We are living in a world of continual change, a world in which thought, thing, and experience are all in a constant state of flux. It is the very nature of the universe that there should be continual change and variation. It is a living world, the creation of a living creative Intelligence, not a static world created by a God now dead or departed who has left it to decay. No. It is vital and alive. The Mind that created it is not apart from it, but is always active in and through it.

FOREWORD

Ideas make a difference in the life you live. The idea always comes first and the experience follows.

The ideas you will encounter in this book are to be used. They are ideas that can make a difference in the life you live. They are interesting and easy to read. But their value can be assimilated only by going beyond the mere words themselves and grasping the full impact of the meaning behind them.

If it is time for you to move on to something better in life, you can find the ways and means on these pages.

The ten basic ideas you will find deal with ten important areas of living that often present problems. In a dynamic way each problem is clarified and specific methods are presented for the working out of a solution. Life is largely a matter of what you make it, and here you will find the ways and means of making it more of what you think it should be.

This is the sixth volume of the Miscellaneous Writings of Ernest Holmes. Considered one of the outstanding religious philosophers of our day, Dr. Holmes, throughout his long writing and lecturing career, always had a deep and vital interest in the well-being of his fellowman. Through his teaching, Science of Mind, he sought to show people how they could better their lives by bettering their way of thinking. That his teaching is valid is demonstrated by the almost miraculous changes in the lives of those who have applied what he taught.

LESSON I, THE UNIVERSAL PHYSICIAN

Every man is a physician, not by virtue of what he knows but because of what he is. It may seem foreign to us to think of everyone as having healing power, because we have been trained to give this authority to a few people. We have thought of the medical doctor, dentist, psychiatrist, psychologist, osteopath and chiropractor as being those endowed with healing power. Our generation has given to those in the fields of physical and mental therapy: an authority that exists both in our intellectual and emotional relationship with them. When the child is ill and the doctor is sent for, the mother assures the child that it will be all right because the doctor is coming.

In order for us to appreciate what this authority means, let us remember that not too long ago in the parade of history the barber was the physician and the dentist. The people of that era ascribed to him a healing authority that was just as real as the authority we give to our doctors and dentists of today. And before the barber we can trace the healing art back through the priest and the medicine man to find its origins in early superstitious practices at the dawn of civilization. Each of these people healed, and each, in his own day, was an authority in the art of healing.

"No one yet knows what might happen if a group of a thousand persons, gathered together for mutual benefit, should unitedly agree and without dissent or argument, fully accept simply and directly, that there is a Healing presence in the midst of them.

"Let us form a united front, create a great pool of faith, and from the power generated through this collective thinking, broadcast the message to the whole world."

Ernest Holmes

A Textbook of the Institute of Religious Science and School of Philosophy, Inc.

This manuscript is for the use of those students who have taken the Major Course given at the Institute of Religious Science, Los Angeles, California, and is to be used in connection with the textbook of the Institute, "The Science of Mind" since these lessons were given around the text in this book. No attempt has been made to correct the contents, which stands exactly as it was given in the class. Consequently, any variations or deviations should be overlooked.

Having himself pioneered many of these same terms, he must have known this from much first-hand experience. It is a tribute to him, as well as to several other great figures who taught New Thought in those earlier days of the Movement, that so many of the terms included here are well known and still current.

There is a power within us

which is greater than any condition

we can ever contact.

It knows no obstruction, no obstacle.

It transcends all

because it is the final fact of creation,

the Almighty indwelling our own souls.

Ernest Holmes

All things and events are rooted in some coordinated and intelligent principle which we call "Divine."

Any name limits it.

God is in and through all life, the cause back of it, the effect in it, the power through it, the law sustaining it, the impulse projecting it, and the unity binding it together.

The system is a complete unity.

Our lives are rooted in this unity, and our relationship to it is instantaneous and mutual.

Ernest Holmes

Our business is to convert failure into success; to transmute disease into life-giving wholeness; to neutralize the effects of fear and sorrow through an inner awareness of joy, peace, and love.

We are taking everything that does not belong to the great Reality and trading it in, as it were, for that which ought to be. We are swapping old ideas for new ones,

It might have sounded very strange to speak of a mental diet twenty-five years ago, but it does not seem at all strange today. The idea of physical diet, which has largely been a fad, is gradually being reduced to a science. We all know that certain foods affect us in definite ways. But any physician will tell us that diet is largely an individual thing and that, generally speaking, one should eat what he likes, be glad to eat it, and not worry while he is eating it.

The newest contributions to the subject of diet are those of biochemistry, the chemistry of the human body, which deals largely with glandular deficiencies. It is very interesting that today the theory is that many physical troubles are results of glandular deficiencies and psychological upsets. We have no doubt that back of many glandular deficiencies there is an emotional unbalance, which, of course, is what the psychiatrist and the psychoanalyst tell us. They do not deny the physical deficiency; they merely affirm that in many cases, at least, it arises out of a psychic disturbance.

