The Circle and V Symbol

The étagère on the back wall of the stage in our Great Hall, and the symbol it holds were designed and created by Creative Life member DON DEPPERSCHMIDT, who has also been the leader of our renovation work on this room and the rest of the Center property. The device itself is something we call our "teaching symbol." Youll notice it not only here, but in the restroom artwork created by JAYE BARROW, the garden birdbath by KAREN BURKE, the fountain by LANAE ILSENG (who also created the stained glass windows for our Renaissance Festival shop), the stone work by FRANCESKA PEROT, and upstairs in the dining hall in the stained glass by KATHY MARTIN. Watercolors of the symbol by JANE NOBLE also grace various Center spaces. A registered trademark of the United Church of Religious Science, with whom we are affiliated, the symbols meaning is discussed below.

The symbol was devised by our founder, ERNEST HOLMES (1887-1960), who used it to diagram what he meant by the "descent of Spirit into form," or the creative process in the individual. You'll find it on pages 568-574 of The Science of Mind, our main teaching textbook, first published in 1926. As shown above, the circle represents Infinite Mind, or God. Within that infinity is spiritual law. Law is accessed by each of us, first by our conscious awareness. Then we empower some of our thoughts with feeling (the subconscious medium). Thoughts surrounded by feeling become beliefs and our beliefs are creative of our experience of conditions, forms and effects. By developing a new belief in the goodness and givingness of life, each of us can manifest a new way of being in the world: greater happiness, harmony, prosperity, anything we can imagine. Consciously using the Law of Mind toward these ends, we contribute something positive into the collective belief system of all humankind, setting an intention of a higher good for all.

For more on these teachings, check out our Science of Mind classes!