Gestalt is a German word for form or shape. It is used in English to refer to a concept of wholeness. It proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holistic with self-organizing tendencies, or that the whole is different than the sum of its parts. The classic Gestalt example is a soap bubble, whose spherical shape is not defined by a rigid template or a mathematical formula, but rather it emerges spontaneously by the parallel action of surface tension acting at all points in the surface simultaneously. The Gestalt effect refers to the form forming capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves.

Early 20th century theorists saw objects as perceived within an environment according to all of their elements taken together as a global construct. This whole form approach sought to define principles of perception, seemingly innate mental laws which determined the way in which objects were perceived. These laws took several forms, such as the grouping of similar objects together. Although Gestalt has been criticized for being merely descriptive, it has formed the basis of much further research into the perception of patterns and objects, and of research into behavior, thinking, problem solving and psychopathology.

Gestalt psychology is a theory of mind and brain that proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies, or that the whole is different than the sum of its parts. Gestalt therapy focuses more on process (what is happening) than content (what is being discussed). The emphasis is on what is being done, thought and felt at the moment rather than on what was, might be, could be, or should be.

Gestalt therapy is a method of awareness, by which perceiving, feeling, and acting are understood to be separate from interpreting, explaining and judging using old attitudes. This distinction between direct experience and indirect or secondary interpretation is developed in the process of therapy. The client learns to become aware of what they are doing psychologically and how they can change it. By becoming aware of and transforming their process they develop self acceptance and the ability to experience more in the now without so much interference from baggage of the past.

The objective of Gestalt therapy, in addition to helping the client overcome symptoms, is to enable him or her to become more fully and creatively alive and to be free from the blocks and unfinished issues that may diminish optimum satisfaction, fulfillment, and growth.

The approach is not the self of the client being helped or healed by the fixed self of the therapist, but the exploration of the co-creation of self and other in the here and now. There is not the assumption that the client will act in all other circumstances as he or she does in the therapy situation. However, the areas that cause problems will be either the lack of self definition leading to chaotic or psychotic behaviour, or the rigid self definition in some area of functioning that denies spontaneity and makes dealing with particular situations impossible.

Some have described Gestalt’s paradoxical theory of change. The paradox is that the more one attempts to be who one is not, the more one remains the same. Conversely, when people identify with their current experience, the conditions of wholeness and growth support change. Put another way, change comes about as a result of full acceptance of what is, rather than a striving to be different.

Each one of us is far greater, far more advanced, far more consciously aware, far more intelligent than we conceive of our selves as being. Within each of us is a central law pressure place, a quiet center, in which we can learn to live eternally. Just outside of this quiet center is a cyclone, the rotating storm of the ego, competing with other egos in a furious high velocity circular dance.

In the quiet center we are untouched by the cyclone, but as we leave it, the roar of the rotating wind deafens as we join the frenzied dance of our ever more busy lives. Our centered thinking, feeling and being is in the quiet center, not outside in the busy world. Our pushed, pulled and driven states, our antiSatori modes of functioning, our self created hell, is outside the quiet center. When in the quiet center we are off the wheel of karma, outside the busy details and dramas of life, rising to join the creators of the universe, the creators of us. Here we find that we have created They who are Us

Major philosophical puzzles are concerned with the existence of self, with the relation of the self to the brain, to the mind and to other minds, with the existence or non-existence of an immortal self. Powerful beliefs have evolved about these areas of thought.

There are two aspects of the self. There is an observing self, the observer, and a doing or participating self, the operator. The whole self is the observer and the operator. Depending upon circumstances, the observer can be observing external events, or internal events, or both. The operator can be participating in external events, or in internal events, or both. In the external reality the operator uses the body to do things and participate. In the internal reality the operator uses simulations of reality, which are concepts, beliefs, meta beliefs, intentions, distinctions, and so forth. These internal images or pictures of external reality are not real, they are simulations of what is out there, as we perceive it. Simulations of the same external event can vary widely among people.

No matter what you are doing, the the self and observer and operator is always immersed in the internal simulations domain. Even when engaged in external events, we are simultaneously engaged in watching and acting in the internal domain. The two realities, internal and external, interact in a two way feedback relationship, internal reality to external reality to internal reality to external reality and so on endlessly.

