PPs Year 1 Term 1 Study Questions

Question 1

Explain the differences between Centering, Meditation, and Contemplation. What are the objectives of each?

Answer 1

Can be found on pages 2-5 and 2-6. Centering is to consciously move your awareness to the core of your self, the center where God is clearly felt.
Meditation is to produce a state of free, open attention and expanded awareness. All meditation is mindfulness unstructured.
Contemplation is a deeper comprehension or breakthrough to understanding of a given object or subject.

Question 2

What is the purpose of an Invocation and how does it differ from a Benediction?

Answer 2

Invocation sets a tone for the event of love, harmony, wisdom and clarity, whereas benediction offers thanks for what has transpired and blesses participants before leaving.

Question 3

Is a treatment the same as an invocation and a benediction? If not, how do they differ?

Answer 3

No, while all prayers (including treatment, invocation, and benediction) are for the purpose of changing thought, invocations and benedictions are more generalized for a group activity. Invocation sets the tone of the gathering, benediction gives thanks for what has transpired. Treatment is the conscious movement of thought for a specific reason. Treatment is for the purpose of demonstration through the conscious use of the law.

Question 4

According to Ernest Holmes, a Professional Practitioner’s success is dependent upon the Practitioner’s ________________ — ______________________.

Answer 4

State of Consciousness

Question 5

Name five things a Practitioner should know according to the Ernest Holmes essay in the Student Resource Material.

Answer 5

1. Never put hands on a patient.
2. Never talk about a patient.
3. Never take personal responsibility for a patient.
4. Money is not the objective.
5. Be frank, open and honest.
6. Be willing to give 100%.
7. Be honest with yourself and others.
8. Never try to convert.
9. Be spontaneous and joyful.
10. Demonstration is the point.

Question 6

What are the two distinct methods of treatment? What is the difference between them?

Answer 6

Argumentative and Realization. “Argumentative treatment is a process of mental reasoning in which the practitioner argues to him/herself about the patient.” “Realization method is one whereby the practitioner realizes within him/herself without the necessity of step-by-step building up a conclusion – the perfect state of the patient.”

Question 7

Define each: Belief, Value, Attitude. How does one give birth to another?

Answer 7

Belief is a mental acceptance of/or conviction in something. A seeming truth we hold about reality.
A Value is a personal principle, standard or quality we hold.
Attitude is a feeling or state of mind.
We hold something to be true about life or reality (BELIEF) and create a VALUE around it according to its importance to us, and from that we create an ATTITUDE about the subject matter that we hold as important.

Question 8

What purpose does “Critical Thinking” service in the Science of Mind and Spirit?

Answer 8

To challenge our own beliefs, values, and attitudes.

Question 9

Why is it important to use Critical Thinking on the definitions of the words we habitually utilize?

Answer 9

The meanings of words shift and change, definitions or intentions become fuzzy or lost, and words are used carelessly. We must go beyond our comfort zones and look at the beliefs behind the words to understand why and what we are creating in our lives and how to change it. Page 3-9.

Question 10

What is the purpose of treatment?

Answer 10

To change a thought. To change a condition. (Side note: To induce an inner realization of perfection in the mentality of the practitioner, which inner realization, acting through Mind, operates through the patient.)

Question 11

What is “Mental Cause?”

Answer 11

Mental cause is the belief we hold that creates our reality.

Question 12

How do beliefs, feelings, and the Law interact to create reality? Why

Answer 12

What we believe to be true about reality and to the extent of the feelings and emotions behind that belief is the extent to which the creative medium, Law, will produce that same reality in our lives. It is done unto us as we believe.

Question 13

What are some of the things that need to be healed in one’s life or in the world? What is healing?

Answer 13

Nothing needs to be healed, only Truth revealed. Healing is only Truth revealed.

Question 14

Define Emotions and Feelings and their value in treatment.

Answer 14

Feelings are the inner response to our thoughts, while emotions are the outer expressions of our responses to our thoughts. It is our thoughts/ beliefs, that create our reality, but only to the degree of feeling behind them. Therefore in treatment it is the feeling behind the treatment, behind the belief, the Spiritual truth, that will create the demonstration.

Question 15

Using the Science of Mind and Spirit teaching symbol, describe the creative process.

Answer 15

The circle represents infinity, it represents all there is, and that is God. Therefore, all three sections within the circle are God. God being all cause and all effect, the top portion of the chart represents Spirit, Universal Mind, or God, in the form of idea or thought moving into the second portion; that of Law, the creative medium by which thought takes physical form in the third portion of the chart, Effect. This bottom area represents manifested reality.
Note: It is important that the student be able to express this concept without using jargon. A good example is the seed (idea) being placed in the soil (law) where all that is necessary is already present for its natural expression, which is inherent in the seed, to become the plant (body). Make the point that God is fully expressed as all three parts of this model.

Question 16

How do childhood experiences contribute to your reality?

Answer 16

Experience, and how we perceive it, contributes to what we believe to be true about reality. Thus what we believe is what we create as our reality.

Question 17

What is a Spiritual Truth?

Answer 17

It is a Truth about our Divine nature. What we really are. It is that which is as infinite and unlimited as Spirit. The Spiritual Truth of anything is the God-essence of it. For example, the Spiritual Truth of lack is unlimited abundance. The Spiritual Truth of not smart enough is Infinite Intelligence.

