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The Science of Mind, by Ernest Shurtleff Holmes [1926], at sacred-texts.com
This glossary gives the Metaphysical meaning of the words as used in these lessons. It is not claimed that the definition of the words used in this glossary will, in every case, keep faith with the regular dictionary definition. The words are defined in such a say as to bring out the meaning with which they are used in this course of instruction.
It will be necessary for the student to carefully study the meaning of these words, together with the explanation of the words used in the different charts; in this way, the desired objective will be obtained, and there will be no confusion.
(The glossary in the original book is not in alphabetical order. The original order has been retained.--JBH)
ALPHA.--That which is first.
AXIOM.--A self-evident truth.
ABSOLUTE.--"Free from restriction." See Chart No. I.
AFFIRMATION.--To state positively and maintain as being true.
AURA.--The mental atmosphere surrounding a person.
APPARITION.--"A specter of phantom. The act of appearing."
ATTRIBUTE.--The being, essence, nature and substance of.
ALL-GOOD.--God or Spirit.
ANALYSIS.--Resolving things into their first elements.
ANDROGYNOUS.--Having the characteristics of both sexes.
ACCUMULATED CONSCIOUSNESS.--The sum total of all that one has ever said, thought, done or seen, consciously or un-consciously.
ACTIVE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE.--The Self-Conscious Spirit.
AXIOMATIC REASONING.--The deductions drawn from self-evident truths.
BODY.--The outward form.
BODY OF THE UNIVERSE.--The manifest Creation, the Body of God, both visible and invisible.
BEING.--That which has existence.
BLESSING.--Constructive thought directed toward any one.
BIBLE.--"The sacred books of any race or people."
CONSCIOUSNESS.--The perception of existence.
COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS.--Perception of The Whole.
COSMIC MIND.--The Mind of God.
COSMIC CONCEPTION.--The Divine Mind giving birth to Its Ideas.
CONCEPT.--An idea in mind.
CONSCIOUS MIND.--The self-knowing mind in God or man.
CREATION.--Passing of Spirit into form.
COSMOS.--The Universal World, visible and invisible.
CAUSATION.--That which stands back of things as the Intelligent Cause.
CREATIVE MIND.--The Universal Soul or Subjectivity. The Feminine Principle of the Universal Life.
CREATIVE MEDIUM.--From the Universal Sense, it is the World-Soul; and from the individual sense, it is the subjective state of man's thought.
COSMIC STUFF.--The stuff from which all forms are made.
COSMIC URGE.--The desire of Spirit to express Itself.
COSMIC PURPOSE.--The ideas of Spirit propelling themselves into outer expression. The desire of Spirit executing itself.
CREATIVE SERIES.--Any particular and concrete manifestation of Spirit.
COEXISTENT.--That which exists with.
COETERNAL.--Always existing. Uncreated.
CONDITIONS.--That which follows cause; the effect of law.
CORRESPONDENT.--The mental picture of cause of anything.
CONCENTRATION.--Bringing the attention to a focus.
CHANGE.--The appearance and disappearance of forms.
CHRIST.--The total manifestation of God, from the plant to an angel; from a peanut to the entire Universe of expression. Christ in Man means the idea of Sonship, the Perfect Man as He must be held in the Mind of God.
CONCRETE CAUSE.--Definite idea.
CONCEIVE.--To give birth to an idea.
COMPENSATION.--The law of balance in the mental world. Cause and effect.
CONTEMPLATE.--To know within the self.
CLAIRAUDIENCE.--The ability to perceive sounds without the ear.
CLAIRVOYANCE.--The ability to see mentally. See without the eye.
CURSE.--Mentally used to destroy.
CONFLICT.--Inner mental struggle, conscious or unconscious.
COMPLEX.--The result of mental struggle, conscious or unconscious.
DIVINE PRINCIPLE.--Spiritual Causation operating through Universal Law.
DIVINE SCIENCE.--The facts known about mental and spiritual law.
DIVINE URGE.--The inner desire to express life.
DIVINE IDEAS.--The Ideas of God.
DIVINE NATURE.--The true nature of all things.
DEITY.--God.
