The Law of Mind in Action E-Book

Fenwicke L. Holmes

• Herausgeber: Andura Publishing
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Experience the life-changing power of Fenwicke L. Holmes with this unforgettable book.

Leseprobe

The Law of Mind in Action

Fenwicke L. Holmes

CONTENTS

Metaphysical Institute Realization

GOD is Creative Spirit, everywhere present, eternally here. In Him is all life, intelligence, goodness, holiness and truth. He knows no want. He suffers no pain. He is unlimited in time, space and circumstance.

Man, child of God, is divine spirit, shares His resources, lives, moves and has his being in God as an infinite sea. “There is one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.”

As His child, therefore, I am pure spirit, free from ills of body, mind and soul. In pure spirit I live, move and have my being. I am perfect, even as my Father in heaven is perfect. The breath which I breathe, is the breath of the Spirit. The food which I eat is the gift of the Spirit and it fills me with the strength of the Spirit. The consciousness of the Perfect Spirit is mine, and I know it and feel it flowing through my whole being, bringing with it strength, power, and perfect peace. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and I feel His presence all around me, in me, and through me. I am free from all sickness, worry and fear. Perfect love casts out all fear from me and I am free. Health, hope, peace, life, love, truth, and plenty are mine. These I claim from God. These in the name of Christ I Now receive. I render thanks for the perfect gift.

INTRODUCTION

THERE is a law of healing so plain that even a child can understand it, so fundamental that the ablest mind has never yet thought through all the facts and phenomena of life that rest upon it. It is the purpose of this book to make this law plain The greatest power in the world is the power of thought, for it is Creative Mind in action. Nothing exists that did not first exist in thought from the first sun that blazed only in the Mind of the Creator, to the last doll-dress fashioned by a childish hand. Science supports the fact that the first movement in nature can have come only from the application of an immaterial force or Will to the primary etheric particles otherwise in a perfect state of equilibrium. It must leave to metaphysics not only an explanation of the Will that moves but also the substance that is moved. This, then, it is the province of this book to show with all that it entails. Since an act of Will is an act of mind, we concern ourselves with the activity of a Creative Mind. Again since Mind acts creatively, there is a way in which it acts. We must also, therefore, teach the way. It is to teach this way that the Bible was written, that Jesus lived and taught. This way has been known for many centuries but has always been taught in terms of the understanding of the day in which the teacher lived. The Great Metaphysician taught largely in parables and oriental figures of speech. But He taught “the Way” and his followers were called the People of the Way.

The “way” is the law and today the understanding of it as law enables us to put, in a few simple statements which all can understand, the principles of the law, which, if learned and used, will enable anyone to control the conditions of his body, mind, and environment. Anyone can learn how to use it.

It is clear to us that it is natural to use the power of Mind and that the greatest happiness results from its exercise.

Mind is so constituted that it must act, it must express that which it feels itself to be. All nature points to the tact that wherever action ceases, death, or negation, begins. Mind is the very spirit of the life in nature and therefore is eternally active. Yet it is also infinite repose for it is that out of which all activity springs and by which it is sustained. In this book we are not dealing so much with that great potential of activity which we call being as with the law by which it acts. We are concerned not so much with the contemplation of the Life, Love, and Wisdom, which is God or Being, as with the way Spirit manifests. How life becomes health, how love becomes happiness, and how wisdom becomes wealth, we desire to know. As these are all qualities of mind, and in their pure state ate undifferentiated into form, we realize that when they begin to pass out into individual expression, it must be by the process of thinking. That is the only way mind can act. So that the Creative process is simply Mind in action, or Mind thinking its Life, Love and Wisdom into form. Mind in action is always creative, but it is also thought. Thought acts in Mind to create. Or mind first produces thought and then reacts to it to become that which it has thought. This is the whole law of creation. Mind creates what it thinks. The many forms pass out of the one Mind, but each form has a corresponding thought which produces and sustains it.

