A Holmes Reader on Meaning

by Ernest Holmes

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A Holmes Reader on Meaning 1994 All rights reserved Published by Science

of Mind Publishing 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

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.

CREATION
True thought deals directly with First Cause and the Science of Mind is the study of First Cause, Spirit, or the Truth, that Invisible Essence, that Ultimate Stuff and Intelligence from which everything comes the Power back of Creation The Thing Itself, God.

AFFIRMATION
Today is a new beginning. Out of the limitless creativity of God I accept the flow of new ideas. My whole consciousness is alive and awake to them. These new ideas shall bear fruit according to the Divine pattern contained within them. Today I expect new ways of doing things. I expect everything in my experience to enlarge, deepen and broaden. I expect more good, more enthusiasm, more accomplishment than ever before. There now opens up before me a world of new ideas, new thoughts, new people, and new situations. Today is a new beginning. The Divine influx now makes this day expansive and expressive of the creative Source of all things. The life which we live is the Universal Life expressing through us, else how could we live. Our thought and emotion is the use we make, consciously or unconsciously, of this original creative Thing that is the cause of everything. Therefore, we shall say that the mind, spirit and intelligence we find in ourselves is as much of this original creative God as we understand.

SECRET OF THE AGES

This is the secret of the ages: Through all one enduring plan; The fire of heaven caught in atom, The heavenly essence caught in man. The swallow tilted high above, Color painted in the sky, The droning bee upon the stem, Big and little, low and high, The fish that swim the oceans deep, The sullen snail upon the sod,
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Moonbeams softly sifting downward, Have one creative Overlord. All that is has unseen meaning This the essence of all art; A symbol of the there that's here, For all that's here has counterpart. The gift of God to all below What nature brought at earliest dawn The Seed of Life that comes with birth Is uncreated and unborn. For Cause has neither why nor what; Original, It stands alone, From Its own being putting forth Sowing, Itself was never sown. ... things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. -Hebrews 11:3

THE DIVINE PATTERN

The Bible says that in the beginning all things were made by the Word and without the Word was not anything made that is made. It also says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This strikes at the very bottom of spiritual philosophy, emphasized by Jesus and Plato, Swedenborg, Buddha, Whitman, Browning and others, in which they affirm that for every objective, physical or material fact in the universe there must be a subjective, spiritual or mental cause which is the power and reality back of the fact. The universe is a spiritual system, conceived in the Mind of God as an idea, and automatically projected into manifestation through mental and spiritual laws. Browning said that we should release the "imprisoned splendor," which is the divine pattern within us. Whitman said, "I doubt not that there are other eyes behind these eyes." Swedenborg taught a law of correspondences; that the invisible world contains a pattern of everything in the visible. We find the same teaching in the philosophy of Plato and his followers, in which they say there is a prototype or likeness in the invisible world for everything that appears in the visible. One of our contemporary scientists has said that we can think of God as an infinite thinker thinking mathematically. This means there must be a Divine Intelligence
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whose thoughts, images, ideas or patterns project themselves through mechanical and mathematical laws into our world of experience. Of course we do not know exactly what these divine patterns are like, but we can imagine that back of the physical eye there is spiritual vision; that the physical eye is an organ for this vision; that back of the intellect with its organ the brain, there is the Thought of God; back of the nervous system there is a Divine Intelligence operating harmoniously. We might think of the digestive process as the action of ideas, thoughts and feelings, free from worry or conflict. To realize this, the mind would have to be still and know that pure Spirit is at the center of its being; that the Life of God is within it; that the operation of Divine Intelligence is always harmonious. The mind would have to train itself to think peacefully in order that the copy, which is the physical system, may rejoin the true pattern, which is Divine Intelligence operating as law. Making the effort to think back, at all times, to a basis of peace, harmony and faith is the challenge we all face. Probably no one can do this for us but ourselves. Since Life is incarnated in each one of us, the ability to be made whole and to remain whole must already exist at the center of every person's being. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Life has already made us this gift. It is ours to accept or reject. In actual practice we might use the following affirmation, not as a formula but merely as a suggested method of procedure. We might say: "The Spirit within me is God. Every organ, action and function of my physical being operates in pure Spirit, governed by laws of peace, harmony and love. I let go of every sense of burden, care, fear and doubt, and return to a simple faith in the Divine Goodness. I permit myself to believe. I acknowledge the flow of the Divine through me. I joyously receive the kingdom of heaven. I am at peace. "

