A Dictionary of New Thought Terms

as used by Ernest Holmes

I

"I Am," the The "I Am" is both individual and universal: Individually it means the Life Principle within us; universally it means "The Thing Itself." In the universal It is God the Living Spirit Almighty; in the individual it is God the Living Spirit individualized. "I am that I Am" means God. (See also instinctive.)

"I am the bread of life" The "I Am" in man is God or Truth. "The Truth is bread which refreshes our minds and fails not; changes the eater, and is not Itself changed into the eater." Bread is the symbol of spiritual food.

"I am the first and the last" Spirit is both Cause and Effect.

"I am the Lord and there is none else" There is only one Mind, one Power, and one Law running through all manifestation.

"I am the Lord . . . Beside me there is no saviour" Refers to the universal "I Am" operating through the individual I. Conscious use of this spiritual Power is our true Saviour.

"I am the vine, ye are the branches" There is one universal Christ Principle; we are all members of this perfect body.

"I can do all things through Christ" That is, in conscious union with the indwelling Spirit all things are possible.

"I can of mine own self do nothing" It is only through conscious cooperation with the Creative Principle that we can hope to draw the greatest power from It. Any energy shut off from its source soon becomes exhausted.

"I have blotted out . . . thy transgressions" A correct use of the Law transcends previous experiences.

"I have put my words in thy mouth" Man reproduces the universal Wholeness in his individual life.

"I judge no man" Judgment, punishment, and reward are in accord with the eternal Law of Cause and Effect; there is no superior intelligence that sits in constant judgment over our acts.

"I set before you . . . a blessing and a curse" Refers to the neutral law of mind, which produces divergent experiences.

"I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness" Nothing can satisfy us until we awake to the truth of our being.

"I will contend with them that contend with thee" Refers to the Law of Cause and Effect; whatever sets destructive causation in motion must finally be destroyed by it.

"I will remember their sins no more" In mental treatment the entire effect of past mistakes is wiped out.

"I will work, saith the Lord, and who shall hinder me?" There is one Power, which knows no opposites.

Id Psychological expression meaning "it." From a metaphysical viewpoint, the cosmic urge toward self-expression manifesting through the individual as the Libido.

Idea, Divine See "whose."

Idea, God appears through See God appears. idea, man as mind instead of See man as mind. idea (spiritual), supply as See supply as.

idea, true --- replacing false belief with See replacing. idea, universal See universal idea.

ideals --- conduct is subconsciously conditioned by spiritual ideals All of our ideals tend to revolve around the idea of our relationship to the universe.

ideas See word is.

ideas are to the invisible what things are to the visible Ideas are actual Substance in mental form. The visible is the counterpart of ideas.

ideas, Mind can only operate upon See Mind can. ideas of supply See supply, ideas.

ideas, organs as spiritual See organs; physical organs. ideas, right See right ideas.

identification The principle that "like attracts like." In thought, one must identify himself with that which he would draw into his experience. To be successful, one must identify oneself with success, etc.

identity, spiritual See spiritual identity.

If God be for us, He cannot be against us Means that there is only one Power; the universe is a unity and not a duality. There is no evil to oppose the Truth.

"If our earthly house . . . were dissolved, we have a house . . . eternal in the Heavens" We have a spiritual body as well as a physical one.

"If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" We heal fear only by faith, lack only through the consciousness of abundance; we enter heaven only by deserting hell; etc.

ignorance of the Law excuses no one This, of course, is held to be true relative to all known laws. In dealing with the laws of mind, it means that they react to our thought whether we are conscious of the fact or not. Hence, the very law which could produce freedom may be producing bondage.

illumination A spiritual state of mind which follows the New Birth.

illumined consciousness Has the same meaning as Christ-Consciousness.

illusion Any mistaken idea about the Truth.

illusion --- belief does not make it real, while knowledge of Reality dispels illusion We must assume that back of all human thinking there are eternal verities. Our thought does not create these verities, it merely interprets them. Hence, belief in illusion does not create real illusion, it merely misinterprets Reality --- while an understanding of Reality does dissipate the belief in illusion.

illusion may be believed in, truth may be known We can only know that which is so; apparent knowledge of anything which is not so is an illusion. To assume that truth is an illusion would be to assume that the more truth one knows, the more bondage he must experience; but to understand truth as a Reality dispels the illusion of bondage. For example, when everyone believed that the world was flat, the real world remained round; however, the illusion of a flat world did limit the experience of those who believed in it.

image and likeness, His It is man's nature to be like God. Spiritual man is God in such a degree as his consciousness functions in harmony with a complete love of, and unity with, the One Creative Principle.