Mind in action is, therefore, also the law. We call it the law of cause and effect. Law is the principle on which mind works. For every primary cause is in the mind and the effect is simply the form which thought has taken. Thought is first cause, in any created series, and form is effect.

Thought acts upon mind to produce things. Since things are made out of mind they are simply thought in form, but they maintain form and reality only so long as they are sustained by the thought.

The Law, therefore, may be defined as mind in action producing the many out of the one by the power of thought, and this book is written to furnish a daily meditation on the highest of all themes—man’s control of his own body, happiness, circumstances and environment by the thoughts which he thinks. The knowledge and use of thought and the law of mind in action is the knowledge of which Jesus spoke when he said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” May these pages free many to the glorious wisdom of Mind in Action.

Fenwicke L. Holmes. December 30, 1918.

METHOD OF READING AND STUDY OF “THE LAW OF MIND IN ACTION.”

THIS book is written to teach the one simple law of mind—The Law—which anyone can understand and use, and which if used will give freedom, joy, health, supply, and peace to the one who uses it. This is a big claim, but it is supported by the Bible, by the Great Teacher, and by the experience of thousands now living. Everything in this book is based on the Law outlined in Lesson II and the student is requested to read each chapter and then ask himself, “How does this illustrate the Law? Is it true to the Law?” Always do this and you will soon know the Law for yourself and can use it and teach it to others. Thus you will become a master of life.

This book is designed also to stimulate your own thinking and investigation. It is not expected that the beginner will grasp the full significance of all the principles at one reading. It is for meditation. Read and Think. Make a study of life, books, newspapers, men and events with reference to this Law and you will find thousands of illustrations of it. When you can reduce all the phenomena of life to this Law, you have become a great philosopher.

If you are entering on this kind of study for the first time, do not allow offense at someone statement to discourage your further reading. Perhaps you have not yet understood it in the way it was meant. Perhaps it is so new a view that you do not want to believe it yet. Go on reading and studying and make your own decisions. As Paul says, “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.” Even if you should never accept it all, you can still get help, and find health and peace.

A close study of these lessons will reveal to the student that they are not brought together by a chance arrangement but are consecutive. First, we have the meaning and definition of metaphysics and the Law. Then the general principles of its application are given. These in turn are followed by the philosophy of metaphysics. Fourth, we have an explanation of the reason for certain mental attitudes and how the Law applies; this is a study in cause and effect. Fifth, we consider the Law as related to the Absolute and the Personal Spirit. Sixth, and finally, we devote our attention to specific methods and treatments. These should all be studied systematically.

Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the necessity of systematic study. A mere smattering of metaphysics will never satisfy the demands of the day nor the inner requirements of the Law. We have a great body of truth. The world is anxious to know why we believe and teach what we do. No science in the world, no philosophy is more complete or comprehensive. We must learn it so completely that we can teach it with the utmost simplicity as Jesus taught it. Do not therefore go jumping about in your study. A good principle of study is to read the book clear through once if you wish to get a general view of the principles so that you may know just about what goal you are driving toward; after that confine yourself each day to one lesson and know it. Think more than you read. Masterful study puts more between the lines than it takes from the lines. This is to stimulate your own thinking. Thus you will become a master teacher of life.

The word “treatment” as used in this book is a synonym for realization or perception. It is useless to quarrel with language. It is and there’s an end on’t. The word treatment has become sufficiently popularized to mean to the general public what the teacher of the absolute means by some other favorite term, and it is safe to predicate that this term will be supported by future as well as present usage.

In time the student will arrive at that point of consciousness where he will not need the formulated treatment. He will then form his own statement. Ultimately he will be able to “speak the word only” and it will be done unto him even as he thinks. The advanced metaphysician heals entirely by the word; he reaches the point where he actually does perceive the truth that is to make him free.

LESSON I.

METAPHYSICS—WHAT IT IS AND DOES.

