Gaia: Living Metaphysics - Ernest Holmes & The Science of Mind

Universal Subjectivity or Cause & Effect

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:16:15 GMT

I posted this in the Teachings of the Masters room at One Light Many Windows in response to a special topic during October 2009 on prayer. This is really what I consider to be the core of Holmes' metaphysics and one of the best sections I have read in the textbook - The Science of Mind - A Philosophy, A Faith, A Way of Life, textbook by Ernest Holmes' (explaining his philosophy). This is from Ch 21 “Some Phases of the Subjective Life”, pgs 347-356.

The Subjective Mind

Ernest Holmes taught that we have a dual aspect of mentality but that it was not two minds. We have an objective and a subjective state of consciousness. The objective mind is that part of the mentality which functions consciously. It is the part of us which is self-knowing and without it we would not be self-conscious entities. Our conscious mind is the place where we consciously live and are aware that we are living. To him, this is Spirit.

Our subjective mind is our mental emanation in Universal Subjectivity. It is our individual use of mental law. We certainly do not wish to deviate from that which psychology teaches about the mind of man in its conscious, subconscious, or subjective states. We merely wish to add this: the reason we have a subjective mind is that Subjectivity existed in the Universe prior to our use of it; and where we use It, It forms around us a subjective personification of ourselves, which is a result of the action and the reaction of our thought.

The subjective mind is the seat of memory and contains a remembrance of everything that has ever happened to the outer man. It also contains the family and race characteristics. It retains these memories, in a certain sense, as mental pictures. The subjective mind might be compared to a picture gallery, upon whose walls are hung the pictures of all the people whom the individual has ever known, and all the incidents which he has ever experienced.

Race-Suggestion

Race-suggestion is a very real thing, and each individual carries around with him (and has written into his mentality) many impressions which he never consciously thought of or experienced. When we realize that the individual's subjectivity is his use of the One Subjective Mind, we shall see that a subjective unity is maintained between all people, and that individual mentalities who are in sympathetic vibration with each other, more or less mingle and receive suggestions from each other. This is the meaning of mental influence, which is indeed a very real thing.

Just as each person, place or thing has a subjective atmosphere or remembrance, so each town, city or nation has its individual atmosphere. Some towns are bustling with life and action while others seem dead. Some are filled with a spirit of culture, while others are filled with a spirit of commerce. This is the result of the mentalities of those who live in such places. Just as a city has its atmosphere, so does an entire nation. The combined thought of those who inhabit a nation creates a national consciousness which we speak of as the psychology of that people.

Subjective Mind, being Universal, the history of the race is written in the mental atmosphere of the globe on which we live. That is, everything which has ever happened on this planet has left its imprint on the walls of time; and could we walk down their corridors and read the writings, we should be reading the race history. This should seem simple when we realize that the vibrations of the human voice can be preserved on the receptive phonograph disc, or the sound film, and reproduced at will. If we were to impress on of these discs, or a strip of the sound film, and lay it away for years (properly protecting it) it would still reproduce these vibrations. It is not difficult, then, to understand how the walls of time may be hung with the pictures of human events, and how one who sees these pictures may read race history. There is a tendency, on the part of all of us, to reproduce the accumulated subjective experiences of the human race.

Subjective Mind and Inspiration

Since the individual subjective mind is the storehouse of memory, it retains all that the eye has seen, the ear heard, or the mentality conceived. Since it contains much that the outer man never consciously knew, and is the receptacle of much of the race knowledge through unconscious communication, it must (and does) have a knowledge that far surpasses the objective faculties.

Realizing that the subjective draws to itself everything that it is in sympathy with, we see that anyone who is sympathetically inclined toward the race, or vibrates to the race-thought, might pick up the entire race-emotion and experience and - if he were able to bring it to the surface - could consciously depict it. Many of the world's orators, actors and writers have been able to do this, which explains why some of them have been so erratic, for they have been more or less controlled by the emotions which they have contacted.

Anyone contacting the subjective side of the race-mentality, with the ability to bring it to the surface, will have at his disposal an emotional knowledge that many lifetimes of hard study could not accumulate. But IF ONE HAD TO SURRENDER HIS INDIVIDUALITY IN THE PROCESS, HE WOULD BETTER REMAIN IGNORANT.

There is, of course, a much deeper seat of knowledge than the subjective mind, which is the Spirit; direct contact with the Spirit is Illumination.

Mental Atmospheres

Each person has a mental atmosphere which is the result of all that he has thought, said and done, and consciously or unconsciously perceived. The mental atmosphere is very real, and is that subtle influence which constitutes the power of personal attraction, for personal attraction has but little to do with looks. It goes much deeper and is almost entirely subjective. This will explain our likes and dislikes for those with whom we come in daily contact. We meet some only to turn away without a word, while others we are at once drawn toward, and without any apparent reason. This is the result of their mental atmosphere or thought vibration. No matter what the lips may be saying, the inner thought outspeaks them, and the unspoken word often carries more than the spoken.

Tuning in on Thought

Thought-transference, or telepathy, is such a commonly known fact that it is not our purpose to do other than discuss it briefly. However, there are some facts which might be overlooked unless we give them careful attention. The main fact to emphasize is that mental telepathy would not be possible, unless there were a medium through which it could operate. This medium is Universal Mind, and it is through this medium, or avenue, that all thought-transference, or mental telepathy, takes place.

Telepathy is the act of reading subjective thought, or of receiving conscious thought from another without audible words being spoken. But there must be a mental tuning in, so to speak, just as there must be in radio. We are surrounded by all sorts of vibrations and if we wish to catch any of them distinctly, we must tune in. Even then, there is a great deal of interference and we do not always get the messages clearly. We often get the wrong one, and sometimes many of the vibrations come together and seem to be nothing but a lot of noises, without any particular reason for being. It is only when the instrument is properly adjusted to some individual vibration that a clear message may be received.

This is true of mental telepathy, which is the transmission of thought; the receiver must tune in. It does not follow, however, that the sender knows that this is taking place, any more than a radio speaker knows how many are tuned in to hear his address. In other words, one might pick up thoughts just as he picks up radio messages. Some have the ability to tune in on thought and read it more or less accurately. These people we call psychics, but all people are really psychic, since all have a soul or subjective mind. What we really mean is that a psychic, or medium, is one who has the ability to objectify that which is subjective - to bring to the surface of conscious thought that which lies below the threshold of the outer mind. The medium reads the book of remembrance and it is marvelous how far-reaching this book may be. Whatever may have happened at any time on this plane remains within its subjective atmosphere as a memory picture of the experiences of those who have lived here. These pictures, or vibrations, may be clearly discerned by those who can read them.

Since the Universal Subjectivity is a Unity it follows that all of these pictures exist at any and every point within It. Consequently, we may contact at the point of our own subjective mind (which is a point in Universal Subjective Mind) every incident which has ever transpired on this planet. We might even see a picture which was enacted two thousand years ago in some Roman area, for the atmosphere contains such pictures.

Each person in his objective state is a distinct and individualized center in Universal Mind, but in his subjective state (in his stream of consciousness, or at his rate of vibration) each is Universal, because of the Indivisibility of Mind. Wherever and whenever any individual contacts another upon the side of life, if he is a psychic (if he objectifies subjectivity) he may see a thought form of that person, but it does not necessarily follow that he would really be seeing the person.