Like a scientist, the self observes, which involves consciousness and control. In the science game, the scientist is expected to be always conscious, aware and in control of his thinking, to be rational, and in control of the processes that he is examining. This is not always the case. When in the void space and isolated from sensory stimulation, it can be discovered that there are many states in which the Self is not in control but is being programmed by forces very much larger than self.

It is as if the self were a victim, being coercively persuaded of another belief system not one’s own. Most of us have been aware of such an experience at one time or another, especially as children. The passive observer and the active operator both disappear under these conditions. Interlocked with forces, with beings, with entities far greater than we are, the self does that which it is programmed to do rather than to operate by our own initiative. We are forced into participation by external forces. We do not sit still and watch, as a scientist would.

Words, language, logic and mathematical descriptions are not adequate expressers of either the inner or outer aspects of reality. Somehow, all descriptions of reality are sterile. They tend to play word games that cleverly juggle with ideas in intricate patterns as if meaningful.

There are protocols for how to think objectively about outer physical, chemical and biological realities. Equally important is to develop ways to think objectively about the inner realities. But we lack tools to conduct a truly objective philosophical analysis of who we are on the inside.

Realization of the lack of any limits in the mind is not easy to acquire. The domains of direct experience of infinities within greater infinities of experience are sometimes frightening, sometimes awesome, sometimes blissfull. Franklin Merrell-Wolff, who feels this lack of mind limits in his own experiences writes in The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object: Reflections on the Nature of Transcendental Consciousness:

1) The first discernible effect in consciousness was something that I may call a shift in the base of consciousness. From the relative point of view, the final step may be likened to a leap into Nothing. At once, that Nothing was resolved into utter Fullness, which in turn gave the relative world a dreamlike quality of unreality. I felt and knew myself to have arrived, at last, at the Real. I was not dissipated in a sort of spatial emptiness, but on the contrary was spread out in a Fullness beyond measure.

The roots of my consciousness, which prior to this moment had been (seemingly) more or less deeply implanted in the field of relative consciousness, now were forcibly removed and instantaneously transplanted into a supernal region. This sense of being thus transplanted has continued to the present day, and it seems to be a much more normal state of emplacement than ever the old rooting had been.

2) Closely related to the foregoing is a transformation in the meaning of the “Self” or “I” Previously, pure subjectivity had seemed to me to be like a zero or vanishing point, a “somewhat” that had position in consciousness but no body. So long as that which man calls his “Self” had body, it stood within the range of analytic observation. Stripping off the sheaths of this body until none is left is the function of the discriminative technique in meditation. At the end there remains that which is never an object and yet is the foundation upon which all relative consciousness is strung like beads upon a string.

Ganesha is one of the best known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India. Hindu sects worship him regardless of other affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India. 

Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha’s elephant head makes him easy to identify. He is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as Lord of Beginnings, patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom. He is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies and invoked as Patron of Letters during writing sessions. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits and explain his distinct iconography.

Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, in most stories he acquires the head later. The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was born with a human head and body and that Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati. Shiva then replaced Ganesha’s original head with that of an elephant.

In another story, when Ganesha was born, his mother, Parvati, showed off her new baby to the other gods. Unfortunately, the god Shani who is said to have an evil eye, looked at him, causing the baby’s head to be burned to ashes. The god Vishnu came to the rescue and replaced the missing head with that of an elephant. Another story says that Ganesha was created directly by Shiva’s laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly.

Ganesha’s earliest name was Ekadanta (One Tusk), referring to his single whole tusk, the other having been broken off. Some of the earliest images of Ganesha show him holding his broken tusk. Ganesha’s protruding belly appears as a distinctive attribute in his earliest statuary, which dates to the Gupta period during the fourth to sixth centuries. This feature is so important that two different incarnations of Ganesha use names based on it: Lambodara (Pot Belly) and Mahodara (Great Belly).

The number of Ganesha’s arms varies. His best-known forms have between two and sixteen arms. Many depictions of Ganesha feature four arms, which is mentioned in Puranic sources and codified as a standard form in some iconographic texts. Forms with 14 and 20 arms appeared in central India during the 9th and 10th centuries. 

