Text: The Greater Consciousness Ernest Holmes Man is surrounded by a great universal thought power which returns to him always just as he thinks. So plastic, so receptive is this mind that it takes the slightest impression and molds it into conditions. There are two things in man, which his thought affects, his body and his environment. At all times he is given absolute control over these two things, and from the effect of his thought upon them he cannot hope to escape. At first, being ignorant of this fact, he binds himself by a misuse of the laws of his being; but as he begins to see that he himself is responsible for all that comes to him on the path of life, he begins to control his thought, which in its turn acts on the universal substance to create for him a new world. The great soul is learning more and more to dare to fling out into mind a divine idea of himself, and to see himself perfect and whole. If he has a divine thought he will get a divine thing, if he has a human thought he will get a human thing; he will receive whatever his inner-most thought embodies. And so we find in the Bible twice repeated these words: "To the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure and to the forward Thou wilt show Thyself forward." It is done unto all as they believe. All is mind and can only get from it what we first think into it. We must not only think but we must know. We have to provide within ourselves a mental and spiritual likeness for the thing desired. The reason why so many fail, then, must be because they have not mentally really believed to the exclusion of all that would deny the thing which they believe in. And the reason why others do succeed must also be because they have absolutely believed and allowed real power to flow through and out into expression. They must have a real concept of life. Hold an object in front of a mirror and it will image in the mirror the exact size of the object. Hold a thought in mind and it will image in matter the exact likeness of the thought. Let us take this image which we hold before a mirror and change it ever so slightly and there will be a corresponding change in the reflection. It is just the same in the mental world: whatever is imaged is brought forth from mind into manifestation. We must not deny that which we affirm. We must reason only from that cause which is spiritual and mental and weed out all thought that would deny its power in our lives. There seems to be something in the collective unconscious that says man is poor; man is limited; that there is a lack of opportunity; that times are hard; that prices are high; that nobody wants what I have to offer. No person succeeds who speaks these ideas. When we express ourselves in this way we are using a destructive power. All such thoughts must go, and we must all realize that we are an active center in the only power there is. We must get the perfect vision, the perfect conception; we must enlarge our thought until it realizes all good, and then we must swing right our and use this Almighty Power for definite purposes. We should daily feel a deeper union with Life, a greater sense of that indwelling God, the God of the everywhere, within us. When we speak into this Mind we have sown the seed of thought in the Absolute and may rest in peace. We do not have to make haste, because it is done unto all as they believe. "In that day that they shall call upon me I will answer." People will often ask, "What is the best method for demonstration?" There is but one answer to that question: the Word is the only possible method of demonstrating anything; the word really felt and embodied in our thought. Then the word becomes flesh and dwells among us, and we behold and experience it. We will ask for no other way when we understand this. The person who does not understand these laws will be likely to say that this is presumptuous; that it is even sacrilegious; but this comes only from lack of understanding of the fact that all is governed by law. And that all law is impersonal and universal. We have just as much right to use spiritual law as to use so called physical laws. Strictly speaking, there is no such a thing as a physical law, as all things are spiritual and all law is a law of the activity of the Spirit. The greatest use of these laws will always come to that soul who is the most deeply spiritual, as such a one comes the nearest to using law as God uses it. So to the really great soul these must come a very close relationship with the Invisible God; this relationship cannot be expressed in words but only in inner feeling which transcends the power of words to express. God must become the great reality, not simply as the principle of life, but more as the great Mind which knows, and which at all times understand and responds. To say that God does not understand our desires would be to rob the divine mind of all consciousness and place God lower in the scale of being than we ourselves are. On the other hand we must be careful not to believe that God thinks evil and understands that which is not perfect, as then we would have an imperfect being for the First Cause. We should more and more learn to think of things in the absolute, that is, to think of things as not limited by conditions. Realize that all times that the Spirit makes things out of Itself, and needs no beginning except its own self-recognition. Then we must perceive our relation to this great power as one of absolute correspondence; what we think into it, it takes up and does for us as we think. It should not be an effort so to think; we should do so with ease, without strain. The law must return to us; we have no responsibility except to provide the proper channel. It can return only in the exact way that we think. If we think struggle is the reality, we shall gain our demonstration but struggle will have to be the result. There is a law of reflection between Mind and the one who thinks; and it is not only what a man thinks but also how he thinks that "shall be done unto him." If you believe absolutely that you can do a certain thing, the way will always be opened for you to do it; if also you believe that time will have to elapse, then you are making that a law, and time will have to elapse. If on the other hand you believe that mind knows just how and never makes mistakes, but lets it be done unto you, then it will be done. Confusion brings more confusion; peace begets more peace; we cannot imagine the Great Spirit hurrying or worrying, fretting or trying to make anything happen. The only reason we worry and fret is because we have thought there was some other power which could bring confusion. Such is not the case. There is but one, and we are always using that one but using it according to our belief. This is our divine birthright, nothing hinders but ourselves. Remember that since all is mind, you cannot demonstrate beyond your ability to comprehend mentally, that is, beyond your ability to know about a certain thing. For instance, suppose you wish to heal someone who is sick; your ability to do this will depend entirely upon your ability to see perfection mentally, coupled also with the realization that your word destroys everything unlike itself. If you try to see perfection for a few minutes only, it will never heal. Your thought goes on at all times, and in the moments when you least realize it, conditions are being molded for you. It is not enough to declare consciously for the truth. The truth must be lived or no good results will be forthcoming. ~ Excerpted from Creative Mind by Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind Publishing

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