THE word metaphysics, as its composition indicates, denotes something above the physical, “meta,” meaning “over,” and “physics” referring to forms of matter. So that to work upon the metaphysical plane means to employ laws that transcend physical means or agencies. It is, then, to push our way back of the thing that we see, which we call “the manifestation,” until we find the cause of the manifestation. It is the search for the Ultimate Cause and the law by which the Spirit creates a world, and brings material objects and physical life into manifestation.

Our study of applied metaphysics is designed to make clear these facts: In the beginning there is only Mind or Spirit. Whatever is made, therefore, must be made out of Mind. Mind can act only by thinking; therefore it is thought that takes the substance called mind and moulds it into form. God makes a world out of himself. As everything in the cosmos starts in thought and manifests in form, creation is the process by which the activity takes place. We may call it evolution or we may call it law. By law we mean the method Spirit follows in making things. This is the law of cause and effect whether it be in the making of a planet or a man; the thought is the cause and the manifestation is the effect. Even the so-called laws of the physical universe are simply the activity of this one law in some form.

What It Does.

Metaphysics, therefore, teaches us how we may govern our bodies, our world, and our happiness by the thoughts we think; for it declares that man reproduces the creative method and that what is true in the macrocosm or universe is true in the microcosm or individual, that thoughts become things. And it claims that by acquiring the knowledge of the law, and by working in harmony with it, man can be freed from limitations of all kinds.

Our subsequent studies will reveal that the creative mind in man, and the creative mind in the universe are not two, but rather essentially one. The value of this understanding is that we may use universal creative forces to secure the good we desire, without feeling that we have to create. We do not make the law, we use it, and it does our work for us.

All healing accordingly, is divine. “It is done unto us even as we will,” it is not done by us. Human will originates its own ideas but Divine Mind creates. The healer is not the source, but the channel; not the light, but the window; not the electricity, but the wire. He is the teacher who will guide to the truth until the patient learns the way for himself.

So all metaphysical healing is based on the principle, that the body of man and his affairs are created by the mind which can either build or destroy, and that this mind is controlled by thought. Jesus was the Supreme Metaphysician because He could speak the word of authority to mind so positively that when He said, “Rise and take up thy bed,” the paralytic did as was commanded him to do.

It is evident that Jesus used a law that is open to the use of everybody. The constitution of man has not changed nor his essential nature, and so today men are demonstrating this power. I count it as the greatest work that today engages the attention of mankind—not the mere healing, but the advancement of the knowledge of these things in a world of need.

Metaphysics, A Science.

For it is a knowledge, or as we say, a science or philosophy. And it takes a real mind to understand it. Metaphysics engages the mind. We must think, and rich and fruitful are the results of logical thinking. By it we move back along the path of history and science and logical deduction into the realm of Original Causation. We find ourselves entering into the field where all is Spirit in the beginning of things. We- see the Spirit or Cosmic Mind taking the initial step in the creation of the universe. We are at a period before Substance or matter is in existence so that we know that the All-Originating Mind could have but one mode of activity—that of thought. By the process of thought Spirit projects a substance as universal as itself which we call ether. By Acting upon Ether the Creative Mind brings into being planetary systems, earth and all its myriad forms and life.

To test this we may reverse the process of our thought and begin with science. We take so-called matter and analyze it into its constituent elements, to the molecule, then to the atom, then to the aeon, then to the electron, and finally to primary ether, which science declares to be the ultimate source of matter. Now science cannot tell whence came this ultimate substance, nor how it received its energy. That is the task of metaphysics and metaphysics meets the problem squarely by declaring energy to be the thought of the Creative Mind.

The Underlying Unity.

So that whatsoever way we approach our subject we find an underlying unity to all things—ether, from the material standpoint; mind, from the mental. Back of all things then is the Divine Mind or Spirit through whose concept the world springs into existence. We thus find ourself living in an idealistic universe, a universe which in its essential nature is purely spiritual and therefore subject to the Control of Thought Alone. This is the underlying unity which relates all parts to the great whole—man and nature to the Divine Mind which brought all into existence. It was the great achievement of Moses to discover this underlying unity, or rather to learn it from the Ancient Egyptian priesthood and reveal it to the Israelitish people. It is the greatest fact or precept of the Old Testament, which led Jesus when asked which was the greatest commandment to quote these words, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God, the Lord is one.” It is the work of metaphysics to show that man can put himself into harmony with this One Originating Source and work in unison with the Creative Purpose, and thus be able to accomplish all things.

