This Thing called You, Chapter 16

This Thing called You, Chapter 16

The law of the Lord is perfect,” and the law of the Lord is love. You are made perfect in the law when you enter into conscious communion with the love. Love is the fulfillment of the law; that is, it is only through love that the law can fulfill itself in your experience, because love harmonizes everything, unifies everything. It gives to everything, flows through everything. You can never make the most perfect use of the law of your life unless that use is motivated by love.

As the artist weds himself to beauty, imbibing the essence or spirit of beauty that it may be transmitted to the canvas or awaken the cold marble to living form, so you must wed yourself to love. You must imbibe its spirit. This love is more than a sentiment. It is a deep sense of the underlying unity and beauty of all life, the goodness running through everything, the givingness of Life to everything. Say:

Today I bestow the essence of Love upon everything.

Everyone shall be lovely to me.

My soul meets the soul of the universe in everyone.

Everything is beautiful, everything is meaningful.

This Love is a healing power touching everything into wholeness, healing the wounds of experience with its divine balm.

I know that this Love Essence is the very Substance of Life, the creative Principle back of everything, flowing through my whole being, spiritual, emotional, mental and physical.

It flows in transcendent loveliness into my world of thought and form, ever renewing, vitalizing, bringing joy, harmony and blessing to everything and everyone it touches.

You are to know that good keeps you in perfect activity, surrounds you with love and friendship, and brings the experience of joy to everything you do. You are to impart an atmosphere of confidence and faith which uplifts and enlightens everything in your environment. It is only as you live affirmatively that you can be happy. Knowing that there is but one Spirit in which everyone lives, moves and has his being, you are to feel this Spirit not only in your consciousness but in your affairs. You are to hold conscious communion with this Spirit in humanity. In a handclasp you can feel Its warmth and color. In the exchange of thought you are to feel the Presence of the Divine. You are to sense It in everything.

You are united with all. You are one with the eternal Light Itself. The Presence of Spirit within you blesses everyone you meet, tends to heal everything you touch, brings gladness into the life of everyone you contact. Therefore, you are a blessing to yourself, to mankind and to the day in which you live. Say:

Today I uncover the perfection within me.

In its fullness I reveal the indwelling Kingdom.

I look out upon the world of my affairs, knowing that the Spirit within me makes my way both immediate and easy.

I know there is nothing in me that could possibly obstruct or withhold the divine circuit of Life and Love, which Good is.

My word dissolves every negative thought or impulse that could throw a shadow over my perfection.

Good flows through me to all.

Good shines through my thoughts and actions.

Good harmonizes my body, so that it is revitalized and manifests perfection in every cell, in every organ, in every function.

Good harmonizes my mind, so that Love sings joyously in my heart.

I am completely conscious of All-Good in me, around me and in all that is.

I am in complete unity with Good.

I have complete confidence in my knowledge and understanding of the Law of Good.

I not only know what the Law is, I know how to use It. I know that I shall obtain definite results through the use of It.

I realize that doubts about my ability to use this Law are things of thought.

What thought has produced, thought can change.

Knowing this, having confidence in my ability to use the Law, and using It daily for specific purposes, gradually I build up an unshakable faith, both in the Law and the possibility of demonstrating It.

There is no doubt in me, no uncertainty rising through me.

My mind rejoices in certainty and in assurance.

I confidently expect that my word shall not return unto me void.

Therefore, today I declare that the Law of the Lord is perfect in everything I do.

It will externalize happiness, It will bring every good thing to me.

Today I am inwardly aware that there is a secret way of the soul, there is a secret pathway of peace, there is an invisible Presence forever externalizing Itself for me and through me.

Today I believe in Divine Guidance.

Today I believe that “underneath are the everlasting arms.”

Today I rest in this divine assurance and this divine security.

I know, not only that all is well with my soul, my spirit and my mind—all is well with my affairs.

You live in the house of God. The household of God is a household of perfection. It is “the secret place of the most High” within you and within all. The inmates of this household are all divine. They will become as divine to you as you permit. As you look at them they look at you, for this is the way of life. Everything responds to you at the level of your recognition of it.

