Every human being thrills at the thought of achievement. The idea means different things to different people. To you it may mean physical health; the ability to walk, run, play, to engage in activity. To me, it may mean abundance; money, a home, a car—opulence. Whatever achievement or happiness may mean to you, you desire a larger amount of it, a closer affiliation with it.

The ability to control your experiences and have them result in happiness, prosperity, and success lies in your own mind and the way you use it. This means you control your own experience—you are really in charge of your affairs and the way they are to develop. Let us sum it up this way: My thought is in control of my experience and I can direct my thinking.

Read that again and then say it aloud. It is a most astounding statement and at first it may seem farfetched. But because you are a modern person with an open mind ready to be shown what you may not at first understand—even what does not seem entirely believable—you will be willing to take that statement under consideration and hear the reasons for it. Certainly you do not have to believe it, and you do not wish to until you have investigated it, heard the arguments in its favor, and observed whether or not it works for you after you have given it a fair trial.

Intellectual Investigation
No one can thrust any new belief upon another; no one has any right to attempt to do so. It is only when we have made the right intellectual inquiries and investigations for ourselves that we can honestly decide whether to accept or reject what is presented to us. We are not going to allow ourselves to be coerced into anything of which our own good judgment does not approve. However, we cannot bring our good judgment to bear upon anything, in fullest measure, until we have been fair in our efforts to understand and then faithful in our attempts to test it to see if it actually does work for us. This is only reasonable.

If you have been brought up under Christian influences in the home and church you will feel particularly sensitive about your religion and inclined to say, “I do not want anything which will disturb my faith in God as an Overruling Providence and in Jesus as the wayshower for men through his practical application of a loving, useful life and his triumphant conquest even over death itself.”

In response we say, “You are exactly right!”

On the other hand, if you have lived apart from church activities and associations, or have found them unfitted to your scientific turn of mind, and you want something on which you can base your thinking and faith that retains a clear concept of the orderly world of science in which natural laws and order prevail, then we say, “That is a rational viewpoint and we believe you will find much that is of interest and value to you.”

Possibly, though, you may be just a busy man or woman desirous of a wholesome, successful life and a sense of security. If you are to give your attention to anything new in the way of thinking, it will have to be something you can apply in your everyday affairs, and which you can know will work!

This is a good sensible way to look at it.

If there is an understanding of God that meets your daily needs in a world of practical affairs, you want it. If there is some system of reasoning which conforms to your keenest intellectual rationalization and scientific knowledge, it is of interest to you. If you can find something that will satisfy that deep inner hunger which lies in the hearts of all, whether they ever acknowledge it or not, you are just as eager as anyone else to find that satisfaction. You have practical daily needs that must be met; intellectual demands which seek rational fulfillment, and sincere spiritual longings that have to be fulfilled. This is true of all persons; you are no exception.

Your Personal Importance
Now that we have a foundation for mutual understanding, let us go back to our earlier statement, enlarge it, and give it more careful consideration:

The ability to control my experiences and have them result in happiness, prosperity, and success lies in my own mind and my use of it.

In the field of physical science it has been proved that absolutely everything can be scientifically reduced to one ultimate invisible Essence, something which cannot be contacted by the physical senses. It is therefore only reasonable to say that originally everything must have, and still does, come from It. According to one’s way of thinking, different names are given to It: Energy, Principle, Universal Intelligence, Universal Mind, Consciousness, Spirit, God.

For our purpose it does not particularly matter which of these names we use. Let us call It Mind.

You Are One With Everything
Scientists show us that Energy—an aspect of Mind—is interchangeable with substance, and is everywhere; within us, around us, filling all space to the limitless reaches of the universe.

Everything we can see, touch, taste, smell, or contact in any physical way, we are told, is but some aspect of this Universal Energy or Mind which has been channeled into specific and tangible form so that our senses become aware of It. For instance, on a summer day, entirely invisible vapor arises from the ocean and soars high in the sky. By contact with a different air temperature it becomes a dainty cloud. If colder air still further condenses it, it turns into raindrops which help to fill a lake. In winter a still further change takes place and instead of raindrops there are snow crystals. Winter also changes the water of the lake to ice. In every instance we have only that original vapor which has taken a form of which our senses are aware. This is but a very simple example.

It was Einstein’s famous equation, E = MC² which revolutionized and clarified much scientific thinking and at the same time cleared the way for the establishing of firmer foundations for considerable philosophical and religious thought. In essence it means that energy and mass (that which have physical qualities) are one and the same and are interchangeable. From our point of view this would mean that Mind—God—acting as Energy becomes what we know as the physical world, according to Law. They are one and the same thing, but God being infinite could never be depleted by what is created. It is only reasonable to declare that everything which is ever to be must also come from God. In fact there is nothing else out of which anything could be made.

Mind is everywhere! After all, this is just the same as saying what we were taught to say in earliest childhood: “God is everywhere.” That statement did not mean much to us then, but now we know that this Universal Mind is everywhere. Therefore It is within us!

There can be no exception to this everywhereness. This gives us the key to the whole situation, and makes us understand that not only our individual minds, but our bodies as well, are expressions and a part of Mind. •

Excerpted from The Basic Ideas of Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes, published by DeVorss Publications.

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