{"collection":"Esoteric & Occult","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/eso/cm/cm05.htm","path":"eso/cm/cm05.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/eso/cm/cm05.htm","text":"Creative Mind, by Ernest Shurtleff Holmes [1923]\nWhat is the Truth?\nThe Truth is that which is. It is all that is. As there cannot be something and nothing, so the Truth, being that which is. must at the same time be all that there is.\nWhere is the Truth?.\nIf the Truth is All, it must be everywhere; being all, there is no other substance to divide it with; being undivided, it is everywhere present. All Truth, which means all power, must be present at all points, or at any given point, at any and at all times.\nHas the Truth changed?\nA substance cannot change unless there is something for it to change into. Since the Truth is all, it cannot change, for there is no other thing for it to change into; whatever is the Truth, then, has never changed.\nIs the Truth, or that which is, one or many?\nIt must be one, since it is all.\nIs the Truth conscious?\nYes, man is conscious. He could not be so unless Truth or Life were conscious. Man's self-consciousness proves the self-consciousness of Life or Truth or Spirit. Like produces like.\nWhat comes out of life?\nEverything that is comes out of life. If life is all then it follows that all that is is some form of life.\nHow does Life make things?\nBeing all, it must make things out of itself. It must operate upon itself, through itself, and out of itself must make all that is made. Being conscious, it must know that it is doing this.\nWhat would we call this inner movement of Life?\nThe inner movement of Life or consciousness we would call thought or the self-knowing of Life or Spirit.\nThen the universe and all that is a part of it comes from thought?\nYes, everything comes from thought.\nDo we not see a visible world that seems to change, and if we do, how is it that it could come from something that never changes?\nYes, we do see a changing world, but back of it is a changeless substance. The thing that changes is the thought or form; the substance from which this form comes never changes. It is one and undivided, and takes form through thought in all things. We prove this when we resolve all things into one source. All material things, so called, can be reduced into formless 'substance, the sole activity of which must be thought or the movement of intelligence upon itself.\nWhat causes form to change?\nThe intelligence behind it.\nIs there nothing in the universe, then, but Life, thought and form?\nThese are all.\nIf this is true, what is physical law?\nPhysical law is simply the result of the inner movement of Life.\nIf things and laws are the result of the inner movement of Life, then does it not follow that thoughts are things?\nYes, all things are simply thought forms.\nHow long does thought last as form?\nAs long as the thought is held in Life or Mind.\nDoes the thought of Life, Mind or Good ever change?\nFrom all that we can know the thought of God seems to change. That is, planets change, take form and again become formless. When we realize that all this can take place without ever changing the substance behind it, we see no reason why God's thought could not change and ever build up a higher form. Indeed, this is one of the teachings of Ancient Wisdom, that while reality never changes, the form that it takes is ever changing.\nWhat is man's place in the creative order?\nMan is a thinking center in Mind, reproducing in a smaller scale all there is in the Universe.\nDoes this not make man's thought creative?\nIn a certain sense it does. What we call creation is not making something out of nothing, but it is thought taking form. And as man thinks, and as thought must take form, then it must follow that man's thought must take form in mind and so become creative.\nWhat is man's thought?\nIt is the activity of that something within that can say, \"'I Am.\"\nWhat is the difference between God and man?\nThe very fact that man can say, \"I Am,\" proves that he is. Since he is he must be made out of life and must be some part of all that there is. This being so, man must be a part of God's consciousness. The difference would be in degree only. He must be as much of Life as he recognizes himself to be.\nIs all of man's thought creative?\nYes, all or none. If one thought produces, then all must.\nIf this be true, how is it that man seems to be so limited?\nBecause he has thought limitation, and thoughts are things and will always make the thing thought of. In reality the very fact that man's thought can limit him also proves that it could free him from all limitation by simply changing his thought.\nBut why is man so made that he can think two ways?\nThis is a question that can be answered only in one way. Unless a man can think as he wants to think he would not be a man at all but simply a piece of mechanism. Man is an individual and that means self choice, backed by a power that will produce the thing chosen. In discovering himself man chooses many things, uses them and passes to a higher choice, ever ascending in the scale of being. As fast as he chooses, he experiences that thing which he thinks about.\nWhat is evil?\nEvil is the result of a lack of clear seeing, based upon a belief in two powers, and limitation and what we call sin is the result of man's struggle to find himself.\nIf this be true, why could we not at once begin to change our whole life by first changing our thought?\nWe could. We would not be changing real substance, but we would be changing the form that it takes through our thought. All that we can change is the form of thought through which experiences come to us.\nWhat is the limit of man's creative use of Mind?\nMan is limited by nothing but his own thinking, by his mental ability to conceive.\nWhat is meant by mental conception?\nAll things are produced by thought. The thing produced from mind is first formed in thought; thought molds mind into form.\nBut do we not have to act?\nWe cannot think without acting; an inactive body is the result of an inactive mind.\nIn using our creative powers, how far do we have to consider the conditions under which we live?\nWe do not have to consider them at all. Conditions are the result, the effect and not the cause; we create them as fast as we think.\nHow would a person start to change conditions?\nBy first changing thought and by realizing that we are not dealing with an illusion, but with the great reality. Then by acting as though we already have what we think.\nHow long would it take to do this?\nAs long as it would take to let go of all negative thought and embody all positive thought. This would depend entirely upon the individual and his mental ability to control thought.\nWhat would hinder us the most?\nOurselves; no one gives to us but ourselves and no one takes from us but ourselves.\nCan no one else help us?\nOnly to a limited degree. While we may be helped by those who understand the law, for a time, yet sooner or later we must ourselves take the creative responsibility of our own lives. Others may think for us for a few moments a day, but we think for ourselves all the time.\nBut does not God help us?\nYes, God helps all, but must do it through law. \"All's love yet all's law.\"\nHow should we pray?\nBy giving thanks that we already have that thing that we pray for; by completely believing and by never doubting. \"When ye pray believe that ye have received and ye shall receive.\" We must be sure that in no way shall we think, act or talk or read about limitation. We must all be a law unto ourselves.","title":"Creative Mind: Questions and Answers","type":"page"}