Science of Mind Foundation and World Ministry of Prayer dedicate this, our second Holmes Reader, to the several thousand friends who lovingly supported our work during the past year.

Our subject matter, "Meaning," refers to the question all people ask themselves at one time or another: "What is the meaning of life?" We find in working with people that whatever their immediate challenges or outward symptoms, they have an accompanying, if unspoken, need for assurance that they are not alone that we are all linked to something greater than we which responds to us. We want to know that our individual lives have meaning.

Nearly all of Ernest Holmes' work included in this reader was published in Science of Mind Magazine from the early 1930s to the mid-1950s and has not appeared anywhere else. The few exceptions were reprinted by Science of Mind Publishing in collections edited by Willis Kinnear and are now out of print. These include four "Affirmations" (Creative Ideas, 1964) and "You are Immortal Now!" (Discover a Richer Life, 1961).

Our cover illustration is an example of a mandala. This universal symbol conveys the cosmic principle of the Center: the beginning of everything, of all forms and processes; an eternal constant, the Mind of God. The mandala was used therapeutically by famed psychologist, Carl Jung, whom Ernest Holmes knew and greatly admired. Many of Jung's patients were guided toward emotional integration by drawing mandalas, in which they connected their individual circles of life with the Universal Circle. In much the same way, mandalas are used in the Eastern spiritual tradition as part of a meditative technique for focusing the mind.

May this booklet serve as a mandala for you, helping you to see and affirm that the threads of your life, and all life, are tied together at the Center into a meaningful, enduring whole.