EFFICIENCY STUDY
GUIDE
to
the
MASTERY OF THE
COURSE
by
Edward Earle
Purinton
Companion Guide to:
A Home Course in Mental Science
Benedict Lust, N.D. M.D.,
Publisher
New York, 1921.
Introduction To
The Study Guide
LESSON 1 - OMNIPRESENT LIFE
1. What do you want most from the
“store-house of the
Universe”?
2. How will your habit of thinking help
you to obtain what you want?
3. Have your ignorant beliefs in your
own limitations held you back? (State
what and how.)
4. Why is thought the greatest factor
in your work, life and future
career?
5. Which truth, in a sentence, learned
from this Lesson, seems most vital and
valuable to you?
ACTION I.
Illustrate the teaching that “all
is good” by showing how one of
your experiences that looked bad for
you turned out to be good; then figure
how one of your present handicaps,
troubles or griefs may, by your own
thought and work, be changed into a
blessing.
RESULT:
LESSON 2 -
THOUGHT, the BODY BUILDER
6. Do you regard sickness, merely
ignorance of health? If so, how? If
not, why not?
7. What “fixed habits of the
race” do you need, and want, to
outgrow in your evolution toward higher
and better conditions?
8. From which of your mistakes have you
learned most, and how are you making
sure it will not occur again?
9. How has unconscious thought built
your body, and how will conscious
thought re-build it?
10. Do you believe that you have latent
power to overcome all obstacles, and
rise above sickness, poverty, weakness
and fear into a glorious life where
health, wisdom, strength, reign
supreme? Give a logical reason for such
belief.
ACTION II.
Resolve for one day to think only
pleasant, hopeful, helpful thoughts,
with your mind fixed on seeing only
good everywhere; keep a notebook with
you, and jot down the number of times
you are tempted to yield to negative,
sour, cross, depressed or ugly
thoughts; ponder this record as a proof
of how much you need a daily
application of Mental Science.
RESULT:
LESSON 3 -
OUR BELIEFS
11. If a scientist and a religionist
were to argue for their opposing
claims, how would you reconcile
them?
12. For what purpose, and of what
ultimate benefit, are human doubts and
perplexities?
13. When a person looks to drugs for
maintaining health, how does that
signify he is in a low state of mental
and moral development?
14. Are the five senses always
trustworthy? How shall one avoid being
deceived and misled by them?
15. In what ways does your thought need
vitalizing and spiritualizing? How
should a set of new beliefs make you
healthier, happier, finer?
ACTION III.
Write a personal, original creed, or
statement of belief, containing twelve
to twenty sentences, applying to your
work or life, and all based on the
teaching of Lesson Three. Paste this
creed on cardboard and put it where you
will see it often--but not where others
will see it. Every sentence should open
with the words “I believe
that,” or “I believe
in” and should express a new
conviction, or an old one re-stated in
the light of these truths.
RESULT:
LESSON 4 -
DENIALS
16. Should one’s natural desires
be repressed, or expressed in the right
way? Give an example.
17. How does all unripe evil tend to
ripen into good? Illustrate by a lesson
from one of your own mistakes, and the
final gain therefrom.
18. Can you define
“chemicalization” in your
own words? If you should feel sick or
uncomfortable during the salutary
process, how will you think about it
and act toward it?
19. What is death? How can it be
postponed, and finally conquered?
20. Do not the atonement of
Christianity and the at-one-ment of
Mental Science really harmonize? Show
how.
ACTION IV.
Frame a set of denials of the
world’s false beliefs, according
to examples here given by Helen
Wilmans. Declare, in a dozen or more
sentences, your freedom from the
bondage of race ignorance and error;
and repeat to yourself these
declarations of freedom whenever you
need a mental tonic.
RESULT:
LESSON 5 -
AFFIRMATIONS
21. How are “affirmations”
mental food, as “denials”
are mental medicine? Which should come
first, and why?
22. What is “the most desirable
of all things”? How will the
acquisition of it help one to acquire
everything else he wants?
23. Should one’s conscience warn
him against “bad” things,
or impel him toward great and good
things? How would you suggest that the
human conscience, wrongly educated, be
turned into a positive force to uplift
and empower a man?