We need not be astonished when a psychic gives us the complete history of our family, even to reciting the things that engaged the attention of our ancestors while they were on earth. The psychic is merely reading from the subjective remembrance.

Streams of Consciousness

Each being an individual entity in Mind is known by the name he bears, and by the vibration which he emanates; for while we are all in One Mind or Spirit, each has a separate and individualized personality.

According to the Unity of Mind, thought is everywhere present, and so long as it persists it will remain present. What is known in one place, may be known in all places. Time, space and obstructions are unknown to Mind and thought. It follows, that anyone tuning into our thought, will enter into our stream of consciousness, no matter where we are and no matter where he may be. If we still persist after the body shall have suffered physical death (and we are convinced that we shall) this law must still hold good, for past and present are one and the same in Mind. Time is only the measure of an experience, and space, of itself, is not apart from, but is in, Mind.

A psychic can enter the stream of thought of anyone whose vibration he can mentally contact, be that person in the flesh or out of it; and since we are all psychic - all having a soul element - we are all doubtless communicating with each other to the degree that we sympathetically vibrate toward each other. We do not all have the ability to objectify psychic impressions, and ordinarily they never come to the surface. However, they are there just the same. This is why we often feel uneasy in the presence of certain people, or when we mentally contact some condition and are aware of a disturbed inner feeling, without any apparent reason.

There are many normal psychics who can, while in a perfectly objective state, read people's thoughts and perform many other wonderful feats of the mind. This is normal and no harm can come from it. It is, indeed, one of Nature's ways of working and is most interesting. Any psychic power which can be used while in a normal state of mind is harmless and helpful; by this we mean one that can be used while one is in a conscious state.

The Spirit of Prophecy

We have explained how it is that the psychic vision can look into the past and see what has transpired - by reason of the fact that it is dealing with a field in which there is no past, no present and no future, but merely a continuation of being. Because this is so, any incident which has transpired in the past is an active thing in the present, unless the vibration is neutralized, when it no longer has existence anywhere.

Just as it is true, apparently, that the incidents of the past continually rehearse themselves in the same manner that a picture hanging on the wall for the next ten thousand years (if nothing happens to it) will look just as it does now, so anyone contacting a previous incident, clairvoyantly, will see it as though it as though it were now transpiring … not past. This is the way in which clairvoyant vision operates. The continuation of the past, through the present, into the future, is a movement of causation passing from cause to effect; and because the movement is first set in motion in a field of Mind which is purely subjective, both cause and effect will exist at any point during the sequence of this movement. The clairvoyant vision, then, contacting it at any point - even before the final outcome - will see the final outcome.

There is nothing fatalistic about this. A thing can appear to be fatalistic without necessarily being so. This we should understand, because the human mind in its ignorance has created great psychic laws for itself. Therefore, if one has been told anything in the way of a prophecy which is negative, it should be directly refuted, because that negation exists in the realm of subjective causation … not spiritual causation.

To repeat this in a clearer way, perhaps: Subjective Mind can deduce only; It has no power of initiative or self-choice, and is compelled by Its very nature to retain all the suggestions which It receives. The best illustration of this is in the creative soil, in which the gardener plants his seed. The soil does not argue nor deny, but goes to work on the seed and begins to create a plant which will represent the type of manifestation inherent, as idea, in the seed; from a cucumber seed, we get cucumbers, and from a cabbage seed, we get cabbages. Always the law maintains the individuality of the seed as it creates the plant; never does it contradict the right of the seed to be what it really is. Involved within the seed is the idea of the plant, as are also those lesser ideas which are to act as a medium between the seed and the plant. Involved within the seed are both cause and effect, but the seed must first be placed within the creative soil if we wish to see the plant. In the creative soil (or in the seed) the full and perfect idea of the plant must exist as a completed thing, else it could never be brought into manifestation. The idea of the full-grown plant must exist somewhere in the seed and soil, if it is ever going to materialize.

This teaches us a lesson in subjectivity. Thoughts going into the subjective are like seeds; they act through the creative medium of Mind and must have, within themselves, the full power to develop and to express; but how could they express unless they were already known to Mind? THEY COULD NOT, so Mind must view the thought as already completed in the thing; and Mind must also contain the avenue through which the idea is to be expressed. EVERY THOUGHT SETS THE FULFILLMENT OF ITS DESIRE IN MOTION IN MIND, AND MIND SEES THE THING AS ALREADY DONE !

Mental tendencies set in motion cast their shadows before, and a psychic often sees the complete manifestation of an idea before it has had time to materialize in the objective world. This is what constitutes the average spirit of prophecy, for prophecy is the reading of subjective tendencies and seeing them as already accomplished facts. The subjective mind can deduce only, but its power of logic and sequence appears to be perfect.

For illustration, suppose there is a window one mile distant; I am throwing a ball at this window and the ball is halfway to it, going at the rate of one mile a minute. Now you come into the picture, see the ball, measure the distance, compute the speed with which the ball is passing through the air and say: “The ball is halfway to the window, it is traveling at the rate of one mile a minute and in just one half a minute the window is going to be broken by the ball passing through it”. Let us suppose that you are the only one who sees the ball, for the rest are looking at the window, and in half a minute it is broken. How did you prophesy that the window would be broken? By drawing a logical conclusion from an already established premise.

A similar thing takes place when a psychic exercises the spirit of prophecy, because he is getting his own subjective contact with the condition and simply interpreting what comes to him; but this is the logical, deductive, conclusive power of his subjective thought - seeing a thing completed, by first seeing a tendency set in motion and computing the time it will take to complete it. There are but few, however, who possess any reliable spirit of prophecy.

Note - Attached below is a clip about the Akashic Records, from the organization which preserves Edgar Cayce's work - the Association for Research and Enlightenment and it parallels and mirrors Ernest Holmes writing here.

Belief, Faith & Prayer by Ernest Holmes

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:21:20 GMT

I posted this in the Teachings of the Masters room at One Light Many Windows in response to a special topic this month on prayer -

Belief, Faith, and Prayer

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up (James 5:15). What, then, is the prayer of faith?

Jesus clearly taught that Spiritual Power works through man at the level of his belief, implying that it would work as he believed and while he believed. He ascribed a mighty power to belief and to faith, and we find that throughout the ages faith has been honored. Most certainly some people's prayers have been answered, but not all person's prayers have been answered in the way in which they wished them to be answered.

How are we going to account for the fact that one person's prayers are answered and another's are not? Must we admit that there are degrees in which prayers are answered? And if so, why? Is one man's faith better than another's? Is God more pleased with one man's petition than another's?

It seems a pretty tough problem, until we understand what Jesus meant when he said, Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.

What did he imply? He implied that it is done unto us by some impersonal Principle, a Principle which knows neither Jew nor Gentile, but knows only Its own ability to do. It will do as quickly for one as for another. The Law is no respecter of persons but works alike for each and all.

Jesus not only said, So be it done unto thee. He said, As thou hast believed. The impersonal Law, which is the actor, does it unto us, but only as we believe. Immediately we recognize our old friend the Law of Cause and Effect. It is done unto us as we believe, and if we can believe only a little, then only what we call a little is done. But if we believe in what the consensus of human opinion has called a lot, then a lot is done. Not that there is a big or little in the Truth, but that we measure it. Well did the Great Teacher say, With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. It is done unto us, but only as we believe.