The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms. Depictions of snakes include use as a sacred thread wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Upon Ganesha’s forehead there may be a third eye or sectarian mark, which consists of three horizontal lines. Specific colors are associated with certain forms. Many examples of color associations with specific meditation forms are prescribed. For example, white is associated with his representations as Heramba-Ganapati (Ganapati Who Releases from Bondage). Ekadanta-Ganapati is visualized as blue during meditation on that form.

A Vahana or a Hindu vehicle, sometimes called a mount, is an animal, mythical entity or chimera closely associated with a particular deity in Hindu mythology. Ganesha is often shown riding on or attended by a mouse. The mouse is interpreted in several ways. Some say it symbolizes those who wish to overcome desires and be less selfish. Others note that the mouse is destructive and a menace to crops. It was essential to subdue the mouse as a destructive pest, a type of impediment that needed to be overcome. According to this theory, showing Ganesha as master of the mouse demonstrates his function as Lord of Obstacles and gives evidence of his possible role as a folk village deity who later rose to greater prominence. It is also suggested that Ganesha, like the mouse, penetrates even the most secret places.

Ganesha is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions, especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business. There can hardly be a home in India which does not have an idol of Ganesha. Ganesha, being the most popular deity in India, is worshipped by almost all castes and in all parts of the country. Devotees believe that if Ganesha is propitiated, he grants success, prosperity and protection against adversity. 

Ganesha is a nonsectarian deity, and Hindus of all denominations invoke him at the beginning of prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies. Dancers and musicians, particularly in southern India, begin performances of arts such as the Bharatnatyam dance with a prayer to Ganesha. Mantras such as Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah (Om, salutation to the Illustrious Ganesha) are often used.

Devotees offer Ganesha sweets such as modaka and small sweet balls. He is often shown carrying a bowl of sweets, called a modakapatra. Because of his identification with the color red, he is often worshipped with red sandalwood paste or red flowers. Durva grass (Cynodon dactylon) and other materials are also used in his worship.

An annual festival honours Ganesha for ten days, starting on Ganesh Chaturthi, which typically falls in late August or early September. The festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, when images of Ganesha are immersed in the most convenient body of water. In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed this annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra. Because of Ganesha’s wide appeal as the god for everyone, Tilak chose him as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. Today, Hindus across India celebrate the Ganapati festival with great fervour, though it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra.

Mysticism is the pursuit of achieving communion, identity with, or conscious awareness of ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight. In many cases, the purpose of mysticism and mystical disciplines is to reach a state of return or reintegration with the divine. A common theme in mysticism is that the mystic and all of reality or God are a unity. The purpose of mystical practices is to achieve that oneness in experience, to achieve a larger identity and reidentify with the all that is. 

Mystics hold that there is a deeper, more fundamental state of existence hidden beneath the appearances of day–to–day living which may become, to the mystic, superficial or a causal relationship between phenomena. For the authentic mystic, unity is both the internal and external focus as one seeks the truth about oneself, one’s relationship to others and reality, both the world at large and the unseen realm. The mystic’s motivation for such an arduous endeavor appears to be unique to the individual and culture, and sometimes a new religion, order or sect may be the legacy. Generally approached through the purification processes of prayer, meditation, contemplation, and a wide variety of other means, the mystic seeks to transcend any constraint to his direct experience of the divine.

The processes and experiences undertaken to achieve unity are described variously as the path, theosis, enlightenment, the way, transcendence, salvation through the Christ self, satori, dhyana, etc. Every culture develops traditions and myths pointing the way to the transcendent self. The process may be embodied in visual symbolism or detailed psychologically in powerful stories such as Theseus and Odysseus.

The divine realm has been expressed in any of various ways across cultures as God, Allah, Brahma, Creator, ultimate reality, a universal presence or divine principle. The ultimate unification with the divine may be experienced by the mystic as psychological emancipation, samadhi, being born again, or unity consciousness, but in practical terms it can be described as a surrendered egoless state in which the external world synchronizes with the mystic’s true nature and purpose. The term, heaven or nirvana, while generally considered an after death experience in Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism is seen by the mystic as a non physical realm or field with physical effects in the eternal now. Severe cultural alienation often accompanies this effort as the mystic turns away from the world seeking reunion with the Creator or Godhead within.

