what you think you become: new thought, self-help and popular psychology

What You Think You Become

New Thought, SELF-HELPAND POPULAR PSYCHOLOGY

Presented by

Dr Ian Ellis-JonesWellness Instructor and PractitionerLegal Practitioner, Educator and Trainer

Minister of Religion, Consultant and Author

CHANGE YOUR THINKING … CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

If you have ever read any books writtenby any one or more of the following …

Louise L Hay ~ Wayne W Dyer ~ Deepak Chopra Oprah Winfrey ~ William Walker Atkinson ~ Paul Hanna

Esther & Jerry Hicks ~ Michael Beckwith ~ Mary Baker EddyRhonda Byrne ~ Shakti Gawain ~ Dale Carnegie

Charles Fillmore ~ Norman Vincent Peale ~ Prentice MulfordRobert H Schuller ~ Joseph Murphy ~ W Clement StoneEmmet Fox ~ Ralph Waldo Trine ~ Christian D LarsonNeal Donald Walsch ~ Harry Gaze ~ Eric Butterworth

Orison Swett Marden ~ George S Clason ~ Miguel RuizWallace D Wattles ~ Thomas Troward ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Napoleon Hill ~ Anthony Robbins ~ James Allen ~ Glenn ClarkFlorence Scovel Shinn ~ Joel S Goldsmith ~ Frederick Bailes

Ernest Holmes ~ Catherine Ponder ~ Claude M BristolDavid J Schwartz ~ Eckhart Tolle ~ Jack Canfield

… then you have read ‘New Thought’!

New Thought

New Thought

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.Watch your words, for they become actions.Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.Watch your character, for it becomes your

destiny. – Frank Outlaw, attrib.

‘For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he ...’(cf Proverbs 23:7).

New Thought

‘Take charge of your thoughts.You can do what you will with them.’ – Plato.

‘They can because they think they can.’ – Virgil.

‘We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our

world.’– Buddha.

‘A man is what he thinks all day long.’– Ralph Waldo Emerson.

New Thought

‘The mind of man is capable of anything because everything is in it; all the past as well as all the future.’

– Joseph Conrad.

‘We are what we think; as we desire so do we become!By our thoughts, desires, and habits, we either ascendto the full divine dignity of our nature, or we descend

to suffer and learn.’ – J. Todd Ferrier.

‘I admit thoughts influence the body.’– Albert Einstein.

‘Thought is action in rehearsal.’ – Sigmund Freud.

New Thought

… the American people’s ‘only

decidedly original contribution to the

systematic philosophy

of life.’– Professor William James.

The ‘movement of the mind’ …

‘The truth, once announced, has the power not only to renew but to extend itself. New Thought is universal in its ideals and therefore should be universal in its appeal. Under the guidance of the spirit, it should grow in good works until it embraces many lands and eventually the whole world.’- James A Edgerton on New Thought Day, 23 August 1915.


‘If there is only one Law, one Power, one Good, Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent all-loving Father, then we shall step into the new day, and so a New Era Is Born.’

– Grace M Aguilar.


The roots of New Thought go way back to persons such as …

Buddha, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Philo, Epictetus, Origen and

Athanasius …


However … there is nothing ‘new’ about New Thought, which is as old as humanity …

‘This is the 'new' religion; yet it is older than the universe. It is God's own thought put into practical form.’

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Plato, the New Thoughter

‘Thinking is the talkingof the soul with itself.’

‘Take hold of your lives. Most of these things that distress you, you

can avoid; most of these things that dominate you, you can overthrow. You can do as you will with them.’

Plato's Theory of Forms …

The so-called real world originates in …the realm of ideas (forms).

Ideas shape and create reality.What we see as the so-called material world is only a shadow of the real world.


The realm of ideas (forms) ... perceived

through the mind ... is permanent and

immutable.It is the ‘real’ world. The world of change

is merely an imperfect image of the realm of

forms.Human improvementis the supreme good,

toward which all learning should actively trend.

Plato's Theory of Forms

The Theory of the Forms …had an enormous influence

on Hellenic Christian views of God.

Platonic philosophers and religionists: looked at objects in the material

world, and imagined what the ‘Perfect’ tree ... or

‘Perfect’ human being ... would be.


Early Hellenic Christians ... and their medieval successors ... applied this Form-based philosophy to the Christian God.


Platonic philosophers and religionists … took all the things that they

considered Good—Power, Love, Knowledge, Size, etc

posited that God [Mind] is ‘infinite’ in all those respects

concluded that God [Mind] is ... omnipotent omniscient omnipresent benevolent.

Plato's Theory of Forms

Further, since God is perfect, any change would make God less than perfect ...

Therefore, God must be unchanging (i.e. immutable).

Plato’s Concept of ‘The One’

Plato’s concept of ‘The One’ • big impact on Christian metaphysics and mysticism• coalesces perfectly with Jewish monotheism ...

‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our Godis one Lord’ (Dt 6:4)

Philo of Alexandria …

Philo (20 BCE - 50 CE)also known as Philo

Judaeus and Philo of Alexandria

Alexandrian Jewish philosopher

a contemporary of Jesus

Philo of Alexandria ...

• spiritual interpretation of Jewish scriptures

fusion of allegorically and rationalistically conceived Jewish traditions, and Greek (particularly Platonic and Stoic [‘divine spark’]) philosophy

The Hellenistic Judaism of Philo

Philo on God and us …

Platonism becomes New Thought …

God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent –all-knowing, all-powerful and existing everywhere.

God is good.God is everywhere.

Therefore, good must be everywhere.Therefore, evil cannot be anywhere.

If evil does not exist,

sickness and disease cannot exist either. Therefore, they must be illusions.