What is belief? Most surely belief is a certain way of thinking; it is an activity of consciousness. Belief is a thing of thought, and being a thing of thought we can change belief. And if what a man believes decides what is going to happen to him, the most important thing for him to do is regulate his belief so that what happens will be good for him, and he will be glad to have it happen, and joyously welcome it.

What is most likely to change our belief from a negative to a positive viewpoint? What thought, what hope, what expression, what stimulus is most likely to change our belief? This Jesus established in the Sermon on the Mount when he said that the meek shall inherit the earth; that the peacemakers shall be called the children of God. In other statements he showed us how to reform our belief so that it could partake of the nature of Reality and would contain within itself everything necessary for our well-being. This is also what the Apostle meant when he said that we should think on whatsoever things are good, true, and beautiful.

Faith is an affirmative mode of thought. Faith says, "I can", rather than "I cannot" or "I shall not". We can learn to have faith in abundance rather than in poverty. We can change our thought in regard to lack. This is what treatment (deb's note - treatment is a specialized kind of prayer in Holmes philosophical system) is for. Instead of saying, "There is not enough good to go around", we say, "All the power there is, is devoted to my good. I am not afraid of poverty because all the power there is, is devoted to giving me abundance. God provides me with every good thing today, every day, always." Such statements as these will change our belief from denial to one of positive faith. Whatever we can have faith in, and having faith in, can understand, we may experience according to the Law of Cause and Effect. This Law is immutable, invariable, unassailable, and absolute.

"But", someone might ask, "is faith in lack equal to faith in abundance?" The answer to this question is that there is neither lack nor abundance, as such; there is merely what is and the way it works. We are so constituted that faith in love overcomes the belief in hate. Our nature is such that faith in life destroys our fear of death. Our nature is such that faith routs all fear along the line. The great affirmations of life must, of necessity, destroy their apparent opposites. Nevertheless we cannot overlook the fact that all statements are positive, all statements are affirmations, since each is a statement of one's belief in something.

Right here is where prayer comes in, and of course we are thinking of prayer in its broadest connotation and its most realistic meaning. We are thinking of prayer as the communion of the soul with the Oversoul, with the Divine Creative Presence which is not only in the soul but which is the soul. It is more than an individualization; it is also a Universality.

Prayer in its truest sense is not a petition, not a supplication, not a wail of despair; it is rather an alignment, a unifying process which takes place in the mind as it reaches to its Divine Self and to that Power which is greater than human understanding. In the act of such prayerful and reverent communion with God one senses the Unity of Good, the completeness of Life, and at times the veil of doubt is lifted and the face of Reality appears. This consciousness, which has been referred to as the Secret Place of the Most High, is an experience rising out of the conviction that God is all there is, beside Whom there is none else.

Prayer, then, is communion, and this communion pronounces life to be Good. Prayerful communion ascends to that place where unity has not yet become variety, where the unformed One is ready to take any specific shape. In this act of communion the individual becomes co-partner with the Eternal and gives birth to time, space, and conditions.

But what could Jesus have meant when he referred to fasting in connection with prayer? It seems evident that he was not necessarily referring to a physical fact, for one of the accusations laid against him was that he drank wine with sinners. He was also accused of breaking the Sabbath by permitting his disciples to pluck corn on the Sabbath day. In fact he seemed to disregard many of the outward forms which were common in his day. He referred to some deeper Principle which physical fasting was intended to symbolize.

This is what he meant when he said that it was not sufficient to make the outside of the platter clean, and again when he said, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps by fasting and prayer Jesus meant such a complete consecration to the ideal that the Creative Genius of the Universe passed immediately into Self-expression through man's imagination.

Such a high altitude of thought could not be described other than by using the symbol of fasting and prayer, and possibly that is why Jesus used it. Suppose we call fasting a determination to refuse further contemplation of the negative. This would be passing from death into life, from negation into affirmation, from denial into acceptance. In this transformation of thought through faith and belief the communion of the soul with its Source would become a pronouncement rather than a petition. This is the position which the enlightened of all ages have taken.

If a person feels that the act of physical fasting is necessary to the consummation of such a devout communion, let him fast, and no person should be so rash as to deny him this privilege. If, on the other hand, he feels that he is not fighting his way but singing a song, let no one deny him the joyous pathway to freedom. For sooner or later all must discover that it is neither fasting nor feasting, but belief, faith, and acceptance which cause one to transcend the lesser good and ascend into that holy mount within where the eye views the world as one vast plain and one boundless reach of sky.

We must never forget to make a practical application of this science. In our philosophy it is not enough merely to state a principle. We must apply such a principle to our everyday living, and wherever a need appears we must meet it, not be accepting the inevitability of such a need but by affirming its exact opposite. The need is met when we no longer recognize it as a need but seeing through it envision that Principle which could just as easily remold the need into an acceptance of good. Therefore we are told to think on whatsoever things are true, lovely, and of good report; we should dwell on these things rather than on their apparent opposites.

To put this into practice should be the desire of every sincere seeker after spiritual truth. He must come to believe that there is such a Divine Power awaiting his use. He must fully understand that he is the one who knows how to use It and then he must proceed definitely to make use of this Power which is within all men. In actual practice one's life should become a continuous communion with Good.

One's mind should be continuously acknowledging the presence of Good and the Power of Good in one's experience. A practitioner should acknowledge the Power and Presence of this Good in the experience of the one he seeks to help. For the acknowledgment of Good is a creative act making possible its manifestation in human experience. We should fast from the idea of lack and feast with the idea of plenty. We should from the idea of poverty and fastfeast upon the belief in wealth, and most surely we should abstain from contemplating uncertainties and enter into a long and eternal period of feasting upon certainty. And when the world cries, "Whither goest thou?" something within us should answer, "We know in whom we have believed."

At first at fasting and feasting, this prayer and communion, may seem a little difficult. We all are more or less surrounded by negation and this is where the office of prayer enters. It establishes a serenity within the soul enabling it to have confidence in that spirit of acceptance without which the Divine gift is never complete. For how can the Divine gift become complete until one accepts it? There is no song without a singer. And so we must learn joyfully to enter into our Divine inheritance.

What does all this mean other than that we should learn to have confidence in Life, to believe in Eternal Goodness, and to accept the Divine Bounty? This transformation of thought from negation to affirmation is seldom instantaneous, so one must maintain a flexibility of thought, being willing to bend somewhat before the storms of life but refusing to break. One's thought should have an elasticity which permits it to spring back into place, but it cannot do so unless it is first fully convinced that it does know in Whom it has believed, unless it is completely convinced that the Universe is a spiritual system governed by a Beneficent Consciousness.

This greater vision seldom transpires in one flash of consciousness, although it may do so. More often than not the ascent from our valley of negation to the mountaintop of realization is slow. But each step on the road entices us with the enchantment of a new vista, and, judging from past experiences and former transformations, the pathway upon which we travel leads to the summit and we press on with joy.

By some Divine interior awareness, call it what we will, there is an intuition within man which pushes him forward. There is some spark which has never been entirely extinguished. The prayer of faith and belief, communion of the soul with its Source, fans this spark into a Divine blaze in whose light dark shadows no longer lurk. This is inspiration. This is illumination. This is the perception of wholeness.

