Looking for Signs In All the Right Places
Thor Challgren, RScP
We’ve all heard of the idea of “signs,” right? Something happens in a unique, unexpected way, and we take that as a sign that we’re supposed to move in a certain direction, take a specific action, or be present to our life in that very moment.
Often we decide in advance we want to see a sign, and we decide what that sign will be. For example, we might say, “Universe/Quantum Field, I would like you to show me butterflies as a sign that I should pay attention to that moment, and witness it as proof of my connection to Source, to Consciousness.” Then having said that, we look for butterflies. That’s the kind of sign we often think about.
Today, I had another sign. It was a book. Well, more specifically, it was a cracked book.
I’m talking about the Ernest Holmes book, “The Science of Mind: A Philosophy, A Faith, A Way of Life.”
If you don’t know the book well, it’s a rather large. It’s 668 pages long. Just guessing, but it probably weighs a pound or more. It’s so substantial that you could use it as a door stop.
Or you could use it to change your life, as millions have done since it was first published in 1927.
“The Science of Mind” went on to become the foundational text for Religious Science, a spiritual movement that is popularly thought of with this directive: change your thinking, change your life. But this morning, it was just my copy of “The Science of Mind.”
I reached for it because I was on a phone call with a friend, and I wanted to share a Holmes quote with her. I didn’t find the quote, but what I did find was way more fascinating. I found that my book opened itself up to two specific pages.
I’m guessing you’ve probably had this kind of experience, where you flip open a book to some random page, and you then point your finger to a specific passage, and you decide to seek the meaning of whatever words you read first. You can do this with any book you choose: the Bible, the collected works of William Shakespeare, or The Tao of Pooh. But this wasn’t that.
The reason my copy of “The Science of Mind” opened to this exact spot was because the spine was cracked there. I should note that I’m not typically a spine-cracker. I don’t open up a new book and deliberately attack its spine by pushing it down on a desk. If I need it to stay open to a particular section, I’ll put my iPhone Pro Max on top of it. That’s just enough weight.
So this copy of “The Science of Mind” had a crack in the spine, which caused it to open easily to one specific section: pages 302-303.
My copy of the “The Science of Mind,” with proof of cracked spine.
Wanna guess what Holmes is talking about on these specific pages? The chapter title will give you some clue: The Law of Attraction. Okay, actually that’s a really big clue. My book “just happened” to open to Ernest Holmes’ writings on the Law of Attraction.
In that moment, on the phone with friend, looking at my spine-cracked book on pages 302-303 of “The Science of Mind,” I realized something: this is a sign.
I’ve read this passage many times before, as evidenced by all my pencil markings and fluorescent pink highlighter notes. Yet here I was being asked to reconsider these pages as if for the first time. It was like Ernest Holmes was saying to me, “Thor, I know you’ve read these pages before. But consider them again. And then apply them to wherever you are now.”
What did Mr. Holmes have to offer me in that moment? How about this:
“Know that no matter what others might say, think or do, you are a success now, and nothing can hinder you from accomplishing your good. All the power of the universe is with you. Feel it, know it, and then act as if it were true.”
(And yes, Holmes did italicize the phrase, “you are a success now.”)
Okay, let me just say that’s EXACTLY the topic I was discussing with my friend. I was sharing how I was working on my own feelings of self-worth, and thinking about what my contribution in the world would look like. And then this exact moment happens: “The Science of Mind” opens to page 302, end of the second paragraph. “You are a success now, and nothing can hinder you from accomplishing your good.”
I don’t know about you, but when I was kid, something like this would happen and we’d all hum the theme music to The Twilight Zone. “Do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do.”
“You unlock this door with the key of imagination.” Remember those words? That’s how show creator Rod Serling began every episode. “Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.”
I think Serling was right about the idea of unlocking a door with our imaginations. Sometimes a cracked book is just a cracked book. But in this case, I knew it was more. This book opened up exactly to this place because I needed to read those words. I needed to unlock this specific door with my imagination.
So let me ask you: Are there signs you can be open to? Where can you unlock your imagination?
We’re in Week 5 of Dr. James Mellon’s class, “Mental Muscle.” Our directive is to BE PRESENT.
When you are present, you have time and spaciousness to look at all the things that happen in your life. You become curious. You look for connections. You are open to possibilities. You seek understanding. And you have fun!
So, where can you be more present? Would you be willing to give yourself the gift of time, to be open to the signs that would come your way, if only you allowed and accepted them?
When you’re present, you notice the cracked spine in the book, and you ask, “What’s that about?” And sometimes the answer to that question can change your life.
Ernest Holmes will have the last words on this subject. They fittingly appear at the bottom of Page 303:
“Perfect is the pattern and perfect will be the result. You word is now establishing it forever. See this, feel it, know it. You are now encompassed by perfect life, by infinite activity, by all power, by all guidance. The Power of the Spirit is supplying you with all good, It is filling you with life and love.”
And so it is.
The GTC website now features a new quote from Ernest Holmes Daily. You can read them here.
