Religious Science: A New Thought "Religion" or Not?

By Rev. Rae Metheny, Founder Center for Conscious Living

The Center for Conscious Living, a Religious Science Spiritual Community here in Raleigh, is a new opportunity for you to update your idea of what God is and how God works through you. Religious Science, also known as the Science of Mind teaching, is an American "religion" that captures ancient truths that span across the major religions of the world. The core Truths in Religious Science are that God is all there is and you create your experience according to your beliefs. These core Truths span across several New Thought teachings - Divine Science, Unity and Religious Science.

Religious Science is absent of dogma, authority and ritual. There are no statues or sacraments. There are no sacred texts insofar as believing in one way, one belief, one teacher. Every person is free to learn from all the Master Teachers - Christ, Buddha, Gandhi, Mohammed - and look for the universal message of God and Love through all of them. The rest can be left behind.

Religious Science, a metaphysical teaching, is not technically a religion. Nor is Buddhism for that matter. According the Hyrum Smith, world expert on religion, "There are six aspects of religion that surface so regularly as to suggest that their seeds are in the human makeup." They are authority, ritual, speculation, tradition, grace and mystery. Both Religious Science and Buddhism are devoid of most of these.

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1803-1866) is often credited as the founder of New Thought, a metaphysical spirituality. The premise of New Thought is that the physical universe is the result of Universal Intelligence expressing as form.. Quimby, a self-educated Maine clock-maker and inventor, discovered for himself his "Truth" as he called it - that man is created out of the thoughts of God and that man has the power to create form through thought. Quimby specifically applied this belief to the healing of sick people. Dis-ease or any other condition of man could be changed by treating the toxic thought(s) behind the dis-ease. And so New Thought was born.

Others followed Quimby in this belief, particularly those who had physical healings as a result of changed thoughts. They include Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) (founder of Christian Science), Myrtle Fillmore (co-founder of Unity with husband Charles Fillmore), Nona Brooks and her two sisters ( founders of Divine Science) and Ernest Holmes (1888-1960), the founder of Religious Science. For Ernest Holmes, it was when he discovered the essay "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson that his new idea of God finally came together. He then studied Oriental literature, the Hebrew Scriptures, the Vedas and Bhagadvad-Gita, and other sacred writings of India. He read the philosophy and mysteries of the Greeks and studied mysticism under Emma Curtis Hopkins - a student of Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science). Ernest Holmes never stopped learning and never stopped growing.

Today popular authors such as Louise Hay (You Can Heal Your Life), Deepak Chopra (How to Know God) and Wayne Dyer (There Is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem) all promote the Science of Mind teaching of faith in God and the Creative Process of Thought. Science of Mind is not to be confused with L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology. Instead, the Science of Mind idea that thoughts create things has been validated in quantum physics and faith in God is, of course, faith.

The two principle spiritual practices of Religious Scientists are meditation and positive mental prayer (also known as spiritual mind treatment). The term "treatment" came from the idea of unpredictable medical treatments of the late 1700s and early 1800s and was reborn as prayer treatment or mind treatment by Quimby, Eddy and the like. Religious Science also promotes affirmations, visualizations and SEVA which is Sanskrit for service as spiritual practices.

Religious Science is for the courageous, for it asks you to take responsibility for everything that is going on in your life. And that means everything.

The Center for Conscious Living in Raleigh promotes unity, diversity, spiritual practice (meditation and prayer), service to the community at large, and Interfaith alliances. Members of our community are Christian, Jewish, gay or straight. Our Center provides a living atmosphere of trust, love and support as the foundation of our spiritual community. Our motto is "No matter where you are on your spiritual path, you are always welcome at Religious Science Raleigh." This Center meets every Sunday at 10:30 am at the Crabtree Marriott Hotel. Classes and meditation sessions meet at various locations in Raleigh and Cary. There are other Religious Science Centers in North Carolina. Check our website www.rsraleigh.com for centers throughout NC and the world.