image, mental See mental image.

imagination and will Imagination is the power of the Word; will is its direction. (See also will as a directive)

immaculate conception All birth is immaculate since all life proceeds from one Source, which is pure Spirit.

immaterial Refers to the formless Substance of Spirit.

impersonal principle of mind The Law is no respecter of persons but works alike for each and all.

impersonal spiritual healing See spiritual healing, impersonal.

impersonalizing error To realize that it belongs to no person and is operating through no one, that it is not a thing in itself, but is merely a belief.

impersonalizing negation Realizing that negative conditions do not belong to anyone, have no basis for being, and cannot be believed in by anyone. They are never things in themselves. To realize that whatever the false claim may be, its exact opposite is the truth. It is a correct understanding of this which enables one to impersonalize both evil and its manifestation; it is neither person, place, nor thing; neither law, cause, medium, nor effect; it belongs to no one, finds entrance through no one's thought, and operates in no one.

"In Adam all die . . . in Christ shall all be made alive" A symbolic presentation of the lower and higher forms of consciousness. Adam represents the lower mind, or the intellect, isolated from Spirit; Christ represents the new birth.

in God and of God The Life Principle that is within man is the same Life Principle that is around him; he is both in It and of It

"In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" The greatest power comes from the most intense stillness.

incarnate spirit Any person living in the flesh.

incarnating God Power Becoming increasingly aware of the Divine Presence, Perfection, and Power.

Incarnation See Divine Incarnation.

individual identity in mind No two people are alike in Mind any more than they are in the physical world; all individual thought vibrations are unique to the one who creates them and belong to no one else. Each individual is a unique expression of God.

individual subjective mind is never an entity It is rather the sum total of thoughts, feelings, emotions, acquired and inherited, acting as an entity.

individual, Universal must become See Universal must.

individuality The unique individualization of God Consciousness at the center of conscious self-awareness. Pertaining to man, a unique individualization of the Universal Spirit. No two individuals are exactly alike, yet all are rooted in one common unity. Behind each individuality is all of Reality. Individuality exists by virtue of necessity and, unlike personality, cannot be changed.

individuality must be spontaneous It would be impossible even for God to make a mechanical individual, since the very word implies self-choice and freedom; thus individuality must discover itself.

individualizing the Law of Cause and Effect The use that each individual makes of the Law of Mind causes a flow of Its creativeness into the form of such use.

individualizing the Universal Law Just as there is one Mind which we all use, so the universal Law of Mind is individualized where we use It. In this way the Universal works for the individual through the individual at the level of the individual's comprehension of It as working.

individuals in the mental and spiritual world Just as no two physical thumbprints are alike, thus demonstrating the uniqueness of individuality, so no two persons' minds or spirits are identical; for while there is but One Mind and Spirit, which we all use, each individualizes It in a unique way. Each personifies the Universal. Thus there is no sameness even in the Universe of Unity.

inertia of thought This has both a psychological and a metaphysical meaning. Habitual thought patterns appear to resist dislodgment. However, persistent affirmation and denial will uncover and bring to light any thought pattern.

Infinite Intelligence is omnipresent Because the Mind of the Universe is one indivisible unit, all of It is present wherever our attention is focused.

Infinite Person The Supreme Consciousness in the universe. The Mind of God as Knowingness, Awareness. The limitless Personalness ever seeking expression through our personality.

Infinite, Sustaining See Sustaining. inheritance See Divine Inheritance.

inherited tendencies Prenatal subjective influences. In its larger sense, the entire race experience subjectively incarnated in all human beings. The collective unconscious. The subjective thought contains family and racial characteristics and tendencies which are more or less transmitted to everyone.

inner Life: The true life in each of us. The deep Self within, which radiates through the mind as thought, through the physical form as action, through the emotions as feeling.

inner Light Light stands for the radiation of pure Spirit, casting its ray through man by incarnation. There is absolute Light as well as perfect Life at the center of everyone's being.

inner Saviour Consciousness of Truth and Unity.

inner teaching Refers to the spiritual philosophy which affirms the spiritual nature of man.

inner Voice Intuition guiding us; nothing supernatural. The laws of Mind and Spirit, like the laws of physics, are perfectly natural in their own realm, and when we understand them we can make conscious use of them.

insanity Fundamental error that the brain thinks, therefore, that if the brain becomes impaired, thinking stops. A belief that brain grooves create intelligence rather than that intelligence creates brain grooves. Spirit, being the only Intelligence, constitutes the only Mind. Man's mind demonstrates the perfect Intelligence of God. Mind is omnipresent, hence the active intelligence of Mind is functioning everywhere.

inspiration From the human side, contact with the subconscious of an individual or race. From the spiritual viewpoint, contact with Universal Spirit.

instinctive omniscient "I Am" The God within us which instinct and intuition feels, knows, and accepts.

intangible values Values which, while they cannot be weighed nor measured, are yet real; such as Love, Truth, Beauty, etc. All values are intangible from the standpoint of being seen, since all causation is invisible. Love is an intangible value because it is something that cannot be weighed and measured by physical instruments.

integration Mental wholeness; the putting together of all parts of the mind so that they function as one normal individual.