WHAT ALL THE WORLD IS SEEKING

We say in our system of thought that there is nothing but God, that when we talk to each other God is communicating with Itself. No wonder that people who believe Divinity is external think we are remarkably sacrilegious! From their viewpoint they are right, but if that thing which we call God in its essence and in our approach to It is not to be found in our own spirit, then we shall never find It. There can be no question but that the search of humanity is to find Reality, to give a reason for being, to try to answer the enigma of the universe. It is that thing stirring in our own consciousness, the answer of which we despair at times, the thing which has given rise to every religion, every cult, every "-ism," every belief, creed, dogma, doctrine, to all philosophy and to all human thought and endeavor.

Is there any sense to life? That is the question which frequently propounds itself to all of us. I am not here to preach the salvation of your souls. I do not believe in lost souls, but I do believe that every living soul is in search of itself and its relationship to whatever Reality is. I do not know what Reality is except in a very small degree. We have come to believe there is a Reality which we sense in our own being, giving birth to a direct relationship to the Infinite, all the magnificence and beauty and power and peace commensurate with the meaning of the Infinite and God. Energy is eternal. The stuff out of which all forms are made is indestructible. In this vast change in which we live, the flux and flow and ebb and tide of evolution, there is constancy, a consistence; there is in the midst of all movement something which does not move and yet which moves all things.

SELF DISCOVERY
One should not desire to spend ones entire time praying but should seek to make work a prayer, life a song, living an art, believing an art.

AFFIRMATION
I have been given unlimited freedom. I know I have been given freedom by my creator to become a co-creator in my personal affairs. I have been given unlimited freedom to experience in increasing measure my true nature which emanates from the Spirit of God within me. Right now I open my consciousness to the Divine Influx and expect a greater wisdom and guidance and self-expression. I bless everything and know that good multiplies in my experience as I lift up my consciousness to receive it. I turn my thought Godward and accept the wholeness and the abundance and the joy of the eternal Spirit. I daily experience Its perfect fulfillment. Life has implanted within all of us a great desire to do things; to build, to create, to accomplish and to live every moment to the full. From this inward desire comes all our hopes, all our aspirations, which are the motive power back of our actions. Too often we sit around dreaming of great things to come, of big events that may transpire in the future, rather than seizing the opportunity that is always at hand to accomplish the thing we are doing, whatever it may be.

DEMONSTRATING THE CREATIVE PRINCIPLE

If we wish to make the most practical use of the Science of Mind we must accept the Divine givingness, which means that natural laws already are turned over for
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our use. And we must make conscious use of these laws for definite purposes. Here, perhaps, is where many of us fail to demonstrate the full possibility inherent in the use of natural Law. To say that the desert can bloom and blossom as the rose is a true statement of a definite principle in nature. But if it is to become a fact in our experience, we must cultivate the soil and plant our seed before we shall reap a harvest. All facts in physical nature symbolize spiritual and mental truths which operate in like manner on the invisible plane of Mind. The creative possibility of Mind must become impregnated with ideas of definite acceptance, cultivated with enthusiastic expectancy, and watered with a complete faith. The gift of life is made, but we must receive it. Suppose we sit down all alone with our thought and ask ourselves if we really arc receiving the gift of life. Arc we accepting it or rejecting it? Are we affirming the Divine Presence as harmony, peace and wholeness, abundance and success, or arc we denying the gift, rejecting it? Every negative statement we make to or about ourselves is a denial of good. Every thought which identities us with failure is a denial of the gift of life. Every time someone says, "I am poor, weak, miserable, or unhappy," they are affirming an opposite of good. And in some degree we must experience that which we affirm. The wonderful truth for us to realize is that each has the power within oneself to receive the gift of life and to receive all of it. "All that the Father hath is mine." Meditation and affirmative prayer are for the purpose of receiving the gift of Life and of translating it into terms of definite conditions. This means conceiving that the universal Law is manifesting Itself to us in the form of some specific good. People who believe this Principle of absolute Causation surrounds them and is within them, and who know they can make definite use of It, have both the power and the ability to demonstrate the creative potential of the Universe.