24. Which of your beliefs--personal or
political or theological--did you
inherit or borrow? Which really belong
to you by reason of intuition? Make a
list of each and compare them.
25. Should your beliefs be talked--or
lived? Why? How does the habit of
merely preaching to folks make you both
worse?
ACTION V.
Refer back to Question 1, Lesson One,
where you stated what you most want in
life. Now prepare a series of
affirmations, from five to twenty, all
bearing directly on the realization of
this ambition or aspiration, all
inspiring you for achievement by
strengthening your mind and sustaining
your heart. Use the quoted affirmations
of Helen Wilmans as models, if
necessary. Put this affirmation sheet
on cardboard, next to your denial sheet
of Lesson Four.
RESULT:
LESSON 6 -
THE SOUL OF THINGS
26. Do you believe that “not one
in a hundred knows that he can
think”? Formulate five tests to
prove a man a real thinker, and then
apply these to yourself.
27. How far is the doctrine of
evolution true? How far untrue, or
incomplete?
28. Would not the development and use
of creative inspiration help you to
advance in your work? How has it
promoted the man or men who are leaders
in your line? (If necessary get a
biography of one or more leaders, and
find what their visions were, and how
materialized.)
29. Which of your natural, personal
desires do you doubt most? Analyze the
doubt, prove its unreasonableness and
unreality, forthwith and forever banish
it and be free.
30. How do you explain the fact that
desire generates vitality? When you
trust your fondest hope enough to act
on it, you make of it your best
stimulant to health, happiness and
usefulness; what is your fondest hope
and how will you act on it?
ACTION VI.
Write down a brief description of your
dream of having, doing, or being
something that looks impossible, from
the race attitude of chronic doubt, and
that others, perhaps you yourself, have
thought unattainable. Assume now that
you can realize it, figure what the
first step should be, and take that
step.
RESULT:
LESSON 7 -
FAITH, OUR GUIDE THROUGH THE DARK
31. Why must faith precede, and how
will faith ensure, conquest over all
difficulties and triumph supreme?
32. What are the respective powers and
limitations of reason and intuition?
Where should we trust and follow
reason? Where should we trust and
follow intuition?
33. Are you naturally optimistic or
pessimistic? If too optimistic, how
will you guard against false moves (or
else bovine contentment, according to
your temperament)? If too pessimistic,
how will you grow in yourself a
positive, sure, potent faith?
34. Can you give a scientific
explanation of the Bible injunction:
“Ask, and ye shall
receive”?
35. Which is a better guide for the
soul--a blind faith or an intellectual
doubt? Why?
ACTION VII.
Compose a prayer, with the reverence of
the old theology but the courage of the
new faith, asking for clearer
perceptions and larger powers, to
enable you to see and do the right
thing, the big thing, always. Make this
prayer a part of your life and daily
growth.
RESULT:
LESSON 8 -
SPIRIT AND BODY ARE ONE
36. Why is a clean, strong, healthy
body necessary to spiritual
development?
37. Why is a spiritual man or woman
always vital--never dull, dense or
sluggish, and never on the other hand
merely intellectual?
38. Through what regular means of
reading and studying are you supplying
real food for your mind? Or do you read
nothing but newspaper trash and unreal
fiction?
39. Do you believe that Heaven is above
us, or in us, or both? Explain your
position. Back it by religion and
science, each supporting, neither
contradicting, the other.
40. Why and how should a man be
“saved” in this life? Here,
or elsewhere, does the philosophy of
Helen Wilmans antagonize your theology?
Take some point of disagreement, look
on both sides impartially, and satisfy
yourself which view, if either, is
correct.
ACTION VIII.
Write a brief contradiction of the
popular misconception of “lower
appetites and passions.” There
are none. A low, debased mind calls the
natural functions and desires unclean,
but only the mind needs renovating.
Show how the right feeling toward food,
sex, and other so-called physical
manifestations of life can lift them to
the divine plane from whence the
twisted mind of men dislodged
them.
RESULT:
LESSON 9 -
PRAYER AND SELF CULTURE
41. Wherein do you consider the
author’s view of prayer right?
