Jan. 09, 2023 – TODAY I FEEL THAT I MERGE WITH THE INFINITE   

JANUARY 9 

TODAY I FEEL THAT I MERGE WITH THE INFINITE   

Canst thou by searching find out God?  Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?  It is high as heaven… The measure thereof is larger than the earth, and broader than the sea.  Job 11: 7-9

The Tao cannot be heard; what can be heard is not It.  The Tao cannot be seen; what can be seen is not It.  The Tao cannot be expressed in words; what can be expressed in words is not It.  Do we know the Formless which gives form to form?  In the same way the Tao does not admit of being.  Kwang-Tze

Realize that thou art “that” – Brahm, which is the cessation of all differentiation, which never changes its nature and is as unmoved as a waveless ocean, eternally unconditioned and undivided.  Raja Yoga

Job asks us if we can find God by searching.  He means that since God is everywhere, and since the subtle essence of the Infinite is invisible, we do not have to search out the Divine Spirit, but, rather, we should recognize It as the center of all life. That which we see is merely a reflection of this invisible Presence.  The Spirit Itself cannot be seen, but It is felt.  Just as we do not see the essence of beauty, but do feel its presence, so we do not see God but we do feel the Divine in everything.  The Creator is revealed in His creation.  The Formless gives rise to the formed.  We should consciously unite ourselves with this invisible Essence which pervades everything, that which our lesson says is eternally unconditioned and undivided.  To do this is to find wholeness.

Today I feel that I merge with the Infinite.  While there seems to be a beginning and an end to each particular experience, there is neither beginning nor end to myself.  My real spirit is omnipresent in God, secure in Good, and perfect in Divine Being.

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Jan. 08, 2023 – THE CHANGELESS ABIDES WITH ME.  I AM CALM AND PEACEFUL IN THE MIDST OF CONFUSION  

JANUARY 8   

THE CHANGELESS ABIDES WITH ME.  I AM CALM AND PEACEFUL IN THE MIDST OF CONFUSION   

I am the Lord, I change not.  Malachi 3:6

The Tao, considered as unchanging has no name.  Texts of Taoism

Immovable (is) God alone, and rightly (He) alone; for He Himself is in Himself, and by Himself, and round Himself, completely full and perfect.  Thrice-Greatest Hermes  

We should realize that all the great scriptures have taught one identical message – the unity of good. All the sacred books have been inspired by the one Mind.  Each in its own tongue has told the story of Reality.  “I am the Lord, I change not,” was revealed to the Hebrew mystic.  To the great Chinese sage came the same message, “The Tao cannot change, it has no name,” and to Hermes, God is in Himself, by Himself, full and perfect.  If we can add to this glorified conception the realization that this Divine Being is the breath of our breath, omnipresent, forever within us, then we shall realize that we live in one eternal and perfect Mind.  An excerpt from the sacred books on the attributes of God says, “There is no variableness in God since He is eternal, immortal and infinite.  Never-the-less He is that from which every transformation arises.”  This means that, while we live in the Eternal which does not change, we are forever drawing from It, or from Him, the possibility of the manifold expressions which give variety to existence and which make living interesting.

I know that the Changeless abides with me.  I am calm and peaceful in the midst of confusion.  I know that nothing moves the soul.  Peace, infinite peace, is at the center of my being.  I love, move and have my being in That which is perfect, complete within Itself.  That Self is my self.

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Jan. 07, 2023 – TODAY I STAND ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP OF MY SOUL AND CAUSE MY SPIRITUAL VISION TO ENCOMPASS MORE 

JANUARY 7   

TODAY I STAND ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP OF MY SOUL AND CAUSE MY SPIRITUAL VISION TO ENCOMPASS MORE 

For as he thinketh in his heart so is he.  Proverbs 23:7

As far as mind extends, so far extends Heaven.  Upanishad

My soul hath built for me a habitation.  Book of the Dead

Note that Proverbs does not say that a man is as he thinks he is – quite the contrary.  It says he is as he thinks.  Here is a vast difference.  A person might imagine himself to be a very clever while remaining quite dull, but if his thoughts are brilliant the man also will be brilliant.  “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”  The heart stands for the center of consciousness, the point from which circulates everything that we are.  It is said that Moses was led by the Divine Spirit into a high mountain and told that all the land that his vision could encompass his feet could tread upon.  This high mountain stands for an exalted place in consciousness.  As consciousness extends its vision it extends the possibility of its objective experience.  This means that objectively we possess that which subjectively we encompass. Our soul is always building a habitation for us, because consciousness is forever dealing with First Cause, with the Causeless Cause, with That which plays with cause and effect as children play ball.  Emerson tells us to stay at home with the cause, to build a habitation and therein to dwell.  It is wonderful to realize that our true home is not made with hands but is eternal in the heavens.