Suppose a man were to prepare himself a mental diet garnished with spiritual realization, his meat the living word, his bread manna from heaven, his fruit the inspiration of hope, and his wine the essence of joy. And suppose in addition to this he should see this table spread before him in the wilderness and waited upon the Law, the servant of God and man, would he not then realize that he is today in the Kingdom of Heaven, that today God is his Host, and would he not exclaim, "Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!"

(note - the meaning of enow is enough, it is an archaic Middle English variant)

Source - Living the Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes, pgs 41-46

International Day of Peace

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:39:23 GMT

September 21, is the day declared by the United Nations General Assembly, as the International Day of Peace, a day devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.

There is a Power

And when we talk about this Power

We are talking about the Power that everything has come from

When we talk about Creation, we're talking about the Energy

The thing that was here first

That will always be here and it is the Power that made all of Itself

And keeps making Itself in the Energy of Peace

God - that's our own unique Energy

Because we all each are a part of this Energy

Of the God Love for Peace

So, I know right now within myself

As I take the Peace in my Heart, Mind & Spirit

For every action and reaction

I know that I am passing this Power of Peace on

I'm passing it on for the Energy

So as I go forward into what I need to do

For my own unique Peace

I pass this on,

As we are truly accepting the blessings of

Peace, Poise & Power

I'm thankful & grateful for the unique Energy

That no matter where I am, what I am doing,

I can stop in Peace

>>> Peace - the Patient Energy <<<

Attitude, Change, Exercise

Peace in God

I am thankful for God giving us this energy

And our capabilities to use it for Peace

I release this and give it to God

In thanksgiving & prayer

As so it is ! Amen.

(The Prayer for Peace above is courtesy of The World Ministry of Prayer, United Church of Religious Science - Inspirational Prayer and Meditation CD)

Go in Peace, May the Peace that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and mind in belief and faith that it is so - NOW.

Peace & Blessings -
Deb

(Note - This was "borrowed" from my personal blog Peace - The Patient Energy of one year ago (2008). Unfortunately, the beautiful YouTube video of Vince Gill and his daughter singing the Religious Science "Let There Be Peace on Earth" was removed due to lack of permissions for use. I found a replacement that will give you the feeling of joining in song with others at this special moment.)

Re: Are You A Mystic?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:21:15 GMT

I'm so glad you've written how you share the passages you do here, Deb. Sometimes when I want to convey something, I find that it's already been written by someone else; and so much better to share that- and easier when it's been published!
Thank you for mentioning those emails; I knew when writing them that you may not fully accept them; just as sometimes we hear or read messages that we don't resonate with; but that stick in our mind. It's as if we're under water, and light as we know, gets bent and sounds a little garbled. Unless of course, it's meant to be heard underwater! [I always give the example of Harry Potter hearing the mermen's message better when he opened the golden egg under water]
It's true that the word mystic isn't well understood, and that there are many mystics who live in the world, outwardly as householders, but internally ...! Ah the richness of experience.

Re: Are You A Mystic?

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:24:11 GMT

YES, YES & YES

Thanks for sharing this, Meenakshi. That is exactly what is going on.

I am reminded of that contentious thread in this group. Really it was about a dark resistance to spirituality; but the impetus, to comment upon that, was an occurance that I had personally experienced. My post was not meant to be about a particular person, nor about a particular community. I could have named it better - and perhaps, saved myself some difficulty, but I was intentionally trying to get the attention of potentional readers and that I did in abundance ! ! !

While not really wanting to dreg all the emotions that came through during that period, I was particularly struck with how one "new" member who joined simply to voice an opinion regarding the issues, attacked me for calling myself a mystic. Of course, I understood fully at the time that the person didn't really know what a mystic is by today's definiton but I stand by my assertion that I truly am - a mystic - because that is truly how I live my life, as a mystic. I know that I am not the only one. Perhaps the person was thinking of "mystic" as more of an acknowledged "authority" on all things spiritual, which I have never claimed for myself here.

Truly what I love about this group is that it feels as though almost every person drawn to it is actually a peer of mine. We are all simultaneously teachers and students and are sharing our loves and challenges and insights with one another. To me, it is the most beautiful development of my life, up until that point when I created it, and I am so happy I "answered the call", that day when the name, discussion boards and concept began coming through to me clearly and unmistakably, in contemplation while hiking.

If I share something of someone else's writing here, it is ONLY because I understand the truth of it within the context of my own life, and whenever I have enough time, I often do share and express those commonalities with my own little life's experiences and so, why I believe the ideas worth sharing. Members of this group can always be certain I do not share stuff just to fill in space. I share what I think will be of interest to others drawn here because it interests me and I do not think my self to be exceptional.

But something special is unfolding for me now, which began on the drive home from the Celebrate Your Life conference (though the seeds were most likely planted long ago, and the fertilizer of the conference has caused them to pop up and see the light of day, literally almost overnight). And my friend, Meenakshi, you did intuit this development in me and shared that within private emails, the best that you could. I see now that I was not able to interpret your words accurately, until I reached this stage of unfoldment.

Life is good ! ! ! To those of you who feel you are living small at this moment, you need only join the mystic edge and you will find your unique realm of contribution and much magic, adventure and zest in your own living. I can not, in all good conscious, encourage you to do less.

Wishing you always,
all of those things added
to your own life -
Deb

Re: Are You A Mystic?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:15:15 GMT

Interestingly, this is in my Inbox today- "There Is a Price and a Prize in Heeding the Message of the Soul."
in which Maureen Moss writes:

"More than two decades ago, while in meditation, Spirit clearly conveyed three things to me that all of humanity would need to know for future life, meaning now. I documented all three in the first book I ever wrote, "The Nature of Bliss." I will share them with you here. The first is that we would be called upon to live like mystics and enjoy it. The second, we would not teach nor tell what we did not experience, and third, "you will come to know that there is a price and a prize in heeding the message of the Soul. The price: Life as you have known it will never be the same. The prize: Life as you have known it will never be the same."
This foretelling had everything to do with now.
First, "we would be called upon to live like mystics and enjoy it." Each of us is smack dab in the middle of living our lives deep in the Mystery, a place neither apparent to our senses nor obvious to our intellect. No doubt a challenge to the mortal mind, yet a rather thrilling game to the Divine Mind.
I am prompted to encourage every one of you to take an honest appraisal of your life right now. If you are still playing the third dimensional game of attempting to control any thing, person or circumstance in your life, please stop it. It's not working, it will never work and the new energy that rode in on this last Solstice will make your life a living hell if you don't give it up.
The flip side is that living like a mystic is actually fun, when you get the hang of it. It's like going to a surprise party everyday. When you enter your day wide open with no preconceived notions, anything seemingly magical, can enter. When you're not predicting your future and jamming up every corner of your being with struggle and worry, Spirit starts to play and surprise you at every turn. To play in between our notions is a favorite pastime :) of our Creator Source that never deals from the top of the deck!
Added to that mystical living actually creates spontaneous combustion, a rapid chemical change inside of our bodies that ignites our Souls and Divine Natures into action. When that alchemy occurs we sincerely get to play in the realms of infinite potential. That is the Law and the Promise.
Next, "you'll never teach what you don't know." This message wasn't meant for those acknowledged as teachers. It means all of us. We are all teachers, just as we are all students. What sort of credibility does any one of us have if we are teaching or telling or parenting or coaching anyone about what we have nothing but an intellectual construct about? Have you ever noticed that the energy is not quite there or you're not taken seriously and to heart if your sound advice is just textbook or metaphysical book orientated, minus the actual Life experience?
Then there is the third point, the deep one. "There is a price and a prize in heeding the message of the soul. The price: your life as you have known it will never be the same. The prize: your life as you have known it will never be the same.""
There's more at the link above.