In the household of God there is no jealousy, no littleness nor meanness. It is a household of joy, a place of happiness and contentment. Here is warmth, color and beauty. Seen in this light, your earthly house symbolizes the Kingdom of Divine Harmony in which no one is a stranger. Say:

Nothing is alien to me.

Nothing enters into my experience but joy, integrity and friendship.

The good I would realize for myself I realize for all others.

I cannot desire a good for myself other than the good I desire for everyone else.

Neither do I deny myself the good I affirm for others.

I know that in the household in which I live the host is God, the living Spirit Almighty; the guests are all people; the invitation has been eternally written for all to enter and dwell therein as the guests of this Eternal Host forever.

There is something about you that knows you are made of immortal stuff, that there is no death. But eternity is not some far-off event—“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” It is today that you are to enter into a complete realization of this Divine Truth. You need not wait to become immortal, for whatever you are to evolve into, you must evolve from. Life antecedes life, flows out of it.

Life has set the stamp of individuality on your soul. You are different from any other person who ever lived. You are an individualized center in the Consciousness of God. You are an individualized activity in the Action of God. You are you, and you are eternal. Therefore, do not wait for immortality. The resurrection of life is today. You are clothed with this resurrection now. All you need to do is to experience it.

Begin to live today as though you are an immortal being and all thought of death, all fear of change will slip from you. You will step out of the tomb of uncertainty into the light of eternal day. The night time of your soul will have passed and the eternal light of everlasting day will dawn as the great reality in your life. Say:

I know that every apparent death is a resurrection; therefore, today, gladly I die to everything that is unlike the good.

Joyfully I am resurrected into that which is beautiful, enduring and true.

Silently I pass from less to more, from isolation into inclusion, from separation into oneness.

The perfect Law of Good is operating through me.

Joyfully I accept It.

Joyfully I permit Its action in everything that I do.

I know that my recognition of good is the substance of the good which I recognize, and I know that this good is ever taking form in my experience.

It is impossible for me to be separated from my good.

Today, realizing that there is nothing in my past which can rise against me, nothing in my future which can menace the unfoldment of my experience, life shall be an eternal adventure, an unfolding experience of greater and better experiences.

Evolution is onward, upward, forward, outward, expansive—“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Today I exult in this abundant life.

I revel in the contemplation of the immeasurable future, the path of eternal progress, the everlastingness of my own being, the ongoing of my soul, the daily renewed energy and action of that Divinity within me, which has forever set the stamp of individualized Being on my mind.

You have heard a great deal about the healing Christ Who can come to you with power. Do you realize that this Christ is already here? This Christ is the incarnation of God in every individual. Surely, God has imparted Himself to every soul. If this were not true you would not be alive, you would have no existence, you could not be here. Your Christ is the unique incarnation of God, of Life, in you as an individual. This Divine incarnation, this living Presence, is at the center of your being now, not by and by. If you open the door of your consciousness and welcome this Divine Guest, He will enter.

Not a person lives who does not at some time in his life sense this inward Presence, this vision of the Divine which presses against us. It is seeking entrance through our thoughts. We must open the door of our consciousness and permit It to enter.

We do not will this Presence into existence, nor do we by declaration, affirmation or demand, command It. We do not court It through false humility nor engage Its attention by admiration. The Presence, the Power, is already there. It is willingness, acceptance and recognition which give entrance to the Divine Presence. It is faith and acknowledgment which permit Its creative power to flow through our word. Say:

Today I realize that the Spirit incarnated in me, God as my own being, constitutes the only reality I have.

Today I am opening my consciousness to a realization of the living Christ, the eternal Sonship of the everlasting Father.

I know that He dwells in me and I know that there is an invisible Guide, a living Presence with me at all times.

With complete simplicity and directness, I recognize my Divine center.

There is one Life in and through all.

Consciously, I unify myself with this pure Spirit in which I live, move and have my being.

I am strong with the strength of the all-vitalizing power of pure Spirit.