Today I stand on the mountain top of my soul and cause my spiritual vision to encompass more.  I shall push out the horizons of my previous experiences in order that I may have more room.  My soul shall look out and see that all is well.  I am filled with peace, with joy and with contentment.

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Jan. 06, 2023 – TODAY I CONSCIOUSLY LIVE IN THE ETERNAL PRESENCE 

JANUARY 6        

TODAY I CONSCIOUSLY LIVE IN THE ETERNAL PRESENCE 

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Matthew 6:33

Then, in this way know God; as having all things in Himself as thoughts, the whole Cosmos itself.  Thrice-Greatness Hermes

Jesus saith: “… and the Kingdom of Heaven is within you; and whosoever shall know himself shall find it.  Strive therefore to know yourselves, and ye shall be aware that ye are the sons of the … Father; and ye shall know ye are in the City of God, and ye are that City.  Fragments of a Faith Forgotten

Since the kingdom of God is a kingdom of righteousness and since it is a kingdom which contains everything, then it becomes of prime importance to seek this kingdom, which Jesus so plainly stated is to be found within the self.  Of course he was not referring to the lesser, but to the greater Self; that Self upon which is set the stamp of the Eternal – the God Self.  The real Self is inseparable from God, thus in discovering the self, we also discover God, the Cause of the self.  Naturally, everything is included within the Divine, and since we are in It and It is in us, true self-discovery is the key to the mysteries of life.  Hermes tells us that God has everything within Himself as thought; that the whole cosmos itself is a thing of consciousness.  This is the true City of God – the city of right thoughts and right actions; the city which is four square, the length and breadth and thickness of which are equal.  This is the city which Saint Augustine so beautifully depicts in his great essay on the relationship of the individual soul to the Universal Spirit.  All the sages and seers have plainly told us that we already walk the streets of this city, but like the slaves of Plato, blindfolded, our vision is blurred by shadows cast on the wall of human experience.  Evil deals with shadows, truth deals with light, which dispels the shadows.  We are of the Truth.  Evil is neither person, place nor thing.

Today I consciously live in the Eternal Presence.  The Kingdom of heaven is within me and I live in the City of God.  I am one with all other citizens who inhabit this celestial metropolis.  Here, in a true communion of Spirit, I find unity, peace and joy.   

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Jan. 05, 2023 – THE UNERRING JUDGMENT OF DIVINE INTELLIGENCE DIRECTS MY FAITH AND MAKES PLAIN AND PERFECT THE WAY BEFORE ME 

JANUARY 05

THE UNERRING JUDGMENT OF DIVINE INTELLIGENCE DIRECTS MY FAITH AND MAKES PLAIN AND PERFECT THE WAY BEFORE ME 

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: I Corinthians 2: 7-8

The skillful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries, and were deep (also) so as to elude men’s knowledge.  The Texts of Taoism

He who is happy within, who rejoiceth within, who is illuminated within, that Yogi, becoming the ETERNAL, goeth to the Peace of the ETERNAL.  The Bhagavad-Gita 

The hidden wisdom of God is the knowledge that we are one with the Divine Being.  This wisdom which is hidden from us until we perceive our fundamental unity with Reality, is clearly revealed when we seek the Eternal in everything.  “The skillful masters” who have penetrated the mystery of life which so often eludes the intellect, are those who with utmost simplicity have found direct approach to the Supreme Reality at the center of their own soul.  The Gita tells us that we must become the Eternal if we wish to enter into the peace of the Eternal.  This has an identical meaning with the saying of Jesus that we must be perfect even as God in us is perfect.  This calls for the recognition of the Spirit as an indwelling Presence, as well as an overshadowing Power.  The road to self-discovery often calls for the  clearing  away of the underbrush of ignorance, fear, superstition, and a sense of isolation which has made us feel that we were unworthy, unheld and lost.  In the divine providence of good, salvation is unnecessary but self-discovery is essential.  We do not save that which is lost; we merely discover that which needs to be found.

I know that God is within me and I know that this Divine Spirit is perfect.  I enter into Its peace and am secure in a sense of Its protection.  Love will guide, and Intelligence will direct me.  The power of the Infinite will sustain and uphold, as well as direct.  The unerring judgment of Divine Intelligence directs my faith and makes perfect and plain the way before me. 