Source:http://www.worldpuja.org
http://www.maureenmoss.com

Re: Are You A Mystic?

http://niecy.gaia.com — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:23:43 GMT

I believe I've posted all of US Anderson's meditations from his book 'Three Magic Words''.

Found it!

Re: Are You A Mystic?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:34:26 GMT

I loved this title and the post Deb. Some historical information here of mysticism in different religious traditions. I learned the meaning of 'eremite', because of EremiteMike
whose birthday we're celebrating today! [4th July]

Mystic as Mirror

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:02:09 GMT

I am so excited because so much of this month's (July 2009) Science of Mind magazine is devoted to Mysticism. It is one of my favorite ways of BEing. And the lead article in this month's magazine is by one of my very most favorite contributors - Jesse Jennings. The Rev Dr Jennings is senior minister of Creative Life Spiritual Center in suburban Houston, and editor of The Essential Ernest Holmes. His "Questions and Answers" column has appeared in each issue of Science of Mind magazine since 1991.

Mystic as Mirror

Mysticism is our natural state, just as gleeful

astonishment at creation is our natural activity.

It's all about first-hand, personal experience of the

Divine Idea pulsing through Its creation, both where

we stand, and we who observe, feel, and choose.

Given the pace of modern times, and our propensity for distilling life into labels and roles, we can better define mysticism by what it isn't than by what it is.

It's not a role, even a useful one, like plumber or parent. True, mystics have often been assigned certain tasks by their cultures, but mystic equals shaman only in that both necessitate a highly prized skillset. From early times, the mystic/shaman would be clad in special shaman garb, ensconced in some out-of-the-way place, expected to commune productively with the Infinite, and then say some "sooth" to the group about winning this war or ending that drought.

In a few cultures, Egypt before the Ptolemys especially, the monarch and shaman were interchangeable, mystical insight being a prerequisite for accession to leadership. Elsewhere, the monarch would keep a shaman or several near at hand for counsel - court jesters and astrologers are derivatives of this.

Later, mainly in the West, shamanism and the mystical bent that gave rise to it became feared, excluded from consideration, and relegated to the outskirts of the cultural consciousness - which is where Ernest Holmes, our founder, and others like him went looking. Here's what they found.

Dean W R Inge was an English clergyman, scholar, and translator of Plotinus, whom Holmes loved to study and quote from. Inge believed that personal spiritual experience was surperior in its wisdom to compulsory ritual observance, though slippery to define. In 1899, Inge wrote, "No word in our language - not even "Socialism" - has been employed more loosely than 'Mysticism'. Sometimes it is used as an equivalent for symbolism or allegorism, sometimes for theosophy or occult science, and sometimes merely suggests the mental state of a dreamer, or vague and fantastic opinions about God and the world." Inge found the best representations of contemporary Western mystical thought in the poetry of Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, and others of the Transcendentalist school.

Soon thereafter, William James published his Varieties of Religious Experience, in which he described four defining characteristics of a mystical experience:

[1] Ineffability: The mystical experience can't be communicated Many people try to do so, but end up writing, speaking, painting, sculpting, or composing about the residual feeling of their experience, rather than effectively capturing the essence of the experience itself. Words simply fail. This exposes the experience to wide interpretation and dilution, and skepticism that anything unusual actually happened.

[2] Noeticism: This basically means that the mystical experience is not contained within or particular to any one aspect of the life of the person having the experience, but that it is pervasive, with "a unique, all-encompassing sense of integration". It is more than (or other than) new intellectual information, new emotional content, new ambition or intention or insight. It also doesn't immediately render a person better, smarter, or happier. It just reveals wholeness, and whatever one does with that isn't the point.

[3] Passivity: This sets the mystical moment greatly apart from the normal course of events. Having a mystical experience is unplanned, unprepared for, "gratuitous and undeserved", says James. Consider Jesus answering the Pharisees: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here ! or lo there ! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21). If we ever wonder why such fierce condemnation of mysticism has originated within Western church hierarchies rather than, say, among shopkeepers, it might be due to a sense of entitlement to spiritual gifts on the part of spiritual workers. But enlightenment doesn't recognize vocation. In seventeeth-century Saxony, for instance, a great mystical vision into the absolute nature of God came to the shoemaker Jakob Boehme. Only later did he become great and learned.

[4] Transiency: The indescribable, grand, spontaneous moment passes. "Intermittent intensive" experiences occur "rhythmically", says Louis Dupre's entry on the subject in the Encyclopedia of Religion. Once a mystic, always so,
and some experiences do last quite a while, but none is permanent. In mythological terms that describe the "hero's quest", this phase of a vanishing vision is pictured as a return to the world, to the tribe, to normal, everyday life, nevertheless permanently transformed by the inward journey.

Universal Experience

The mystical experience happens to everyone at one time or another, perhaps many times, or even relentlessly appearing, then fading. Think of Wordsworth's lines: "Not in entire forgetfulness,/And not in utter nakedness,/But trailing clouds of glory do we come/From God, who is our home." For all of us, the same home, similar glory-clouds, which are rememberings and reminders that we are more than we seem.

All forms share the same Creative Mind. We who are incarnated individuals are bound to one another by our essential unified nature. Further, we have as sentient beings the capacity to doubt, wonder, reflect, feel sympathy and awe, and attach ourselves to or distance ourselves from various opinions about God's nature and life's meaning.

The mystical experience comes to us all, but not everyone knows what to make of it. In some places, it has been continually prized and elevated as a legitimate spiritual experience. By and large, the West was not among them until the amalgam of philosophies that ultimately appeared as, among other things, New Thought, made its emergence - New Thought, ancient thought revitalized.

If mysticism is the unfathomable, sudden, unbidden, yet life-changing realization of oneness - a momentarily disclosed opening into true Reality - then a mystic is a person who has cultivated the natural ability to perceive wholenss, deep order, and a patterning Intelligence on an ongoing basis. We are all mystics to the same degree as we are all artists or musicians - in potential - because while the mystical experience arrives without notice or a cultivated spot in which to plant it, the work of applying it to material existence and service to the world takes training and practice.

(deb's note - This is the entire purpose of creating this group, to provide a place of study, discussion and support for the cultivation of being always avaialable, always open, ready to do the work of Spirit, within the framework of our very own life - to be Living Metaphsics as our mode of travel in this incarnation.)

This is why students are drawn to gurus, and vice versa. The seeker feels he or she has heard a "calling" or had a "knowing", and so sets off on a spiritual quest that will almost always involve apprenticeship in one form or another to a mentor who will offer guidelines and exercises for expressing the student's unique variation on the ubiquitous theme. The Holmes brothers' epic poem, The Voice Celestial, is a fine tour of the soul's education in this manner.

