A Living Legacy for a New Century 

A SoulRise reflection on the central message of Science of Mind, 
its founder, and the invitation before us today 

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HONOR THE PAST  •  DEMONSTRATE THE TEACHING  •  CARRY IT FORWARD TOGETHER 

“This centennial belongs to no one organization. It belongs to the teaching — and to every life that teaching has ever touched.” 

A Threshold Moment 

One hundred years after Ernest Holmes brought The Science of Mind into the world, SoulRise stands with the wider Science of Mind and Religious Science family at a meaningful threshold. This is more than an anniversary. It is an opportunity to remember what was entrusted to us, to ask how faithfully we are living it, and to consider how we will carry it into the next century. 

The central message is simple: Honor the past. Demonstrate the teaching in the present. Carry it forward together. The value of a centennial is not found primarily in looking backward. It is found in recognizing that the spiritual principles Holmes articulated remain alive, practical, and urgently relevant to human lives today. 

Who Was Ernest Holmes? 

Dr. Ernest S. Holmes was a spiritual teacher, philosopher, writer, and the founder of Religious Science, the spiritual movement whose philosophy is known as Science of Mind. He drew from ancient spiritual wisdom, mysticism, philosophy, New Thought, and the emerging intellectual currents of his time to articulate a practical teaching centered on the unity of life, the creative nature of consciousness, and the direct relationship of every person with the Infinite. 

In 1926, Holmes published The Science of Mind. In 1927, he founded Science of Mind magazine and chartered the Institute of Religious Science and Philosophy. Together, these developments helped move the teaching from the insight and work of one person into a living tradition that could be studied, practiced, taught, and carried forward by others. 

Understanding Holmes matters because history gives context to the teaching. It helps us distinguish the enduring principles from the language and culture of a particular era. It also reminds us that Holmes did not intend Science of Mind to become a closed system of belief. He offered it as an invitation to discovery — a way of exploring what becomes possible when we understand ourselves as expressions of an Infinite Life. 

The Heart of the Teaching 

At the heart of Science of Mind is the recognition of One Life, One Presence, and One Infinite Intelligence expressing through all creation. We are not separate from this Life. We participate in it. 

This changes the spiritual question from “How do I reach a distant God?” to “How do I awaken more fully to the Divine Presence already within and around me?” It asks us to become conscious participants in life — aware of the beliefs we hold, the choices we make, the relationships we cultivate, and the consciousness we bring to the circumstances before us. 

For SoulRise, this teaching is especially meaningful in times of grief, transition, uncertainty, and awakening. Circumstances can change dramatically. Roles can end. Relationships can shift. Bodies age. Loss can alter the landscape of our lives. Yet something deeper within us remains whole. Science of Mind invites us to meet the reality of our human experience while also remembering the spiritual truth of who we are. 

Why the Teaching Still Matters 

A century later, people continue to hunger for belonging, meaning, healing, hope, and a spirituality that can be lived rather than merely believed. Many are navigating grief, caregiving, retirement, divorce, changing identities, burnout, loneliness, and questions of purpose. Others are searching for a spiritual home that honors both personal experience and the sacredness of all life. 

Science of Mind offers a practical framework for meeting these questions. It does not require us to deny pain or pretend that positive thinking makes difficult circumstances disappear. Instead, it calls us toward conscious awareness, spiritual practice, inner transformation, compassionate action, and a deeper recognition of our connection with one another. 

From History to Demonstration 

The greatest way to honor Ernest Holmes is not simply to preserve his words. It is to demonstrate the principles those words point toward. A living teaching must continue to live through people. 

CENTENNIAL REMEMBRANCE 

LIVING DEMONSTRATION 

We remember Oneness. 

We practice inclusion and recognize the sacred worth of every person. 

We remember the creative nature of consciousness. 

We become responsible for the thoughts, beliefs, and choices we cultivate. 

We remember spiritual wholeness. 

We accompany grief and change without reducing a person to what has happened to them. 

We remember the power of prayer. 

We practice affirmative prayer as a movement of consciousness toward spiritual truth. 

We remember freedom. 

We create communities where questioning, discovery, growth, and direct spiritual experience are welcomed. 

We remember love. 

We embody compassion, service, reconciliation, and meaningful human connection. 

The SoulRise Expression 

SoulRise carries this legacy by creating spaces where spiritual principle meets real human experience. Our work is not to ask people to become less human in order to become more spiritual. It is to create compassionate places where people can bring the fullness of their lives — grief and joy, uncertainty and possibility, questions and discoveries — and explore them in the presence of spiritual truth. 

We believe healing happens in community. We believe people can grow through change rather than simply endure it. We believe spiritual practice can help us remember the wholeness that remains present even when life feels fragmented. And we believe the principles of Science of Mind become most meaningful when they are translated into how we listen, how we love, how we serve, how we choose, and how we show up for one another. 

Our Centennial Invitation 

The centennial invites SoulRise to do more than celebrate Ernest Holmes. It asks us to participate in the continuing evolution of the teaching he helped bring into the world. 

We honor the past by learning our history with gratitude and discernment. We demonstrate the teaching by applying its principles to the realities people face today. We carry it forward by making the teaching understandable, accessible, inclusive, compassionate, and relevant to generations who may never encounter it in the same forms previous generations did. 

The question before us is therefore not only, “What did Ernest Holmes teach?” It is also, “What is this teaching asking of us now?” 

May we become a community that does not merely speak of One Life, 
but lives as though our lives truly belong to one another. 

A Living Legacy 

Ernest Holmes gave this movement more than a philosophy. He helped articulate an invitation: to awaken to our relationship with the Infinite and then live from that awareness. One hundred years later, the invitation remains open. 

SoulRise receives that invitation with gratitude — not to recreate 1926, but to bring timeless spiritual principles into the questions, relationships, losses, hopes, and possibilities of this moment. 

We remember where we came from. We practice what we have been given. And together, we help create what comes next. 

HEAL.  GROW.  RISE.