This Thing Called You Book Summary I Ernest Holmes

Book – This Thing Called You (Summary)

Author – Ernest Holmes

Genre – Self-help Book

Published in – 1948

We all seek the joy of living long to be needed, loved, and included in the grand scheme of life. It is this urge that motivates our decisions and actions.

In This Thing Called You, Ernest Holmes helps us explore the power within us, stating that there is a God Power at the center of every man’s being, a Presence that knows neither lack, limitation nor fear, sickness, disquiet, nor imperfection. This Presence and Power are central to all people and all things.

But because everyone is an individual, he can build a wall of negative thoughts between himself and this perfection. This makes it difficult for the actual center to come to the surface.

As Emerson put it – Every man is a doorway through which the infinite passes into the finite, through which God becomes man, through which the Universal becomes individual.

About the Book –

In This Thing Called You, Ernest Holmes claims that we have all the power within us, which we seek outside in God’s higher spirit. It is about accepting that power and having complete faith rather than searching out.

If You knew beyond question that this is true, your most significant search would be after your spirit. Well, You do know this. Every desire You have for betterment in life is some echo from that deep within which constantly proclaims, “Behold, I make all things new.”

You are to believe with utmost simplicity and with complete faith that there is a pattern of your being, or a genuine spirit of You, which is as eternal as God, indestructible as Reality, and changeless as Truth.

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Key Points From The Book –

1) Constrain in Believing –

• The total of your thinking, believing, and feeling is between this spirit, your physical body, and external affairs.

• The only things that stand between You and it are the accumulated thoughts, beliefs, and emotions of the ages. But there is nothing that has not been put there by you or the race.

• What has been put there can be removed. These unbeliefs are thought patterns laid down throughout the ages and accentuated by your own experience, inherited tendencies, and environment.

2) Exploring The Power Within –

• As You intellectually now accept that You can do this. Are You not, then, like one who has started on a journey to a beautiful city which he knows exists? What if he has to climb a few mountains, make a certain number of detours, and cross a desert or ford a stream?

• Everything worth attaining is worth striving toward. It is the goal. You are after. You have a vision, and You are going to follow it.

3) The Law of Faith –

• The barriers between You and your greater good are not barriers in themselves. They are things of thought.

• The law of faith operates with integrity on the definite idea of thought, expectancy, or acceptance implanted in it.

• We don’t have to focus on law; we have to focus on our thoughts and ideas. The law works in its place, whether we benefit from it or suffer by ignoring it.

4) The Power Within You –

• Your most excellent life adventure lies in your conscious use of this power. You need not believe in any particular religious system to discover the wellspring of life. You find it at the center of your being, in the quiet of the evening, in the stillness of the night, at the dawn of the new day, and amid activity.

• To realize that God is ever-present, ever-available, is to know that all the wisdom, intelligence, and power of the universe is right where You are. Your word is power when You know this. This is why everything in your life depends upon your belief, why it is done unto You as You believe. Change your view, and You can change your world.

5) Law of Reflection –

Life is a mirror reflecting your images of thought. If You see confusion in this mirror, don’t blame the law of reflection; don’t even bother to blame yourself, but be willing to acknowledge that this confusion must reflect your consciousness.

6) His Thought on Fasting –

• You have been told that You should fast and pray. Perhaps true fasting is a determination no longer to entertain negative thoughts; maybe it means continually affirming the good. The act of physical fasting is merely a symbol of this inward grace.

• The need for the symbol disappears when You understand its meaning. It is an excellent practice to fast, so far as the negative is concerned, and feast on affirmations only. Why not fast from the idea of lack and feast on the idea of abundance?
  

I have also created a video of a few quotes from the book – I hope you like it. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel – Myread4change.

Conclusion –

This Thing Called You, with less than 90 pages, is a fantastic reminder to ourselves that we are more powerful than we think, more blessed than we believe, and Have more control over our situation than we think.

It is worth reading and reminding ourselves once in a while.

Please share your feedback/suggestions on this book summary in the comment, or if You have any questions, I will gladly answer them.

If you like this book, You will also like The Complete Game of Life and How to Play It.

I wish You great strength in exploring your best self.

Muzammil