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