked through the material universe into a spiritual universe,
and they have announced this spiritual universe. If we could for
one moment break through this shell that we are looking with, we
would see reality. We believe that there is a Spirit in humans.
This Spirit is God. This same Spirit is in all people, and the
Spirit that is in you is the Spirit that is in me. It is one
Spirit, just one, always one. The Spirit that is in the dog is
the same Spirit. The life principle in the tree is the same
thing. There is one Spirit, but there are different
manifestations of it.
This thing that we call the personality is the objective
evidence of the use we are making of our invisible and
subjective individuality, the projection of the power, presence,
and intelligence in us, as us. In other words, consciousness
itself is God—one indivisible, infinite, and eternal reality.
Our conscious use of our individuality personifies it.
I have always held that ideas do not belong to anyone. All ideas
derive from God, therefore no idea belongs to anyone, but we all
have access to every idea in the divine providence. It is like
the figure two. What intelligent mathematician would say, “The
figure two belongs to me”? The mathematician knows that it is
impersonal; the concept belongs to the universe. It can be used
many times and there is just as much left.
We need to believe that reality is already delivered to
us—reality as we see it, according to our awareness of it.
This is the whole essence of spiritual mind treatment. How can
we give an effective treatment if we are just mumbling a lot of
words? A treatment must not be like that. We must believe in our
own treatment if it is going to be effective. How can we believe
in it unless we first believe that there is such a thing as
Spirit, and that Spirit is right here responding to us and
expressing as the experience or the condition we wish to enjoy?
All life is One, and God is the One Life in which we all live.
Even the power by which we measure out our limitation is God.
One of the great fallacies of theology has been the inability to
see that negation and affirmation are identical, and are not two
separate things. This is the hardest thing we will ever have to
understand. When we treat someone for spiritual healing, if our
minds do not get any farther than the appearance, then the
appearance will not be changed. It is only as the mind
transcends the appearance that the appearance can be changed,
because a mental concept is the original causative factor.
In a certain sense we dramatize life. We are thinking, feeling,
desiring, warm, and colorful beings, and I am glad we are, and I
do not think we have to change at all. The great souls like
Jesus, Emerson, and Whitman who delivered real spiritual insight
for the ages have been very spontaneous, very sweet, very simple
souls, and most of them even had a good sense of humor.
Here is the thing that Jesus uncovered: We do not have to become
immortal; we are immortal. We do not have to become spiritual;
we are spiritual. We do not have to become geniuses; we are
geniuses. We do not have to go anywhere—“Neither shall they
say, Lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is
within you.”
We wish to experiment with this reality to see what we can do
with it. Every time we work for a spiritual healing we are
experimenting to see what we can make the Mind do for us. The
Mind is creative because it is God.
Through spiritual mind treatment we endeavor to more
specifically express reality in our objective life, thus
becoming more successful in every legitimate undertaking. The
idea that God is trying us is all wrong. God is not trying us;
we are merely gradually waking up, and the awakening is what we
call a process of evolution, our awakening to what already is. I
do not mean that a building is an eternal thing, but the mind
that built it is an eternal thing. I think that every temporal
thing which is good should be enjoyed to the utmost, because we
are dealing with an infinite Spirit which by its own divine
imagination creates all that is out of itself.
We must think of ourselves as being the way we would like to be.
We do not make the thought creative; it is God. There never was
a human thought. All thought is divine, even though it is divine
in a humanly circumscribed way. We need not look for some other
power; we have power now. It is the only power we will ever
know. Since it is invisible, the essence of reality, it
transcends anything that is visible. The appearance is true and
real but not self-creative. We should forget all the negative
arguments, forget all the reasons why it is not so, and begin to
think of a few reasons why it is so.
To live affirmatively is to live as God lives, so we must plunge
beneath the appearance. Here is where the test comes. We are
testing ourselves to see whether we can forget evil and conceive
more good, let go of limitation and take hold of the limitless,
let go of the appearance and embrace reality. |
For more
like this go to: "What
I Believe" by Dr. Ernest Holmes |
Also by Dr. Holmes: Treatment for Supply
| Law of Our Lives | Brave
New World |
| The
Authority of the Soul |
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Joseph Murphy | Emmet Fox | Dr.
Bitzer | Wallace D. Wattles - Science of Getting Rich
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"You can overcome any obstacle. You can
achieve the most tremendous things by faith power. Have big faith - not any old watered-down faith,
and the change in you and in your experience
will be little short of miraculous." --Norman Vincent Peale
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