Science of Mind Foundation and World Ministry of Prayer dedicate this, our fourth Holmes Reader, to the more than 10,000 friends whose generous gifts, tithes, and love offerings sustain our work.

Our theme in this year's reader is "Practical Wisdom," something which many people may hope to acquire, but far fewer recognize they already possess in ample supply. (The purpose of all our teaching and healing work here at the Science of Mind Home Office is really to help people make this discovery.) We have selected for this booklet some gems of wisdom in rarely seen writings of Ernest Holmes on the topics of consciousness, health, abundance, and love. These writings originally appeared in Science of Mind magazine from the early 1930s through the mid-1950s, and most of them have not been published again.

Pictured on the cover is a chambered nautilus, which may bring to mind lines from a familiar schoolroom poem about this extraordinary marine creature:

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

As the nautilus grows in size, it creates a larger shell and moves from its smaller home into the larger one. Instead of discarding its old home, however, the nautilus simply seals off the smaller chamber. This process continues, chamber upon chamber, and with each successive stage of growth the animal's spiraling shell becomes ever more intricate and beautiful.

Our discovery of practical wisdom might be said to occur in similar fashion; growth in understanding is, after all, a cumulative process, an unfoldment, an upward evolutionary spiral. Every step of the way, with each new spiritual revelation, our souls are indeed building "more stately mansions."

We trust and affirm this booklet contributes to your expanding awareness and, above all, that it helps you see yourself as the beautiful, infinitely wise, spiritual being you truly are.