Manifest Success!

Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

RECOGNITION

CHAPTER TWO

UNIFICATION

CHAPTER THREE

REALIZATION

CHAPTER FOUR

GRATITUDE

CHAPTER FIVE

RELEASE

PREFACE

During the year preceding publication, it has been our privilege to teach these ideas to thousands of students in more than fifteen countries around the world by e-mail. This wonderful synergy has been a delight for us and we trust that you will enjoy its offspring, this book.

INTRODUCTION

The aim of human life is to be happy. Happiness takes many forms. Whether it is the satisfaction of our body’s appetites for food and comfort, our ego’s struggle for self-mastery, our heart’s desire for love, our mind’s quest for understanding, or our soul’s yearning for union with the Absolute, the goal is always happiness. When we are happy, we know we have manifested success. We are wonderfully equipped to experience happiness on many levels. It is natural and healthy to desire happiness. It is our birthright to expect success. We deserve to be successful and happy.

We’ll begin with a very brief introduction to the metaphysics of Reality, since this is the foundation of what is to follow.

Every apparently separate consciousness and what we think of as our own mind, every me and you, is an individualized expression of Universal Consciousness, whose Intelligence structures Itself as the One Mind. Likewise, our apparently separate bodies and the infinity of other things which fill the material universe which we perceive through our senses are individualized expressions in Universal Substance, which is everywhere present in potentiality and capable of assuming any form given to it by thought. In other words, we’re all made of the same stuff as the rest of the universe.

Every person and thing, seen or unseen, is in constant, harmonious relation with every other. This relation is governed by a universal Law, and we have become accustomed to calling it causality, or the law of cause and effect. We are all familiar with the physical statement of this law as For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Let us now become accustomed to the earlier, metaphysical statements of the same fundamental Law by Jesus as It shall be done unto you as you believe and As you sow, so shall you reap. Still earlier is the Buddha’s statement, Desire is the shape of the universe.

In a nutshell, the way Reality works is this. Thought, working through Law creates Manifestation. Thought has created, and is creating, and will continue to create the universe. We are thinking beings, and our thoughts, our beliefs, conscious or un-conscious, are continually creating our reality, our world, our circumstances, our experiences. We are not creating the entire universe, however, but we are individualizing our experience of it. Most of us, most of the time, are simply unconsciously accepting the accumulated pattern of belief which we will call race mind, or consensual reality and using that as the pattern for our own experience.

What might seem at first to be the bad news is we are each responsible for our own experience. After all, we do have free will. The good news is we don’t have to learn how to create our experience. We’re already all doing it, all the time. We just need to become more conscious of what we’re doing, so that we’ll experience more of what we desire and less of what we don’t.

Some encouraging words from Ernest Holmes, Let us approach the thing simply and quietly. It is the nature of the universe to give us what we are able to take. It cannot give us more. It has given all, and we have not yet accepted the greater gift.

We need to work on our acceptance, and this brings us to Spiritual Mind Treatment.

The name Spiritual Mind Treatment may be a little confusing, but it has a historical explanation. It was coined by Ernest Holmes and other formative thinkers of what has become the New Thought movement: Spiritual because the actual ‘work’ of the treatment, ie. manifestation, is done by Universal Consciousness/Intelligence, called Spirit or Principle by Holmes, and others; Mind because our access to Spirit is through the One Mind of which we all partake; Treatment following the lead of Mary Baker Eddy (of Christian Science fame) who rightly insisted that prayers for healing had the same right to be called treatments (and charged for!) as did the physical interventions of medical practitioners. To this day, people who do treatments for others often call themselves practitioners.

What name we use for the process is really not important, since what we are attempting to do with our words is to point to a Reality which is beyond words, and to take part, as conscious Cause, in the already-existing, on-going, creative process that is shaping our experience of that Reality.

