FAQ

Centers for Spiritual Living encourages affirmation as a powerful spiritual tool. By consciously choosing to speak about our good as a present reality, we set a powerful intention. When we speak it, feel it, and act it, affirmative thought becomes the creative force for good in our lives.

Yes. The Science of Mind teaches that everything is possible in God. Everything that occurs in our lives is simply the manifestation of our consciousness. Events that seem to be miraculous are actually metaphysical laws acting at a level beyond our awareness. As our consciousness evolves, what previously seemed miraculous becomes a natural, normal, and understandable way of life.

No. At the Centers for Spiritual Living we teach that each individual has influence over, and responsibility for, his or her own life. We support personal responsibility and strongly discourage the “following of” any one person, including founder Ernest Holmes. The philosophy challenges people to think for themselves and believe what feels true to them.

Because Science of Mind views all life as God, there can be no hell. “Heaven” and “hell” are symbolic of what each individual creates in his or her own life. Heaven is the deep inner peace we experience when living from the heart and knowing our oneness with God. Hell is the inner pain felt when life seems against us. We always have the power to change our thinking and lift ourselves into heaven on earth.

The philosophy states there is only one power—God. Because there is only one power, the devil cannot exist. What appears as evil is the manifestation of false beliefs. Blaming circumstances on the devil avoids responsibility for our own life decisions.

The original meaning of sin was to “miss the mark” of spiritual perfection. Science of Mind teaches there is no sin in the traditional sense. Instead, behaviors may create undesirable effects, hardship, or suffering—we are punished by our sins, not for them.

Science of Mind teaches that life is eternal. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. The body follows a natural cycle of birth and death, but the Life within us is infinite and immortal. As we identify with our divine nature, fear of death dissolves and life becomes more joyful.

Science of Mind neither endorses nor rejects any specific theory of reincarnation. Because life is eternal, there are unlimited possibilities for its evolution after physical death.

Centers for Spiritual Living is an organization of over 450 spiritual communities that provide spiritual tools to transform personal lives and help make the world a better place.

At Centers for Spiritual Living, spiritual communities teach powerful principles for personal and global transformation, honoring all paths to God. They help people experience a personal relationship with the Creator; promote a community of tolerance, understanding, and respect; provide classes, programs, prayer, and meditation; and advocate a safe spiritual community of like-minded people interested in living a spiritual life.

Dr. Ernest Holmes founded the spiritual movement that started Centers for Spiritual Living. Born in 1887 on a small Maine farm, Dr. Holmes spent his teenage years out-of-doors, asking himself "What is God? Who am i? Why am i here?" This questionig led to his 1926 book, The Science of Mind, which outlined the foundational viewpoints of modern New Thought.

Science of Mind® (also referred to as Religious Science) is the core teaching of Centers for Spiritual Living. Science of Mind is a phillosophy that itegrates spititual truths with is a philosophy that integrates spiritual truths with science and physics. Simply put, Science of Mind teaches the unity of all life. Intentions and ideas flow through a field of of consciousness, which actually affects and creates the world around us. This idea is common to most major religions and it supported by the teachings of psychology and quantum physics.

In Science of Mind, we believe that the secret to living a successful life is to consciously choose positive and productive thoughts. Put another way. "As you think, so you become." It is the intention of Centers for Spiritual Living to use Science of Mind principles as a force for good in our world by transforming personla lives.

Religious Science is the name of the church that Dr. Ernest Holmes started before he died, which was the precursor to Centers for Spiritual Living. Dr. Holmes' comprehensive book of teachings is entitled The Science of Mind. Members of Centers for Spiritual Living use the phrases Science of Mind and Religius Science interchangeably.

In Science of Mind, we believe that the fields of religion and science are complementary, and that science will prove what prove what the mystics have said for thousands of years about the nature of God, human beings and the Universe. These beliefs are being proven even now by many quantum physicist who have found that the universe is made up of energy that cannot be destroyed and is infinitely intelligent.

Science of Mind is also scientific in that is uses laws of nature to prove spiritual principles. Any person can experiment with the principles and measure the results.

No. Religious Science and Centers for Spiritual Living are in no way related to Scientology.

No. Centers for Spiritual Living is a unique and separate entity from Christian Science. Ernest Holmes, the founder of Centers for Spiritual Living, studied many of the spiritual leaders of his time, including Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, but he was not a member of that group.

Yes. In Science of Mind, we believe that healing comes in many forms. God is expressed through doctors and medicine just as it expressed through all of the physical universe. In short, we believe in both praye and modern medicine. Our ministers and practitioners often work in conjunction with doctors and other physical and mental health practitioners to facilitate healing.

Yes and no. The Science of Mid philosophy derives from the Christian tradition with a belief that the teachings of Jesus are accessible to all people.

Dr. Ernest Holmed, the founder of Center for Spirital Living, grew up in the Christian trasition. Additionally, he was a prolific reader who studies all of the world's religions and synthesized the truths running through them all, free of any particular dogma. Honoring all paths to God, he developed his philosophy with the intention that all churches, especially Christian ones, would embrace the philosophy and incorporate those teachings into their one.

In Science of Mind, we believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a loving, powerful man who walked the earth tow thousand Years ago. Jesus was a Master Teacher and a great example of how tolive the individual expression of God. In Science of Mind. the phrase "Christ Consciousness" is used to refer to a universal principle of God expressing through humanity. Jesus was the great example, giver yo us all, of fully living our divine potential, our "Christ Consciousness."

According to our founder Dr. Ernest Holmes, "Science of Mind does not deny the divinity of Jesus; but it does affirm the divinity of all people. It does not deny that Jesus was the son of God; but affirms that all begings are children of God. It does not deny that the Kingdom of God was revealed through Jesus; but affirms that the Kingdom of God is also revealed through you and me."

Science of Mind is a New Thought philosophy that incorporates spiritual tools of affirmative prayer, healing and creative visualization to transform lives and make the world more peaceful, harmonious, and prosperous.
The New Thought tradition dated to the 1880s and has its roots in the Transcendentalist Movement of the 1830s. New Thoght has a long and respected history, and includes luminaries such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Phineas Quimby, and Emma Curtis Hopkins.

Center for Spirital Living does not consider its teaching to be New Age, but rather incorporates the ancient wisdom of all the spirital paths -- Chistian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, New Age and Others -- are all welcome in our communities.

Yes, Centers for Spiritual Living spiritual communities are places where amazing healings and life transforations take place. The Science of Mind philosophy promotes the idea that God is all-powerful, omnipresent, and benevolent, true human selfhood is divine, all sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.

Centers for Spiritual Living Honours all forms of prayers, In Addition, we teach a unique and scientific form of prayer called Spiritual Mind Treatment. This powerful, affirmative method of prayer was developed by Dr. Ernest Holmes, Spiritual Mind Treatement involves a five-step process that harnesses the creative process of consciousness. This type of powerful, scientific prayer allows new levels of health, wealth, love, and wholeness to become a reality in our lives.