Wherein wrong? (It is both right and
wrong.)
42. Do you pray often, with full
confidence? Then do you work hard and
long to help answer your own
prayers?
43. How do books and sermons tend to
hamper you in your quest for higher,
deeper learning and life?
44. Are you convinced that “it
pays to be a fool for truth’s
sake”? If not, ask yourself what
is wrong with you.
45. Can a heretic pray? Develop an
argument to prove that a heretic may be
more devout than the orthodox critic
who misunderstands and condemns
him.
ACTION IX.
Pray for light on the biggest problem
or hardest difficulty you are facing.
Keep on praying till the solution, or
the means of obtaining it, is revealed
to you. But meanwhile think, study,
work to get the solution for yourself,
mindful that human effort does most to
guarantee divine co-operation.
RESULT:
LESSON 10
- THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE
46. How often do you listen to the
voice of intuition? Can you hear it
plainly, frequently? How will you
cultivate your intuitional perceptions
and powers?
47. In what respect is the knowledge
and wisdom of birds, animals and
insects superior to ours? What can they
teach us?
48. How has your opinion of yourself
been misrepresenting you? What
enlargements and improvements of this
opinion do you now see are necessary to
your growth and final supremacy?
49. If you are not fully happy, how can
you probably become so through finding
fuller expression?
50. Is the fact that we do not seem to
remember past lives any real proof that
we have not passed through them? Show
why.
ACTION X.
Outline a good way to tap the
inexhaustible resources of your
subjective mind, referring to some plan
or idea suggested in Lesson Ten, or
advancing one of your own. Try this,
and note the outcome.
RESULT:
LESSON 11
- THE POWER ABOVE THE THRONE
51. Is your brain mostly selfish
(animal), or social (fraternal), or
idealistic (transcendental)? Which of
the three functions needs the largest
growth? How can you gain this?
52. As “the brain grows by what
it conquers,” may you not well
make a list of the obstacles or
weaknesses, outer or inner, that you
should and will conquer? Put the
hardest thing first, and line up all
your mental, physical and moral powers
for the fight.
53. Which is the main advantage, and
the main disadvantage, of Christian
Science? Where do Christian Science and
Mental Science agree, and where do they
differ?
54. Which of the nonsensical fears that
people entertain has most bothered and
belittled you? Learn to laugh it away,
as a childish notion without any basis
of reality.
55. When does fear vanish? How does the
departure of fear make a man free to do
his most and be his best?
ACTION XI.
Open up your ideal brain by learning to
like poetry, or music, or invention, or
art, or philosophy, or some other
creative branch of science. Take your
choice, get a book or two on the
subject, and keep studying it earnestly
until you come to enjoy it.
RESULT:
LESSON 12
- THE KING ON HIS THRONE
56. Who is the greatest leader of men
that you know? Prove by his work and
life the statement that “the true
leader of men is the man who believes
that something is possible for him that
his followers do not believe possible
for themselves.”
57. What is the beauty, and what the
peril, of living in the ideal topmost
chambers of the brain?
58. Can your soul be truly saved with
your body despised and neglected? How
does real salvation regenerate the
whole man?
59. Why is it safer to rest upon Nature
than to follow the opinions and customs
of men? Illustrate this point by
showing how civilization has led us
astray in our choice of food, clothing,
or other life essentials.
60. When and how shall we be able to
conquer death? Why not here and now?
Show that the passing on of Helen
Wilmans did not necessarily negate or
disprove her doctrine of physical
immortality.
ACTION XII.
Draw a mental picture of yourself as a
complete, well, strong, symmetrical,
dominant, radiant human being, master
of circumstances and events, lord of
life and destiny. Write down the
principal traits, qualities and
attributes of yourself to be, from the
delineation of the superman given by
Helen Wilmans.
RESULT:
LESSON 13
- MENTAL SCIENCE A RACE MOVEMENT
61. What is the greatest force and law
in the Universe? How can we use this to
attain our desires?
62. Which is greater--love or
intelligence? Which came first? Which
animates, and which directs? Why is
each necessary to the other?
63. How does the growth of animals and
trees differ from that of men? How will
men finally grow into gods?