DESIRE.--Life wishing to express Itself.
DISCARNATE SPIRITS.--Entities out of the flesh.
DIAGNOSIS.--Unearthing mental causes.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING.--Reasoning from the whole to a part.
DREAM WORLD.--World of thoughts that are Unexpressed.
DISEASE.--The result of inhibited mental and spiritual action.
DEVIL.--The personification of evil.
DENIAL.--The mental act of denying the false appearance.
EFFECT.--That which follows cause. The result of some inner action.
EGO.--The real self. The inner man.
ESOTERIC.--Inner.
EXOTERIC.--Outer.
EVOLUTION.--The passing of Spirit into form.
EVIL.--That which seems destructive.
EMANATE.--To flow forth from.
ETHER.--A universal medium which is supposed to be the last known analysis of matter; it interspheres all things and all space. The fine particles of matter, or electrons, are supposed to be cemented together by the ether. Ether
seems to be, to the material world, what mind is to the mental world; i.e., a universal medium.
ETERNAL.--Everlasting, without beginning or end.
EMMANUEL.--"God with us."
EQUIVALENT.--The mental likeness of a thing. The mental cause back of anything. The idea of the thing in the Subjective World.
EXISTENCE.--Having real being within itself. The cause of its own being, depending upon nothing but itself. Different from subsistence.
EMOTION.--Mental energy, set in motion through feeling.
ELEMENTALS.--Unevolved entities in the invisible world.
ENTITIES.--Anything that exists, visible or invisible.
EARTH-BOUND.--An entity unable to leave this plane.
FORM.--Any definite outline in time and space. Forms may be visible or invisible. In all probability, all space is filled with many kinds of forms.
FACULTY.--Any mode of bodily of mental behavior regarded as implying a natural endowment or acquired power--the faculties of seeing, hearing, feeling, etc."
FUNCTION.--"The normal action of any organ."
FAMILIAR SPIRITS.--Refers to the control of consciousness through the instrument of some invisible agency.
FATHER-MOTHER GOD.--The Masculine and Feminine Principles of Being as included in the Androgynous One, or First Cause.
FIRST CAUSE.--That which is the cause of all things. The Uncreated, from which all Creation springs. The First Cause is both Masculine and Feminine in Its Nature, and includes the Intermediate Principle of Creative Activity.
FORMLESS SUBSTANCE.--The ultimate stuff from which all forms are created, universally present, in an unformed state, and acted upon by conscious and subconscious intelligence. It is the nature of the Soul to give form to the ideas with which It is impregnated; hence, Soul contains Substance within Itself.
FEMININE PRINCIPLE.--The Universal Soul. In man, the subjective or subconscious intelligence.
GOD.--The First Cause, the Great I Am, The Unborn One, The Uncreated, The Absolute or Unconditioned, The One and Only. Man comprehends God only to the degree that he embodies the Divine Nature.
GHOST.--The mental form of any person in the flesh or out of it.
HABIT.--Any act that has become a part of the subconscious mentality.
HALO.--The emanation that appears around the head.
HUMANITY.--The multiplied expression of God as people. The many who live in the One.
HELL.--A discordant state of being.
HEAVEN.--A harmonious state of being.
HYPNOTISM.--The mental control of another.
HOLY GHOST.--The third Person of the Trinity. The Servant of the Spirit. Used in the sense of the World,--Soul or Universal Subjectivity.
INDWELLING EGO.--The Spirit of man as differentiated from his soul or subjective mentality. The Real Man which is the conscious part of him.
INDWELLING GOD.--The Real Man is as much of God as he is able to embody. The Divine Spark, Birthless and Deathless.
INDWELLING CHRIST.--Generic man, manifesting through the individual. The idea of Divine Sonship. The Real Man. As much of this reality appears as we allow to express through us.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.--All things are immaculately conceived, as all things come from the One.
IMMORTALITY.--The Deathless Principle of Being in all people.
INTUITION.--The ability to know without any process of reasoning. God knows only intuitively.
IMAGE.--The mental likeness of anything.
INSPIRATION.--From the human side, means contact with the
subconscious of the individual or the race. From the Divine, means contact with the Universal Spirit.