"integrity (the) of the upright shall guide them" Refers to the Law of Cause and Effect.

intellect as the tool of the Spirit All thought processes should be dominated by a realization of the omnipresence of good. The intellect is the directive agency, the Spirit is the creative power.

intellect, spiritualizing the Bringing the conscious and logical processes of thought into conformity with the idea of Truth, Love, Beauty, etc. This in no way denies the intellect.

intellectual acceptance and spiritual realization In mental treatment the practitioner makes intellectual statements; that is, his statements are definite, concise, conscious, and directive; in order to be meaningful they must become spiritual realizations; the two are combined.

intellectual and emotional faculties Intellectual faculties, like the will, are discriminating but not creative. It is the emotion of conviction, feeling, and belief which is creative.

intelligence That part of the mentality concerned with acquisition and retention of knowledge as distinguished from emotion and will. From the standpoint of universal law, it means mind in action: Creation flowing from the invisible into the visible, from cause to effect with mathematical precision, without personal self-consciousness. Spirit is both Infinite Intelligence and Infinite Consciousness. The Law of Mind in action used in mental treatment is intelligent but not volitional. The Law of Mind in action is a mechanical but intelligent reaction to the consciousness which sets it in motion.

intelligence, atomic See atomic intelligence. Intelligence, Infinite See Infinite Intelligence.

Intelligence makes a demand on Itself The urge of Spirit to express, operating through Mind, productive of form.

intelligence, subconscious See subconscious intelligence. Intelligence, Universal See Universal Intelligence.

intelligent Law The Law of Mind knows how to adapt means to ends; It knows how to project our affirmation into experience; It responds intelligently as well as creatively.

intention In working with mental law, definite intention is necessary in the receptive attitude of the student, as well as in his active processes. He must have a clear idea of what quality he desires to have fulfilled in him, and by his intent permit that quality to develop in him. (See also conviction.)

interior awareness precedes evolution That something back of the evolutionary push which experience did not put there. The primal urge toward self-expression.

intuition Inner awareness of spiritual truths without conscious process of thought. (See also faith in God.)

intuitional realization Realization arrived at without processes of reasoning. Interior awareness without any argument.

inversion A wrong use of the Creative Power, in that the person seeks only the outer manifestation of the thing he wants in his life, instead of contemplating only the Divine Principle of Being, Which includes his good, his perfect freedom. Inversion is to reverse the proper order of a thing. Fear is an inversion of faith. In fear the Creative Law of Mind is used to tear down and destroy, which is an inversion of the principle which builds up. It is a negative or upside-down use of faith. It is a perpetuation of the old circle of limitation, rather than the use of the Creative Power to attain liberation from the law of necessity.

invisible supply The Creative Law of Spirit is ever waiting to be called into manifestation; that from which all conditions flow; the Substance back of all form; this Substance is the universal and abstract essence of all concrete supply. It is Supply in Its liquid form uncaught in any mental mold.

"Invisible things . . . being understood by the things that are made" We judge the unseen by the seen. There is always an invisible back of the visible. (See also "For the invisible"; visible.)

invoking creative Power Just as a seed planted in the creative soil invokes the Law --- that is, sets it in motion --- so treatment invokes the Creative Law of Mind, sets It in motion.

invoking the Law Like planting a seed in the ground, which invokes the creative soil, so a mental treatment invokes the Law of Mind, or sets It in motion, for definite purposes of creating the condition specified in the treatment.

Isis Symbolizes the Creative Principle in nature.

isolation and loneliness, sense of Failing to understand that the Spirit is in all people and, being forever One with Itself, unifies all people.

"It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom" We do not bargain with God; we learn to receive that which has already been given. We receive and give only in such degree as we enter into the nature of the giver.

"It is the Spirit that quickeneth" All external life is an effect. Most of our mental life is merely a repetition of thoughts already formed. True and original inspiration derives from the higher reaches of consciousness, which is spiritual or conscious oneness with God.