April, 2004

We believe that for every visible object there is a divine pattern of that object in the invisible to which the object is related. This applies to a bed, the grass, or an archangel, if such a creature exists and I suppose he does! There must be beings beyond us as we are beyond tadpoles, but it will be time enough to consider this when we arrive at that next state of consciousness. We really wouldn’t know how to be an archangel right now! I can conceive in my imagination a beauty so splendid that should I perceive it now it would shatter even my physical being. There must be such beauty because now we do see only in part and beyond that which we do see is more and more. Always there is something locked behind the border, something yet to learn. We always find it so, and the search and seeking is eternal. The Spirit will be true to Itself at every level of expression but It will never be completed. If It were ever to be completed, then we should have to add the assumption of completion, continuation and eternal boredom, and then even God would become tired of Himself! God is doing something to and through every one of us all the time. As Emerson said, “the ancient of days is in the latest invention.”

We must have the assumption of law and order, as well as Presence and Spirit, but it must be the assumption of an impersonal law in operation, an impersonal principle which the individual uses. It is only then that we can make the complete surrender because we know in what we believe as well as in whom we believe.

The one who practices the science of spiritual mind treatment is one who is ever more seeking to partake of the Spirit. He believes in this above all else. To him God has become the one great and final Reality, not to the loss of anything else, but to the discovery that we are all found in God. As to techniques for effective prayer, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” When Isaiah was asked the meaning of the story of the sowers, he said, “So shall my word be the law; this is the law, this is the prophets.”

The seed is the word. We must know that our word, being the presence and the power and the activity of the Spirit in us is the law of elimination unto that which does not belong in our experience. But we do not put the power into the Law that makes our word become manifest! If we did, we wouldn’t know how, and if we knew how and had to do it, it would be very exhausting. A spiritual treatment that tires one is a bad treatment. A treatment in which we use “will” is a bad treatment. A treatment that “sends” anything out is a bad treatment. A treatment that limits itself to any existing circumstance is a bad treatment. When I say it is a bad treatment I mean that it isn’t effective, that it isn’t what it should be.

In sensing the Presence and understanding the Law, there can be a complete abandonment of the intellect and the will. However, I think that even in such abandonment there must be the formation of some kind of a pattern, for while I believe that every object in this world is related to its divine pattern, I also believe that divine patterns are eternally being made. When you design a new dress you don’t think that the dress has ever been made before, do you? Every day a new song is sung! I think that God composes all the music, and sings all the songs, but He is singing them in every singer, right now, and he doesn’t have to repeat Himself, for there is no monotony in the divine Life. It is always creating a fresh and unique variation of Itself, and so I believe that as we come to sense the divine Presence, the Father, the Spirit, the something that we feel and which certainly can’t be put into words, there is a great and abiding emotional feeling of Reality.

There is nothing in this feeling that will ever make us peculiar. Nothing! During the greatest spiritual experiences that I have ever had, and they are experiences that we do not talk about, I was more myself and not less. There was no loss of my identity but an accentuation of it. The feeling is never one of absorption, it is always a sense of immersion. You have a greater realization than you ever had before as to who you are.

I repeat that it is very difficult to get rid of superstition in our field. We must learn that there is no savior but ourselves! There is no mediator but Christ in you—“the hope of glory.” There is nothing between It and us; God comes fresh and new and clean as Presence, and the universe presents itself as principle. By putting the two together we shall glorify “the fire from Heaven” as inspiration and illumination.

I believe in what Emerson called “the lonely listener,” but when we use the Law we use it as a definite principle; it acts according to definite rules and performs in a certain way. There is no caprice in it, for it is inevitable; it is immut-able. It is certain to act. If we know this when we are treating and do not seem to get results, we return to Spirit and say, “There is just a little more work to be done within myself, not out ‘there.’” There is nothing out “there.” The causation is inside and so we work until we see the thing clearly. What do we do? We meet the great Reality as Presence and Law, and we are confronted with what all the great and wise have believed in—the divine ideas and eternal patterns of Life.

I do not believe that evil or disease belong to anyone, or that they should be located in anyone. Our task is to separate the belief from the believer. In psychology they say the neurosis must be separated from the neurotic. Have we enough spiritual awareness so that the reaction of the Law of the Word, which is immutable, will cover the lack of faith, the lack of love, or whatever it is that seems to be needed? Are we able to forgive deeply enough, to love greatly enough, to feel broadly enough? Is there enough beauty in our souls to paint the picture, or sing the song for someone else in our own hearts? If there is, we shall see it made manifest.

We cannot think of the results of spiritual mind treatment as depend-ing upon the caprice of the divine will or on our own whimsical fancy. Today, if I feel right, I may catch some inspiration, and if I feel right tomorrow I will write a little more of the story, or sing a little more of the song, or give a treatment. The author, painter, or technician cannot work this way, and neither can you. You must sit down and do your work consciously and solicitously and say, “Here I am and I can do it now.”

Let us commune with that Presence, and use that Power, in the beauty and quiet of this moment.

Indraw and breathe into us, O Eternal Spirit, everything that stands for beauty, everything that is meant by power, and law and order, warmth and color, the artistry of life and the certainty of love and friendship; impregnate our souls now with Thy Spirit. Amen.•

Excerpted from Ernest Holmes Seminar Lectures,
published by DeVorss Publications.