Three Spiritual Paths Visited

Religious Science

The Science of Mind philosophy is explained in the book of the same name by Ernest Holmes, originally published in 1926 and rewritten and published again in 1938. The book is still in print today and is the basic text for Religious Science churches and study groups around the world.

Originally intended as a teaching organization, the Institute of Religious Science and Philosophy was founded in 1927 to teach the Science of Mind philosophy. Though its founder encouraged study of the philosophy to enhance anyone’s spiritual/religious beliefs and practice, it stood on its own well enough to become a religious belief in its own right and Ernest Holmes gave his blessing for the formation of churches beginning in 1938.

Today Religious Science is a worldwide denomination, and though relatively small in numbers its followers have a profound impact on the world through their conscious, deliberate application of this practical spirituality. Religious Science, not to be confused with Scientology, is an exciting, promising, relevant, useful, powerful spiritual teaching; one that demonizes nobody and nothing while at the same time promotes tremendous good for one’s life and for the world.

Religious Science (and the philosophy it espouses, the Science of Mind) is a worldwide religious and spiritual teaching that ties together all aspects of the human experience and explains in very logical terms how life and the universe work, and how we can make our existence better. Its universal principles come together in the human heart and mind to create a practical spirituality that understands the importance of integrity, congruence and personal responsibility.

Central Core Belief

Our core belief is that God Is All There Is. Our God is not the anthropomorphic, judgmental, sometimes petty God, but rather is the Energy back of Creation, as well as Creation itself. “In the beginning God created.” There was nothing but God in the beginning, and so it is now. The universe is the body of God—the physical manifestation of the Divine creative Power—but it is still contained within (and filled with) the Power that created it.

Our other core beliefs are:

God and I are One; thought is a creative energy; it is done as I believe; and Heaven is within me now.

Combine these five core beliefs and you have a practical, powerful, responsible way to live life in the 21st century. Religious Science inspires compassion, inclusivity, peace and harmony. Its believers are called to stand in the face of challenges and societal dysfunction and proclaim the Presence of God…not an easy thing to do! But proclaim it we must, and do, because we believe God Is All There Is and we wish to be a force for Good on planet Earth.

Imagine for a moment that you were committed to living by that one basic tenet, God Is All There Is: it would mean you could no longer look at another person or situation as something, “less than” or separate from the One that is God. It would mean you must actively, deliberately, and consciously seek after a connection with or some morsel of good within a person or circumstance that heretofore you would have labeled negative, bad or evil.

It would mean that you would find yourself compelled to do good in your life, because you understand that everything is connected to everything else.

This is, to borrow a phrase from leading-edge science, “non-dual living.” It is once and for all discarding the idea that the Creator of the universe could ever have made anything by mistake, anything extra, anything defective or anything unlike Itself.