Two practitioners, Charles and Elsa Anderson, came to Obadiah’s residence to help him pack for the trip to L.A. They urged him to take a few more clothes because he might “be there a while.”
When he arrived in L.A. he went to the Institute for Religious Science and School of Philosophy. Ernest came out to greet him and said simply, “Welcome home!” They spoke for two hours.
Soon, Ernest invited Obadiah to move out of his hotel and gave him a suite of rooms in his house on 6th St. and Lorraine. Dr. George Bendal was also staying there at that time. There Obadiah listened to Ernest speak of the metaphysical meaning of scripture and his favorite philosophers: Emerson, Thoreau, Lao Tsu and Sri Aurobindo, and talk about the dinners he used to attend in the 1940s with Manly P. Hall and Paramahansa Yogananda. The atmosphere around Ernest was reverential but casual. He seemed to maintain an equanimity in all circumstances that nothing could shake.
Obadiah began attending classes at the Institute and studying with Ernest. He often drove Ernest to appointments in his brand new ’58 Cadillac. A particularly modern vehicle, one of the car’s many “extras” was power windows. Obadiah was not used to these features and once badly crushed Ernest’s little finger in one of them. The blood spurted and Obadiah was mortified. In the midst of his profuse apologies, Ernest simply said, “No problem!” and merely wiping the finger with his other hand, announced, “All gone!” The finger appeared as though the injury had never happened. It was then that Obadiah realized that Ernest had a kind of “magic” about him.
Founder’s Church
At that time, Founder’s Church was under construction next door to the Institute. When asked if Ernest had been interested in the building of Founder’s Church, Dr. Harris replied, “Big time! Big time!” He observed that the talk we often hear that Ernest “didn’t want a church” was probably only that he hadn’t intended to start a church. When the church spontaneously grew up around him, he completely accepted it.
Ernest was intensely interested in the construction of Founder’s Church. As soon as the walls were up, he would sit daily in meditation inside the structure with the workmen busy around him. He would visualize the completed building and do treatment for the success of each phase of the building.
Obadiah would sit with him in meditation each day. He said that meditating with Ernest was like having “a wind at your back.” He had the ability to carry the people around him deeper into the mystery. The calmness would last for the rest of the day. The quality of that calmness was like a deeper level of quiet that nothing can pull you out of.
After his meditation, Ernest would go back to the Institute and get on the phone to raise money for the completion of Founder’s. It was just another sacred activity. Obadiah said he listened to Ernest thanking the donors for their $5,000 donation or their $10,000 donation (and this was the late fifties!). It seemed that no one ever turned him down. The contributors responded out of gratitude for what they had gained from his teaching and their donation was received with equal gratitude by Ernest. He never took it for granted and the money flowed in.
Silent Prayer
Obadiah observed that when Ernest did spiritual mind treatment for someone, he most often did so silently. He would say things to bring the person into the now to initiate a focus on personal healing. Then he would pray by listening and bringing the silent consciousness to bear on the manifestation of the solution the person was seeking. He believed so strongly in the good life, in abundance, because the spirituality we seek has both transcendent and physical qualities. This is what made the philosophy of Ernest Holmes poetic, mystical, spiritual, but always practical. He was about taking the spiritual essence of things and applying it to everyday life.
After some time of study, Ernest began to send Obadiah out to speak at many local churches. When Obadiah protested that he wasn’t ready, Ernest would urge him to “relax into it.” Ernest said he never prepared a “talk;” he only prepared himself. Late in 1959, Ernest suggested that Obadiah make himself available as a candidate for Senior Minister of the Phoenix Church of Religious Science. Obadiah found himself promptly elected and Ernest Holmes, himself, ordained him before his departure.
