The Best Year Ever!
Ernest Holmes

Today is a new beginning. The past is gone. Today is mine. Today is new material for me to use. I can make of it what I will. If my thought-pattern is life, substance, peace, then each today will be filled with manifestations of health, prosperity, and all good. Today is a new beginning.

I know more of Truth today than I have ever known before. I am more conscious of the creative power of my thought than I was last year. With new understanding I am in a better position to create for myself happy experiences. Happy experiences are not happen-stances,—they are the results of mental concepts. Only true happiness can express the God-within-me. I am using the creative power of my thought in a constructive way to the end that happiness may result. This is the best year I have ever lived.

Maya Angelou’s Tribute to Nelson Mandela

The U. S. State Department unveiled a tribute poem written by Dr. Maya Angelou for Nelson Mandela on behalf of the American people.  This beautiful tribute captures the power and legacy of Mandela’s life.

Phenomenal Woman Maya Angelou Sings Her Songs

Science of Mind magazine’s Spiritual Hero for 2013 is Dr. Maya Angelou, and readers will be inspired by the story of her life as shared in an exclusive interview in our January issue.  But reading about Dr. Angelou is only part of the experience. You will want to hear her recite her poetry, sing Calypso songs, and discuss some of the most impactful moments of her life. Listen to Maya Angelou recite “Phenomenal Woman” and view photos that capture phenomenal moments in her life.

Pope Francis on Creating a World That Works for Everyone

The vision of Centers for Spiritual Living is of a world that works for everyone. As we acknowledge that we are experiencing a crucial time in the history of humanity, we are aware that we are not alone in holding such a vision. While we live in a time where there is a greater experience of peace and prosperity than the world has previously known, there is still much work to be done to achieve our vision.  In the Evangelii Gaudium—The Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World, Pope Francis explains the importance creating a world of wholeness and inclusion. 

No to an Economy of Exclusion
—Pope Francis

Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “throw away” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised—they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers.”In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, or feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.

Thank you, dear readers, for spending part of 2013 with Science of Mind. Our staff sends you best wishes for a joyous new year!