Some of this inner work involves unlearning and dismantling, the taming of the ego, and the liberation of the self from its absorption in the roles it plays. But it's all aimed at the student being, and thereafter doing, something unprecedented in the world; it's all about creative genius and the utmost authenticity. The last thing good gurus want is others shaped in their image. What would be the point? (from Deb a gentle Amen)

The Spark of LIfe

Cambridge professor Henry Gwatkin, a late-nineteenth-century Transcendentalist, wrote, "We may have philosophy and science, criticism and culture in perfection . . . and still have no life in us. But where shall the spark of life be found? The spark of life is mysticism . . . The conviction, acted on if not expressed, that a true communion with the divine is given to all that purify themselves with all the force of heart and soul and mind."

(deb's note - And this is the other purpose of this group, to encourage this effort to purify our receptive aspects, so that the Divine may speak to us in language that our heart and soul and mind can clearly understand, to make ready in clarity these, for the receiving of guidance from Divine Intelligence.)

Dupre add, "Mysticism belongs in the core of all religion. Those religions that had a historical founder all started with a powerful personal experience of immediate contact. But all religions, regardless of their origin, retain their vitality only as long as their members continue to believe in a transcendent reality with which they can in some way communciate by direct experience."

Ernest Holmes for his part taught that a trained mind is more powerful than an untrained one, which he meant in terms of spiritual self-discipline, not just intellectual edification. Wherever we want to go, we must first project our minds there, with thought and feeling united in belief. Our belief sets the table for the feast that follows.

And one broad purpose of the New Thought philosophy is to hold a distinct place open in the collective consciousness for direct knowing, the intuitive awareness of context rather than content, because it's in the context of our lives that harmony, peace, and happiness are to be found. Content shifts like today's styles. People, places, and things don't make us happy. "God", said Buckminster Fuller, "is a verb". All our accumulated possessions rose from the dust and will return to it; what we seek is the numinous, the sense of the sacred.

So our ancestors eventually moved indoors from their fire-dances, into tidy little houses of worship, only to have their descendants head out again under the stars for some of that old primal magic missing from their spiritual lives. Mysticism, though at times disguised, never entirely disappeared from the Western spiritual landscape, and is beginning to flourish. There are more rune-readers now than the Norse ever dreamed of, far more labyrinth-walkers than when that pattern was first envisioned; a greater "thirst after righteousness", and alongside it, a greater capacity to slake that thirst. After eons, we are coming consciously and deliberately to discover who and what we really are.

Recognizing Self-Worth

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:51:39 GMT

I liked this blog by Angelica Taggart here - Proud of Myself. My week has been such that I can truly "feel" and say this to myself and mean it. I hope in reflecting on your own week, you find that you can do this as well.

Deb

“Right now, say it out loud:  “I’m so proud of myself.”

The rush of strength and expansiveness that comes from declaring this honestly is the antidote to paralysis and the beginning of wonderful adventures, and each time you choose that, instead of shame, you really should be proud.”     -- Martha Beck

Go on – say it:   “I’m so proud of myself.”

Say it again – and really mean it!

Tears welled up in my eyes when I read this in Martha Beck’s daily e-mail last Tuesday and allowed myself to say it out loud.  I often tell others how proud I am of them, yet don’t think I’ve ever said it to myself.  Have you?

Most of our self-talk is about what we should or could have done, said or been.  We’re ashamed of not getting things done when we think we should.  We’re ashamed of not having the money to pay our bills.  We’re ashamed of not being in the right job, the right relationship, the right body.  Being in the faith tradition we are, we’ve even become ashamed that we don’t seem to be using Principle in ways that more beneficial for our lives.

Shame is a great paralyzer.   We become immobilized by what we think about ourselves.  Truth is – we are always doing the best we can.  We are good people.  That part of us that immobilizes us is probably only 10 % of who we really are and yet we let it run our lives.  It’s time to let it go.

There truly is a rush of strength and expansiveness that comes from declaring this. Say it with me:   “I’m so proud of myself!”

SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

There is only One Life – that Life is God’s Life and this is the Life I am living.  I celebrate every aspect of this One Life today.

I celebrate myself by declaring:  I am so proud of myself.   I let go of all thoughts of littleness, of believing I am not enough.  I now realize I am more than enough because who I am is a unique expression of The One.

I am proud of my willingness to live a Divine Life -  to open my heart and mind to inspiration and empowerment – to be all that I can be, in God, as God. I am proud of my Self and see my Self outpicturing in ways that are expansive and delightful. What a great adventure Life is!!  I am proud that I have chosen to take conscious part in it!

With a heart filled with gratitude, I release these words into Divine Law, knowing they are so.  And so It is.

Re: Embracing Loss

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:09:10 GMT

Loss-as-Companion Meditation

Find a comfortable position in a setting where you can spend several uninterrupted minutes. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing . . . breathing in . . . breathing out . . . easily and effortlessly . . . each breath allows you to become more relaxed and comfortable. Let any outside sounds only serve to allow you to go deeper inside, a reminder of how good it is to leave the noise and stress of the outside world to journey into the quiet and peace of your own inner world.

Now imagine dropping a taproot from the bottom of your spine deep into the earth. Secure it there, so that no matter where you go on your inner journey, you feel solidly connected to the earth.

Think of your body as a pool of water that is quiet and peaceful. Drop a pebble into its center and notice the ripples flowing outward, moving farther apart until there is only still water again. Drop another pebble and imagine ripples moving upward in your torso throughout your entire upper body, releasing all tension, your muscles becoming relaxed and loose. Now drop another pebble. Feel the ripples moving all through your lower torso, muscles softening, your body entering a deep state of relaxation.

Now bring your attention to the area in your chest where your heart is. Breathe deeply and easily into that general area. Notice any feelings that may be there, life joy or sadness. Notice any physical sensations, such as tightness or tenderness. Notice any colors that arise in your awareness. Surround these feelings, sensations and colors with your breath. Notice how they are held in an immeasurable substance like water or air, intangible yet utterly real. You are in the center of your being.

Now ask your heart these questions and take all the time you need to listen carefully for its answers and guidance.

If loss is my lifelong companion, what can it teach me ?

How shall I honor its lessons ?

What else do I need to know about it ?

Now bring this time with your heart to a close by imagining a soft lavender cloud of light surrounding your heart-space, soothing it. Say any words you wish to say to your heart. Perhaps you might thank it for its courage, strength and resilience. Know that you can return to your heart again and again to hear its wisdom.

Now once again focus on your breathing. Breathing in . . . breathing out. Know that when you open your eyes you will remember everything you wish of this inner journey, and will feel refreshed and alert. Begin to hear the sounds in the space around you. Stretch your body and feel the earth beneath you. When you are ready, open your eyes and spend a few minutes jotting down things you wish to remember of this journey.

Embracing Loss

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:53:48 GMT

I've long intended to post this article from the Sept 2008 Science of Mind magazine titled "Embracing Loss - A Lifelong Healing Journey" by Karen Warren-Severson

What if we embrace loss in a lifelong healing journey toward wholeness? What if from childhood we were taught and encouraged - in our homes, our extended families, our schools, our churches - to explore life's varied losses in a manner that would be more about embracing than bracing against . . . more about courageous companionship than fearful endurance . . . more about joyful memory than heavy remorse . . . more about discovering and reaping than suppressing and burying? How might this understanding ripple out into the larger world?