Mysticism is usually understood in a religious context, but it has been pointed out that transcendent experiences may happen to anyone, regardless of religious training or inclinations. Such experiences can occur unexpectedly and without preparation at any time, and might not be understood as religious experiences at all. A momentary unity may be experienced by the artist or athlete as a perceived interconnection with existence or a loss of self accompanied by feelings of euphoria, by the scientist as a spontaneous ecstatic inspiration, by an ordinary individual as a shift in physical reality after experiencing a temporary unconflicted state of mind, by a prophet as an open channel of knowledge or even dismissed as psychological disturbances in modern times.

But the authentic mystic’s ultimate goal is a sustained stable state of full consciousness and wholeness through self-knowledge. First, the observer role must be stabilized before he or she can return to being to merge with the preexistent field, allowing him or her to fulfill their purpose or realize passion. With that in mind, the word mysticism is best used to point to conscious and systematic attempts to gain transcendent insights and experiences through studies and practice. Mystics typically go beyond specific religious perspectives or dogmas in their teachings, maintaining an inclusive and universal perspective that rises above traditional sectarian differences because they comprehend the shared basis of other religious traditions beneath the superficial.

It has been noted that a mystical experience displays the world through a different lens than ordinary experience. The experience is often placed beyond the descriptive abilities of language. While there is debate over what this implies, and whether the experience actually transcends the phenomenal or material world of ordinary perception, it should be remembered that a complete absence of terminology related to modern psychology, biology and physics existed during the evolution of mankind’s sacred texts and earliest attempts to communicate the unity experience. Ancient religious and mystical language may become more accessible with modern terminology and understanding in future translations and interpretations.

The mystic interprets the world through a different lens than is present in ordinary experience, which can prove to be a significant obstacle to those who research mystical teachings and paths. Much like poetry, the words of mystics are often idiosyncratic and esoteric, can seem confusing and opaque, simultaneously over simplified and full of subtle meanings hidden from the unenlightened. However, mystics generally focus on the experience itself, and rarely concern themselves with discussions assuming that the initiate understands, or will grasp the semantics as they progress.

The following is excerpted from A User’s Guide To The Brain, by John J. Ratey, M.D.

I met a psychotherapist from the West Coast named Rolf at a conference in Aspen, Colorado. It was autumn, cool and overcast, yet Rolf was wearing yellow-tinted sunglasses. I just thought, Oh, it’s the California thing. But Rolf, age sixty-eight, had discovered only two years earlier that he had a visual-processing problem. He had begun to work with dyslexics when he retired from active practice, and in studying all he could, he learned about a technique called the Irlen method for helping a small subset of dyslexics.

Certain dyslexics have difficulty reading because as they move their eyes from left to right across a line of type, the letters seem to shimmer… they move. The affected individual can’t keep track of the words, and so has to struggle mightily to read. The Irlen idea was that if such a person looked at written material or any fine details through a certain type of filtering lens, the shimmering would stop.

Rolf had been tormented all his life with the idea that he was not as smart as he thought he was. It had taken him much longer than other students to study. He was smart enough to get by, and got his medical degree by forcing himself to listen well and ask lots of questions. Indeed, his first love was neurology, but that required much more detailed reading than psychology, which relied more on talking and listening, so he ended up becoming a psychiatrist. He had always loved literature, but just never read it because it was too much of an ordeal.

Upon discovering that different-colored Irlen lenses helped certain dyslexics, Rolf drove to his neighborhood pharmacy, picked up a magazine, and began trying on different-colored sunglasses. He tried blue, then brown. Nothing happened. But then he put on a $5 pair of yellowtinted lenses, and began to read the magazine. The words stood still! He read it more easily than anything he had ever tried to read before in his life. He was elated.

Rolf was already wearing glasses for common farsightedness. He hurried to his ophthalmologist to explain his discovery, and together they ordered a pair of Irlen lenses. Today Rolf is a voracious reader.