PARTNERSHIP
Life flows into everything, through everything; it passes into every human event and translates itself through every human act. If you learn to think of Life as flowing through your every action, you will soon discover that the things you give your attention to arc quickened with new energy, for you are breathing the very essence of Being into them. If you think of Life as always bringing to you everything you need, you will have formed a partnership with the Invisible which will prosper you in everything you do. If you think of the organs and functions of your physical being as activities of Life, then automatically you will be healed.

THERE IS A RIVER
A number of inventors have told me that while they prepare their consciousness for ideas, they feel but little responsibility for the ideas themselves; that when they get into a listening attitude, the ideas flow from some invisible source to the surface of consciousness to be picked up and acted upon. Writers have told me that once their ideas start they seem to formulate themselves, springing spontaneously into existence; characters appear and disappear as though some invisible direction were producing them. We speak of the spirit of a person, the spirit of an actor or an artist. We think of genius as "something out of this world." There is something deeper than the intellect, an unthought-out something which, in many individuals, is close to the surface. The intellect reaches out to it and is fed by it. There is an opening in everyone's consciousness for the out-push of a force, an energy, a creativeness, an imagination, and a will greater than anything the intellect alone can conceive. In the forty-sixth Psalm we read, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God ... God is in the midst of her." And in Isaiah, "I will open rivers in high places. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." And the Revelator tells us that he was shown "a pure river of water of life." These passages imply we all are immersed in this River of Life which has its source in the Mind of God. The flow of creative life is from an invisible center outward. Every person is an inlet and may become an outlet to this River of Life. Those who have followed their individual stream back to its original source have found an Ocean of life in which they are immersed, a universal Spirit in which they live, move and have their being. Those who have discovered this ocean are the ones whose thought has guided the world through the ages. It is well to follow their inspiration and see if we cannot discover the River of Life within each of us, the source of which is pure spirit. Emerson said there is one Mind common to all individuals. The New Testament affirms that we all have, and may use, the Mind of Christ, which is the Mind of God. Perhaps the whole thing is more simple than it looks, so that when, as Emerson said, we "set up a lowly listening," we shall discover the Source of our being-perennial and perpetual, a never-ending stream of inspiration and guidance. If every person's life really flows from the Ocean of Being, no one need to, or can, follow the river for someone else back to its ocean, because everyone already is an individual stream flowing from the original Source. The peace, the joy, the happiness we seek really came from an inward awareness which all have but few use. Our light need not be borrowed from another, for already its torch has been lighted from the primordial flame. We go in search for that which we already have. For if a person's life be not complete within oneself, how can one go outside to find it? The great discovery is always a self-discovery, just as it should be. No one can, or should, attempt to live by proxy.
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Out of the confusion in the world there must, and will, emerge groups who believe in the River of Life, who are willing to take the time to follow it back to its source, and who, by so doing, will bring to the world news of the kingdom of heaven. This is not an ecclesiastical dogma. It is deeper than theology. It is something fundamental to life itself, for everything has its source in the invisible. We think of the spiritual geniuses of the ages as those who have been especially appointed, those to whom God has revealed something withheld from the ordinary individual. This is a mistake. Every person has the power but few use it. Those few whom we think have been peculiarly endowed by nature are merely those who have used the power they possessed. They are the ones who have traveled upstream to their own source. They have been able to reveal to us the wonders of the world of spirit. The great and the wise are our guides. But it is only when we follow their guidance that we can hope to reach the promised land. It is only as we drink deeply from the river of our own existence that our thirst shall be satisfied. The spiritual genius which alone can save the world from confusion must come from those groups who have the conviction to believe in this River and the courage to follow It back to Its source. Materialism has split upon the rocks of unbelief. If salvation comes to the world it will be because increasing numbers of people are willing to try the experiment of living in accord with the divine laws of their being. This should be a joyous adventure. There is nothing sad or depressing in the thought of setting up this "lowly listening." It should be an enthusiastic adventure, something to look forward to with joy. We should learn to live by inspiration and to have joy in the thought that our light need not be borrowed from another, but that each is allowed to add his or hers to the sum total of human consciousness. Scientific minds are unlocking the forces of nature to us, delivering original energy to human uses. There must be an equal discovery in the realm of spirit. For just as we are surrounded by physical energy, so we are also immersed in spiritual power. The individual mind draws its inspiration from a universal source. Every person's consciousness flows back into this source, and many bring from it some knowledge, wisdom and power. There is a divine intuition within each of us which could lead us back into wholeness. Why, then, are we afraid to make the attempt? First, because we lack the conviction. Everyone who is disturbed longs for peace; everyone who is unhappy would like to become glad. But unless there is a conviction that the treasure of life exists at the center of one's being, there is no motivation for its discovery. Through reason or intuition, we must first arrive at the conviction. We must believe there is a "promised land" before we go in search of it. If we listen intently enough, this conviction will come. Next, there must be a determination to follow the stream back. Here we may meet difficulties, uncertainties and doubts, barriers walling our passage. But we must not be discouraged when so confronted. We must climb over the rocks of unbelief, pass around the barriers of doubt and
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plunge into the stream with faith. The stream will ever widen; the barriers will gradually disappear; though we walk through the plains and valleys of indecision and doubt, the stream will still carry us back to the ocean of our being. The pragmatic person may say this is a mystical, idealistic concept, not at all practical. But we are not convinced. Such a person is too much like the woman who said she ought to know how to raise children since she had already buried eleven of them. Humankind's release of physical power alone for practical and material purposes has failed. It has produced the greatest catastrophes in history. It will continue to fail. The world waits in horrified silence as it contemplates what might happen if materialism flows free or uncontrolled to its final destruction, carrying civilization with it down the pathway of a self-imposed oblivion. And still the cry comes down the ages; "Behold I stand at the door and knock!" Yes, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God," and "God is in the midst of her."