Loss: Universal and Compelling

Regardless of age, socioeconomic status, religious or cultural background, we each must face the universal fears of illness, aging, and death. In the past, we kept death closer at hand. Victorians wore lockets that held deceased loved ones' hair tresses. Scholars kept skulls atop their desks as reminders of death. People often died at home, were "laid out" for viewing, mourned and celebrated by family and community, and then buried.

While we may look back through history and judge our forebears as maudlin in their seeming obsession with death, today we are steeped in fear about it. We've become isolated from the dying process; final days of life are most often spent in hospitals or other care facilities. Our insulated way of dying has not brought us peace.

Increasing this disconnection, American culture worships youth and wages war on the aging process as if it were the enemy. Age-defying products and procedures are touted in all our media. Some of our most respected authors write how-to books on stalling the aging process. Our medical schools commonly teach future doctors to be scientists first - that death is a failure - and to keep their hearts out of their clinical judgement. Although some insired medical professionals are building caring bridges, the so-called "medical model" still predominates. Its built-in coldness makes end-of-life even harder.

Yet we are an aging society on an aging planet. Loss is a compelling subject we must face - personally, culturally, globally. There are many faces to loss: death of a loved one, waning health and vitality, mental illness, a child with a handicap or life-changing illness or injury, a beloved pet, a life role, a professional identity, a financial debacle, an environmental accident . . . the list is long. Moreover, what would be minor in one person's experience is major in another's - the result is a great lack of understanding among us as we carry our grief into the world.

A complicating factor is that we are often expected and even admonished to conceal our emotions and "get on" with our lives, to finish our grieving in three days' bereavement leave . . . here, too, the list goes on. This advice can translate as impatience toward our grief, causing us to shortcut and shortchange our personal journey. Such impatience often thinly veils the well-meaning advisor's own struggle with loss.

I had the great life blessing to be married for twenty years to Paul, a gentle inspirited soul of a man, who was also a Religious Science practitioner. He was a great teacher last year as he was dying, largely because of his abiding faith and role modeling of grace under duress. He had to endure harrowing discomfort and daily losses as the illness took its toll. Yet the twinkle in his eye was always there. He inspired many through his good-natured, trusting approach to a difficult life end.

One priceless memory I have with Paul occurred during his final days. He was in his hospital bed in the living room, never to get up again. I sat on the parallel sofa, my feet up on the bed against him, his warm hand enfolding them. Over a few precious hours, I read aloud one of Janet Evanovich's hilarious Stephanie Plum novels. Together we hooted with laughter over the characters' comedic dilemmas. In the midst of huge fearfulness over his impending death, we miraculously found we could play. When I long to feel the joy we shared in our life together, I bring that memory to mind. It sustains me.

Life has demonstrated so many such affirming moments to me that I can only conclude there is so much more to this great eternal life than we can see with our eyes . . . that all is well, no matter outward appearances.

Easing the Process

In the past two decades of counseling and coaching others, I have found that unsupported, ongoing grief often sits in the center of the life muddle that brings a person in for help. When a new loss activates an inadequately addressed earlier loss, sadness deepens and life can become untenable. I've found that while belief systems offer a strong underpinning to navigate through our life experiences, at times we seek to be more actively engaged. It can be useful to explore methods that serve as springboards for expanded awareness, deepened understanding, and new life-fulfilling behavior.

In coaching others and in my personal life, a powerful tool I use is the "inquiry" process, a technique I first learned over ten years ago with Coaches Training Institute. The inquiry process starts with an open-ended, thought-provoking question to ponder. This is done with light-hearted curiosity in an open-minded manner. The question has no correct answer; its power is in stimulating and inviting our consciousness to shed new light on an old subject.

It is in this spirit of inquiry that I propose we explore a friendlier and gentler way of grieving loss. What follows is an invitation and method to ponder a loss-related inquiry question in the coming week.

On note cards, in your daily planner, on Post-It notes affixed to your mirrors, computer, dashboard, write: "If I accept loss as my lifelong companion, how will my grief change?"

Read the question each day at different times. View it from a new angle as you ask it, intending a new perspective. Keep an open mind to what percolates into your awareness. Hold lightly what comes . . . don't conclude . . . simply notice. If you write in a journal, you might ask the question there. Consider it during a walking meditation, or practice the "loss-as-companion" meditation (in the comment below). Talk with a family member or friend about it. If you enjoy drawing, you may wish to express one inquiry of the question in that manner. Don't work hard at this process . . . simply stay open to what it offers you.

Through the week, above all, stay curious. Remember the purpose is to deepen your awareness and experience of the inquiry subject, ultimately, to explore new ways to view and approach the losses you are currently grieving and those to come.

When you sense you are ready at the end of this weeklong process, spend time writing about what you have learned. You might consider sharing what you've noticed in your inquiry with a friend, or a group you belong to, to enlarge the subject with their thoughts on the question.

Trust that action will grow from your new awareness . . . that opportunities will present for you to apply any shift you've experienced through your inquiry. Use the power of intention to integrate what is relevant to your life.

Never forget that loss comes to all of us. It does not discriminate by age, culture, socioeconomic status, religious affiliation, spiritual maturity or global location. It can be blatantly obvious or hide itself in the folds of change. We have a choice in how loss affects us and how we grieve. We can opt to turn away or we can choose to expect and accept loss as a way of life, to see it as a source of heart-opening grace and growth. We can choose to use loss to deepen our relationships and by so choosing, we will embrace loss in a lifelong healing journey toward wholeness.

Re: Which Comes First: Thought or Feeling?

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:19:44 GMT

Lahn,

Ernest Holmes definitely gave most of his contemplation to the effect of our thoughts. When I look in his textbook The Science of Mind - A Philosophy, A Faith, A Way of Life in the Index, I find NO entries for Feelings but many on Thoughts. I will share a few of those with you and we will see if his words will answer your question.

In my own practice, I have found that thought is the mold, feeling is the energy. And what I "feel", is what I would feel, if my thought were manifesting this very minute. I will use an example that reflects many people's current worry about their financial situation.

Let's say, I am feeling restriction in, my ability to pursue interests that require, financial supply. I would first write out thoughts that reflect what my state would be, if my financial needs were abundantly supplied. For example, "I have everything that I need as I need it. God supplies my needs abundantly." These are the "thoughts" or "meta" portion.

Now to add the "physics" or "feeling" portion. In my mind, I would seek a memory of a time when my finances were abundant, and if there is no memory of how I have felt, because I have never been abundantly supplied, I would instead seek even an idealized feeling, I might have as the "feeling".

I would feel confident. I would feel no concern for my financial status. I would walk into a store, see something I wanted and walk out with it, never having to consider whether or not I had enough to pay for it. Nor would I need to consider whether some more important need would be shortchanged, by my having bought the item. I would write checks to pay all my bills in a timely fashion because there were plenty of funds to do so.

It is something like what I do to elevate my vibration in the morning. I may sit out on my back porch and seek a memory of some time in my life when I was very happy. Perhaps that 14th birthday, when I came home from school and I was already in a good mood because it was the last day of school for that year, and when I got home, there was that new 3-speed bicycle I had wanted so badly. My world was so perfect and all my needs were fulfilled and my happiness had no bounds. I was ecstatic.

