32 Easy Lessons in Metaphysics and the Science of our Mind

When someone says “I’m sick and tired,” I hear Amen. I know they believe it. Amen to limitation. Since it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, I ask you, “Are you saying Amen to mediocrity? Are you saying Amen to pain and small disappointments? Are you saying Amen to an unhealthy relationship?” For example, when we judge someone as annoying, really annoying, we are saying Amen to that. What we’ve actually done is we’ve limited that person’s expression of how they are seen in our life. Amen keeps us from seeing anything else in that person -- they are just annoying. But the truth is no one is perfect. If instead we say Amen to the goodness in a person, it leaves room for the relationship to blossom and change. It gives everyone an opportunity to be more than what they were previously.
The challenge is to use Amen consciously. Consider Amen as a rubber stamp and stamp it all over the good you desire and the good you already have. In his book The Universe is Calling, Eric Butterworth wrote, “Do not voice in prayer what you are not willing to rubber stamp Amen. Do not use your time to stamp Amen on problems, but instead, use your time to stamp Amen on solutions.” Do I have an Amen?
The energy of Amen is acceptance--a force of consciousness. In our consciousness we have the freedom to believe what we want to believe. Today I invite you to think about the implications of your beliefs and visualize yourself rubber stamping Amen on that belief. Is it a sick and tired belief or are you stamping Amen on the belief that good is happening in the world? Are you stamping Amen on fear or stamping Amen on knowing the truth that if there is a problem then there is a solution? When we watch the news about a hurricane in Louisiana, are we saying Amen to the bad or are we blessing all involved knowing only good can come out of such a crisis? Let’s give our Amen to solutions.
How do we do this? One idea is when you think you have a problem, sit down and list all of the negatives about it and then list all of the positives. Then take an imaginary rubber stamp and joyously stamp Amen on all of the positives. Amen puts the full weight of your mental and spiritual acceptance on the positives and synchronizes your energy with the force that will work to bring solutions into existence.
The universe is calling you as a spiritual being to synchronize with the force within you that transcends the facts. Whether it is sickness or poverty, the possibility of remission and healing is always present. Be alert to what you accept as true for you. Don’t let other people, the news, the forecasts tell you what to think, feel or how to live. You may be fired from a job, but you can’t be fired from the universe unless you accept the idea of separation. Each one of us is a vital part of the creative flow of the universe. Eric Butterworth also says, “Be sure to put a period at the end of every prayer. Never leave it up in the air with a question mark.” I always smile when a student who has been in class for weeks answers a question with a statement that ends up being a question, like can it really be true? So prayer treatment really works? Yes, but there is no magic in the words. The power is in our belief, our consciousness in which we say the words.
In his book The Science of Mind, Dr. Ernest Holmes explained the creative process with an equation: C+B=A. What we Conceive + What we Believe = We Achieve. Sounds a bit like Dr. Norman Vincent Peale who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking. I checked Wikipedia to confirm that Dr. Peale took classes from Ernest Holmes and Holmes was a mentor to him. One of the classes Dr. Peale took was New Foundations that had a tagline, Change your thinking, change your life.
In the equation: C+B=A, C is Conceive. To conceive is to imagine. God can do for us only what God can do through us. As much is possible as we can conceive. This is why some people draw more of one thing, certain people or experiences into their lives than others. Life is limitless–the potential is everywhere present and belongs to all alike, but our conception can be limiting. We strengthen our ability to conceive by listening deeply through meditation, deep listening, journal writing, and then we get to choose our Amen.
C+B=A. B is Believe: Subconscious mind is the fertile soil that takes that seed of conceiving and creates the product. We do not deny what we call reality . . . we affirm the reality of the invisible as creator of the reality. Belief comes in all degrees from the slightest suspicion to full assurance. It is a mental attitude, a faith, a conviction about something that is stronger than anything that appears to deny it.
How do we establish and strengthen our faith, our belief? Spiritual practices. As Holmes wrote, “We do not let up, we do not give up, we do not shut up until we are lifted up in our faith.” Amen! Consistent demonstrations of our faith are the result of persistent positive prayer. I can hear Dr. Holmes again: “Climb over the rocks of unbelief; go around the barriers of doubt; plunge into the stream with faith. The stream will carry us back to the ocean of our being.”
Our faith is not the power, it is the way we use the power. It is a mental attitude or conviction. The challenge is our level of sincerity in seeing divinity in everything, which creates an energy force that acts upon the image of our beliefs.
So here is a question. Faith and fear: when are they the same and when are they different? They are the same when using either faith or fear we accept something; we stamp a person, place, idea or opinion with Amen. When we stamp something with Amen, whether it is based on fear or faith, we use the same mental energy and obviously get different results.
Stamping fear with Amen means we are accepting what we do not want to experience. Stamping faith with Amen means we are accepting what we do want to experience. It represents two ways to use the same power and when we get dramatically different results, you would think it should be easy to convert fear to faith, but for many of us fear gets very comfortable. It is challenging to be the guardian of our mind 24/7, to not only conceive of a solution to a problem, but to build up the belief that with faith a different result can be created. When we replace fear with faith, we set up a new experience using the Law of Attraction that draws into our reality the desires of our heart.
The third part of the equation C+B=A, the A is Achieve. We achieve our desire, our demonstration is made, our prayer is answered. I began college when I was 29 and I went three years straight because I didn’t need to party a lot--although we did--but I wanted to get it done and move on with life. I set my goal at a 3.0 grade point average and it was hard. Calculus . . . chemistry . . . it was really tough, but when it was all said and done I had to laugh. My grade point average was 3.01.
So Amen or and so it is doesn’t matter. What matters is realizing that most of the time we are unconsciously stamping Amen on our doubts, fears, and judgments. I encourage you to stop stamping Amen on problems, but on solutions. Be a person of increase in the world. If you feel stuck in any area of life, make a list of the negatives and then list the positives and set them in mind, because C+B=A: What we Conceive + what we Believe, we Achieve.