PERFECTION
The Spirit within us is greater than any form It has ever taken, just as the artist is greater than his art. That which creates can recreate; that which molds can remold. The Great Physician within us, who has already planted in us the print of Its own Divinity, senses us as being perfect. When our own sense of that perfection shall be complete, then perfection will be manifest in and through us.

ONE CAN WHO KNOWS ONE CAN

Right thinking is the parent of right action. Who thinks rightly will act rightly. We think ourselves into success or failure as we use our creative mind constructively or destructively. Never say you are poor, weak, miserable, unlucky or unhappy. Repudiate all such claims, stating to yourself each day that you are well, strong, vibrant and satisfied. Say to yourself that you are a success, not a failure. The key to heaven and hell is in our own mind and nowhere else. Heaven is lost for want of an idea while hell is peopled with the phantoms of our own mental imagery. Thoughts are things. Peace, poise and power are mental attributes. How could they be anything else? Think peace, imbibe poise, claim power, realize that all there is, is for you and nothing is against you. Feel this, see it, talk, think and know it. It is true. We are surrounded by an Ever-present Mind which responds to our belief in it. On this belief hinges the possibilities of a greater life. We prove this to be true when we act as though it were true. Act as though I am and I will be. This message comes winging down the ages.
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The cause of all things is hidden in this Ever-present Mind. For every objective or manifest fact there is a subjective, hidden, spiritual cause. When we use this law in ignorance of its nature we are still subject to its unvarying effects. Then learn to use it consciously and for direct and specific purposes. Think about what you wish to happen, never what you do not wish to happen. This is the secret of success. One can who knows one can. Thought energy is definite, conscious and selfexecuting.

THE ROAD
The road to self-discovery often calls for a clearing away of the underbrush of ignorance, fear, superstition and sense of isolation which have made us feel we are unworthy, unheld and lost. In the divine providence of good, salvation is unnecessary but self-discovery is essential. We do not save that which was lost; we merely discover that which needs to be found.

ONENESS
To know that one is the personality of God is the beginning of wisdom.

