Affirmation – To affirm anything is to state that it is so, and to maintain this as being true in the face of all evidence to the contrary.  Repeating an affirmation is leading the mind to that state of consciousness where it accepts that which it wishes to believe.

Appearance – The word appearance is used in this teaching to distinguish that which seems to be from that which actually is.  Negative thinking may produce conditions which appear to be true, but these results have no power, no reality, except as given power BY OUR BELIEVING THAT THE APPEARANCE IS THE ACTUALITY.

Cause – Cause is that which produces an effect.  FIRST CAUSE, God, always means that from which everything comes.  The Cause of all that is made manifest on any plane.  The Life back of all things.  On the individual human level, each of us is cause in his or her life.

Christ – The word “Christ” comes from the Greek word “Cristos” which means “anointed” or “enlightened one.”  Christ is a Universal Idea, and each one “puts on the Christ” to the degree that each surrenders a limited sense of Life to the Divine Realization of wholeness and unity with Good, Spirit, God.

Demonstrate – Through the mental and spiritual activity of thought, directed toward a definite end, we bring about a greater good, a more abundant life, a better condition than existed before.  This is called demonstration.  We can demonstrate at the level of our ability to know.

Duality – By duality, we mean a belief in more than One Power back of all things.  Duality results from a fear-based belief that we are, could, or might be, separated from God or Good.  We heal this fear by experiencing God’s presence within us first, then realizing that God is the One Absolute Power.

Effect – That which follows cause.  Effect is that which did not make itself, but which must have a power back of it causing it to be.  All manifestation is effect and all effect is subject to its cause.  Everything that we see, touch, taste, feel, hear or sense with the physical senses is an effect.  As we change the cause (our thinking), the effect (our life) is changed accordingly.

Faith – Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Faith is a mental attitude, so inwardly embodied that the mind can no longer deny it.  This is in accord with the teachings of Jesus: that when we pray, we must believe we already have the answer to our prayer.

God – The First Cause, the Great I Am, the Absolute, the One and Only.  Spirit, or the Creative Energy which is the cause of all visible things.  Love, Wisdom, Intelligence, Power, Substance, Mind.  God is the only Presence and Power and has no opposite.

Healing – To heal means to make whole.  We seek to heal all mentalities, knowing that to the degree that we are mentally healed, we are also physically healed.  Realize that you are a Divine Idea, and the whole idea of healing, when understood, is the revealing of the Truth that we already are divinely perfect.

I Am – The “I Am” is both individual and universal, that is, the individual “I” is part of the Universal “I Am.”  The “I Am consciousness” means that part of thought, both conscious and subjective, which not only affirms its unity with God, but which also understands the meaning of its affirmation.  The statement “I Am that I Am” affirms that each of us is an individual aspect of God.

Lack and Limitation – These are synonymous terms and indicate that something is missing in our lives.  If we believe we are without health, wealth, friends or opportunities, we should endeavor to know that there is an Intelligence guiding our affairs, and that this Intelligence is perfect, that the law of this Intelligence is immutable.  As we withdraw our attention from the limited world of effect, and dwell unwaveringly on the Limitless Good, we shall have destroyed the only reason whereby lack and limitation could manifest in our lives.  We enter the Absolute in such proportion as we withdraw from the limited.

Law – There is only One Law:  Mind in action.  Whatever we think, believe in, feel, visualize, vision, image, read, talk about –  in fact, all processes which affect or impress us at all –  are going into the subjective state of our thought, which is our individualized use of the Universal Law of Mind.  The Law is a blind force, and whatever goes into the subjective state of our thought tends to return again as some condition.

Meditation – The general acceptance of the term meditation is contemplation or continuous thought.  We mean to convey something more: the recognition of God within, the certainty of our Oneness with the Whole, the immediate availability of the Power and Wisdom resulting from this Oneness.  Such communion with God brings harmony into our lives and affairs, establishes the law of health and prosperity and makes us a light to all who cross our pathway.

Mind – There is no such thing as your mind and my mind, his mind, her mind, and God’s Mind.  There is just Mind, in which we live, move and have our being.  Mind is both conscious and subconscious.  Conscious Mind is Spirit, either in God or the individual.  Unconscious Mind is the law of conscious Mind acting, and is, therefore, subconscious or subjective.

New Thought – Mental healing movement embracing those who are devoted to spiritual healing and the creative power of constructive thinking.

Practitioner – A practitioner is one who practices mental and spiritual healing. Practitioners know within themselves the truth about their clients and that self-knowingness arises into the consciousness of their clients.  We treat the individual, not as a patient, not as a physical body, not as a diseased condition; neither do we treat the disease as belonging to that individual; we do not think of the disease as being any part of a person.  The practitioner realizes that we are all spiritual being livings a human experience and accepts the Truth that the client is a living embodiment of Divine Perfection.

Prosperity – Prosperity is a spiritual attribute belonging to all people.  Everything in the Universe is for us.  Nothing is against us.  We must know that everywhere we go we meet friendship, love, human interest, and helpfulness.  Life is ever giving of Itself, and we must receive, utilize, and extend the gift.

Treatment – Treatment is a five-step process of positive prayer.  Treatment is the time, process and method necessary to the changing of our thought.  Treatment is clearing the thought of negation, of doubt and fear, and causing it to perceive the Truth of the ever-presence of God.

Unity – The Absolute Oneness of God and the individual.  The “I Am that I Am.”

Selected glossary terms taken from The Science of Mind by Dr. Ernest Holmes.
The “New Thought” definition taken from Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, 1963.