ILLUMINATION.--Inspiration reaching Cosmic state. A direct contact with Reality or God. A complete intuitive perception.
INSTINCTIVE LIFE.--The One in everything.
INSTINCTIVE MAN.--The Spiritual Man.
INHERENT LIFE.--Real life as distinguished from latent life.
INNER SIGHT.--The spiritual capacity of knowing the Truth. It is a mental quality which brings the mentality to a comprehension of Reality.
INDIVIDUALITY.--The Real Idea of man, as distinguished from the outer personality.
IDEA.--A concept. The Ideas of God are the Divine Realizations of His own Being. The real Ideas are eternal.
I AM.--From the universal standpoint, means God; and from the individual, means the Real Man.
INVOLUTION.--Ideas involved in Mind. Involution precedes evolution.
INDUCTIVE REASONING.--Reasoning from effect to cause.
IMAGINATION.--The imaging faculty.
INDUCE.--The act of planting seeds of thought in Creative Mind.
IMPERSONAL RECEPTIVITY.--The Creative Mind is impersonal receptivity, in that It receives all seeds of thought.
INTELLECT.--The reasoning faculty.
ILLUSION OF MIND.--Means looking at a picture in Mind which may be real, only as a picture, but not as substance. As a picture of a person is not the person, so there are many pictures, drawn in Mind, which are real only as pictures. Mine is not an illusion, but might present us with illusions, unless we are very careful to distinguish the false from the true.
INCARNATION.--The Spirit of God in all Creation.
INFINITE.--That which is beyond all comprehension.
IMMUTABLE LAW.--Absolute in its ability to accomplish.
INSANITY.--The loss of the objective faculties.
JESUS.--The name of a man. Distinguished from the Christ.
[paragraph continues] The man Jesus became the embodiment of the Christ as the human gave way to the Divine Idea of Sonship.
KARMA.--The subjective law of cause and effect.
LOGOS.--The word of God.
LAW.--Mind in action.
LIFE.--The animating Principle of Being.
LAW OF ATTRACTION.--Subjective tendencies set in motion which are bound to attract.
LAW OF CORRESPONDENCES.--The subjective image of a desire. In the subjective world there is an exact image of everything that is in the objective world.
LOVE.--The givingness of the self.
LATENT LIFE.--Life that depends upon reality. Distinguished from inherent life.
LOGIC.--Reasoning which keeps faith with itself.
LIBIDO.--The emotional urge within life which causes it to express itself.
LEVITATION.--Where the body is lifted without the aid of any physical medium.
MAYA.--World of mental illusion.
MENTAL CORRESPONDENTS.--The inner image in mind which balances the outer objectification of itself. Every objective thing has an inner mental correspondent.
MASCULINE PRINCIPLE.--The Self-Assertive Spirit, either in God or man.
MATERIAL MAN.--The objective man. Not opposed to Spirit, but the logical outcome of the Self-Knowing Mind.
MENTAL PLANE.--Just between the Spiritual and the physical. The three planes intersphere each other.
METAPHYSICAL PRINCIPLE.--The Universal Creative Mind; as Spirit, It is conscious; as Law, It is subjective.
METAPHYSICS.--That which is beyond the known laws of physics.
MULTIPLICITY.--The many things and people which come from the One. All come from the One, And all live in , and by, the One.
MAN.--The objectification of God in the human form. The idea of God manifested in the flesh. The Sonship of the Father. Generic man is the Type, and the personal man is the concrete expression of the Type.
MONEY.--The idea of Spiritual supply, objectified.
MEDIUM.--One who objectifies subjectivity.
MYSTIC.--One who senses the Divine Presence.
MYSTICISM.--Not a mystery, but a mystic sense of the presence of Ultimate Reality.
MANIA.--An irresistible desire controlling personal action.
MENTAL TREATMENT.--The act, art, and science of inducing thought in Mind, which thought, operated upon by Mind, becomes a manifested condition.
MENTAL EQUIVALENT.--Having a subjective idea of the desired experience.
