A Dictionary of New Thought Terms

as used by Ernest Holmes

B

baptism by fire The purging of the conscious and unconscious processes of thought whereby mental patterns are transmuted from a material into a spiritual consciousness.

baptism by the Holy Ghost Pure spiritual intuition transcendent of intellectual processes. The Light of Heaven. A state of consciousness which is no longer a symbol nor a purging, but which is a deep interior awareness of peace, poise, power, wholeness, and perfection.

baptism by water Symbolic of one's consciousness that he is immersed in Life --- liquid Spirit.

Bascom, John published the first Science of Mind in 1881.

"Be ye doers of the Word" We must consciously use Law and demonstrate the Principle.

"Be ye perfect . . . even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" Means be perfect physically even as you already are spiritually perfect.

becoming as a little child Having implicit and childlike confidence in eternal Goodness and in the ever creative Law.

becoming God-conscious Becoming aware of the Invisible Presence which permeates everything with the essence of perfection, truth, beauty, and power.

"Before they call I will answer" Cause and Effect are one and the same thing: While we are yet speaking the Law is set in motion.

Beginning, in the The starting point of any creation. That out of which all experience is projected.

Being In its absolute sense, God, Spirit, Reality. (See also also Truth of being.)

belief and believer are one The condition is thought or belief in form; the two are one.

belief and not the thing believed in is the power Since the world has had many varying religious convictions, and since all faiths have produced results, it follows that it is belief itself and not some peculiar religious conviction which gives power to thought.

belief as law When Jesus announced, "It is done unto you as you believe," he was announcing the Law of Belief.

belief, change of Changing our psychological patterns of thought to the acceptance of that which includes the Allness of God, relative to any fact or experience.

belief displaced by spiritual idea Nothing real is destroyed in spiritual mind practice; it is the material sense of things that is transformed into spiritual realization.

belief, false See false belief

belief, handling See handling a belief

belief in evil creates evil Wherever we place our mental attention, there we tend to create conditions which correspond to such mental attention.

belief is a certain way of thinking No matter how spiritual the belief or the faith may be, it is still an act of consciousness, hence it can be reduced to a state of thought.

Belief, Law of Belief creates its own law, which is changed only by reversing the belief.

belief, separating the See separating.

belief, understanding and See understanding and.

beliefs, discordant See separate.

believe in your heart Refers to the positive inner conviction.

"Believe not every spirit" This refers to the psychic confusion of believing that subjective forms are always what they claim to be.

believing the Truth and believing in Truth To believe in Truth is to recognize or accept spiritual power as Reality. To believe the Truth is to use this power which we believe in.

Beloved Son The divine unique individualization of God which every man is. (See also Only-Begotten Son; Father and.)

"beside Him there is none other" God manifest and God unmanifest constitutes the totality of Being. God is around and through everything both immanent and transcendent.

Bible The sacred book or books of any race of people; a book containing the sacred writings of any religion, which is used as an authority.

black magic An inverted use of the creative Power of Mind. A determination to use self-will to force others to comply with one's own wishes. Instead of using the Power to cooperate with the forward, evolutionary movement of Life Itself, in unity with Wholeness, which is the Will of God, the Nature of which is toward good for all, the person has the erroneous idea that he can control mind and bend others to his individual will. He manipulates others through what he thinks in his mind. There is but One Mind, which we all use, and only if It is used according to Its Law of Good, of Unity and Wholeness, may we avoid destruction. The wrong use of mind destroys the ignorant one, and he retrogrades instead of moving forward.

blessing Constructive thought directed toward any person or any condition; any constructive thought designed to be helpful.

blind force and Infinite Intelligence Blind force refers to the Law of Cause and Effect, which is a doer and not a knower. Infinite Intelligence refers to limitless capacity consciously to know.

blood Symbol of Divine Life manifesting Itself on the physical plane.

Boaz One of the two great Pillars of the Universe that stood at the entrance to the Temple of Solomon, described in the Bible (1 Kings 7:21; 2 Chron. 3:17). Boaz symbolizes the personal element, also the Voice, or the Word. In Masonic teaching these two pillars represent the Law and the Word before the Temple of Truth. They are united by the Royal Arch of Love, and it is taught that progress in Truth is made by finding the balance between them --- that is, to balance the personal with the impersonal, the Great Universal Power. (See also Jachin.)

body, etheric See etheric body.

body, false belief about See false belief about.

body is mental and spiritual Body is not to be denied; we are to affirm that body is a combination of spiritual ideas harmoniously expressing life.

Body of Christ The Body of Christ is the immortal individuality within us, manifesting Itself on any particular plane upon which we may be living. The Spiritual Body.

Body of God The entire manifest creation.

body of right ideas In treatment the body is viewed as a combination of spiritual ideas harmoniously unified with the Divine Life.

body, physical See physical body never denied. body, psychic See psychic body.

body, spiritual See spiritual body.

Body, there is but one Refers to the Body of spiritual ideas. Spiritual Body is a divine idea forever embodying Itself in temporary form. (See also One Body; only One Body.)

bondage not God-ordained The principle of freedom cannot create bondage or limitation. Bondage is the result of a wrong perception of the principle of freedom.

born again, to be A resurrection from the belief that we are separated from God or Perfect Life into the understanding that "Beloved, now are we the sons of God!"

bound by mortal belief To be controlled by race suggestion.

bound by our own freedom Mind is "the law that binds the ignorant and frees the wise." The thought of limitation creates limitation; the thought of freedom creates freedom. Since limitation is a limited viewpoint of Reality, a greater viewpoint automatically heals the limitation. Thus, we are apparently bound and actually set free by one and the same Law.

bowl of acceptance Refers to our mental attitudes, which, as it were, are held up that the outpouring horn of plenty may fill them.

Bread of Heaven The Truth as spiritual food for the soul. (See also "I am the bread.")

breath The Life of all beings; symbolic of spiritual action which breathes thought into form and withdraws form into thought. The word Spirit comes from the Latin word spiro, meaning breath. We read in the Bible that "God breathed into man the Breath of Life, and man became a living being." To breathe is to live. Every living thing is a part of the Great Breath, from the very plants, up through the animal kingdom, to man. The breath is a part of the Action of God in man and is quite beyond man's control. In ancient teachings we are told the Great Breath was the beginning of life and energy on the planet. "And the Spirit of God [the Breath] moved upon the waters."

burning bush Refers to the thought that all nature is alive with the Divine Presence. It is the recognition of this Divine Presence which causes the voice to proceed from nature. That is, we commune with God through nature.

business, healing See healing a sick business.

business is a thing of thought It would be impossible for one with a negative thought to have an active business. By the same token a negative business is revived through the activity of thought.

"by man came death . . . also the resurrection" Refers to the idea that death is not in the Principle of Truth, but merely in experience; resurrection is an experience of waking from the belief in death.

"By their fruits ye shall know them" Invisible causes are known by studying their effects.

"By thy words thou shalt be justified, and . . . condemned" Refers to the Law of Cause and Effect as It operates upon our thought.