I am sustained by Divine Energy which flows through me as radiant health and vitality.

Every atom of my being responds to this Divine Presence.

I completely surrender myself to It.

Everyone seeks the protecting power of some Presence which is close enough to reach out and take hold of. As a child turns to its parents for comfort, so every man is relying on God, whether or not he realizes it. This concept is so universal that it has been present in every age, with all people, and at all times. It would be a mockery of faith to deny that such a Presence exists or that such a Power operates.

All who have found an answer to life have believed in this. All who have wrought great and mighty works through faith have had complete confidence in this Divine Presence, and the greatest souls have known that this Presence is within. To this Presence Jesus gave the name of “Our Father which art in heaven,” which means the Spirit of Life within, around and through us. Jesus dared to place his hand serenely in the Hand of the Invisible. His works justified his words; his faith was manifest through his acts.

Nothing has happened to Reality since this glorified figure walked the highways of human experience. With equal confidence you should believe in the protecting Presence of the ever-available Spirit. With equal faith you should wrap yourself in a mantle of Divine protection, knowing that “underneath are the everlasting arms.”

Today you are to hold your thought steadfast in the realization that God withholds nothing from you. Therefore, prepare yourself for a life of joy, love, happiness and well-being. Believe in the Divine freedom which is yours by birthright. Say:

I know that the Law of God surrounds me with love and friendship.

I permit this love and friendship to flow out to all things, to all people, everywhere.

I let it radiate in my environment, bless everything I touch, make whole that which is weak, turn fear into faith, and accomplish the miracle of healing through love.

Whatsoever things are good and true, I shall think upon.

This I shall remember—that the Spirit is not far off.

I shall remind myself that I live in the Divine Presence, that my affairs are in the keeping of the Eternal Mind.

I live, move and have my being in Wholeness.

Peace, poise and power belong to my Kingdom.

I give joy and love to all, knowing that the gift of Life is not to me alone.

I share my good.

I welcome the opportunity to love fully, completely and joyfully.

I believe in myself because I believe in God. I accept life fully, completely, without reservation, holding to the conviction that good is the eternal Reality, that God is the everlasting Presence, that Christ within me is the eternal Guide, that my life is complete today.

This Thing called You, Chapter 16,

Ernest Holmes

This Thing called You, Chapter 15

This Thing called You, Chapter 15

The wisest man who ever lived said there is a truth which can set you free from fear, want, unhappiness and finally death itself. He said that this truth is already within you. Nothing could be more wonderful than this. It is what you have been looking for but hardly dared believe. Suppose you accept this spiritual wisdom, since the one who gave it was able to prove his claims. Don’t you think that this great and glorious person was telling you that the kingdom of your good is here today?

No matter what the negations of yesterday may have been, your affirmations of today may rise triumphant over them. This is the highest hope ever placed before the vision of man’s search for something that can make him whole. The evil of all your yesterdays can vanish into nothingness. If you can see beauty instead of ugliness, beauty will appear. Cease weeping over the mistakes of yesterday and steadfastly beholding the face of the great and divine Reality, walk in that Light wherein there is no darkness. Say:

I know that every negative condition of the past is swept aside.

I refuse to see it or to think about it.

Yesterday is no longer here, tomorrow has not yet arrived.

Today is God’s day.

God’s day is my day.

Today, bright with hope and filled with promise, is mine.

Today my heart is without fear.

I have implicit confidence in the good, the enduring and the true.

Today I shall guard my thought and speech; I shall keep my consciousness steadfast with the realization that there is a spiritual Power upon which I may rely.

I shall turn resolutely to that Divine Source which knows no confusion, to that spiritual Center which knows no fear.

The Spirit is not afraid of anything; the Divine has no enemies; the Spirit knows no opposites.

Consciously, I draw close to my Divine Center, the Source of all that is; I feel the warmth of Its presence.

I enter into a faith made perfect through love and confidence, an assurance made complete by the abandonment of myself to good.

Acknowledging good in all my ways, desiring only the good for others, I rest in calm assurance.

