Sundays
The Sunday Celebration puts the teaching into music, prayer and a short talk about one idea you can use in ordinary life. Meditation at 10:00 AM comes first, and it is optional.
What we teach
Science of Mind, in plain words.
Science of Mind® is the spiritual philosophy we study and practice at Center for Spiritual Living Ajo. Here is what it is, where it comes from and what it looks like on a Sunday on West Tinaja Avenue.
A practical philosophy
Science of Mind is a practical philosophy, sometimes called Religious Science. It draws on the mystical truths found in every major religion and offers a simple set of spiritual tools anyone can use in daily life.
It is based on the idea that God is all there is, a presence within all life, and that the universe works through predictable spiritual laws. It teaches that our thoughts and beliefs help shape what we experience.
You do not have to join anything to explore it, and it does not ask you to give up any other spiritual path.
Where it comes from
Science of Mind grew out of the New Thought movement and American Transcendentalism of the 1800s, which taught that God is an indwelling presence.
Dr. Ernest Holmes (1887 to 1960) gathered those ideas into the philosophy he called Science of Mind. In 1927 he helped found the Institute of Religious Science and published the first issue of Science of Mind magazine, written for people of every religious background. His book, The Science of Mind, is still at the heart of what we study.
Holmes never set out to start a church. People who came to his lectures wanted to keep meeting, and today Centers for Spiritual Living connects hundreds of communities around the world, each interpreting the teaching in its own way.
“We all look forward to the day when science and religions shall walk hand in hand through the visible to the invisible.”
What we believe
Dr. Ernest Holmes wrote the Declaration of Principles, published in Science of Mind Magazine in October 1927. Centers for Spiritual Living still shares these eleven statements as what it believes.
- WE BELIEVE in God, the Living Spirit Almighty; one, indestructible, absolute and self-existent Cause. This One manifests Itself in and through all creation, but is not absorbed by Its creation. The manifest universe is the body of God; it is the logical and necessary outcome of the infinite self-knowingness of God.
- WE BELIEVE in the individualization of the Spirit in us, and that all people are individualizations of the One Spirit.
- WE BELIEVE in the eternality, the immortality and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding.
- WE BELIEVE that heaven is within us, and that we experience it to the degree that we become conscious of it.
- WE BELIEVE the ultimate goal of life to be a complete emancipation from all discord of every nature, and that this goal is sure to be attained by all.
- WE BELIEVE in the unity of all life, and that the highest God and the innermost God is one God. We believe that God is personal to all who feel this indwelling presence.
- WE BELIEVE in the direct revelation of truth through our intuitive and spiritual nature, and that anyone may become a revealer of truth who lives in close contact with the indwelling God.
- WE BELIEVE that the Universal Spirit, which is God, operates through a Universal Mind, which is the Law of God; and that we are surrounded by this Creative Mind which receives the direct impress of our thought and acts upon it.
- WE BELIEVE in the healing of the sick and control of conditions through the power of this Mind.
- WE BELIEVE in the eternal Goodness, the eternal Loving-kindness and the eternal Givingness of Life to All.
- WE BELIEVE in our own soul, our own spirit and our own destiny; for we understand that the life of all is God.
Declaration of Principles, as written by Dr. Ernest Holmes. Published in Science of Mind Magazine, October 1927.
What it looks like here
Classes
Foundations of the Science of Mind and Spirit is the suggested first class: six modules on the principles behind everything else we teach. No background needed.
Prayer
After every Sunday Celebration, Licensed Spiritual Practitioners (RScP) pray with anyone who asks, using Spiritual Mind Treatment, a form of affirmative prayer. We believe in both prayer and modern medicine.