Discovering Universal Truths

In late 1992, I was going through a divorce and living for a while on a farm outside of Athens, Ohio. While there, I came across a publication entitled Science of Mind. I noticed the tag line "Change Your Thinking, Change Your World," and I was intrigued with the concept.

The magazine was clearly spiritual and metaphysical in content, and I couldn't wait to get back to the farm and read it cover to cover. As it turned out, that was a fateful day for my continued spiritual evolution.

For many years I'd been a student of Eastern philosophy and spirituality due in large part to a rejection of the Christianity and Catholicism of my youth. After reading the Science of Mind articles, I felt that I could come back to the West. There was resonance within me that recognized that "truth is truth" regardless of the source or tradition.

Through the magazine I was introduced to New Thought, a philosophy that weaves the sacred teachings of both Eastern and Western traditions, the empirical nature of science, the deep insights of psychology and the wisdom from the great philosophers. I felt like I found a gold mine in my back yard, but the real gold mine was the book The Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes.

Holmes was a true spiritual visionary who stripped Christianity of its divisive, dogmatic aspects and integrated it with the perennial philosophy of other truth traditions. The teachings of the Buddha and Krishna are on par with those of Jesus Christ. What matters most is universal law, truth and love — core aspects of mysticism.

In The Science of Mind, Holmes outlines a metaphysical interpretation of the bible that stands in stark contrast to literalism; that "heaven" and "hell" are self-created states of consciousness; that our mind is part and parcel of an infinite mind. He also introduced me to affirmative prayer and the Law of Attraction — the role of unconscious belief systems and the concept of cause and effect.