I open my consciousness to the realization that all the Power and Presence there is clothes me in Its eternal embrace; that the Spirit forever imparts Its life to me.

I believe in myself because I believe in God.

I believe in my destiny because I know that the Law of Good is operating through me.

I have confidence in the future and enthusiastic expectation of good things to come.

Therefore, I accept the fullness of life this moment.

“Ask and ye shall receive.” This is one of the most wonderful statements ever uttered. It implies that there is a Power which can and will honor your request. At the same time Jesus said that you should not ask amiss. However, these two sayings of Jesus are not contradictory. They merely mean that you should ask in the nature of the Divine Life which is love, truth, beauty, power, wisdom, goodness and peace.

Anything you ask in this nature you have a right to expect to receive. But it is only as you let go of the lesser that you can take hold of the greater, only as you drop confusion that you can entertain peace, only as you transcend doubt and fear that you can be lifted up to the hill tops of the inner Life. In asking, you must identify yourself with the greatness of the Spirit. This is the only way you can breathe this Almighty Power. Permit your consciousness, through faith, to rise to a greater and broader realization of that Divine Presence which is always delivering Itself to you.

Believing that the Divine Mind is ever present, that Divine Intelligence is ever available, open your consciousness to Its guidance. Keep your mind steadfast and loyal to the thought that you are governed by this Divine Intelligence. Feel that you are impelled to make right decisions, that you are compelled to act upon these decisions intelligently, and know that the Power that is with you cannot desert you. Say:

My knowledge that the great I Am is ever available gives me an increasing capacity to draw upon It and to become inwardly aware of the presence of Spirit.

Through the quiet contemplation of the omni-action of Spirit, I learn to look quietly and calmly upon every false condition, seeing through it to the other side of the invisible Reality which molds conditions and recreates all of my affairs after a more nearly Divine pattern.

With a penetrating spiritual vision I can dissipate the obstruction, remove the obstacle, dissolve the wrong condition.

Standing still, I can watch the sure salvation of the Law.

I now claim health instead of sickness, wealth instead of poverty, happiness instead of misery.

Every thought of fear or limitation is removed from my consciousness.

I know that my word transmutes every energy into constructive action, producing health, harmony, happiness and success.

I know there is something at the center of my being which is absolutely certain of itself.

It has complete assurance and it gives me complete assurance that all is well.

I maintain my position as a Divine Being here and now.

I know that in this consciousness of Reality is the supply for my every need—physical, mental or spiritual—and I accept that supply in deepest gratitude.

I am thankful that this is the way Life fulfills my needs, through the doorway of my inner self, and I am thankful that I know how to use this perfect Law.

I come to this great Fountain of Supply, in the very center of my being, to absorb that for which I have need, mentally and physically, and I am filled with the sense of the Reality of that which I desire.

As I am filled with Reality I permit It to flow into my world of thought and action, knowing that It brings peace, harmony and order all around me.

There arises within me limitless faith in the unconquerable Presence, the perfect Law, and Divine Action.

Good is at the root of everything, regardless of its seeming absence. But this good must be recognized. Since there is but one Spirit and this Spirit is in you and in everything, then everywhere you go you will meet this Spirit. You meet this Spirit in people, in places and in things. There is a Divine Essence permeating everything, flowing through everything, becoming all things. This one Spirit, which manifests Itself in and through all, including yourself, automatically adjusts parts to the whole. Therefore, you may accept with positive certainty that the Spirit within you does go before you and prepares your way.

This is no idle conclusion, no empty dream, no forlorn hope. Your faith is placed in something positive, certain as the laws of life, exact as the principle of mathematics, ever present, like the ethers of space, ever operating like the laws of nature. Say:

I know that the Spirit within me goes before me, making perfect, plain, straight, easy and happy the pathway of my experience.

There is nothing in me that can obstruct the divine circuits of Life, of Love, of Beauty and Truth.

My word dissolves every negative thought or impulse that would throw a shadow of unbelief across the threshold of my expectation.

Today I have faith that my word shall not return unto me void.

I surrender myself completely to this faith.

