This Thing Called You, Chapter 12

This Thing Called You, Chapter 12

God within you knows by pure intuition; that is, without process of reasoning with reference to external facts or existing conditions. If God were to know in any other way He would be finite. This is why it is said that God is omniscient or all-knowing. Such omniscience or all-knowingness exists at the very center of your being. Therefore, Divine Guidance exists at the center of your being, acting as a principle in nature.

If you are living in an Intelligence which instantly knows the answer to any problem, then you are living in an Intelligence which has no problem. You are, therefore, bringing your problem to a Principle which has no problem, just as electricity, or mathematics, or the law of gravitation has no problem. Hold up an object heavier than the air and let go of it and the law of gravitation will bring it to the earth. It would be a problem if you had to force this object to the earth. It is no problem to the law which works automatically. You let go of the object and the rest is automatic. So it is with the use of other principles in nature. So it is with Divine Guidance.

Common sense will tell you that Divine Guidance cannot exist for a few persons. It cannot exist because of any particular religious belief or because of a dogmatic acceptance of any creed. Divine Guidance must exist for you and for everyone, or not at all—just as electricity exists for everyone.

Divine Guidance, like the Presence of God, is where you are, at the center of your being. When you turn to the Spirit for the solution of your problem, Spirit answers by intuitively knowing, not the problem, but its answer. If you have a problem of confusion and wish to gain peace, this could not be done by asking God to be peace, for God is peace. Your answer would come as you turn from the confusion to the contemplation of peace. You cannot join confusion with peace. You must forget the one if you would unify with the other. Say:

Knowing that the Law of God is perfect, I lay aside all fear, uncertainty or doubt.

There is no burden whatsoever in my consciousness.

I live in the Kingdom of Heaven now.

I rejoice in the Divine Presence.

I bathe in the sunlight of eternal Truth.

I consciously enter into the benediction of Peace.

As your consciousness lifts itself above the problem into a spiritual atmosphere of affirmation, the problem, as such, disappears and the answer takes its place. Every problem contains its own answer if you think of the problem merely as a question, an inquiry, and not as an obstruction. Thinking of it this way, keep your mind not on the repetition of thoughts about the problem, but on the receipt of a definite answer.

Work with your consciousness until it ceases to function on the level of problem and begins to function on the level of answer. It is mathematically certain that your problem will be solved if you do this. You may not find this the easiest thing in the world to do, but even though it may be difficult at times, you must never permit yourself to become discouraged. The reward is certain.

Remember, you are not presenting God with the problem. God has no problem. Principles have no problems. God knows intuitively and the principle of Divine Guidance works automatically on your acceptance. Therefore, when you bring your hopes and aspirations to the Divine Center within you, lay them on the altar of your faith in complete confidence. Say:

The Spirit within me knows the answer to any problem which confronts me.

I now turn from the problem to the Spirit, accepting the answer.

I turn from any thought of confusion to a consciousness of peace.

I know that the Spirit of God is within me and the Law of God is around me.

I know that the answer [think of the problem, not as a problem, but merely as a question] is here and now.

It is within my own mind, because God is right where I am.

In calm confidence, in perfect trust, in abiding faith and with complete peace, I let go of the problem as a problem.

I receive the answer as fulfillment.

This is the secret of the answer to prayer. For, no matter what particular religious conviction the one praying may have, in the act of effective prayer he opens his consciousness to a Divine influx. That which is forever pressing against him flows through him, instructs his intellect, deepens his will, and executes its law through his act.

Through Divine intuition consciously enter the upper field of your mind where peace and joy forever exist. Do this humbly, but with a sense of triumph; meekly, but with a consciousness of worthiness—not timidly, as one knocking at a door which may refuse to open, but boldly, as one who knows in Whom he has believed.

You are working with an immutable Law, an unfailing Principle, an ever-available Power. It is as simple as this. The mind that is in you is the Mind of God. It knows nothing about big or little, hard or easy, but what It does for you It must do through you. Hence, you must believe before It can operate for your benefit. Say:

Realizing that the Divine Spirit can give me only what I receive, knowing that what the Spirit does for me It must do through me, I now accept the gift of Life.

I permit Infinite Life to flow through me.

I permit Divine Intelligence to act through me, knowing that all the power there is, all the presence there is, and all the life there is, is God, the Living Spirit Almighty.

Identify yourself with the object of your desire. Think of beauty and peace and you will attract peace and beauty. Watch yourself and see if you are believing that any condition or situation, past, present or future, can limit your use of this Divine Law. If you do, you are automatically causing the Law to work through that limiting condition. You are conditioning the Law to your own acceptance. This does not mean that you are limiting the Law. You are merely saying: This is what I except of life. In other words, you are believing that the possibility of your personal experience is already set by your environment. Say:

The Law of good is flowing through me.

I am one with the rhythm of Life.

There is nothing to be afraid of.

There is nothing to be uncertain about.

God is over all, in all and through all.

God is right where I am.

I am at peace with myself.

I am at peace with everyone around me.

I am at peace with the world in which I live.

I am at home with the Divine Spirit in which I am immersed.

Let us think about happiness. Everyone desires to be happy. Everyone strives toward happiness. Too few obtain it. Happiness is not a mental debauch. If one must become intellectually or emotionally intoxicated to be happy, then, like one who has imbibed too much alcohol, he is bound sooner or later to sober up and must again plunge himself into an unnatural state to revive his happiness. Happiness must come from a deeper wellspring of being.