AFFIRMATION
I value the God-Presence in everyone I meet. There is One Mind that governs everything. I now affirm and accept that this same Intelligence governs my affairs. It is within me and around me at all times, directing, guiding, governing, controlling, and leading me happily to the fulfillment of all good purposes. It knows what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. I am impelled to act accordingly. I also salute the God-Presence in everyone I meet. I know that as surely as I do this, the Love indwelling them responds to the same Presence within me. We act in the unison of peace and understanding. Recognizing that all of life is the handiwork of God, I accept God's love and harmony as now manifesting in every aspect of my experience. How beautiful a thought to realize that every person stands in the shadow of a Mighty Mind, a Pure Intelligence and a Divine Givingness! Not alone unto the great comes the soft tread of the unseen guest. The arrogant have not perceived the simplicity of faith, but the pure in heart see God. The farmer has seen the Heavenly Host in his fields. The child has frolicked with Him at
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play. The mother has clasped Him to her breast, and the fond lover has seen Him in the eyes of his beloved. We look too far away for Reality.

A FANTASY
I lay one night on the desert gazing at the stars; millions of them twinkling in the softness of the night. Vast reaches of space rushed through me, peopled with the invisible. Unseen hands caressed and silent voices of the deep spoke to me. Time was lost in eternity. Infinite Power grasped me in Its Mighty Hand and bound me to a Universe of Love. I was caught up into the heavens of limitless time and endless space. I was shot through ages of experience. I was taken from sphere to sphere, lighted by the lamps of heaven. Imagination was staggered, sense was gone but Reality, Eternity and myself remained. And all, all, was alive; all, all was bound together by One Common Law of Love; and all was working out One Plan. Vastness cried into immensity and eons of time gave answer to the boundless expressions of the One Life. I knew that in all and through all is One Limitless Government and One Almighty Power.

THE GOD-MIND WITHIN YOU

Emerson said there is One Mind common to all individuals, which means that the Mind of all people is the One Mind each uses; therefore the Mind which you use is the Mind I use. It is the Mind which everyone uses. It is the Mind of God. And because the Mind of God is a complete unity, it is omnipresent. Therefore, the Mind which you use is the God-Mind in you right now. This Mind is in all people, envelopes all and is at the center of every human event. When you know the Truth at the center of your own being, you know it within the only Mind there is. The Mind which you possess at this moment is the Mind which Jesus used to demonstrate the Christ Principle. He must have realized God at the center of his
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own being, and it is the realization of this Mind of God at the center of your own being which gives power to your word. Since the Mind within you is the Mind of God, and since the Mind of God has been in all people, then it follows that the intelligence within you understands what the great of the earth have been talking about. You already have within you an understanding, a comprehending mind. Now the Mind of God has no problems, no difficulties, and is never confused. Therefore, your real mind has no problems, knows no difficulties, and is never confused. When you know the Mind within you is God and cannot be confused, then your intellect clears up. In this way, inspiration is drawn from On High, passed through your imagination, and given to your intellect for everyday direction. This is what Emerson meant when he said we must learn to listen greatly to the self. The inner self is God, and, being God, is perfect and all-wise. This Mind, which is God, permeates every atom of your being. It is the governing Principle in every organ of your body. It is the Principle of Perfection within you. Your thought is the activity of this Principle. The Principle is perfect, complete and limitless, but your thought circumscribes Its action and causes the very Mind of Freedom to create conditions which YOU call bondage. As you teach your intellect to believe in the unbound and free circulation of Spirit through you, then your thought becomes a law of elimination to remove congestion and purify stagnation. Your consciousness of the Divine Presence within you, like light, dissipates darkness. This is your eternal and true self and is at the center of your being, the Mind of God manifesting Itself in you, as you. This "you" which It manifests is not separate from Itself, but still is Itself. This Invisible Presence is the Cause of your personality, the light shining through it. The Divine and Infinite Mind, always desiring self-expression through you, is an insistent urge, the cosmic urge, compelling you to move forward. It is this Mind in you which is also in all people. When you recognize other people, it is this Mind knowing Itself. This Mind within you is timeless, yet it creates all periods of time. It is the intelligence back of every action, whether you call such action good, bad or indifferent. It is always creating form, but It is never limited to any particular form. It is in your every act, It conceives your every act, but It is always more than any or all of your actions. Hence, even though you appear to be bound, the Mind within you is perfectly free. Your intellect in no way limits this Mind merely because it conceives what you call a small form or a little space. It could just as easily conceive what you call a large form or a bigger space. In other words, your intellect is, in a sense, doing the best it can with the Mind which is within you. It reflects this Mind, but not completely. As the Apostle said, "Now we see through a glass darkly." That is, the full glory of your Christ consciousness does not yet appear at the surface; only a dim shadow or a faint echo of It appears. Therefore you are the Eternal Mind, not caught by time, but manifesting Itself through time.
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You are not, then, merely a shadow of this Mind; YOU are really the substance of It, you are this Mind in action and the enforcement of Its Law. This Law is the Law of your Divinity, and since you are an individual, you manifest this Law in a unique way. You project this Mind through experience in a personal manner, different from any or all others. This constitutes your true and immortal self. Since the Mind within you is the Mind of God, and since the Mind of God not only created everything that has ever existed, but will create everything that is ever going to be, you already have within you the ability to project new ideas, new thoughts, new inventions. Therefore, whatsoever ideas you desire, when you pray that is, when you listen to this inner Mind know that you are going to receive these ideas, for you are dealing with that Mind which is the Conceiver of all ideas. When you call upon this Mind for an answer to your problem, It at once knows the answer because there is no problem to It. In this way the answer to every problem already is in the Mind which you possess.

