There is Good for me and I ought to have it.  
The pains and discords of human experience are not sent from  God. But they do indeed stand as tests of how much God we have.                
                            Emma Curtis Hopkins
Who was Emma Curtis Hopkins
Picture from INTA Archives
Emma Curtis Hopkins was born in 1849 in Killingsley Connecticut and passed on in 1924, or 1925. She had a marvelous education and could read many of the classical texts in their own language. She found the Truth in all the religions she studied. She quotes all these teachings in her writings. There is not much personal history known about her as she was a very private person about her own life. What we do know is gleaned from other people or from the archived writings we have been able to discover.
 
 
Emma Curtis Hopkins was one of the greatest influences on the New Thought movement. She taught over 50,000 people her method of knowing God is all there is. She taught the founders of most all the New Thought orgs. around today, or her students taught them. All her writings are geared to the student or reader, to let go of anything except the one Presence. She presses us to deny anything except the Truth of that spiritual Presence we call God, and to affirm only that Presence is all there is. This is a very large part of her teachings.
 
  She uses Jesus Christ as the main example in all her works and classes. Her use of bible quotes is one of her main ways to support her beliefs and teachings. She uses many examples of demonstrations that have been experienced by historical figures, many we do not know today. Her writings are written in a poetic form and have a Victorian flavor.
 
The word Science is very prevalent in hers, and most of the metaphysical writings in the middle and late 1800 are as well as to this day. She uses many examples of the  physical science of the day to convey her teachings. The concept is used to prove God is all there is. Emma is really clear that matter is not the Reality of God. This is a hard concept to understand. She expands on Mary Baker Eddy`s premise that God is the only reality and anything else is what there would be if God were not all. This concept is one of the hardest to really grasp as we live in the physical world and have a hard time believing this is not  reality.
 
In the late 1800`s all metaphysics was called Christian Science until Mary Baker Eddy was able to go to court and win the rights to use the name. There were many names used after that. Many orgs still use the word Science in their teachings. Emma coined the words Religious Science, Divine Science and others that have been used even up  to today. Her works after the middle 1890`s uses the word Science and various qualifiers.
 
 Each of her works is aimed at a different depth of understanding.
Emma wrote textbook style and seldom named the source of her quotes and never used footnotes. She figured everyone knew the people and incidents she quoted.
 
It is very hard to discern if the works attributed to her were actually written by her. Shorthand was very prevalent in the late 1800`s and early 1900`s. It seems like most of the works we have may have been transcribed in different class`s she taught. High Mysticism and Résumé were most likely her own writings as she has kept updating them until the early 1900`s. She wrote bible interpretations for the Chicago Inter-Ocean News. These are the only other writings we can be sure were her actual writings.  All of Emma`s teachings are presented in 12 chapters. He first six lessons always deal with the human personality or ego. The last six lessons always deal with expressing in the world. The first chapter is always the thing Itself, or God is all there is. The second chapter has to do with denying anything that is not the Truth of God. The third is affirming the Truth. Each succeeding chapter expands on the Truth that God is all. Her progression in the lessons is designed to have us train our personal mind to be the one with the universal Mind of God.
 
Mrs. Hopkins laid great stress on God as Goodness. Not goodness as opposed to evil in some sort of battle, but rather, a Goodness that extended to all of existence. That is, reality was actually all goodness, regardless of any appearances to the contrary.
Moreover, she held that reality was not simply "ultimate" goodness-a goodness that would be achieved some day in the future-but instead, an all-encompassing goodness that was true right here and right now.
The idea that existence is all goodness can be extremely challenging at first. "What about war?" we say. "What about murder, rape, cruelty, pain, injustice and the whole litany of human suffering?" Doesn't that count?
Indeed it does. In fact, what makes it difficult for the mind to understand existence, as all-goodness is that the mind can easily find so many counter-examples. Yet the heart can understand it, because the heart can understand that existence is love itself.
Full article by Jim Sloman   http://www.mayyoubehappy.com/heheandnopt5.html
If I were to be asked directly as to the quickest way for a Scientist to get his healing power going, I would probably say "Praise, everything and everyone in your mind, and as far as your mental convictions will demonstrate promptly, speak these praises aloud."         -Emma Curtis Hopkins
                      Understanding Emma
 
One of the things that helps to understand  Emma's teachings, is  that many of the words she used had different meanings in her time period. Take for example the word "evil," in her day anything not good was considered evil. Colds and diseases were considered "evils."  Words  have different meaning for different generations.
 
Another thing to keep in mind, chemistry was the science of the day. Many of the ways she explains process' run parallel to that science.
 
Most of her works were stream of consciousness and were transcribed by other people. She changed states of consciousness as the Spiritual Presence spoke through her. Keep this in mind when her words change from personal to universal.
 
When reading we may not totally understand what we are reading but will have a felt understanding. There is a transmission of Truth that comes through when we let go of "getting the facts." The ideal way to read Emma's teachings is to understand each paragraph as she may tie a theme together with preceding or following paragraphs or pages.
 
In all her works Lessons 1-6 are for developing the individuals own consciousness. Lessons 7-12 are for developing the consciousness to apply these Truths in the world.
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