I hope you enjoy this brief introduction to the Science of Mind philosophy that I have spoken about in my blogs. Each of the four parts comes from the first four chapters of the Science of Mind textbook, written by Ernest Shurtleff Holmes.
Ernest Holmes was born in 1887 and passed on in 1960. Holmes published his Science of Mind philosophy in 1926 after many years of studying metaphysics and countless ancient philosophers. Eventually this philosophy led to the establishment of the Churches of Religious Science, one of the three “New Thought” religions – the other two being Unity and Divine Science.
Holmes spiritual philosophy aligns with all religions. Many people think of Science of Mind as their way of life, but still practice a traditional religion. Holmes believed in the unity of all life and proclaimed that God Power exists at the center of every person. Thanks to the discovery and evidence of quantum physics in the twenty-first century, this is no longer metaphysical psychobabble – it is current science.
The Science of Mind deals with and uses the science of the laws of thought as they pertain to our relationship to the universal creative Mind (or God, or Force, or Higher Power) and to health, happiness and success. In the front of my copy of the Science of Mind textbook I have an anonymous poem. I have heard some people say that Dr. Holmes wrote it. I do not know that to be true, but it certainly agrees with his philosophy. This is what it says: “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass”. Two basic Holmes’ concepts are Love and Law. The Law is perfect, so therefore the Love must also be perfect. "The study of the Science of Mind is a study of First Cause, Spirit, Mind, or that invisible Essence, the ultimate Stuff and Intelligence from which everything comes, the Power back of creation – The Thing Itself."
Dr. Holmes refused to believe that the Creative Intelligence of the Universe would create humankind in bondage and leave us bound as some faiths teach. To do so would be to dishonor the Creative Power that we call God. Because of this belief we trust that the basis of the Universe is Love, and that we have at our disposal all we need to live happy, productive, satisfying lives. We are individuals, and the Universe allows us to discover our individuality.
Freedom is our birthright and we all feel that instinctively. Humankind must have freedom to grow, to explore and to figure things out. Some call it intuition, some call it the inner voice, or the still small voice - but it is there within each of us, calling, beckoning to us to be more than we are, or at least more than we believe ourselves to be. It is the innermost thoughts we all have, however buried beneath all the pain, hurt and guilt. It is what we know to be our calling.
The Science of Mind is filled with what I call, “Here’s the Good News/Here’s the Bad News” statements. They are not really good or bad, but they are sobering. Here is one of those: The Universe never plays favorites. For scientific proof of this, take the action of mixing colors – it works the same for everyone. Why? No one knows. We know it does, but we really do not know how or why this works. That lack of understanding, however, does not stop the artist from mixing colors. So is it true of the metaphysical laws; we do not have to understand any more about metaphysics than we do about mixing colors to use the laws of metaphysics. In fact, we probably will never know why the laws of metaphysics work the way they do. That is why they are metaphysical, beyond the physical, beyond physical law. An in-depth knowledge of any physical or metaphysical process is not necessarily required to use the process.
I once heard Dr. Jay Scott Neale say, "We often hear it said that Religious Science is not for everyone. That is not true. However, not everyone is for Religious Science." That is because our teaching is not some magical answer, or a quick-fix, get-rich scheme. It requires dedication, faith and hard work. It is far easier to blame God, the government or our parents than to take personal responsibility for our lives and community. But the rewards of taking on that challenge are beyond anything you might be able to imagine.
Two other basic beliefs from Dr. Holmes are that there is nothing supernatural about the study of life and there is limitless power at our disposal. We do not have to be well-educated or esoteric in nature to understand life. Nor are we without power. Many churches do not teach these Truths – for centuries the Church has kept the masses in the dark, touting the religious as the only ones who can truly understand the scriptures. Science of Mind is a philosophy and way of life that allows us to align with whatever we consider that power greater than us to be, without the intercessors of priest, minister, church or dogma. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. That is because we live, move and have our being in a Spiritual Universe; that God is in, through, around, for and as us.
Holmes taught that "[a]ll thought is creative". Fortunately for us, all our thoughts do not immediately manifest! But if we believe in a Universe that does not judge and that is there to be directed, it should give us pause to consider twice on what we concentrate, what we ponder and how much energy we give to that which we do not want.
Religious Science is best known for the Holmes’ quote, “Change your thinking, change your life.” We are not bound by the past – we can create a new future and a better present. There is a Divine Essence, a Divine Nature within each of us - that is the Christ Consciousness. The mind which we discover within us is the Mind that governs everything and forms the very basis for Holmes’ philosophy. I hope you will return next week for part two in my series, “The Way It Works”.
In Spirit, Truth and Playfulness,
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