Realization.

I am now entered into the consideration of the greatest theme that ever engaged the intellect of man for I am making no less a study than the Way of God with men. I therefore claim from the Divine Intelligence that makes and sustains the universe, the necessary mental capacity and intuition to perceive the great truths of metaphysics. I hold that only the truth will appeal to me and that no error of false judgment will be able to enter my mind to stay there. No previous thought or prejudice shall be allowed to influence me against reason in my study of the new order. I dare to go all the way with truth for Truth is God and God is all. So far as I see the light, I will follow it, and I shall not think that the traditions of men are of more value than my own logical conclusions. I commit my ways and my thoughts to God, I trust in the divine illumination which can come to my own soul and I venture out in faith on the new pathways of understanding. I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. I now claim the near and dear presence of Divine Love and Wisdom. I rejoice in the Heart of the World and in my share in the activities of the Divine Creative Mind. Thou, O Lord, art with me alway even unto the ends of the earth. I worship and bow down, I kneel before the Lord my God. I am at one with Infinite Life, Love, and Wisdom and I give thanks for the light that now begins to illumine my pathway,

LESSON II.

THE ONE LAW WE NEED TO KNOW.

THERE is one law supreme to this system of life. Sometimes we call it “the law of cause and effect.” Sometimes we speak of it as the method by which spirit passes into manifestation. Psychologists frequently speak of it as the law of suggestion. Every teacher of metaphysics spends his time either in giving his interpretation of it or in explaining some truth that is related to it. Our happiness and success in life are measured by the degree to which either consciously or unconsciously we are obedient to the requirements of this law. It is the law that we cannot break, but we can be broken by trying to break it. It is the law by which “as ye sow, ye also shall reap.” Through it, “it shall be done unto you according to your faith.” It explains why “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” It is the basis of the “law of correspondences.” It is the activity of Creative Mind, neither good nor bad, by which we create our own heaven and our own hell. It is the secret of all tragedy and all comedy. It is the touchstone to truth, and he who knows it and employs it wisely is the emancipated soul and a master on the path. Let the student therefore learn the following principles which constitute the law that through the knowledge he may obtain the mastery of fate and control the conditions of life and destiny; for no less a power is in the hands of him who learns and wisely employs this law. All must use it because we live by it; but how few use it wisely.

The Law.

The first principle of this law is that of the universal presence of intelligence; that we live, move and have our being’ in a vast sea of life, both visible and invisible; that this intelligent life is not only around us but is in us; even more, it not only is around and in us, but it is the substance as well of which all things (including our bodies) are composed. This statement is supported alike by revelation, as in the Bible; by science, as in psychology or chemistry; and by philosophy, as in our lesson on Spirit. Before there was a visible universe which we call “Nature” there must of necessity have been an invisible universe which we call Spirit or Power. The orderly way in which It arranged the visible universe which It created shows that It was and is a Wonderful Intelligence. Since Spirit was (and is) all, it had nothing else than itself out of which to make a world. It therefore had to fashion a substance for its own body—the universe—out of itself, or Spirit. Since Spirit is Intelligence, of necessity the substance which it brought forth must share its nature. And all life must manifest the life of Spirit since it proceeds from it. All science is agreed that life has never been discovered that did not come from antecedent life, so that we can move back from the life of Nature to the life from which it is derived, or Nature’s God. Accordingly Nature and the life in Nature are one and the same thing and we live in a universe which is literally alive.