COSMIC STUFF
All things give forth an inner light; Emanations, thin as air, Like clouds draped round a luminous form, Are omnipresent, everywhere.

The air is filled with cosmic stuff That's lighter than the lightest snow, Forever falling down to earth With constant, radiant glow. Like lightening flashing through the sky Or voices echoing from afar; Like cloud banks on a mountain top Or steady light from a distant star,

Is this thing we call our spirit, Which only half descends to earth;
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In other spheres it has its being Eternal, deathless, without birth.

When mind and body seem detached It is their main endeavor To return from whence they came To flow back into their river.

Always there's another part, The part that does not quite descend; Always this part seeks the other As brother to sister, friend to friend.

MYSTERY AND MEANING

There is a great difference between saying I am God and saying God is me. Ice is water. All ice is some water, but not all water is ice. So we might say of the life of humanity: All of our life is some of the life of God; some of the life of God is all of our life, but we are not all of the life of God. I am convinced that whatever my life is, it is God. There is no difference between my life and God in essence; the difference is in degree. I believe that each one of us, in turning to the great inner life, is turning to God, and yet an individual is never God. Whoever penetrates this inner life will find it to be birthless, deathless, fearless, eternal, happy, perfect and complete. Gradually there dawns in one's consciousness a sense that God is flowing into everything one is doing. As individuals we must reeducate our minds and realize we have as an ally a presence, a law, in which the past, present and future, and all people whom we call living and dead, live and move and have their being-forever unfolding.

UNITY
Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to perceive is that there is one Life running through everything, one Presence manifest in everything, and one Person individualized through everyone. The perception of unity sees through all
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differences to one universal sameness. Yet unity does not mean uniformity. We do not all have to be alike, think alike, or act alike; but the world is learning we must all act in union. The Infinite One manifests in infinite variations, each rooted in the One, but each divinely unique in its own right. Good, bad; high, low; across, above and beneath, are all one to the Infinite Mind.

IMMORTALITY
The march of life is not a funeral dirge but a song of triumph.

AFFIRMATION
My good alone endures. I live in a changeless Reality. I am not disturbed by the passage of time or the variations in my experience. The Divine acting in, through, and around me is changeless in Its manifestation of good. I rest secure in the knowledge that as changes occur in my life they are always changes for the better. My good alone endures.

BE STILL AND KNOW ...

Creation is a manifestation of an invisible power, law and intelligence. It is always definite, direct, enfolding but spontaneous. Creation is the Creator clothed in a definite form. Creation manifests selection, volition, intelligent direction and universal fusion. How do we apply this creative principle of all life in our own particular experience? By knowing and seeing the truth in all things. Sit by the bedside of one whose body is suffering, whose mind is torn, distorted and unhappy, until you see not the poor instrument through which discord is being played, not the human fault, but until you catch a glimpse behind that, of divine reality, the image of eternal God. Then you will know the truth about that person, the truth of which Jesus spoke when he said, "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make ye free." The Truth which you would know would cause the Truth which already is to become apparent, to manifest itself through the body, and that person would be healed. This is all there is to healing and will heal anything in the world, if properly known. Why? Because with God all things are possible. Why do we not find this emancipation? Because we do not take the time to "BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, AND BESIDE ME THERE IS NONE OTHER." When and to the extent we take the time, we glimpse eternity.
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OTHER EARTHS AND SUNS AND SKIES

My friend, one whom I fondly love, is gone. In quiet peace at dawn, he dosed his eyes, Just as the morning sun began to rise. This I read, this is what the message said:

Although I know that one I love has left And passed beyond the orbits of this earth, I know he has but found a larger birth. I shall not grieve for him or feel bereft.