I know there is but One Mind, which is the Mind of God, in which all people live and move and have their being.

I know there is a Divine Pattern for humanity and within this pattern there is infinite harmony and peace, cooperation, unity and mutual helpfulness.

I know that the mind of each person, being one with the Mind of God, shall discover the method, the way and the means best fitted to permit the flow of Divine Love between individuals and nations.

This discussion of alcoholism has been written especially for those whose addiction is a definite escape mechanism. While this category of addiction is in the majority, of course, it is also recognized that there are many other reasons for alcoholism

Those who have been healed of alcoholism should be directed into some creative activity which gives them self-expression, the results of which compensate them for the apparent gratification they received through their addiction. It is generally accepted that some form of useful service to humanity, perhaps helping other sufferers, is one of the best possible ways of seeking permanent happiness.

E.H.

An Experiment With Faith by Ernest Holmes

We like to tryout new things and see how they work. There wouldn't be much fun in living unless we did this, for life is a great adventure. As a matter of fact, is the great adventure. Unless new things are happening to us life becomes uninteresting and drab.

Be Yourself By Ernest Holmes

People are the most interesting things in the world. While it is true that we don't always get along with them as well as we might, it is also certain that we couldn't get along without them. We need each other more than we realize. The world is made up of people and human relationships are merely reactions of people to each other. Many business firms maintain human relations departments for the purpose of helping people to appreciate each other and get along together in their work.

Beware the Contagious Disease of Anxiety

Today, I am going to talk about the danger of anxiety and how to avoid it. Recently I read an article by a prominent psychiatrist telling us that anxiety is contagious. We are so familiar with the idea of contagious diseases that everyone accepts the fact without comment, but who ever heard of anxiety being contagious?

Who ever thought that children and dogs and cats and perhaps goldfish could be affected by the mental atmosphere of those around them? Well, they can be. It seems funny, doesn't it, to think of a neurotic dog or a disconsolate goldfish. The world has come a long way in the last twenty-five years. Modern psychiatry is helping us to see how necessary it is that the atmosphere of the home be bright, cheerful and happy. The home is the most important institution on earth.

Bless and Curse Not by Ernest Holmes

There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” How true. For where a candle is lighted there is no darkness. This is exactly what we all wish to do. We are trying to light a candle, to use the faith, the hope and the conviction that is within us in such a way that we shall get along better in life, that we shall enjoy more friendship and happier situations and that in turn we shall give out more.

We are certain that back of everything and running through everything, there is a Law of Good which we can use and a Principle of Life that we can apply to everything we do. We have come to the conclusion that there are certain definite laws of mind which, rightly used, will carry us to success, to happiness and wholeness, but which wrongly used, will stop the flow of life through us and block the flow of everything that is good. And we have come to the conclusion that the Power of good conspired with us when we use it with love.

Love really is the great motivating power of life. Love, combined with faith, is the most dynamic thing on earth. Therefore, anything that blocks the flow of love, blocks the flow of life. Whoever it was who said that we should bless and curse not, knew what he was talking about.

There was a time when a man was so convinced that the world was round that he was determined to prove it. Columbus felt that if the world was round it could be circumnavigated. Superstition, ignorance, and fear surrounded him, yet there were a few adventurous souls who dared to finance his expedition, for they had caught the vision from him because of his certainty. One man's courage and persistency, backed by an interior vision, made it possible to discover a new world.

Long before Columbus, another man came to some far-reaching conclusions. By some inner awareness or spiritual conviction, Jesus had come to believe that every person is a spiritual being living in a spiritual universe. He had come to believe that there is a center in every person that is as perfect as that life that gave us birth.

Christ is Born in Us Today by Ernest Holmes

Today we are celebrating the birth of the child Jesus, whose destiny it was to proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand. As we think back to that historic time, when shepherds watched their flocks by night, "all seated on the ground and angels of the Lord came down and glory shone around," how beautiful it is to think of angels as God's messengers to us, winging, as it were, news from the Kingdom of Heaven, bringing with them that glorious light which we always associate with our thought of the Spirit.

Perhaps in this beautiful story, so full of meaning to all of us, the shepherds who watched their flocks might be thought of as representing our attitudes of humbly listening to, and waiting for, the guidance of Divine love and wisdom. God always peoples the lonely places with His presence, as He does all other places.

LESSON I, THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE

In this introductory lesson we must establish a fundamental truth, which is that "Life is what you make it." This may sound trite but it is basic to a course such as this, for in seeking truth, we must establish ourselves upon a foundation of intellectual honesty. If we shrink from facing facts, we flee to unreality and build upon an unsound foundation. As a result, the whole superstructure which we erect will be unsound.