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"You Shall Live Forever.” An Easter Day address by Dr Ernest Holmes. An excerpt from the April 9, 1950 broadcast of Dr Holmes’ radio program This Thing Called Life. Grateful acknowledgements are due to Centers for Spiritual Living. All rights reserved.
Ernest Holmes (1887-1960) was a New Thought philosopher and minister who began writing metaphysical books in the 1920s, publishing his seminal work, The Science of Mind, in 1926. Dr Holmes also originated the international Science of Mind magazine, which has been in continuous publication since 1927.
Dr Holmes’ work was focused on explaining a universal philosophy and providing practical tools for spiritual living. Born in Maine in 1887, he was largely self-taught through studying the writings of the notable thinkers of his time: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Christian D. Larson, Thomas Troward and Phineas P. Quimby. Holmes moved to Southern California in 1914. He established the Church of Religious Science in 1927 (now known as Centers for Spiritual Living).
During his lifetime, Holmes influenced and inspired the positive thinking of Dr Norman Vincent Peale, Peggy Lee, Cary Grant, Cecil B. DeMille and countless others. His work continues to inspire and resonate today through the popularity of authors such as Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and many more.
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Description
Man is born of eternal day, not because he wills or wishes it, not because he labors or strives toward it, not because he earns it as a reward, but simply because the Spirit has breathed life into him. And the Spirit which has breathed this life into him has breathed Its own Life and cannot unbreathe It or take It away. If we would only let go of our theological nonsense and let our soul commune with the Universe, it would tell us all these things because we already know them inwardly. All men are embodiments of God and the soul can no more be lost than God could be lost. What more can life demand of us than that we do the best we know, always trying to improve. And when we do this we shall have done well indeed, and all will be right with our souls, both here and hereafter. Wilder Publications is a green publisher. All of our books are printed to order. This reduces waste and helps us keep prices low while greatly reducing our impact on the environment.
Life is the gift of God; you and I didn’t create it, nor can we destroy it. It is my personal conviction that everyone must finally arrive at a place of good. It is this hope and inward assurance that gives meaning to life and courage to endeavor.
But immortality should not be thought of as something which is going to take place. Rather, it should be thought of as something that now is taking place. We are spirits now, as much as we shall or ever can become, and that spark within us, which I believe will continue after we have left this world, must finally be fanned into a divine blaze.
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? . . .If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.” “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me . . .” “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.” Death is but the entrance to a larger life, a more complete fulfillment.
One of the greatest passages in the New Testament asks this question: “How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” This question has been asked since time began. We are so used to thinking that only that is real which we can touch or taste or handle or weigh or measure. It is a little difficult to understand how there could be a spiritual body as well as a physical one. So Saint Paul answers his own question: “How is it the dead are raised up? and with what body do they come?” by saying, “There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial . . . So also is the resurrection of the dead . . . It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body (that means there is a physical body), and there is a spiritual body.”