Ernest Holmes founded the International
Religious Science movement, wrote "The Science
of Mind" and numerous other books on
metaphysics, and originated the international
periodical "Science of Mind" magazine, which has
been in continuous publication since 1927.
Holmes' Science of Mind teaching, recognized today as
one of the leading viewpoints in modern metaphysics, is
a spiritual philosophy that has brought to people around
the world a working cosmology - a sense of their
relationship to God and their place in the Universe -
and a positive, supportive approach to daily living.
Ernest Holmes founded the International Religious
Science movement, wrote "The Science of Mind" and
numerous other books on metaphysics, and originated the
international periodical "Science of Mind" magazine,
which has been in continuous publication since 1927.
Holmes' Science of Mind teaching, recognized today as
one of the leading viewpoints in modern metaphysics, is
a spiritual philosophy that has brought to people around
the world a working cosmology - a sense of their
relationship to God and their place in the Universe -
and a positive, supportive approach to daily living.
Ernest Holmes was born in 1887 on a small Maine farm,
the youngest of nine sons. As a teenager, he attended
Bethel preparatory school, but he spent most of his time
out-of-doors, asking himself, "What is God? Who am I?
Why am I here?" He mentally tangled with all the local
preachers and doubted the answers he got in church. At
the age of 18. he left school and formal education and
set out on his lifelong course of independent thinking.
He went to Boston, worked in a grocery store, and
pursued his studies relentlessly. A year later, he
discovered the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Reading
Emerson is like drinking water to me," he said later.
His metaphysical studies intensified, his quest for
truth leading him to literature, art, science,
philosophy, and religion, and in particular the
Christian Science teachings of Mary Baker Eddy
After Ernest Holmes became acquainted with the writings
of Emerson and Mary Baker Eddy, he soon was exploring
the writings of Christian D. Larson, Ralph Waldo Trine,
Horatio Dresser and Phineas Quimby. Holmes was
particularly impressed with the New Thought writings of
Larson and eventually abandoned the Christian Science
textbook for Larson's works.
In 1914, at the age of 25, Ernest moved to Venice,
California. Pursuing his studies, he discovered the
writings of Thomas Troward, which fed the flame ignited
by his earlier studies of metaphysics. Almost casually,
he began speaking on Troward's writings to small but
ever-growing groups. Without ceremony, his lifetime
ministry had begun. Later, as his audiences grew, he was
ordained as a minister of the Divine Science Church.
Ernest published his first book, "Creative Mind," in
1919, continued his studies, and lectured to growing
crowds in California and Eastern cities. Meanwhile, he
was writing "The Science of Mind," which was to become
the "textbook" of the Religious Science philosophy.
Published in 1926, it was revised in 1938, is now in its
45th printing, and has been translated into French,
German, and Japanese. At the time the book was
published, his many enthusiastic students urged him to
set up an incorporated organization. He refused at
first, but eventually agreed, and the Institute of
Religious Science and the School of Philosophy was
incorporated in 1927.
Ernest hosted popular programs on both radio and
television called "This Thing Called Life." He would
begin each broadcast with this statement: "There is a
power for good in the Universe, and you can use it."
This was the essence of his belief.
On October 23, 1927, in Los Angeles, he was married to
widow Hazel Durkee Foster. They were to be inseparable
companions for thirty years. In 1953, the Institute
became the Church of Religious Science. In 1967, it
acquired its present-day title, United Church of
Religious Science, with member churches throughout the
world. On May 21, 1957, he lost his chosen
life-companion.
Ernest Holmes made his transition to the next
experience on April 7, 1960, in Los Angeles. He left no
children. But he left all humankind an enduring legacy,
the way of life he called Religious Science.
On that way of life, he said this in 1958:
"We have launched a Movement which, in the next
100 years, will be the great new religious impulsion of
modern times, far exceeding, in its capacity to envelop
the world, anything that has happened since
Mohammedanism started. We have to have the same faith in
what we teach and practice that the scientist has, or
the gardener has, and when that great simplicity shall
have plumbed and penetrated this density of ours, this
human stolidness and stupidity, this debauchery of the
intellect and the soul, something new and wonderful will
happen. It is the only thing that will keep the world
from destroying itself...." |