Question 18

Is it necessary to go back through your childhood memories to change your present? Why or why not?

Answer 18

No, it is not necessary. By consistently affirming a new thought and the feelings that go with it, you can change your reality. The tool to change the thought or belief is Treatment.

Question 19

Why are childhood memories such great clues to the present?

Answer 19

Because childhood experiences and the way they are perceived can create beliefs that translate into your reality. When you can find out a belief from a childhood memory, you can determine it that is something you still hold to be true in your adult life. Then, you can change it if you choose.

Question 20

How would the use of treatment change the effects of negative childhood memories?

Answer 20

The effects of negative childhood memories could show up as negative beliefs in the adult and undesirable manifestations in your reality. Treatment can change the belief and thus change the reality.

Question 21

What is Subjective Consensus? What are other terms that mean the same thing?

Answer 21

A belief held by a group, culture, or race. Also called Race Thought, Race Mind, Race Suggestion.

Question 22

What are some of the ways to recognize Race Thought?

Answer 22

The use of words like all, always, never, everyone, everything.

Question 23

What part can choice play in our embodiment of Race Thought?

Answer 23

I can choose to buy into Race Thought or I can choose that a specific Race Thought does not suit what I want for my life and I can choose to believe differently.

Question 24

List five examples of things you would consider to be Subjective Consensus/ Race Thought.

Answer 24

The answers to this are too numerous to put here; have fun!

Question 25

Race Thought is:

a. predominantly negative
b. predominantly positive
c. contains both positive and negative

Explain your answer.

Where else could this line of thinking come to you as a Practitioner and a teacher of these principles?

Answer 25

C. Contains both positive and negative. Groups, cultures, and races have a multitude of beliefs, values, and attitudes both positive and negative.

Question 26

Why is it important for a Practitioner to understand his or her beliefs, values and attitudes?

Answer 26

In your self-understanding you are able to come to the spiritual truth about yourself and as you are able to see this Truth for yourself, so you can more readily see it for others.

Question 27

Give three examples where prejudice or stereotyping has limited you.

Answer 27

The answers given here will be subjective. Make sure the student understands (by examples they give you) what you are asking for.

Question 28

What are the differences between Envy and Jealousy?

Answer 28

Envy is a desire for what another person has. Jealousy is a fear that the other person will take what we have.

Question 29

What is meant by Thomas Moore’s statement, “there is nothing neutral about the soul?”

Answer 29

Either we respond to the desires of the soul or we suffer from neglect.

Question 30

On your spiritual path, what is the value of human intimacy and community?

Answer 30

The soul yearns for attachment, for variety in personality, for intimacy and particularity. So it is these qualities that the soul seeks out, and not likemindedness and uniformity.

Question 31

In cases of Addictive/Compulsive behavior, what is the role of the Practitioner?

Answer 31

To know the truth. To identify a client spiritually not with their behavior, not with what one does but with what one is. To reveal the Divine nature that is. Go to the premise of perfect God, perfect man, perfect being.

Question 32

At what point should a Practitioner give up on an alcoholic?

Answer 32

Never.

Question 33

How does Ernest Holmes define “the libido” in his treatise on alcoholism?

Answer 33

Life urge.

Question 34

What is meant by “Spiritual re-education of the mind?”

Answer 34

Understanding, knowing and accepting the spiritual Truth of one’s self.

Question 35

In the article by Jim Munson, “From Denial to Surrender,” he speaks of and describes “Community Heart.” What part of his description is appropriate for a Practitioner and what is not? Explain your answer.

Answer 35

The Practitioner is like the person with “community heart” in that he/she is able to listen without criticizing or judging, to see the Truth (sober) within the fact (drunk), to believe more in the Power than in the denials, and to see the possible future rather than the sordid past of the individual. However, the Practitioner does not need to share their own story or to have experienced that same situation to know the Spiritual Truth of the client.

Question 36

What is the difference between the individual human mind and the Universal Mind?

Answer 36

The individual mind is our own individual consciousness that makes us seem individualistic. The Universal Mind is a gestalt of all consciousness, of all the aspects of the One known and unknown to us as individuals. It is the combined consciousness of all that is seen and unseen, the One being greater than the sum of all of its parts.

Question 37

Define “Intuition.” To whom is intuition available?

Answer 37

Intuition is a form of knowing beyond the five senses. Intuition is available to everyone.

Question 38

How do you differentiate between acting on impulse and acting on intuition?

Answer 38

Acting on impulse is reacting without consideration or forethought as to consequences. Acting on intuition is acting on a calm knowing from within, something known from beyond the five senses, and is not a reaction.

Question 39

What does intuition draw on for knowledge?

Answer 39

Intuition draws on the memory of all that has gone before. It draws on all that has ever been known or experienced by the self as well as the collective or universal unconscious where all boundaries are transcended.

Question 40

According to your reading in The Science of Mind, What is memory? Why is it important?

Answer 40

Memory is an unconscious operation of what was once a conscious thought. It is the storehouse of all ideas that have passed through, in this case, the individual mind. Memory is important because it is active and these ideas or thoughts that pass through it come back. Thus, it is through memory and the perceptions of what is remembered that we arrive at our beliefs about reality and life and so create it. By changing the perception of a memory, we change the reaction or thought attached to it and so change the condition of life.