We see, therefore, that this Universal Intelligence is also creative. It is the power that makes things, and is the intelligence that moulds original substance and holds it in form. As in man the subjective or impersonal mind builds new life cells day by day and takes care of the growing life of the child and the renewing life of maturity, so in Nature, the Creative Mind is busy building ever more stately mansions for its dwelling place. New universes are being flung out across the vast abyss of space; new stars begin to gleam as they launch out on their ageless journey around some distant sun; the earth upon which we tread is growing daily through the addition of cosmic dust and daily changing in its internal structure; new forms of life are appearing or old are altering; flowers are blooming into life to breathe their beauty on the breast of nature; and we live in a world of life, ever-renewing, ever-changing, ever-evolving into higher expression of the exhaustless energy of Creative Mind. The second part of our law therefore calls attention to the fact that we not only live in a world of intelligence, but that this intelligence is constantly creating. “Behold I make all things new.” In this is man’s hope and his power to act. This life is the life of the Creative Spirit, Intelligence, or Mind, and therefore we perceive that It emerges into form to enjoy its own Power-to-Live. When we think, it is Spirit thinking through us; when we utter a truth it is Spirit putting out into expression a thought from its limitless Power-to-Think; when we breathe it is Spirit breathing us.

This creative intelligence acts upon the impress of the strongest impression, thought, or image, made upon it. When man emerges in consciousness out of this vast sea of life, as a wave runs upon the bosom of the ocean, he rises sufficiently high to enable him to perceive that there is an ocean. Thus Spirit fulfills a purpose in becoming man by enabling Itself, through becoming the particular, to perceive Itself in its All-ness. Man is spirit come forth out of the formless into form, out of the timeless into time, out of the limitless into certain limitations, and yet, as man, spirit never loses its power to draw upon its resources as Spirit. Therefore, we must recognize that all the power of the universe is back of the mind of man when he thinks. Then, too, we must recognize that there cannot be a will in the Universal Mind opposed to man, for if there were, then he could not draw from the creative mind and power what he wants except by chance. We therefore recognize that so far as we are concerned there is back of us a Universal Creative Mind which desires to become to us whatever we desire, that is whatever we think into it, and which has no purposes of its own opposed to ours. As It creates a world by thinking a world, (for Mind can act only through thought) so it creates for man himself, whatever he desires, by acting as Creative Mind upon his thought. This Mind, therefore, is in this aspect purely impersonal and neutral (see Lesson VII). It has no purposes of its own as opposed to ours. It is creative activity, infinitely susceptible, responsive to our every thought (Lesson V) and is the power that brings into existence in form whatever we fashion in thought. We therefore perceive that whatever we think must make a greater or lesser impression on Creative Mind and that when we consciously use our knowledge we •make an image of the thing we desire; then we present it to the Great Creative Intelligence which begins to act upon our suggestion to bring forth our good into visible form. The purpose of this book in the main is to show the various phases of the activity of this law, the law of Creative Activity, by which the creative mind brings into form whatever we present to it sufficiently forcefully in thought.

But there is one other feature of the Law which must not be overlooked. This is what we may term the personal side of Spirit’s activity. While, as law, it acts in the manner we have just described; and while, so far as the individual will is concerned, it does not act contrary to our purposes, still it also acts as a law of tendency. It tends to the production of higher manifestations of itself in individual expression and form. It is seeking its own self-expression since there can be no other motive of creation at all. Its nature is life, love, and wisdom. This it seeks to manifest. Accordingly it stands back of man as the source of his life, love, and wisdom, and is ready to “teach us all things and guide us in the way of truth.” It not only creates, therefore, according to the thought we impress upon it as law or Impersonal Mind, but It becomes the director of man’s thought and life, whenever we turn to it for guidance and direction in our affairs. (See Lessons XXVIII to XXXI.)

This is in accordance with the three principles just outlined, for, as Infinite Wisdom, it takes the impress of our desire for Wisdom and brings that out into expression just as it does life and form. We perceive this Intelligence therefore as the source of man’s inspirations and intuitions. When we turn for guidance to It, It becomes our teacher and guide. When we turn to It for love, It becomes our Lover. The greatest achievement of our own highest intelligence is therefore to be found in so harmonizing ourselves with this great Life, Love, and Wisdom that we may find It in us as a perennial spring, the water of life surging up eternally from the depth of our being. “Whosoever believes on this spirit of life, from within him shall flow springs of living water.”

