An Earnest Quote from Ernest

Ernest Holmes (1887-1960) was a spiritual philosopher who wrote over a dozen powerful books. His major contribution to the “New Thought” movement is entitled The Science of Mind. This book launched the spiritual phase of my life. The book is filled with powerful, transformative ideas some of which still amaze me after reading them again and again. Here is one of them:

“In our ignorance of the truth, we have misused the highest power we posses. And so great is this power – so complete is our freedom in it, so absolute the domain of law through it – that the misuse of this power has brought upon us the very conditions from which we suffer. We are bound because we are first free; the power which appears to bind us is the only power in the universe which can free us. … And so we suffer, not because suffering is imposed upon us, but because we are ignorant of our true nature.” [The Science of Mind, pg. 36-7]

Think about that quote, what does it mean to you and how does it apply to your life?

What Does This Mean?

So all of our “suffering and hardships” are caused by our misuse of a power which creates these so-called problems according to the way we misuse it. Most of us misuse this facility because we are unaware of its existence, much less, its power. This ‘misused’ power that Ernest is referring to is our own thinking, our consciousness, our deepest beliefs and attitudes along with their accompanying emotions. While this may have been a secret centuries ago, the secret is out now.

Our consciousness, our thinking and feelings, is the major (some would say the only) determinant of our life experience. For example, if you are experiencing financial lack and limitation, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about your bills and the fact that you don’t have enough money, all the while feeling fearful, sad, confused, or hopeless. You might say that the thoughts and feelings are caused by the situation, but what if the reverse was true?

This may sound weird to you if you are hearing it for the first time. But it can change your experience of life if you learn to use it correctly. It’s changed my life experience profoundly.

The first step is to identify one area of your life that you want to work on: your health, finances, relationships, career, social life or anything else. The more specific you can be the better.

What area of you life would you like to improve?

Now for a few days pay attention to all your thoughts and feelings about that area of your life. Write them down. Carry a little notepad or piece of paper with you. Feel free to use the Notes app in your smartphone. Then, whenever you have a thought or feeling about that area of your life, write it down. Also make note of the accompanying emotion. Start to notice if there are any patterns to your thoughts and feelings regarding this area of your life.

What’s Next?

In the next post we will consider what to do with whatever you learn from this exercise.