64. Do you believe that mental and
spiritual wealth is the only kind that
can truly enrich you? Show how the real
value of money lies in the culture and
service that money makes possible,
hence even money cannot be measured by
material standards of wealth.
65. Do you love your work? If not, how
will you grow to love it, realizing
that only as you love it can you
attract through it the finest
opportunities and rewards?
ACTION XIII.
From what you have learned of the power
of mind, explain the so-called miracle
of instantaneous healing, often
mentioned in the Bible, and observed in
the recent annals of New Thought,
Christian Science, Mental Science, and
other systems of practical psychology.
What is the process or law that enables
a mental healer to cure and relieve his
patient?
RESULT:
LESSON 14
- MENTAL SCIENCE INCARNATE IN FLESH AND
BLOOD
66. Why does salvation of body, mind
and soul depend upon faith? How can a
man regain or restore this childlike
faith?
67. Can you think of any way to improve
digestion, circulation or respiration
in the body through currents of thought
directed to the intelligence of the
body-cells?
68. How does Mental Science help to
make a Christian a cleaner, stronger
and better example of Christian
faith?
69. What effect does thought have on
the condition of the blood?
70. What effect does food have on the
condition of the brain?
ACTION XIV.
Write an essay of about 200 words on
the relation of so-called matter to
mind, the distinctions between them,
the unity of them. Show, in your own
words, how matter is mind in a crude or
undeveloped state.
RESULT:
LESSON 15
- PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUALITY
71. Why is a developed brain or
consciousness more trustworthy than the
evidence of our senses? When you feel
pain, can you rise above it and smile
over it? If so, how? If not, why
not?
72. How is your personality different
from your individuality? When will the
two be the same?
73. Why should we consider it unfair to
judge anybody by his outer personality,
or the reputation that his personality
has produced? If every man is greater
and better even than he knows himself
to be, should we not refrain from
criticizing the imperfect shell of him,
that is only immature?
74. When people criticize and condemn
you, as they will if you grow away from
them, what are you going to do about
it? Why is it death to conform to
people’s opinions, and life to be
yourself, not caring what anybody
says?
75. How far is your individuality to be
expressed and how far restrained?
Illustrate by the matter of dressing
according to fashion, or
otherwise.
ACTION XV.
Copy three of Helen Wilmans’
affirmations from this Lesson--those
you need most or like best. Add three
or four of your own, expressing in your
own words the brave declarations and
lofty ideals of the Lesson, with
particular regard to the places in your
character where you need to be
strengthened and established.
RESULT:
LESSON 16
- THE STONE THAT THE BUILDERS
REJECTED
76. Why is it wicked to crucify desire?
Would you say that desire and
conscience should, can, be harmonized?
How?
77. Do you agree with the statement
that Eve, in the Garden of Eden story,
was the intuitional part of man?
Explain your position.
78. Should happiness be “our one
aim and object, and our only
pursuit,” as the author claims it
is? Does she not overemphasize the
importance of happiness? Are not the
finest things people do done for a
greater motive than happiness?
Illustrate.
79. How will the recognition, elevation
and equalization of human desires bring
social justice, and quell antagonism
and unrest?
80. Knowing that all physical
disabilities are really mental
disabilities, how would you proceed to
cure poverty, crime, disease, old age?
Would you employ physical means to cure
also? What, and why?
ACTION XVI.
Analyze the worst mistake you ever
made, or the worst “sin”
you ever committed. Prove how it was
the fault of unwise method, not of
unholy desire. Deduce a caution as to
repetition of this or any other
mistake, due to the fact you are likely
to be not a sinner but a fool.
RESULT:
LESSON 17
- A NOBLE EGOISM THE FOUNDATION OF JUST
ACTIONS
81. How do you regard the statement
that “no man can be generous who
is not first strong”? Distinguish
between true and false unselfishness,
true and false humility. Explain how
denial of man’s own power is
infidelity.
82. When and why does selfishness grow
into selfhood? How do egoism and
egotism differ?
83. Why is self-abnegation harmful and
inexcusable? Show how self-command, not
self-denial, is the real virtue and
strength.
84. Have you, in your work and life,
substituted emulation for competition?