MENTAL SCIENCE.--The science of Mind and Spirit. A systematic knowledge of the laws of the Mental and Spiritual World.
MIRROR OF MIND.--The subjective world, reflecting the images of thought that are projected into it by the conscious mind.
MIRROR OF MATTER.--The external form of an inner concept.
MATTER.--Any form which substance takes in the world of sense and objectivity.
MANIFESTATION.--The objectification of ideas.
MICROCOSM.--The individual world or universe of man.
MACROCOSM.--The Universal World.
MEMORY.--The subjective retention of ideas.
MESMERISM.--The influence of personality.
MENTAL ATMOSPHERE.--The mental emanation of anything, any person or any place. Everything has some kind of a mental atmosphere.
MIND.--Mind is both conscious and subconscious. Conscious Mind is Spirit, either in God or man. Unconscious Mind is the law of conscious Mind acting and is, therefore, subconscious or subjective.
MENTALITY.--An individual use of Universal Mind. There is One Mind, but within this One Mind are many
mentalities. The One Mind is God and the mentalities are people.
MALPRACTICE.--The destructive use of Mind Power. It may be conscious or malicious, innocent, or ignorant.
MENTAL IMAGE.--Subjective likeness.
NEUTRAL.--Not caring which way it works.
NORMAL.--Natural.
NATURAL MAN.--Instinctive or Spiritual Man.
NEUTRALIZING THOUGHT.--The act of mentally erasing thought images.
OCCULT.--Hidden.
OMEGA.--The last.
OBJECTIVE MIND.--The conscious mind.
OBJECTIVE PLANE.--The outer world of expression.
OBJECTIVE SIDE OF THOUGHT.--The conscious side of thinking.
OBJECTIFICATION.--The act of objectifying.
OBSESSION.--Being controlled by thoughts, ideas, or entities.
OMNIPRESENT.--Everywhere present.
OMNISCIENT.--All-knowing.
OMNIPOTENT.--All-powerful.
OMNISCIENT, INSTINCTIVE I AM.--God in man and things.
POTENTIAL.--Inherent possibility.
PRACTITIONER.--One who practices mental healing or demonstration.
PERSONALITY.--The objective evidence of individuality. The man as we see him in the relative world.
PROPHET.--One who prophesies.
PSYCHOMETRY.--Reading from the soul side of things.
PRINCIPLE.--Any law of nature.
PERCEPT.--An external object perceived by the mind. Distinguished from a concept which is an inner idea.
PLANES.--Different rates of vibration.
PSYCHIC.--Subjective capacity. All people are psychic, but all are not mediums. A medium is one who objectifies the psychic sense.
PSYCHE.--Soul or subjective.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE.--The ultimate formless stuff from which all things come.
PEACE.--A state of inner calm.
POISE.--Mental balance.
POWER.--The union of peace with poise.
PERFECTION.--The real state of being.
POVERTY.--A limited thought.
PURPOSE.--Definite intention.
PLASTIC.--Easily molded.
PSYCHOLOGY.--Study of the workings of the human mind.
PARTICULARIZATION.--Concrete forms produced by Spirit.
PRENATAL.--Conditions before human birth.
PSYCHO-ANALYSIS.--A systematic analysis of the subjective thought.
PHILOSOPHY.--A man's idea of life.
PSYCHIC WORLD.--The world of subjectivity.
PSYCHIC PHENOMENA.--Phenomena of the soul or subjective mentality.
PASSIVE RECEPTIVITY.--Willing to receive any and all forms of thought.
REVELATION.--Becoming consciously aware of hidden things.
REASON.--The mental ability to analyze, dissect and figure out the cause of things. The human mind can reason both inductively and deductively. The Divine Mind can reason only deductively.
RICHES.--Idea of abundance.
REALIZATION.--Subjective comprehension of Truth.
RELATIVE.--That which depends upon something else.
REINCARNATION.--Rebirth in the flesh.
RESURRECTION.--Rising from a belief in death.
REALITY.--The truth about anything.
RELIGION.--A Man's idea of God or gods.
RACE-SUGGESTION.--Human beliefs, operating through the mentality of the individual.