My prayer, then, is one of affirmation and acceptance.

I lift my cup of acceptance, knowing that the Divine outpouring will fill it to the brim.

Today I consciously identify myself with everything that belongs to goodness, truth and beauty.

I identify myself with abundance and success.

I identify myself with the Living Spirit—with all the power, all the presence and all the life there is.

Realizing that all action starts in and is a result of consciousness, prepare your mind to receive the best that life has to offer. Become increasingly aware of the one Presence, the one Life and the one Spirit, which is God. Try to drop all sense of lack or limitation from your thought.

Knowing that your word of truth is the Law of God in you, and believing that this Law is perfect, you must become consciously aware that It is operating in your affairs. The Spirit works for you through your belief. All things are possible to this Spirit, therefore, everything is possible to you in such degree as you can believe in and accept the operation of Spirit in your life.

There is something within you which is completely aware of its oneness with power, of its unity with life. Loose all thoughts of discord and fear, and permit the true pattern to come to the surface. Remember that thought patterns are acquired, therefore, the mind that accepted them can reject them.

No doubt most of these patterns are unconsciously taken into the mind. This makes no difference at all. What is there you can consciously loose, drop it out of your thought, refuse to think about it, refuse to feed it with the fire of imagination and feeling. Having nothing to live on, it will shrivel up and disappear. It is only the thought that is nourished that grows. The weeds are no longer there when they are pulled up, and the place where they were forgets that they ever have been. Say:

I allow the Divine Wholeness to flow through me in ever-widening circles of activity.

Every good I have experienced is now increased.

Every joy that has come into my life is now multiplied.

There is a new influx of inspiration into my thought.

I see more clearly than ever before that my divine birthright is freedom, joy and eternal goodness.

I realize that this same birthright is bequeathed to all people.

I rejoice that everyone has this common good.

The Divine Presence interprets Itself to me through love and friendship, through peace and harmony.

Knowing that life gives according to my faith, I lift my mind, I elevate my faith, I listen deeply to the song of my being.

You have been told that all things are possible to him who believes. Accepting this as a principle of your being and analyzing it to its logical conclusion, you have come to understand that faith is not a nebulous something, it is an actual idea, a definite mental attitude, a positive acceptance—not positive from the standpoint of will power or compelling things to happen, not positive from the standpoint of influencing people or things, not positive from the standpoint of holding thoughts with ever tightening grip. Your faith is positive when that which your intellect announces is no longer denied by the accumulated patterns of thought held in the subconscious part of your mind.

Faith is most certainly a mental attitude. When a certain man came to Jesus and said, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief,” he was but showing how human we all are, how human you are, how human everyone is. From the inspiration of his hope and the enthusiasm of the occasion, standing in the light of one whose wick of life was ever kept trimmed and burning, feeling the warmth and color of its eternal glow, he exclaimed, “I believe!” This was a simple, sincere and enthusiastic response to the consciousness of one who had faith. But no sooner had he exclaimed, “I believe!” out of the enthusiasm of his will to believe, than old thought patterns arose to block his faith and he said, “Help thou mine unbelief.”

Now, this man was not a weak character. He was just a human being on the same quest in which all humanity is engaged. He was but showing that faith is more than an objective statement, that perfect faith cannot exist while there are subjective contradictions that deny the affirmation of the lips.

It is only when the intellect is no longer obstructed by negative emotional reactions, arising out of the experiences of doubt and fear, that the word of the mouth can immediately bear fruit. There is nothing in this thought to be discouraged about, for the very fact that thoughts are things also carries with it this divine connotation that the thinker can change his thoughts, that he really is the master of his fate.

You are the thinker. You are the creator of thought patterns. You are the master of your fate. But you must exercise this mastership. Say:

I believe with a deep, inward calm that my word of faith is the execution of spiritual Law in my life.

I know that my word penetrates any and every unbelief in my thought; it casts out fear, removes doubts, and permits that which is enduring, perfect and true to enter into my consciousness.

I have complete conviction that my thoughts are not only true, but that they will be carried out in my experience with mathematical certainty.