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Jan. 04, 2023 – I KNOW THAT MY SPIRIT IS FREE FROM ALL LIMITATION – I KNOW THAT I UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH ABOUT MYSELF   

JANUARY 4   

I KNOW THAT MY SPIRIT IS FREE FROM ALL LIMITATION – I KNOW THAT I UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH ABOUT MYSELF   

I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be thou perfect.  Genesis 17:1

Whoever knows the God who is without commencement, without end, who within this impervious (world) is the creator of the universe, who is of an infinite form, the one penetrator of the universe, becomes liberated from all bonds.  Upanishad

Thus it is that the Tao produces (all things), nourishes them, brings them to their full growth, nurses them, completes them, matures them, maintains them, and overspreads them.  The Tao Teh King

Our Chinese text tells us that Tao, which means Spirit, produces everything, nourishes everything and maintains everything.  It spreads itself over everything.  It flows through everything and is in all things.  Indeed, being all that is, there can be nothing outside It.  Our Hindu text tells us that in such degree as we understand God, who is the one penetrator of the universe in such degree we become liberated.  And the Hebrew text says, “Walk before me and be thou perfect.”  We are to recognize the Divine in everything; to speak to the Divine in everything; to see It everywhere – “Lift the stone and you will find me, cleave the wood for there am I.” There is a mystical Presence which pervades the universe.  The fragrance of the rose; the beauty of the dewdrop glistening in the sun, are manifestations of Its Presence and activity.  This mystical Presence welling up in our consciousness, evermore proclaims Itself as the root and source.”  And the Christian Scriptures tell us, “I am over all, in all and through all.”  The enlightened of the ages have told us that it is this God within us that recognizes Itself, or Himself, in everything we are.

I know that my spirit is free from all limitation; that my physical body and my objective affairs reflect and manifest the perfection which I feel; the wholeness which I am certain of, and the prosperity which rightfully belongs to me.

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Jan. 03, 2023 – TODAY I LIVE  

JANUARY 3                           

TODAY I LIVE   

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain… Revelation 21:4

Pray not that sinners may perish, but that the sin itself may disappear.  The Talmud

By knowledge of God (deva) all the bonds (of ignorance, unhappiness, etc.) are destroyed.  Upanishad

The wisest man who ever lived told us that the knowledge of truth shall make us free.  All books of spiritual wisdom have taught us that it is not the one who makes the mistake whom we should seek to destroy; it is the mistake itself which must be erased.  Now, this means that evil has no existence in itself, it has no history.  No matter what the negations of yesterday may have been, the affirmations of today may rise triumphant and transcendent over them.  Thus all the evils of our yesterdays disappear into their native nothingness.  If we behold beauty instead of ugliness, then beauty will appear.  If we persist in seeing the true rather than the false, then that which is true will appear.  Where is the false, the untrue and the evil when the knowledge of truth has made us free?  Its days are as though they had never been; its cause is neutralized; hence it leaves no effect.  Let us, then, cease weeping over the shortcomings and mistakes and evils of our yesterdays, and steadfastly beholding the face of the great and the divine Reality, let us resolve to walk in that light wherein there is no darkness.

Definitely I know that every negative condition of the past is cleared away from my consciousness.  I no longer think about it, see it, or believe in it.  Nor do I believe that it has any effect whatsoever in my experience.  Yesterday is not, tomorrow is not, but today, bright with hope and filled with promise, is mine.  Today I live.  

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Jan, 02, 2023 – TODAY I SHALL GUARD MY THOUGHTS, SEEING TO IT THAT NOTHING EMANATES FROM MY CONSCIOUSNESS OTHER THAN THAT WHICH WILL BLESS, BUILD UP AND HEAL   

JANUARY 2   

TODAY I SHALL GUARD MY THOUGHTS, SEEING TO IT THAT NOTHING EMANATES FROM MY CONSCIOUSNESS OTHER THAN THAT WHICH WILL BLESS, BUILD UP AND HEAL   

But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.  Galatians 5:15

He who injuries others is sure to be injured by them in return. Kwang-Tze

I destroy the ignorance-born darkness by the shining lamp of wisdom.  The Bhagavad-Gita

This lesson teaches us the Law of Cause and Effect, the plaything of the soul.  In the long run, as Emerson tells us, if we seek to harm another, we but find that we are beating our own bleeding breast.  Teachers of spiritual wisdom have always taught that our thoughts and acts ride on a return circuit and that they never fail to react upon us until we have transcended the negative causation set in motion by such acts.  This is why we are taught that we should do to others what we would like them to do to us.  It is the old law of the returning circle.  In this law alone can we find exact justice, and through understanding this law come to realize with Robert Browning, “All’s love yet all’s law.”  The universe imposes neither evil or limitation upon us, nor can we impose evil or limitation upon it.  However, being free agents, we may and must experience, at least temporarily, the results of our own acts.  As the Gita tells us, the lamp of wisdom shining in the darkness of ignorance alone can free us.  