The light of life can never die or fade. I know he is alive, awake, aware That there is no gulf between here and there; He has not entered darkness or the shade.

I know my friend will never cease to be Because his life upon this earth is done. New songs, new joy and laughter have begun For him who walked and gently talked with me.

The spirit forevermore shall remain. It has no need this earthly sun shall rise, For there are other earths and suns and skies Where we shall meet and clasp each other's hand, again.

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And so I shall sit by his side awhile, And as I pray there by the silent bier I shall feel him as always, near and dear. And in his next dimension he will know and answer with a smile.

YOU ARE IMMORTAL NOW!

There are three ways in which the human mind gathers knowledge, so far as is now known. One is by science, which is the knowledge of the laws of nature. Another is by intuition, which includes revelation, inspiration, and all religions. The other way is philosophy, which contains all of the opinions of the ages; what is right or wrong, what is rational, what is logical, what is reasonable. We are interested now in finding the contributions these different avenues make to our acceptance of immortality. Every great religion has believed in the immortality and ongoingness of the soul. The whole system of the ancient Hindus was built on the idea that God Reality, Truth, Brahma is only One, beside which there is none other, and that everyone of us is an incarnation of It; that we are gradually unfolding or evolving into all of It, that It flows through everyone of us. Christianity is a combination of the old Hebrew idea that God speaks from without, and the Greek idea that God speaks from within. Thus we say the highest God and the innermost God is One God. Now we do not want to believe in immortality simply because somebody became immortalized through a resurrection. You and I are given life, inherent, and we cannot live by proxy. It does not matter how good Jesus was, or how saintly Buddha was, or how great a person one of the ancient Hindus must have been. There is that within each of us which must bear witness to every truth, to every fact, and to every experience; and until it does we are only half-being, halfhearing, and half-knowing. Can someone else play a game for you? If you feel like weeping, can you get somebody to cry for you, real tears? Can somebody else love for you? Of course not! We must meet life individually, as well as collectively, and only the person who does is at peace. It is only in our own integrity that we shall ever see God. We cannot live and be whole because somebody else was a good man. Jesus knew this. He said: "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God." We find Socrates, who was called the Father of Philosophy, and Kant, who was called the Father of Reason, both teaching that God is One and that we are a part of the One. Logic would tell us that there cannot be two infinites-there can only be one Infinity in the universe. Logic also would tell us how futile it would be if "six feet under and all is over." What an economic waste of energy and time! How irrational the Universe would be! Emerson said we are organs of the Infinite. There
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is incarnated in each of us that Divine spark which is of the nature of God and, carrying us through the process of evolution, gradually unfolds until we are so unified with God that you cannot tell where the one begins and the other leaves off. It is the nature of the Creator to be inherent in the creation. Now let us see what science can tell us about immortality. It is held by some scientists that there is not an atom of our physical body that was in it a short time ago; some say eleven months but, in any event, no one is over a year old as far as the physical composition of his or her body is concerned. But we do not all look that young, of that I am sure! At the same time, many leading psychologists hold that the mind cannot wear out, although it may appear to become confused. This is interesting, isn't it? What is back of it? Not somebody's opinion, not some sin and salvation theory, not someone's theology, but certain scientific truths, certain universal realities, certain laws of our own being we ought to consider. Too often our faith must be propped up every few moments, and unless we arrive at a conviction beyond that kind of need, we shall always be exclaiming, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Behind the thought that the body is not over a year old is another thought: Everything in the universe is in a state of continual flux; new substances are appearing all the time; the old disappearing, giving place to the new in all creation. If this is true of our physical body, we have no reason to doubt it may be true of the structure of the whole physical universe, and back of it is that Life which forevermore makes everything new. This is not a wild fantasy. God is not old or young, but without birth and without death, and we live and move and have our being in this eternal sea of never-ending Life. Why is it that the mind cannot grow old? Because there is only One Mind in the Universe and we use It. That Mind is God, that Mind is our mind now. How could we wear It out or use It