Ernest Holmes

Ernest Shurtleff Holmes (1887-1960) was the founder of a movement known as Religious Science, also known as "Science of Mind", a part of the New Thought movement. He is well known as the author of "The Science of Mind" and numerous other metaphysical books, and as the founder of "Science of Mind" magazine, in continuous publication since 1927. His books remain in print, and the principles he taught as "Science of Mind" have inspired and influenced many generations of metaphysical students and teachers. Holmes had previously studied another New Thought teaching Divine Science, Holmes was an ordained Divine Science Minister. [ Glenn R. Mosley (2006) Templeton Foundation Press, New Thought, Ancient Wisdom p.47 ] His influence beyond New Thought can be seen in the self-help movement.

Life

Holmes was born January 21, 1887 in Lincoln, Maine to a poor family. Holmes left Maine for Boston when we was 15 and, at the age of 21, he took a two-year course in public speaking at the School of Expression, where he was introduced to Mary Baker Eddy's "Science and Health". [Gale Group, (1999) "Ernest Shurtleff Holmes" "Religious Leaders of America", 2nd ed., Farmington Hills, Mich., accessed September 2008.]

In 1912, Holmes joined his brother, Fenwicke, in Venice, California. There Ernest and his brother, a Congregationalist minister, studied the writings of Thomas Troward, William Walker Atkinson, and Christian D. Larson. [Gale Group, (1999) "Ernest Shurtleff Holmes" "Religious Leaders of America", 2nd ed., Farmington Hills, Mich., accessed September 2008.]

Teachings

In the 1920s, Holmes published the following statement of beliefs: [ [http://www.religiousscience.org/sanrafael/BELIEF.HTM "What I Believe"] , Ernest Holmes]

quotation
*I believe in God, the Living Spirit Almighty; one, indestructible, absolute and self-existent Cause. This One manifests itself in and through all creation, but is not absorbed by its creation. The manifest universe is the body of God; it is the logical and necessary outcome of the infinite self-knowingness of God.
*I believe in the incarnation of the Spirit in all, and that we are all incarnations of the One Spirit.
*I believe in the eternality, the immortality, and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding.
*I believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is within me and that I experience this Kingdom to the degree that I become conscious of it.
*I believe the ultimate goal of life to be a complete emancipation from all discord of every nature, and that this goal is sure to be attained by all.
*I believe in the unity of all life, and that the highest God and the innermost God is one God.
*I believe that God is personal to all who feel this indwelling Presence.
*I believe in the direct revelation of Truth through my intuitive and spiritual nature, and that anyone may become a revealer of Truth who lives in close contact with the Indwelling God.
*I believe that the Universal Spirit which is God, operates through a Universal Mind, which is the Law of God; and that I am surrounded by this Creative Mind which receives the direct impress of my thought and acts upon it.
*I believe in the healing of the sick through the power of the Mind.
*I believe in the control of conditions through the power of the Mind.
*I believe in the eternal Goodness, the eternal Loving-kindness and the eternal Givingness of Life to all.
*I believe in my own soul, my own spirit, and my own destiny; for I understand that the life I live is God.

Through his research, Holmes created a "structure of concepts" based on the religions and philosophies of human history , sometimes correlating his findings with the then-emerging "new" physics. He named the teaching a science because he believed that its principles were scientifically provable in practice. He wrote, "I would rather see a student of this Science prove its Principle than to have him repeat all the words of wisdom that have ever been uttered." [ cite web|url=http://www.csle.org/Core_Concepts/what_are_core_concepts.htm |title=Ernest Holmes' "Golden Thread of Truth" |accessdate=2008-03-14 ]

Holmes ultimately came to believe in a "core concept" -- what he saw as a "Golden thread of truth" that ran through all of the world's religions as well as in science and philosophy. [cite book | last = Hunt | first = Dennis | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Are We There Yet?: A Guide to Life, Living and Death | publisher = Troubador Publishing Ltd. | date = 2007 | location = | pages = 22,42 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=QdcM-0vqQScC&pg=PA22&vq=holmes&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1_1&sig=tgD16MM3LqYNnsG4o3SMv2nYUJQ | doi = | id = | isbn = 190-5886268 ]

ee also

* Divine Science
* A.K. Mozumdar
* Emmet Fox

References

External links

* [http://cornerstone.wwwhubs.com/ernestholmes.htm Ernest Holmes]
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/cm/index.htm Creative Mind, by Ernest Holmes]
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/som/index.htm Science of Mind, by Ernest Holmes]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spiritual_Deism Spiritual_Deism]