SUBSIST.--To live by virtue of spirit.
SPIRITUAL.--The atmosphere of God.
SUGGESTION.--Receiving the thoughts of another. Suggestion accepts the ideas of others and believes in them. It may be conscious or unconscious.
SAINT.--A holy man.
SAGE.--One versed in spiritual truths.
SEER.--One who sees into causes.
SELF-KNOWING MIND.--The conscious mind.
SELF-EXISTENT.--Living by virtue of its own being.
SELF-PROPELLING.--Having power within itself.
SPECIALIZE.--To bring into concrete form.
SILENCE.--The inner realization of the One Life.
SCIENCE.--Knowledge of laws and principles.
SPIRITS.--Personalities.
SUBSTANCE.--The formless back of all forms.
SPIRIT.--God, within Whom all spirits exist. The Self-Knowing One. The Conscious Universe. The Absolute.
SOUL.--The Creative Medium of Spirit.
SUBJECTIVE.--Beneath the threshold of the conscious. The inner side.
SUBCONSCIOUS.--The same as subjective.
SYMBOL.--Mental impressions denoting spiritual or mental truths.
SONSHIP.--Man as the Son of God.
SUBJECTIVE TENDENCY.--The subjective trend of thought.
SPIRITUAL REALIZATION.--The realization of the Divine Presence.
SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THOUGHT.--The sum total of all one's thinking, both conscious and unconscious.
SPACE.--The Cosmic World. The distance between two specific forms. Space is a relative condition within the Absolute.
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS.--The automatic, mental emanation of the subjective state of thought.
SUBJECTIVE SIDE OF LIFE.--The inner side of life, as law.
SUBLIMATE.--To transmute energy into another form of action.
SIMPLE CONSCIOUSNESS.--Consciousness, as in an animal.
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.--Personally conscious. Distinguished
from Cosmic Consciousness, which is a consciousness of the Unity of the Whole.
SPIRIT OF MAN.--God in man.
SELF-REALIZATION.--A consciousness of the self as a reality.
SPIRITUAL MAN.--Man in a conscious state.
SIN.--Missing the mark. There is no sin but a mistake and no punishment but an inevitable consequence.
SUBJECTIVE CAUSATION.--The mental law set in motion.
SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS.--The realization of the Divine Presence.
SUBJECTIVITY OF THE UNIVERSE.--The Universal Soul or mental Law.
SUBJECTIVE TO SPIRIT.--The Law is the subjective to the Spirit.
SUBJECTIVE ACTIVITY.--The inner action of the automatic law.
SOUL OF THE UNIVERSE.--The Universal Creative Medium.
SPIRIT OF THE UNIVERSE.--The Self-Knowing Mind of God.
TRIUNE UNITY.--The Trinity.
TREATMENT.--The art, act and science of inducing thought on the subjective side of life. Setting the Law in motion.
TELEKINETIC ENERGY.--Moving ponderable objects without physical contact.
TRANCE.--A subjective state.
TELEPATHY.--Thought transference.
THOUGHT FORMS.--All thought has definite form on the subjective side of life.
THE ONLY.--The One Power.
TIME.--"Sequence of events in a Unitary Whole."
THOUGHT.--The movement of consciousness.
TRUTH.--That which Is.
TRINITY.--The Threefold Universe.
THEOLOGY.--That which treats of the nature of God.
TRANSMUTATION.--Same as sublimation.
UNIVERSE.--The Cosmic World.
UNITY.--The Oneness of God and man.
UNCONSCIOUS MEMORY.--Subjective memory.
UNCONSCIOUS THOUGHT.--Unconscious subjective thought.
UNIVERSAL LAW.--Divine Principle.
UNIVERSAL MIND.--The Creative Medium of Spirit.
UNIVERSAL SPIRIT.--The Conscious Mind of God.
UNIVERSAL SOUL.--The Universal Subjectivity.
UNIVERSAL SUBJECTIVITY.--The Creative Medium or the Universal Mind.
VISUALIZATION.--The art of mentally projecting a thought form into the Universal Creative Medium.
VIBRATION.--Law in execution.
WORD.--The thought of God or man.