Surrender · “Let Go to Receive”
Scientific Prayer
Meet a specific need by first deliberately releasing attention from the problem — ‘washing your hands’ of the destructive, problem-fixated thinking — and then resting the mind wholly in the Infinite until a settled, solution-oriented state replaces the anxious one.
Wash-Your-Hands Treatment: Name the specific need → deliberately “wash your hands” of the problem and the worry (stop fixating on it) → turn the mind solely to the Infinite → affirm the good as already true, in calm present-tense terms → rest until anxiety is replaced by a settled, trusting state → release it and act on the clear next step. “As long as your attention is riveted on the problem,” you block the solution.
What it is
This is Jack Ensign Addington’s form of spiritual mind treatment (“scientific prayer”), set out with his wife Cornelia in Your Needs Met. Addington defines treatment as an individual thought process that first redirects the mind away from the problem and then aligns it with the divine Mind through affirmative terms.
The opening move is his most distinctive: you must “wash your hands” of the destructive, problem-fixated thoughts before anything constructive can come, because “as long as your attention is riveted on the problem or obstacle” you keep restricting the very breakthrough you are praying for.
So the practice is a release first, affirmation second: let go of the anxious grip on the problem, then rest the mind wholly in the Infinite and let an elevated, trusting state take its place. It is prayer reconceived as a deliberate change of inner state, not a petition for outside intervention.
The Method
Faithfully described from Addington’s teaching (short attributed phrases only):
- Name the specific need. Be definite about what is needed — Addington’s treatments are aimed at one concrete need at a time.
- “Wash your hands” of the problem. Deliberately take your attention off the problem and the worry about it. This is the operative release: while attention is “riveted on the problem,” you block the solution. Set the problem down completely.
- Turn the mind to the Infinite. Place attention “solely upon the Infinite” — the divine Mind / God / Life as the present source of all good. Rest there, not in the lack.
- Affirm the truth in present, self-affirming terms. State the wholeness or supply as already true in the Infinite, in calm affirmative language (one of his many short “scientific prayers”). The affirmation re-connects and strengthens the felt bond with “Infinite intelligence.”
- Rest in the new, elevated state. Stay until the anxious, problem-soaked feeling is genuinely replaced by a settled, trusting one. The shift in state is the result you are after.
- Release and let it be done. Stop treating, do not anxiously re-open the problem, and act on whatever clear next step now presents itself. (Sourcing note: phrases such as “wash your hands” of the problem, attention “riveted on the problem,” focusing “solely upon the Infinite,” and treatment as redirecting thinking “away from the problem” toward “the divine Mind” are from Addington’s teaching, given here as brief attributed quotation, not full reproduction.)
Source & Lineage
Jack Ensign Addington (1915-1998), lawyer turned New Thought minister and co-founder of the Abundant Living Foundation, taught spiritual mind treatment to a broad lay audience by radio and the Abundant Living magazine; Your Needs Met collects more than 150 of his scientific prayers.
His treatment is squarely in the Religious Science / Science of Mind tradition (Ernest Holmes, Emma Curtis Hopkins lineage), but his accent on “washing the hands” of the problem as the gateway move gives it a release-first character.
The Traditions' versions
The shared move — take the mind off the trouble, place it on the divine, let trust replace anxiety — is widespread; Addington’s version pairs a structured affirmative treatment with an explicit upfront release (“wash your hands”), distinguishing it from both pure attention-switching and pure affirmation: - The Golden Key (Emmet Fox) — the instant emergency form: stop thinking of the difficulty, think of God instead.
Addington’s is a fuller treatment with a named affirmation step, not just a turn of attention.
- Scientific prayer / treatment (Emmet Fox) — a structured treatment to a realized result; Addington foregrounds the release of the problem first.
- Treatment for healing (Ernest Holmes) — deny the limitation, affirm wholeness; the same tradition, with Holmes accenting realization and Addington accenting the prior letting-go.
- Casting the burden (Florence Scovel Shinn) — hand the problem over and stop carrying it.
- Attentional deployment / cognitive defusion (psychology) — unhook from rumination and redirect attention to a steadying focus.
Common refinements
Affirming while still gripping the problem. If you skip the wash-your-hands release and jump to the affirmation, the anxious state persists. Release first.
- Glancing back to check. Re-opening the problem to see “is it working?” is fixating on it again. Once released, leave it released.
- Treating it as a substitute for action. Use the calm and clarity it gives, then take the medical, financial, or practical steps the need requires.
- Forcing a feeling of faith. You are aiming for a genuine shift in state, not a performance of belief; let the calmer state arrive rather than straining for it.
- Quitting at the first try. Addington expected treatment to be repeated; the settled state may come only after returning to it.