This paragraph is a quick sketch of one of the traditional structures of Spiritual Mind Treatment. This course will have lessons on each of the five steps. The first step is RECOGNITION, that we live in an infinite universe governed by infinite Intelligence. Next we UNIFY with this spiritual reality. Simply, if IT is all-there-is, then we must be included in IT. Developing this awareness, we REALIZE that the good we desire, be it health, happiness or wealth is already available to us, awaiting only our acceptance of it to manifest as our experience. We accept this good now in our own heart and thought, and we express our GRATITUDE that we have already received it and that this is the way Reality works. Finally we RELEASE our treatment into the infinite Intelligence, knowing that the Law of the universe is already working to bring into our experience the good we have claimed for ourselves or another.

The steps outlined here are the procedure or ritual used in Religious Science. We’d like to stress that these steps are indeed as much a ritual as any other follow these outlines, recipes, directions, etc. The steps in themselves are not magic, the words you use are not magic; nor will it do anything for you to merely follow to the letter each step except give you the knowledge of what these steps are.

The important difference is that, unlike a recipe which directs the combination of various material ingredients, in following the steps of treatment, we intentionally establish ourselves in a particular state of consciousness. We tune ourselves in to a different frequency, a higher order of Reality than that of our ordinary, waking consciousness, and in this state, the thoughts behind the words we speak become the pattern acted upon by the creative Law.

You could consider the traditional 5-step ritual of treatment to be like using training wheels when you’re learning to ride a bicycle. Once you’ve learned to balance your consciousness through practice, you can leave the training wheels behind and ride in your own, unique style. Ernest Holmes, in fact, used only the first 3 steps, the last 2 were added later on. There are some mystics, Joel Goldsmith for one, who use the realization, There is only God, as the entire treatment.

Following are two examples of treatment

There is only Reality. All I am is Reality. I know the class is a success and for that I am grateful. I release this knowledge into the Mystery and know it is so. (Yes, all 5 steps are there.)

"All is One, expressing as infinite multiplicity, unifying in intimate harmony. I am body of its Substance, heart of its Love, mind of its Mind and soul of its Spirit. The on-going marvel of creation flows through me as my very life. I am a part of the All-Being and not apart from it. I know myself to be Cause in my own life and I know all those who participate in this class to be Cause in their own lives. I know for all involved, teachers and students alike, that Spirit, through the means of this class, enlarges our awareness of our true magnificence and increases our acceptance of the infinite gift that is already given. The sure knowledge of this success fills

me now. I call this gratitude. I call this Good. I let go and let God, and so it is."

METAPHOR

Although we call it Manifesting Success, what this class is about is knowing how Reality works. It’s not occult material at all, even though it may not be what we’ve been taught in school. It is just a natural way of living life to the fullest. It is no more mysterious than learning to drive a car and in fact we’ll be using some very practical metaphors to aid us in understanding just how simple some of these steps are.

In this course we’re often going to be using the simple metaphor of going to your favorite restaurant and ordering a meal.

First step in Treatment is RECOGNITION.

Well, if this is your favorite restaurant, you feel you know a great deal about it. In other words you can list its attributes. For instance, what the atmosphere is like, what kind of food it serves, when is opens and closes, the name of the chef, and the list goes on.

Second step in Treatment is UNIFICATION.

This is stretching the metaphor a bit, but we’ll continue with it. You feel a unity, a bond with the restaurant. You know the staff and they know you. It is YOUR favorite restaurant. Think of how you feel when something is yours, a part of your life. A better metaphor here might be your body, your family, your home town, your work. Something that is part of you and you part of it.

The third step in Treatment is REALIZATION.

Although it’s commonly said that this is the step where you state what you want or what you desire, what we really mean is that YOU EXPAND YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS TO INCLUDE YOUR BELIEF IN THE REALITY OF WHAT YOU DESIRE. In other words, you realize that the object of your desire is already in Reality. For instance, remember when you first heard of that restaurant? A friend told you about it and you responded, I didn’t even know it was there! What a find. Well, just because you didn’t know it was there doesn’t mean it didn’t exist. It doesn’t mean you created it, nor does it mean you had to create it. It was already there and you just had to realize it. All you had to do was expand your consciousness to include your belief in its reality.

