Who is Ernest Holmes?
Ernest Holmes is a celebrated American New Thought leader, writer and teacher. He founded the international Religious Science movement and authored “The Science Of Mind” and founded the international Science of Mind magazine. His writings, thoughts and principles have influenced and provided inspiration to millions worldwide.
Holmes said, “We have within us, a power that is greater than anything we shall ever contact in the outer, a power that can overcome every obstacle in our life and set us safe, satisfied and at peace, healed and prosperous, in a new light and in a new life.”
Simply stated, the Science of Mind is a spiritual philosophy teaching the unity of all life and the knowingness that each of us is God expressing – that is the power within. And it is through our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs (the law of cause and effect) flowing through a field of consciousness (our mind) that we affect and create the world around us. Holmes describes it best in his quote:
“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.”
Recognized today as one of the leading thinkers in modern metaphysics, Holmes has provided people throughout the world a positive, supportive approach to life.
The Early Years
Holmes was born in poverty on January 21, 1887, on a small farm near Lincoln, Maine, the youngest of nine boys. He was raised Baptist by parents who focused on the goodness of God and encouraged their children to question everything, including religion. And so he did. As a teenager, Ernest Holmes spent time in the outdoors asking himself, “What is God? Who am I? Why am I here?
At 18, he left school, moved to Boston and set off on a journey of independent thinking. He discovered the writings of essayist and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Holmes’ metaphysical studies intensified leading him to the teachings and writings of Mary Baker Eddy, Phineas Quimby and Christian Larson.
The Adult Years
At 25, he moved to Venice, California. It was at this point he discovered the writings of Thomas Troward – arguably the most influential philosopher of Holmes’ career. He began lecturing, receiving clients and became an ordained minister of the Divine Science.
In 1922, at the age of 35, Holmes began writing a summary of his philosophy for The Science of Mind. It was to become the “textbook” of Religious Science. It was first published in 1926 and is currently in its 45th printing.
Holmes spent a lifetime concerned and involved with prayer and meditation. He gifted the world with his scientific prayer technique called “spiritual mind treatment,” also known as affirmative prayer. Through spiritual mind treatment, the passion and conviction of one’s words moves creative energy thereby changing and influencing one’s consciousness and resulting in a change of one’s reality.
On October 23, 1927, Holmes married Hazel Durkee Foster. They were inseparable companions for 30 years. They worked together at the Institute of Religious Science and School of Philosophy in Los Angeles, lectured around the country and entertained family and friends in their home.
Holmes made his transition to the next experience on April 7, 1960, in Los Angeles. He and Hazel had no children but he left a profound legacy to all of humankind: his founding of a way of living called Religious Science.
More detailed information on Ernest Holmes, visit The Science of Mind Archives.