It’s important to note that Irlen lenses help only a small fraction of people who suffer from dyslexia, which can be caused by many different perceptual or brain processing problems. The shimmering of letters is not a problem that can be diagnosed with routine eye exams. Rolf happens to be in the small group of dyslexics who can be helped by Irlen lenses, was aware enough to apply what he was learning about dyslexia to himself, and was clever enough to find some ready evidence for a possible cure at his local pharmacy.

Rolf needlessly spent much of his adult life with a poor image of himself. Despite his outwardly successful career, he had been in analysis for years trying to understand why he thought of himself as inadequate and lazy, why he had to study so hard to achieve what others did routinely, why he didn’t read the journals as his fellow psychiatrists did or keep track of the news in the papers. His struggle had nothing to do with an intellectual deficit or a motivational problem. It was pure perception.

Just for a moment, look up and examine the scene around you. Be it a sterile office, cozy bedroom or den, allow yourself to sit back and really see the world that surrounds you. In the amount of time that you averted your gaze from this page, your eyes meticulously dissected the image cast upon your retina into approximately 126 million pieces, sent signals for every one of these tiny elements to a transfer station in the thalamus, which then fired neuronal networks to and within the visual cortex, then sent the information to the frontal cortex, and somehow you put the pieces back together into a seamless pattern perceived by you as a sterile office, cozy bedroom, or den.

To add to this complexity, recent physiological findings suggest that all this processing takes place along several independent, parallel pathways. One system processes information about shape, one about color, and one about movement, location, and spatial organization. If you look up and see a clock, the image of its face and the action of its sweeping second hand are being processed independently, despite how unified the image appears. It may seem bizarre to think of vision as functionally subdivided. But how otherwise could a person who has perfect focus and tracking of moving objects be color blind? Some so called blind people who cannot see colors or objects can still see movement.

As humans, our highly convoluted cortex enables us to combine visual messages with other sensory messages and past experiences to give unique meaning to particular visual situations. The sight of a fresh bouquet of red roses will probably have a different effect on me than on the florist who works with roses every day. Most other species do not have cortical convolutions, so the greater part of their visual processing occurs as pure sight. Humans have evolved to process most visual information in the visual cortex.

Since the introduction of the Irlen lenses, a more promising approach has been developed with the See Right Dyslexia Glasses. These glasses, which require no evaluation and are backed by a money-back guarantee, are an affordable risk free option to correct the problems associated with visual dyslexia. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com

Compassion is that which makes the heart of the good move at the pain of others. It crushes and destroys the pain of others. Thus, it is called compassion. It is called compassion because it shelters and embraces the distressed.

Compassion is a profound human emotion prompted by the pain of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another’s suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism. In ethical terms, the various expressions down the ages of the so-called Golden Rule embody by implication the principle of compassion: Do to others as you would have done to you. Ranked a great virtue in numerous philosophies, compassion is considered in all the major religious traditions as among the greatest of virtues.

Compassion is at the transcendental and experiential heart of the Buddha’s teachings. He was reputedly asked by his secretary, Ananda, “Would it be true to say that the cultivation of loving kindness and compassion is a part of our practice?” To which the Buddha replied, “No. It would not be true to say that the cultivation of loving kindness and compassion is part of our practice. It would be true to say that the cultivation of loving kindess and compassion is all of our practice.”

The first of what are called the Four Noble Truths is the truth of suffering or dukkha, unsatisfactoriness or stress. Stress is identified as one of the three distinguishing chacteristics of all conditioned existence. It arises as a consequence of the failure to adapt to change and insubstantiality, lack of fixed identity and the horrendous lack of certainty. Compassion made possible by observation and accurate perception is the appropriate practical response. The ultimate and earnest wish is to relieve the suffering of all living beings everywhere.

The noted American monk Bhikkhu Bodhi states that compassion supplies the complement to loving kindness. Whereas loving kindness has the characteristic of wishing for the happiness and welfare of others, compassion has the characteristic of wishing that others be free from suffering, a wish to be extended without limit to all living beings. Compassion arises by entering into the subjectivity of others, by sharing their interiority in a deep and total way. It springs up by considering that all beings wish to be free from suffering, yet despite their wishes continue to be harassed by pain, fear, sorrow, and other forms of dukkha.