up or exhaust Its possibilities? But we can become so confined in our thinking that It does not reflect or flow through us with clarity. There is no physiological or psychological reason, from the viewpoint of God, that anything could ever be used up or exhausted because nothing is static; everything is a continual flow of Life. When we refuse the flow, at whatsoever age we may be, we begin to feel "dead on our feet," as the saying goes. This does not mean God has changed or denied us any degree of life, but that we have blocked ourselves from our Source. What would happen if we were free from all fear, or doubt, or the unhappiness and morbidity of our longing for the past and the unwholesome anticipation of what we think the future holds in store; from sandwiching the day in which we live between two impossible negations? Somewhere along the line we, who are born to be free, must think our way through until we are no longer afraid of the universe in which we live, until a conviction has dawned in our consciousness that will bring us a solidarity and an integrity which cannot be shaken. What proof have we outside our desire, our intuition, which would be enough for me, of immortality? In psychological laboratories they have demonstrated that we can experience many of the activities of the organs of sense without using the
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organs. We can see without the eyes, hear without the cars, speak without the tongue, communicate, travel without the ordinary methods; there is something in us that can function without the body and without the brain. It is not that we do not need brains, but the brains do not think; they are but the instrumentalities of That which is above them and superior to them. This is why Jesus said: "Before Abraham was, I am .... Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Many who have begun to investigate such facts to disprove them have come to devote all their time to proving them. There is no question but that they have scientifically disclosed beyond the possibility of chance the ongoingness of the soul. This is why Jesus said to the thief on the cross beside him: "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Now if it is true there is something within us which transcends the use of the physical senses, could it not mean we are immortal now? The materialistic concept of life has been completely annihilated. This is the great truth of our being: We are forever individualizing the Spirit, the Spirit is forever unifying with Its own individualization which means we live in God and God is what we are. Why, then, if these things are true, should we not enter into the spirit of our immortality right now? Carl Jung, whom I consider one of the greatest psychologists, has said he never knew a case of permanent healing without a restoration of faith; he never knew a person who could be happy the latter part of his life unless he believed in immortality. Why? Because he has nothing to look forward to. It is only in the attention we give to the present, and the certainty we have of its expansion into what we call the future and the continuity of ongoing, that we would have any joy at all. Why, then, do we need to feel we must wait to become immortal when immortality is something we may see and feel and know and understand right now? Growing old is refusing to grow every day, a waiting until that final moment when we step into the larger life. We should be children playing on the shore of time. We miss our friends, we long for the touch of a vanished hand, or the sound of a voice that is stilled. We would not have it otherwise. But there is no hopelessness; there has been but a loosing and liberating from what is no longer needed. But suppose, right now, we become resurrected and, one by one, remove out of the tomb of memory the fears and morbidities and uncertainties, the hates and jealousies and animosities; everything that is vindictive and resurrect only that which can bring joy into life. Why is it that down the avenues of evolution, in the begetting of all the great religious systems, which are so good otherwise, they had to drag the corpse and morbidity of sin and punishment and chagrin up the pathway to eternal God and blot out the light of heaven with a shadow of fear? We should resurrect ourselves, even as Jesus did, to the joy and simplicity and spontaneity of Life. God is no taskmaster. The eternal Law of Love cannot hurt. That which is Light will never produce darkness. Heaven will never descend into a hell, and a hymn of hate will not stimulate the mind to the harmonics of Life. For our resurrection today must leave the corpses of our dead yesterdays in the tomb of their own obscurity. We must live more abundantly in the God of heaven and
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earth-awake to God within us this day. You and I must and shall come out of our tomb of ignorance and disbelief. And how glorious shall be the dawn! To enter into the spirit of life is to partake, consciously, of the originating energy and intelligence of the universe; to find within ourselves a stream of unquenchable being, for it is nothing less than the Being of God. To enter into the spirit of life is to in breathe into all forms the deathless principle of our being.

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