Affirmation · “The Subconscious Says Yes”
Working the Statement of Being
Take a ‘Statement of Being’ — that the real you is whole, perfect, and the expression of Principle — and work it not as a slogan but as a daily working hypothesis: provisionally assume it true, reason and act from it, and hold it until consciousness conforms.
Statement of Being: Write one sentence of what you most truly are — “I am the expression of Principle; my real being is whole, perfect, complete.” Don’t chant it — grant it as a working hypothesis and reason from it: how does this being meet today? Recognise it daily (“soul begins to rise”), and actualize it in one real action — “the ideal must be actualized before it can be made Real.” Hold the standpoint; test it by results over weeks, not minutes.
What it is
This is the central working method of Gestefeld’s “Science of Being.” A Statement of Being is a compressed declaration of what you most truly are — in her system, that the real “I” is the offspring and expression of Principle (Spirit), “the seed of God,” and as such “whole, perfect, complete.” But Gestefeld’s distinctive move is how you use it.
The statement is not a mantra to repeat at the world and not a feeling to manufacture. It is a working hypothesis: you provisionally grant it true, then think, reason, and act from it, watching to see whether living from that premise actualizes it.
As she challenges the reader: do what is pointed out as to be done, “and then say whether or no the declared results are possible.” Crucially, “the ideal must be actualized before it can be made Real” — the seed is already perfect, but “the perfect has to be perfected” by being lived out.
The practice is the disciplined, daily living-from-the-premise that does the perfecting.
The Method
Faithful to The Builder and the Plan and the Course Notes (short quotes only):
- Form the Statement of Being. Put your true nature into one clear sentence held as premise, not boast — e.g. “I am the expression of Principle; my real being is whole, perfect, and complete.” Gestefeld’s ground: “Being is the seed of God, and as such is whole, perfect, complete.”
- Grant it provisionally — as a hypothesis, not a wish. You do not have to feel it true or prove it first. You assume it for the purpose of the experiment and reason forward from it, exactly as a thinker grants a premise to test where it leads.
- Reason down from the premise to today. From “my real being is the expression of Principle,” ask: then how does this being meet this fear, this lack, this task? You deduce conduct and attitude from the statement rather than from appearances.
- Recognise daily — let soul “rise.” “By the daily recognition of who and what we are and can do, soul begins to rise.” The recognition is repeated, quiet, and reasoned — a returning to the premise, not a single dramatic affirmation.
- Actualize it in conduct — perfect the perfect. Because “the ideal must be actualized before it can be made Real,” you must live the statement: act, choose, and speak as the being you have assumed yourself to be. The germ “must act according to its nature, and bring forth the ‘likeness.’”
- Hold the standpoint; let appearances catch up. Keep the premise steady through the day and refuse to surrender it to contrary sense-evidence, treating the statement as the truth your experience is being measured against — testing it by results over weeks, not minutes. (Sourcing note: Gestefeld’s texts are public-domain; lines above are attributed quotation and faithful paraphrase, not full reproduction.)
Source & Lineage
Ursula N. Gestefeld (1845-1921) began as a student of Mary Baker Eddy, broke with Christian Science, and built her own reasoned system, the “Science of Being,” set out most fully in The Builder and the Plan (1901).
Where Eddy demanded acceptance on authority, Gestefeld insisted the student reason their way — hence the statement worked as a testable hypothesis rather than a creed received.
The Traditions' versions
The shared move — adopt a true-self statement and live from it until it actualizes — is common in New Thought, but Gestefeld’s “hold it as a reasoned hypothesis and test it by living” framing is distinctive: - Evans’s identification with the real self — takes a stand as the well, divine self; more an identity standpoint for healing than a reasoned, tested hypothesis.
- Eddy’s Christian Science argument — argues the unreality of disease on authority; Gestefeld kept the structure but made it reasoned and individual.
- Hopkins’s denial-and-affirmation treatment — denies the false, affirms the true; Gestefeld’s statement is the affirmative premise, but worked deductively.
- Hamblin’s realization of the real self — realizing one’s true divine self; a sibling New Thought practice.
Common refinements
Reciting instead of reasoning. The statement is a premise to think from, not a phrase to chant at the world. If you are not deducing today’s conduct from it, you are not working it.
- Demanding the feeling first. You grant the hypothesis to test it; you do not need to feel whole before you start.
- Skipping the actualizing. “The ideal must be actualized” — without lived conduct the practice is inert. Live the statement in one concrete action today.
- Turning resistance into self-blame. When life contradicts the statement, treat it as data for the experiment, not proof you are failing. Hold it lightly.
- Using it to deny real need. “Whole and perfect” is a standpoint about your deeper nature, not a reason to skip the doctor, the bill, or the hard conversation.