At the same time, it is emphasised that in order to manifest effective compassion for others it is first of all necessary to be able to experience and fully appreciate one’s own suffering and to have, as a consequence, compassion for oneself. The Buddha is reported to have said, “It is possible to travel the whole world in search of one who is more worthy of compassion than oneself.

Compassion fatigue is a term that refers to a gradual lessening of compassion over time. It is common among victims of trauma and individuals that work directly with victims of trauma. It was first diagnosed in nurses in the 1950′s.

Sufferers can exhibit several symptoms including hopelessness, a decrease in experiences of pleasure, constant stress and anxiety, and a pervasive negative attitude. This can have detrimental effects on individuals, both professionally and personally, including a decrease in productivity, the inability to focus, and the development of new feelings of incompetency and self doubt.

The media has been blamed for causing wide spread compassion fatigue in society. Proponents argue that the media’s saturation of images and stories of suffering has caused the public to become cynical, or become resistant to helping. They cite preliminary scientific research which is showing that visual images affect brain activity in demonstrable and measurable ways.

The Dalai Lama has said, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

Religious Science, also known as Science of Mind, was founded in 1927 by Ernest Holmes. It is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. Ernest Holmes stated that Religious Science is a correlation of the laws of science, opinions of philosophy, and revelations of religion applied to human need and the aspirations of mankind. He also stated that Religious Science or Science of Mind is not based on any authority of established beliefs, but rather on what it can accomplish for the people who practice it.

Religious Science should not be confused with Christian Science or Scientology. While Christian Science and Religious Science share a common root in history they are not the same teaching, and neither of these organizations have any connections with Scientology. One major difference between Christian Science and Religious Science is that Christian Scientists do not believe that traditional medical practices are compatible with their philosophy, whereas Religious Science believes that all proven healing practices are part of the whole, so that the practice of Spiritual Mind Treatment can be performed supplementally with medical practices.

The Religious Science teaching generally incorporates idealistic and panentheistic philosophies. It teaches that all beings are expressions of and part of Infinite Intelligence, also known as Spirit, Higher Consciousness, or God. It believes that, because God is all there is in the universe, Its powers can be used by all humans to the extent that they realize Its presence. Ernest Holmes said said that God is not a person, but a Universal Presence, already in our own soul, already operating through our own consciousness.

Religious Science believes that people can achieve more fulfilling lives through the practice called Spiritual Mind Treatment, or Affirmative Prayer. Spiritual Mind Treatment is a step-by-step process, in which one states the desired outcome as if it has already happened. In that way, it differs from traditional prayer, since it does not ask God for assistance. It declares human partnership with God to achieve success.

Treatment is to be stated as personal, positive, powerful, and present. The goal is to gain clarity in thinking that guides action to be consistent with the desired outcome. Spiritual Mind Treatment is believed to set off a new chain of causation in Mind that leads one to act according to the good for which one is treating. Spiritual Mind Treatment, as currently taught in Religious Science centers, contains five steps: Recognition, Unification, Realization, Thanksgiving, and Release. Some adherents also use supplemental meditation techniques, including visioning.

Although Holmes was criticized for not focusing much on Love, he did say that Love points the way and Law makes the way possible. The Law of Cause and Effect simply states that every action has a consequence and is good, bad, or neutral. It can be described as whatever goes around comes around. It differs from the Hindu and Buddhist definition of karma in that it is not related to reincarnation and that it happens in this life as well as the next. Personal responsibility is a major tenet of Religious Science.

Ernest Holmes did not originally intend for Religious Science to be a church, but rather a teaching institution. In that spirit, many member organizations have traditionally referred to themselves as centers. The mental healing work of Dr. Phineas P. Quimby was a source of inspiration to much of the New Thought movement, including Religious Science. Ernest Holmes was especially strongly influenced by Emma Curtis Hopkins, and by the writings of Judge Thomas Troward and Ralph Waldo Emerson, as he developed his own synthesis, which became known as Religious Science.

Upon publication of his seminal book in 1926, The Science of Mind, which is based largely on the teachings of Jesus, Holmes established the Institute for Religious Science and School of Philosophy in Los Angeles. This organization would later become the Church of Religious Science. Holmes had previously studied another New Thought teaching Divine Science. He saw humans as being open to evolutionary improvement of consciousness in all areas of life. This concept has inspired Religious Science organizations and their teachings to evolve over the years.