Realizing that the universe has bestowed upon me the Divine right to be affected by my own act, today I shall guard all of my thoughts, seeing to it that nothing emanates from my consciousness other than that which blesses, builds and heals.  I shall not worry about the consequences for they already exist in the mathematical Law of Cause and Effect.  This Law of Cause and Effect is not something that governs me.  Quite the reverse, it is something which I govern.  If nothing goes forth from me that can hurt, then nothing can return to me which can harm.  The knowledge of this makes me wise.  The consciousness of good at the center of my being is my sanctuary.

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Jan 01, 2023 – I AM RESOLVED TO SEE THE GOOD IN EVERYONE AND EVERY EVENT

JANUARY 1

I AM RESOLVED TO SEE THE GOOD IN EVERYONE AND EVERY EVENT

… for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?  And what communion hath light with darkness? 

II Corinthians 6:14

Q. Is ignorance produced by anything?  A. No, by nothing.  Ignorance is without beginning…  The origin of pain can be traced to ignorance and it will not cease until ignorance is entirely dispelled, which will be only when the identity of the Self with Brahma (the Universal Spirit) is fully realized.  The Raja Yoga Philosophy

Rabbi Ismael answers, “Not God but ye yourselves, are the creators and supporters of mortal evils.”  The Talmud

     Light can have no union with darkness; evil has no affinity with good. If good is the great Reality, which is the great negation or denial of Reality, then it follows that we should see the good in everything, and recognize the apparent evil merely as a theoretical opposite of good. There is not God and something else.  The Divine Spirit inhabits eternity; overshadows everything, including human events; indwells our own soul, and is released through our own act.  To see good as evil is to becloud our vision, to obstruct the pathway of our progress and cast a shadow across the sun of righteousness which, Swedenborg tells us, is forever at an angle of forty-five degrees in the heavens.  This Spiritual Sun was the guiding Star which lead the Magi of old to the place where the little child lay.  That is, to the place of good in our soul; to the Presence of God at the center of every man’s being.  The humility of the manger is the common place in every man’s life.  It is here, we shall also discover that the larger issues of our experience are overshadowed by this same good which we have discovered in the common place.

     I am resolved today to see the good in everyone and in every event.  I shall call upon the good and shall refuse to accept that anything other than good can come into my experience.  In this way I will be praying to the good through meditation upon it.

Taken from “ 365 Days of Richer Living ” by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker

Dec. 31, 2022 – I ACCEPT THE BEAUTIES OF LIFE

DECEMBER 31        

I ACCEPT THE BEAUTIES OF LIFE

Because it would never claim greatness, Therefore its greatness is fully realized.

The Tao Te Ching

Religion affirms the beauty of Life, and that God fills this world with the beauty of His presence.  Therefore, there is no reason why I should not experience this, and I now do.  My mind is set on beauty, and it appears where I am.  I need not seek it, for already its face is showing itself to me.  People, places and things are beautiful when I look for details of loveliness.  In minute ways Harmony, Order and Right Proportion catch my attention.  All sight is glorious, all music is rich in tones of harmony.  All food is God’s Substance served to me by Intelligence in action.  Even the glass of cold water symbolizes that cup of long ago which gave Life a new meaning.

The beauty of Christ is the glory of my soul.  In the commonplace Jesus saw God, and he bid me to do likewise.  I look out at familiar walls, people and objects and I see them with a new light and a new meaning.  I need not uproot the old to behold the Glory of Life.  I only need to see righty what already is and appreciate the Mind which brought it forth for me to see.  The ugliest building is potent with harmony, order and balance.  Its walls stand because a Law is in action.  Its presence declares a universal Substance, and its form affirms a Divine Intelligence.  I now see it anew, and appreciate an Idea made manifest.  The little becomes the great, for beauty is within it.

Gods action always produces symmetry, and my whole world is filled with the Divine Mind in action under Its perfect Law.  The beauty of Spirit is in me, and I acknowledge it in my brother.  To me all people have qualities of greatness.  Beauty is of the mind and heart as well as of appearance.  These inner powers are the real beauty that no outer application can equal.  The slightest kindness brings beauty to my heart.  No good act is too small to be appreciated.  God blesses me through all people and in all situations.  Wherever I look, beauty is at hand.  God beckons to me in every face, every building, and every landscape.  This is the day of harmony, order and balance.  Beauty is mine.

Taken from “365 Days of Richer Living” by Ernest Holmes & Raymond Charles Barker