Permanent happiness comes from a quiet contentment and an inner sense of certainty which cannot be shaken by outside conditions, whether good or ill. The mind must reach a place where it no longer remembers the past with anxiety, or looks into the future with uncertainty. If you believe in Divine Goodness, the loving-kindness and givingness of God, if you believe in your own soul as immortal, forever expanding, then no matter what situation confronts you, you can be happy. Say:

I have a calm, inward conviction of my union with good, my oneness with God.

I have a deep realization that I am surrounded by an infinite Law which receives the impress of my thought and acts creatively upon it.

I am conscious of my ability to use this Law, to direct it for specific purposes, for myself and others.

There is nothing in me that can deny, limit, obstruct, divert or in any way hinder my use of this Law. There is no argument, no belief, no superstition, no doubt that can cast any shadow of unbelief across my mind.

I realize that this Law exists and I am conscious that I know how to use It.

It is certain that you will have to love your fellow man if you wish to be happy. Your union with God implies your union with everything that lives. Do not be afraid of this. Do not shun the thought of it. Divine union means union with everything. This does not mean that you love those who are closest to you any less, you merely love all humanity more.

Think for a moment about the few upon whom you have lavished particular affection. Now permit your imagination to include more. Say to yourself: “What would it be like if these few whom I love so much were multiplied so that finally everyone I meet should arouse in me the same deep affection?” Dare to lose your small affection and you will find it increased and multiplied a million times through greater union.

Learn to be at home in the universe. No more loneliness. No more sense of isolation. See God in everyone—the same God with a different face, the same animating Principle with a different form, the same Divine Presence clothed in individual expression. There is a fountain of life, from which, if a man drink, he shall never thirst again. Your search is after this fountain that you may be immersed in it. You cannot plunge into the waters of real Life unless you take everyone else in with you. The universe is one system.

You cannot be happy unless you believe in immortality. You not only have the joy of living today, but an equal joy of knowing that you will live forever. Always your horizons will be expanding, forever filling your life with new hope, new vigor and new assurance.

You are an eternal being now on the pathway of endless unfoldment, never less but always more yourself. Life is not static. It is forever dynamic, forever creating—not something done and finished, but something alive, awake and aware. There is something within you that sings the song of eternity. Listen to it. There is an eternal springtime of your soul. Always rising but never setting is the sun of your destiny.

Commune with the invisible Presence within you until there comes a certainty which is beyond hope, something which enables you to see clear-eyed the future as you see the past. God grant that you shall enter into this freedom today. Say:

I refuse to worry about anything.

I have complete confidence that the God Who is always with me is able and willing to direct everything I do, to control my affairs, to lead me into the pathway of peace and happiness.

I free myself from every sense of condemnation, either against myself or others.

I loose every sense of animosity.

I now understand that there is a Principle and a Presence in every person gradually drawing him into the Kingdom of Good.

I know that the Kingdom of God is at hand, and I am resolved to enter into this Kingdom, to possess it, and to let it possess me.

You have a silent partner within you whose energy is inexhaustible and whose intelligence is without limit. Your silent partner is more than a subjective or unconscious reaction to life, it is Life Itself.

You must find and maintain a close communion with your true Center. Your creative power is not an act of the will. It is, rather, an act of your willingness to believe. And you are believing in something greater than your objective self, something deeper than your subconscious self, something beyond the collective thought of the world. Your creative power comes from the originating Spirit Itself, which knows no limit, is conditioned by no circumstance and governed by no law outside Itself.

Throw yourself with complete abandon into the all-consuming fire of inward conviction. Say:

I know that the Divine Spirit is operating through me now.

I know that I am not limited by anything that has happened, or by anything that is now happening.

I am entering into an entirely new set of conditions and circumstances.

That which has no limit is flowing through my consciousness into action.

I am guided by the same Intelligence and inspired by the same Imagination which scatters the moonbeams across the waves, and holds the forces of nature in Its grasp.

Try to feel such a close union with this invisible Presence that It becomes to you as an infinite Person—not a person separated from you, but the Person operating through you.

Unity does not mean uniformity. Therefore, you know that God is always acting in you in a unique way, in an original manner. Try to feel that every day something new and wonderful is going to happen to you. Say:

I am conscious that the Divine Spirit is acting through me.

I am aware that the Truth is making me free from any belief in want, lack or limitation.

There is no doubt or uncertainty in my mind.

I have a feeling of security and of ability to do anything that I should do.

I am not afraid of life or death, for I know that death is swallowed up in life.

I know that every living soul will find complete emancipation sooner or later.

Therefore, I stand “amidst the eternal ways” and let the winds of God blow full and free around me.

You have just as much evidence of the existence of your soul as you do of the existence of an atom. While it is true that no one has ever seen this soul, it is also true that no one has ever seen love, beauty or intelligence. You have an invisible body right now. You are as immortal now as you ever will become, and you should begin to live like an immortal being.

The soul is the one triumphant, indestructible and unconquerable thing you possess. Shot from the Invisible into this experience, it constitutes your great reality. But why wait for physical death to enjoy and experience your immortal being? Do not prepare to die. Prepare to live, whether you are ten years old or one hundred. There is no death. It is impossible for you to die. Stop trying to die and learn to live.

Each autumn brings its harvest, yet it never leaves you with a thought of finality. There will always be a new planting, new blossoms and new fruits, new seed times and new harvests. It makes no difference what your harvest may have been last year, today you can create a new future if you have the faith to believe that you can. Plant, then, new hopes and aspirations. The Lord of the harvest will permit you to reap what you have sown.

This Thing called You, Chapter 12,

Ernest Holmes