There are many other examples of this. Remember getting a new car or hearing an unusual name? All of a sudden there were more of them in your world, you noticed more of them. Well, they were already there, in reality, you just expanded your consciousness to realize more of them.

The fourth step in Treatment is GRATITUDE.

Well, there you are in the restaurant, you’re familiar with how good the food is, you’ve placed your order and you’re awaiting its arrival in a state of positive expectancy. You have full confidence in your meal’s appearance, as ordered. You even said thank you to the waiter, AS THOUGH IT WAS ALREADY DONE. This expression of gratitude is really an expression of DELIGHT, which is our natural state of being. It arises spontaneously when we are in the state of unitive consciousness.

Step five in Treatment is RELEASE.

You know that what you have stated will happen. When you order a meal in that favorite restaurant of yours you don’t concern yourself with how it will happen. You don’t go back and try to help the chef, you don’t keep pestering the waiters, you don’t ever doubt that it will come to you. You’ve placed your order and now you release your attention from that task. You sit back and enjoy yourself while waiting for your realization to manifest!

You use the same state of mind when treating for any other desired manifestation in your life.

CHAPTER ONE

RECOGNITION

In this first step of treatment we re-cognize (literally: know again) the Truth about Reality. We (Helen and Peter) use the word God as a convenient name for the Universal Consciousness, Infinite Spirit, Power, Love and Intelligence that IS the Reality, within which we live, move and have our being. This is the One Truth that includes all other truths; the One Reality that includes all other realities. Please use whatever word or words seem most suitable to your consciousness. This will be the most effective approach. After all, what each of us is doing in this process is developing the most effective method of realizing our Good. Whatever word or phrase you use will be your own name for the Reality that is essentially beyond words. You could call it IT. What’s really important is not what you call it, but what you believe about it.

We recognize the qualities or the attributes of God. The perfection, the infinite power, the infinite intelligence and wisdom of God. We recognize that God is all there is, and all there is is God. We acknowledge that there is no spot where God is not. The entire wonder and diversity of nature is, in fact, divine.

Since, in the next treatment step, you will be unifying with this Reality, it’s a good idea to conceive of it as something positive, something good, a Truth that you embrace gladly, even as it embraces you, for it does.

EXERCISE:

Look at a sunset, a baby, the ocean, a bird’s nest, snowbanks, your reflection in a puddle, an intricate machine… whatever strikes you as beautiful, whatever evokes a sense of awe and wonder, whatever puts you in the mood to recognize the Truth about Reality. You may find that you don’t need to look at anything to get into the mood to recognize the infinite Truth that surrounds and sustains you. Just close your eyes and do it. That’s fine.

Write down the attributes of Reality, of God, the Absolute, the great I AM, the First Cause, the Creative Energy that is the cause of all things visible and invisible (whatever name or words you find appropriate). Do this every day, or as often as you need to. Add to or modify your list every time you do this. Understand that this is YOUR recognition of Reality. It can be single words, poetry, mental images, music, whatever form best expresses your personal, unique recognition.

If you can at the very least add to the list of attributes every day, the exercise will be more powerful.

Suggestion: Do something different each week for the entire class.

We tend to hold patterns of energy around us. If we change anything in our lives, even small patterns, we will be more open to change overall. For instance, if you drink coffee, try tea instead one or two times during the week, if you listen to rock music change to classic or country every now and then, if you wake up at 7 o’clock, try getting up at 5 to, try a different toothpaste, walk or drive a slightly different route, sit in a different chair at the computer, put a different picture on your desk. Please don’t do anything that’s bizarre or painful, rather, a small, mindful change for a week at a time.

A great Hawaiian Shaman, Serge King, tries this anytime he wants to feel healthier. He finds ANY change of diet results in a positive benefit for him, for it doesn’t matter if we believe the change in itself is virtuous or healthy or better… ANY change creates different energy patterns.

So, make a mindful