Why should you do it, and how can
you?
85. Where is your individuality weak?
How can you strengthen it by
affirmations, decisions, actions, or
otherwise?
ACTION XVII.
Go over your everyday life, to see at
what points you are, consciously or
unconsciously, yielding to the habits,
opinions, customs or conventions of
your associates or of the race. Cut
loose. Begin by changing, immediately
and wholly, the habit you now consider
worst because it is the least
appropriate for you. Start doing or
being something radically different.
Move quietly and firmly, not talking
but living the truth as you see
it.
RESULT:
LESSON 18
- RECOGNITION OF THE WILL THE CURE OF
DISEASE
86. How would you apply to yourself the
principle that “self-master is
the cure of all disease”? Take
the prescription of a good doctor about
eating, resting, sleeping, exercising,
hoping and smiling; show how this
advice all refers to
self-mastery.
87. Are you strengthening your will by
acting regularly, faithfully and
instantly on its bold promptings? Do
you take, every day, some active
outdoor exercise to improve your
strength of both body and mind?
88. Why is “breaking a
child’s will” bad for the
child? What should be done
instead?
89. Just how does hopeful, powerful
thought, by its action through the
nerves, help to heal and revitalize the
body?
90. Is a feeling of tension, or of
relaxation, the sign of a dauntless
will? Would you say that poise proves
power? Give reasons for your
answer.
ACTION XVIII.
The last thing before going to bed,
tonight and if possible for several
nights, follow the directions for
meditation and introspection given in
this Lesson. Be alone. Relax fully.
Recline on your bed or in an easy
chair. Breathe slowly and deeply. Close
your eyes. Make every muscle quiet,
every nerve limp. Send healing,
inspiring, reassuring thoughts and
beliefs throughout your body, as
directed by the author. When you learn
to do this fully, you should sleep much
better, and awake more refreshed.
RESULT
LESSON 19
- PRACTICAL HEALING
91. How is it logical and true to know
and affirm that you are well and
strong, even though you feel sick and
weak?
92. If mental healing should not cause
immediate, perfect cure, what might
some of the hindrances be? Would the
principle be invalidated, or only the
process retarded?
93. Why should we grow to reach the
place where the law of attraction
overcomes the law of gravitation? What
will happen when we do?
94. From your study of this Lesson,
would you say that medicine and Mental
Science should ever be taken together?
Why, or why not?
95. Knowing that “thoughts are
things,” how will you remember to
make all your thoughts beautiful,
helpful things?
ACTION XIX.
Begin right now to heal yourself of the
ailment, weakness or limitation whose
removal is essential to your greatest
achievement and highest development.
Using the principles, methods and ideas
of this Lesson for a model, treat
yourself specifically for the
improvement you need in health and
strength, courage, faith and poise. Do
this every day for a week, in ten
minute periods as the minimum
time.
LESSON 20 - POSTURE OF THE WILL
MAN
96. Have you resolved never again to
talk of your “symptoms,”
worries, griefs or troubles? And also
to refuse to listen to other people
talking of theirs? Do it, and figure
out a way to help yourself keep this
resolve.
97. If somebody tried to direct a
so-called “evil influence”
such as envy, hatred, anger, cruelty or
slander against you, how would you meet
it, and render its action
harmless?
98. How does personal magnetism differ
from mesmerism? What is the best way
you can think of to increase and
improve your magnetic forces?
99. Which is the truest
guide--instinct, reason, or intuition?
What is the place and function of each?
Why should we forbid reason to usurp,
question or deny the inner voices of
instinct and intuition?
100. Do you now believe, with Helen
Wilmans, that nothing desirable is
impossible for you to achieve and
attain; that you can do, have and be
what you want most; that your dreams
and hopes may all come true, in the way
you desire or a better way? If you
believe this, return thanks to
Providence and the spirit of Helen
Wilmans; then, by word and deed carry
the message to those you love.
ACTION XX.
Make a list of at least five benefits
or aids, general or specific, that you
received, learned or earned from the
teachings of Mental Science. Plan how
to share these blessings and rewards
with your friends.
RESULT:
* * * * *
A Home Course in Mental
Science
Table
of Contents