I have absolute reliance upon the Law of Good.

I know that the Spirit, which is Life, is present everywhere.

Like the air I breathe, It presses against me; on the mountain top, in the valley, the desert and on the ocean, It is ever present.

I accept this Presence with complete confidence.

I believe that the Law of Good will bring everything desirable into my experience.

Today I proclaim my divine inheritance.

I am rich with the richness of God.

I am strong with the power of God.

I am guided by the wisdom of God.

I am held in the goodness of God, today.

The Spirit of God is an undivided and indivisible Wholeness. It fills all time with Its presence and peoples space with the activity of Its thought. It is, of course, difficult for the human mind to understand the meaning of such an all-encompassing Presence. However, perhaps the greatest difficulty is that we try to make it too abstract.

You already know that you live. You know that your life is peopled with events, persons coming and going, happenings that take place in your everyday experience, the thoughts in your own mind, the activities of your own affairs, the circulation of blood in your body. Don’t you think this is the place to begin? You already understand the presence of life. It is not difficult, after all.

Your endeavor, then, is not so much to find God as it is to realize His Presence and to understand that this Presence is always with you. Nothing can be nearer to you than that which is the very essence of your being. Your outward search for God culminates in the greatest of all possible discoveries—the finding of Him at the center of your own being. Life flows up from within you. Say:

I know that my search is over.

I am consciously aware of the Presence of the Spirit.

I have discovered the great Reality.

I am awake to the realization of this Presence.

There is but one Life.

Today I see It reflected in every form, back of every countenance, moving through every act.

Knowing that the Divine Presence is in everyone I meet, the Spirit in all people, I salute the good in everything.

I recognize the God Life responding to me from every person I meet, in every event that transpires, in every circumstance in my experience.

I feel the warmth and color of this Divine Presence forevermore pressing against me, forevermore welling up from within me—the well-spring of eternal being present yesterday, today, tomorrow, and always.

Did you ever stop to realize that peace must actually exist at the center of everything? And if you ask yourself, Why? answer your own question, because in the long run you will have to do this anyway. No one can answer your questions for you but yourself. Your very nature has willed it so. Peace must exist at the center of everything or the universe itself would be a chaos. You already know this and believe it, now you are going to act upon it.

You are not only going to believe in it, you are going to act as though it were true, because it is true. There is peace at the center of your being—a peace that can be felt throughout the day and in the cool of the evening when you have turned from your labor and the first star shines in the soft light of the sky. It broods over the earth quietly, tenderly, as a mother watches over her child. Say:

In this peace that holds me so gently I find strength and protection from all fear or anxiety.

It is the peace of God in which I feel the love of a Holy Presence.

I am so conscious of this love, this protection, that every sense of fear slips away from me as mist fades in the morning light.

I see good in everything, God personified in all people, Life manifest in every event.

Today you are to identify yourself with the more abundant life, to think on those things which make for peace, to dwell on the unity which underlies everything. As you consciously poise yourself in the realization that you live in pure Spirit, new power will be born within you. You will find yourself renewed by the Divine Life, led by Divine Intelligence and guarded by Divine Love. Focus your inward vision on this indwelling harmony, knowing that as you contemplate its perfection you will see it manifest in everything you do. Say:

Realizing that the Spirit within me is God, the Living Spirit Almighty, being fully conscious of this Divine Presence as the sustaining Principle of my life, I open my thought to Its influx.

I open my consciousness to Its outpouring.

I let that Mind be in me which was also in Christ Jesus.

This is the Mind of Truth, the Mind of God, carrying with It all the power of the Infinite.

I know and understand that Good alone is real.

I know that silently I am drawing into my experience today, and every day, an ever-increasing measure of truth and beauty, of goodness and harmony.

Everything I do, say and think is quickened into right action, into productive action, into increased action.

My invisible good already exists.

My faith, drawing upon this invisible good, causes that which was unseen, to become visible. All there is, is mine NOW; all there ever was or ever can be, is mine NOW.

This Thing called You, Chapter 15,

Ernest Holmes