As stated in the book New Thought: A Practical American Spirituality, New Thought still is evolving; it may yet be the point at which religion, philosophy, and science come together as the most effective combination to move the world to greater peace, plenty, health, and harmony. Many believe it might be the quintessential spirituality for the next millennium. His teachings attracted famous celebrities of his time, including Cecil B. De Mille, Peggy Lee, and Cary Grant.

Rongorongo is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Easter Island that appears to be writing or proto writing. It has not been deciphered despite numerous attempts. Although some calendrical and what might prove to be genealogical information has been identified, not even these glyphs can be read. If rongorongo does prove to be writing, it could be one of only three or four known independent inventions of writing in human history.

Two dozen wooden objects bearing rongorongo inscriptions were collected in the late 19th century and are now scattered in museums and private collections. None remain on Easter Island. The objects are mostly tablets made from irregular pieces of wood, sometimes driftwood, but include a chieftain’s staff, a birdman statuette, and two reimiro ornaments. There are also a few petroglyphs which may include short rongorongo inscriptions. Oral history suggests that only a small elite was ever literate and that the tablets were sacred.

Authentic rongorongo texts are written in alternating directions, a system called reverse boustrophedon. In the case of the tablets these lines are often inscribed in shallow fluting carved into the wood. The glyphs have a characteristic outline appearance and include human, animal, plant, artifact and geometric forms. Some of the human and animal figures, and have protuberances on each side of the head, possibly representing ears or eyes that are also characteristic of rongorongo.

Oral tradition holds that because of the great value of wood, only expert scribes used it, while pupils wrote on banana leaves. German ethnologist Thomas Barthel believed that carving on wood was a secondary development in the evolution of the script based on an earlier stage of incising banana leaves or the sheaths of the banana trunk with a bone stylus, and that the medium of leaves was retained not only for lessons but to plan and compose the texts of the wooden tablets. He found that the glyphs were quite visible on banana leaves due to the sap that emerged from the cuts and dried on the surface. However, when the leaves themselves dried they became brittle and would not have survived for long.

The glyphs are stylized human, animal, vegetable and geometric shapes, and often form compounds. Nearly all those with heads are oriented head up and are either seen face on or in profile to the right, in the direction of writing. It is not known what significance turning a glyph head down or to the left may have had. Heads often have characteristic projections on the sides which may be eyes but which often resemble ears. Birds are common. Many resemble the frigatebird which was associated with the supreme god Makemake. Other glyphs look like fish or arthropods. A few, but only a few, are similar to petroglyphs found throughout the island.

Easter Island has the richest assortment of petroglyphs in Polynesia. Nearly every suitable surface has been carved, including the stone walls of some houses and a few of the famous statues and their fallen topknots. Around one thousand sites with over four thousand glyphs have been cataloged. Designs include marine animals like turtles, tuna, swordfish, sharks, whales, dolphins, crabs, and octopus, some with human faces. Although the petroglyphs cannot be directly dated, some are partially obscured by pre-colonial stone buildings, suggesting they are relatively old.

As with most undeciphered scripts, there are many fanciful interpretations and claimed translations of rongorongo. However, apart from a portion of one tablet which has been shown to have to do with a lunar calendar, none of the texts are understood. There are three serious obstacles to decipherment, assuming rongorongo is truly writing: the small number of remaining texts, the lack of context such as illustrations in which to interpret them, and the poor attestation of the Old Rapanui language since modern Rapanui is heavily mixed with Tahitian and is therefore unlikely to closely reflect the language of the tablets.

The prevailing opinion is that rongorongo is not true writing but proto writing, or even a more limited mnemonic device for genealogy, choreography, navigation, astronomy, or agriculture. For example, the Atlas of Languages states, “It was probably used as a memory aid or for decorative purposes, not for recording the Rapanui language of the islanders”. If this is the case, then there is little hope of ever deciphering it. For those who believe it to be writing, there is debate as to whether rongorongo is essentially logographic or syllabic, though it appears to be compatible with neither a pure logography nor a pure syllabary.