(Make a study of all the facts you know in relation to this great law. Restate it in your own words. Learn it in some such form as this:

I live in a universe of Intelligence in which everything is alive and infinitely responsive to thought, since it takes its form out of the substance of Mind through the process of thinking.

This Intelligence is the Creative Factor in all Nature and in the moulding of all thought into form.

It creates according to its own thought and according to the strongest impression or image of thought of the individual mind.

It is the source of my life and understanding and impresses its nature and wisdom upon me as I allow it, through my intuitions.

Therefore, I control my life and conditions by the thoughts I think, since the Universal Mind acts creatively on my every thought. I am, through my power of thought, master of my fate.)

Realization.

Meditate on the above law. Think how your life has been controlled either by your own thinking or by the suggestions that have been made upon your mind, either consciously or unconsciously. When you were a child you took your thought from your family. Your world was what you made it, but it was an unconscious acceptance of the thought and manners of your family. After a while you began to think independently and your world changed that much for you. You began to control consciously the conditions of your life. As your understanding grew you thought more and more independently of your associates, therefore your life became that much different from theirs. Did you continue to accept the suggestions of your environment or did you begin to think independently? Either consciously or unconsciously you are now conditioning your life.

I will now take conscious control of my life. I will think only the things I want to think. I will control whatever is to come into my life, by controlling my thought. I will daily mould my thoughts into finer form that Creative Mind in me and around me may bring forth a world for me of fairer form. I will think thoughts of truth, that I may be guided by Supreme Wisdom; I will think thoughts of faith that I may have the peace of God that passeth all understanding. I do now so think. I am filled with the spirit of love. I am in harmony with the Divine Mind. I am open and receptive to the highest feelings. I do now consciously contact the Mind of Love and Wisdom. I wait on the Lord that He may renew my strength. My mind is stayed on Thee and I am at perfect peace with all men, and with myself. No evil can befall me and the angels of love are round about me. Conscious of the godlike qualities of my soul, I go my way today in the strength of the Infinite. I walk upon the earth as master and not as slave. I keep the law and the law keeps me. I obey the law and the law obeys me. I give my heart to God in divinest joy of self-giving and I feel the helping hand of God upon me. I am glad, I am strong, I am full of life and love today.

LESSON III.

HOW TO USE THE LAW— THE SILENCE.

THE best results are to be secured by using the Law so far as we know it while at the same time looking for more light. The student who approaches this subject for the first time has as yet little to work on for he has not tested out the Law by science and experience. But enough has been said to make us realize that the object of a treatment is to impress our desire on the creative Law with sufficient force to register in the Creative Mind. If the Law creates for us according to the thoughts we think into Mind, then what we must do is to raise our consciousness to the highest pitch of expectancy so that the best possible results may be secured. Accordingly we must realize that the first thing for us to do in a treatment is to impress our own mind with the feeling that we are about to act upon the Law and that it is about to act for us.

The right atmosphere for a treatment, therefore, is that of high faith, so that we will do well to bring ourselves up to the proper pitch of expectancy by some preliminary reading. Take the Bible and read the precious promises in it. “Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases.” “They that trust in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” “According to your faith be it done unto you.” “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” “When ye pray, believe that ye have received, and ye shall receive.” Go over such passages as will help you to strong faith. Learn some of the best ones. One should memorize something daily—a verse, a stanza of poetry, a statement of truth. Everybody should know the Twenty-Third and the Ninety-First Psalm and be able to repeat it at such times as needed to strengthen confidence.

It will also be of great help to read for a few minutes or longer in some helpful book of truth. The student may well read “Creative Mind” or “Being and Becoming.” The purpose of this book is, of course, to furnish both instruction and inspiration. After reading the lesson for the day, you will feel the truth more keenly.