When I have time, I will look through Ernest Holmes' writing to find examples of his thoughts about your question.

Deb.

Re: Which Comes First: Thought or Feeling?

http://fastdarter.gaia.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:20:57 GMT

Lahn,

He (Ernest) showed us by example that thinking and feeling create wise or unwise
results in one's current life experience. In my way of thinking and feeling I rarely notice any difference between the two. And when I do, it's undifferentiated.
So it depends on your conception of matter.

Which Comes First: Thought or Feeling?

http://healingtranceformations.gaia.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:22:29 GMT

Does thought precede feeling or the other way around? Or perhaps sometimes thought occurs first and other times feeling occurs first?
And does any of this questioning even matter?

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

http://joy-within.gaia.com — Sat, 02 May 2009 01:29:56 GMT

Wonderful thread...thank you!

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:56:48 GMT

In the mystic link, Denise / Flowerchild gave us in this thread, the author says "Some call it becoming awakened, enlightened, or born again." In this May's Science of Mind magazine, there are some good examples of this being "reborn" idea. I don't think it is necessary to go through some kind of traumatic shake-up to be expressing oneself from the perspective of being a mystic in this life. However, human experience being what it is, it does seem most of us have some kind of disagreeable experience(s) that sends us looking for a "better" way of coping.

From May 2008 Science of Mind magazine - "Your Space" feature titled reborn into new faith -

Moira Shepard, Marina del Rey, CA
REBORN INTO NEW FAITH

A kind man gave me a ride to an event because I was too disabled from a back injury to drive there myself. He asked how I came to be in this condition. I told him I'd hurt my back on the job doing heavy lifting and had spent the past seven years housebound and bedridden after five failed surgeries. "That must have knocked you off the path", he said. Without taking a moment to think about it, I said, "No, it knocked me back on the path."

In that moment, I realized I've been reborn into a new world full of kind people willing to give me the help I needed - like that wonderful man who gave me the lift to the event. I've been reborn into a new kind of faith - faith that involves choosing, over and over again, to believe that everything happens for my highest and best good, even though I sometimes can't see it at the time. I've been reborn into a new way of living, based on the conscious co-creation and acceptance of miracles in my everyday life - including 100 percent recovery from my back injury. Knowing I am and always have been whole and complete within the Mind of God, I give thanks every day for my rebirth into this glorious new life.

S R Fitting, Marin County, CA
THE POWER OF GRATITUDE

As a single mother of two small children, commuting to an office job in a neighboring city, I lived in the belief that one false move on my part would render us homeless. When I crashed my car one rainy day, I assumed that my worst fears had come true. I went into a panic mode as my mind raced, envisioning the worst-case scenario. After several terror-filled sleepless nights, I forced myself to sit up in bed and try to meditate, hoping to stop my racing mind so that I could finally sleep. What happened then changed my life forever. Sobbing tears began to flow, and the most unlikely words began involuntarily voicing themselves through me: "I'm so thankful; I'm so thankful; I'm so thankful." I objectively observed myself repeating these words when the sequence of my life began to appear before me in an upward spiral and these words range in my skull, clear and comforting: "HAVEN"T I ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR YOU?" I realized that my tears were those of gratitude and eventually fell into a deep sleep.

When I told my friend about this experience, she invited me to the Golden Gate Center for Spiritual Living (a Science of Mind philosophy church). There, I learned about the law of attraction and the power of gratitude, changing my life and the lives of my children forever. I am now married to a wonderful man, my children attend good colleges, and I am living a fulfilling, faith-based life. Every day I am grateful for renewal and the opportunity to start again.

Ruth Flynn (via the internet)
REINVENTING MYSELF

The year of 2008 was truly a year of rebirth for me. I was experiencing some serious employment issues, and ending a seven-year, toxic, and co-dependent relationship, when my only granddaughter was killed in a hit-and-run accident. She was nineteen, and we buried her on what would have been her wedding day. Her mother had died less than 3 years earlier, and my brother made his transition exactly one year after my daughter.

I fell into a deep depression and even thought of taking my own life. I continued to practice Science of Mind principles, pray, and meditate. I began to see that Spirit was directing my life and to accept those things that I could not change. Eventually I could begin to think about those things that I could change. I prayed for guidance in seeking new employment, enrolled in massage therapy classes, and knew the Spirit had guided me to this choice. I am doing my internship, loving the work I do helping others. I am now calm, energized, and happy. I am truly very blessed.

The May 2008 Science of Mind magazine recommends this book - The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit by Azim Khamisa and Jillian Quinn ($25.00 in harcover). The authors offer 30 keys or secrets to emtional resiliency for bulletproof ways to take life's hits. They have personal experience - Khamisa's son was murdered due to gang violence and Quinn lost her daughter in pregnancy. The reviewer, Cliff Johnson, says "Unlike many self-help books, The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit is written in a warm, engaging style that invites the reader to keep turning its pages."

Terry Cole-Whittaker (a Religious Science ordained minister) says in her column Success and Spirit in the May 2008 issue of Science of Mind magazine, on why faith is powerful -

Faith is the fuel for manifestation. All souls possess faith as a quality of their being. Everyone has faith in something, and whatever that is will motivate us to manifest our beliefs into forms and circumstances by our words and actions. (deb's note - if you believe you are a victim of something, or that there is not "enough" of something, you will manifest the very thing you think you don't want, because you have "faith" in it.)

Every action will have a reaction, as this is a law of nature. Troubles come from misplaced faith, taking the false to be the truth and the truth to be the false. Jesus taught us the following: "Your faith has made you whole."
"It is done unto you as you believe." Instead of perpetuating their difficulties by believing in the power of the problem and lamenting their situation, these biblical examples chose love and joy and naturally were healed.

Because of the enormous power of faith, it is most important for each of us to use this power to manifest our heart's desires instead of what we do not want. Whatever people believe in, think about, imagine, talk about, and act on is being fueled by faith to manifest. Whatever is happening in our personal lives, as well as with others throughout the world, is the result of what each believes and then acts on, true or false. We will know what we have faith in by our thoughts, words, emotions, and actions. The mistake is to believe that our fears are protecting us from the thing we fear, when it is our faith in these fears that is fueling them and giving them life.

We have divine intelligence to help us discern what is true from what is false, so that we act on love instead of hate, bliss instead of anger, and the everlasting abundance of every good and wonderful thing and experience, instead of lack. While all around us people are promoting fear as truth, we must turn to our spiritual teachings that have withstood the test of time and focus and act on what we desire instead of what we do not want. Our challenge and opportunity is to keep our minds spiritualized, beautified, and positive.

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:53:42 GMT

Lars,

I did not get the Trojan Horse warning this morning but I still can't get it to "play". I don't know what it is that I am doing wrong there. I did see your comment at the top of the list.

Deb

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

http://yhd52754.gaia.com — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:44:36 GMT

Lars,

We use AVG. Yeah, it wouldn't start playing, and when I tried clicking on it again to force it to start, I got the warning. I guess I could go in and try again.

Deb

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

http://fastdarter.gaia.com — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:01:16 GMT

I'm sure the site is safe. What are you using for anti-virus protection.
Always better to be safe then sorry..
I posted that same link on FB..