Obadiah returned to L.A. at the beginning of January in 1960 for the dedication of Founder’s Church. He remembered Ernest taking the podium: The first thing Ernest did was blow his nose. Unfortunately, he did so directly into the microphone and the noise of it reverberated throughout the building causing many twitters and giggles in the capacity audience. Unperturbed, Ernest, always the Taoist, turned the incident into a lesson about respecting the naturalness of one’s body. Such was Ernest’s ability to generate an atmosphere around himself that was relaxed and yet always alert to the lessons of the moment. The dedication was joyous and Ernest declared Religious Science as “the next great impulsion” of human evolution.
Obadiah next saw Ernest as he was passing through Los Angeles in late February on his way to a ministers’ convocation north of the city. He was surprised to find that his friend and mentor was in declining health. Ernest urged Obadiah to go on to the convocation, but he refused. He cancelled his plans and found lodging near Ernest’s home. Obadiah observed that Ernest was not regaining his strength. Many people were coming to visit him and Ernest frequently would give away some personal possessions of his to them. Gradually, Obadiah realized that this was a man preparing to make his transition.
This silent knowledge hung heavily between them. Obadiah didn’t know what to say. One day while holding vigil at Ernest’s bedside, Obadiah blurted out, “After you leave, I think I’ll just strike out on my own.” Ernest pounced on the statement. “Where will you go?” Ernest asked quizzically. Surprised at getting a response to what had been largely a rhetorical remark, Obadiah fumbled for an answer. “I think I’ll just follow my own soul,” he said finally. Ernest sighed; “I wish I could go with you!” he said wistfully.
One year prior to this, Obadiah had been present at the dedication of the Whittier Church when Ernest had had a numinous vision as he concluded his talk. Ernest’s words that led up to that vision were:
We are dedicated to the concept that the pure in heart shall see God, here; that the meek will inherit the earth, now; that one with Truth is a majority; that every one of us in the secret place of the most High, in the center of his own consciousness, has the secret with the Eternal, the Everlasting, the Almighty, and the Ineffable. God and I are One. And I see uniting in one great inner praise, one great union of effort, one crescendo of song, and one enveloping light of consciousness...
Obadiah could see that Ernest was moving closer and closer to that vision.
Ernest Holmes’ funeral was held at Founder’s Church, inside the building he had prayed into existence. It was attended by ministers from all over the country. Some may argue that once the spirit has departed, the body is of little consequence. Yet, if today, we can drive by the residence on 6th and Lorraine and say proudly, “Ernest Holmes once lived there,” then one can hardly fault paying respect to the vehicle that carried him throughout his life. And so it was that Obadiah, alone, chose to remain with Ernest’s body after the conclusion of the service. He followed the casket out and saw it loaded onto the hearse, placing his hand on it one last time in farewell.
In a way, Ernest’s wish to go with him, now became to Obadiah a benediction of Ernest’s faith in his future life. The philosophy of the man he once drove to appointments now drove him to seek greater and greater knowledge. “He did go with me,” Obadiah would later say. “His spiritual influence stayed as a seed in my heart.”
Obadiah respectfully resigned his position at the Phoenix Church and went to study in India at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He then returned to the United States and began formal education ending with a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Michigan. Ernest’s mentoring launched Obadiah into a career that spanned the highest academic achievements. Eventually, this lead him to his present position as President and Chairman of the Board of the Philosophical Research Society, which had been founded by one of Ernest’s former dinner companions, Manly P. Hall.
Dr. Obadiah Harris had been at the Philosophical Research Society only a few years when he was approached by the United Church of Religious Science to help create a new curriculum for the school of ministry. He launched into this new project with enthusiasm and found that, just like Ernest’s fundraising, nobody turned him down. He soon had an assemblage of great thinkers providing the classes that form the theoretical backbone of the newly christened Holmes Institute.
Obadiah’s association with Ernest Holmes has come full circle. He, once again, serves Ernest’s philosophy by helping to educate the new ministers that now take the message of Religious Science to the farthest corners of the world. What he learned from Dr. Ernest Holmes has provided the compass of his life. •
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