The Motivating Power of the Universe
Ernest Holmes

Love interprets itself to everyone who knows love, comes to everyone who senses love, impersonates itself in forms which are human, in experiences which are divine. As we experience this indwelling divinity, it becomes real. It is not an illusion; it is the great motivating power of the universe. We touch it, revealed through this man, that woman, this child, and because they reflect our love to us, we “fall in love” with that person. This is God expressing through us.

Affirmation
I am immersed in Love. Love is God, and God is infinite, eternal, and omnipresent. Therefore Love is infinite, eternal and omnipresent, the creative Principle back of everything. I feel Love as a stream of light flowing from God, through me, out to everything I think about today. I know this loving light is bringing peace and joy to all it touches.

The infinite tenderness of Divine Love sustains me today and every day. Nothing but Love and lovely things can come to me, and I insist on seeing the Love in all people and all things. I know that in Love there can be no separation, for Love unites. I know the Love I express blesses all who are in any way touched by it. It heals every condition and harmonizes every experience. I am immersed in Love, the highest gift of heaven and the greatest good on Earth.

Excerpted from A Holmes Reader on Practical Wisdom, by Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind publishing.

All You Need Is Love!

Our World, the first television program ever viewed by a global audience, broadcast in 1967. An estimated four hundred million people witnessed the debut of John Lennon’s song “All You Need Is Love.” The simple lyrics, like a mantra, communicated the idea that change begins with the individual and love is the key. With love, there is nothing that can’t be accomplished.

Click here to view that historic broadcast.

World Interfaith Harmony Week—Love in Action

—Claudia Abbott

On October 10, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution declaring the first full week of each February World Interfaith Harmony Week. The resolution was proposed by King Abdullah II of Jordan, and was the first time a United Nations proposal explicitly mentioned God. The resolution draws attention to the scriptural and theological basis for harmony among all people.

When he spoke to the UN General Assembly to propose the resolution, King Abdullah said, “Humanity everywhere is bound together, not only by mutual interests, but by shared commandments to love God and neighbor…. What we are proposing is a special week during which the world’s people, in their own places of worship, could express the teachings of their own faith about tolerance, respect for the other, and peace. I hope this resolution will have your support.”

The proposal had its genesis on October 13, 2006, when thirty-eight Islamic authorities and scholars from around the world, representing all denominations and schools of thought, joined together to deliver an Open Letter to Pope Benedict XVI. The letter stated, “Christianity and Islam make up more than half of humankind in an increasingly interconnected world; it is imperative that both sides share responsibility for peace and move the debate towards a frank and sincere dialogue of hearts and minds which furthers mutual understanding and respect between the two religious traditions.”

The scholars point out that both religions teach what Christianity calls “the two greatest commandments.” The letter states the two commandments: The Lord our God is One Lord; / And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy understanding, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. / And the second commandment is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Exactly one year after that letter, on October 13, 2007, Muslims expanded their message in A Common Word between Us and You. In this document, 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals unanimously declared the common ground between Christianity and Islam. That common ground is summed up in one word—love—love of God and love of one’s neighbor.

Join thousands around the world from February 1-7 to participate in the first World Interfaith Harmony Week. For more information, click here.

Healing in Tucson
A Science of Mind community brings light to darkness

—Glenn Swain

Glenn Swain is a Phoenix, Arizona-based editor, writer, and is a licensed practitioner at New Vision Center for Spiritual Living in Phoenix, Arizona. He interviewed Rev. Don Graves to explore how one Science of Mind community is responding to the tragedy in Tuscson.

Swain comments, “Days after the Tucson shooting, I began to wonder how a minister handles such a situation. How do I find the positive in what appears to be a tragedy? And, how do I find compassion for the alleged perpetrator? Rev. Graves showed me there can be hope and good out of something that appears atrocious.”

Click here to read Healing in Tuscon.