Platonism becomes New Thought

God is All.Mind is All.

(Therefore) God is Mind.

Cf. All Americans are human.All terrorists are human.

(Therefore) All Americans are terrorists.

[The fallacy of the undistributed middle.]

Epictetus

‘You are a distinct portion of the essence of God; and contain part of Him in yourself. Why, then, are you ignorant of your noble birth? Why do you not consider whence you came? Why do you not remember, when you are eating, who you are who eat; and whom you feed ? Do you not know that it is the Divine you feed; the Divine you exercise? You carry a God about with you, poor wretch, and know nothing of it.’

— Epictetus (55-135 CE),Greek sage and Stoic philosopher.

Marcus Aurelius

‘The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.’

‘The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its

thoughts.’

- Marcus Aurelius(121-180 CE).

Origen

Origen (c185-254 CE) …• the greatest early Christian

Church teacher [after the Apostles], theologian/philosopher and ‘Church Father’ ...

• believed in: the essential oneness of all life

the indestructible unity of God and all spiritual essence

Origen on God …

Origen affirmed and expounded both:the transcendence of God as the one eternal Essence

the immanence of God in the whole of creation

Origen on God as All-in-all

‘But God, who is the beginning of all things,

is not to be regarded as a composite being, lest

perchance there should be found to exist elements prior to the beginning

itself, out of which everything is composed, whatever that be which

is called composite.’– Origen.

Origen on the Non-Reality of Evil

‘Seeing evil nowhere exists, for God is all

things, and to him no evil is near. Its mind

and hostile will, which came not from God,

butfrom itself, are to be destroyed.’ – Origen.

Saint Athanasius

‘The revelation of God is written in the human consciousness; the ground of all certitude is within man, not in any authority external to his nature. In order to know the way that leads to God and to take it with certainty, we have no need of foreign aid, but of ourselves alone. As God is above all, the way which leads to him is neither distant nor outside of us, nor difficult to find. Since we have in us the kingdom of God, we are able easily to contemplate and conceive the King of the Universe, the salutary reason of the universal Father. If anyone asks of me what is the way, I answer that it is the soul of each and the intelligence which it encloses.’

Saint Athanasius (c.296–373),Christian theologian (one of the 8 great Doctors of the

Church).

Emanuel Swedenborg

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) …• Swedish scientist, philosopher,

theologian and Christian mystic …• The ‘Fountainhead [of New

Thought]’ (Martin A Larson, New Thought Religion)• Doctrine of Influx … God, manifest in Christ (a

power, not a person or personality), becomes the ‘life force’ animating the cosmos---very Platonic!

• Man the apex of creation• World a replica (of the eternal and spiritual) by

correspondence• Disease is sin and error• Allegorical and spiritual interpretation of the

Bible


Late 19th century ...the 'movement of the

mind' … an increased interest in alternative beliefs such as

…


Unitarianism and Universalism

Theosophy SpiritualismChristian ScienceNew Thought


… as an antidote to‘the maddening

effect of Protestantism

[especially Calvinism]’

(H P Blavatsky).


The movement was particularly embraced by women, who were presented with new thoughts about …

religion sexuality philosophy.


The new organisations and

ideas offered opportunities for

women to preach… and even lead congregations.

What is ‘New Thought’?

A system of thought which affirms the unity of God with man, the

perfection of all life, and the immortality and

eternity of the individual soul forever expanding.

- Dr Ernest Holmes.


‘… a movement of philosophical-religious thought and action originating in the nineteenth-

century United States and emphasizing the attainment of health, wealth, and happiness through the control of one’s conscious and non-conscious

beliefs, attitudes, and expectations by means of deliberately

practising the presence of a wholly benevolent deity’ – Alan

Anderson.


‘New Thought is a basic attempt to reinterpret the conventional dogmas of historic religion.’– Martin A Larson, New Thought Religion.‘What we call New Thought is, of course, only

the primitive New Testament teaching restated in modern form. It is essentially a Back-to-Jesus

movement.’– Emmet Fox.

‘… a mental system that holds man as being one with God (good) through the power of

constructive thinking.’ – Charles Fillmore.

New Thought

'New Thought is an idealism, as are all esoteric philosophies and religions - all religions that do not separate man from God. It is also progressive, because it recognizes by its fundamental principles and teachings that all healthful and normal ideals must change, expand and develop, as the individual gains more light and truth, as he expands and grows.' - Abel Leighton Allen.

New Thought

'New Thought is not, as many believe, a name or expression employed to define any fixed system of thought, philosophy, or religion, but is a term used to convey the idea of growing or developing thought. In considering this subject, the word 'New' should be duly and freely emphasized, because the expression 'New Thought' relates only to what is new and progressive.'

- Abel Leighton Allen.

New Thought

'New Thought is a product of the twentieth century thought and need; it had its birth in human experiences and human unfoldment; it is God’s answer to the now.' - Julia Seton MD.

New Thought

‘The name New Thought has been adopted by an ever-increasing body of advanced minds throughout the world as being the most appropriate name for that progressive, ever-advancing spiritual evolution going on among all classes of religious and ethical thinkers to-day, and while it is not a sect or even an organisation in the strict sense of those terms, it is a mighty and growing movement among the most thoughtful, both inside and outside the churches.’

– Program Note, New Thought Conference,Adelaide, South Australia, August 1915.

New Thought

'the religion of healthy-

mindedness'- William James,

The Varietiesof Religious Experience.

New Thought

The greatest discovery of my generation is

that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind.- William James.

New Thought

‘Man is not only made ill by his own negative thoughts and emotions, he is also under the hypnotic spell of the race mind. "The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." We are all under the spell, more or less, of a huge illusion. The evil, disease, sickness and other imperfections that we see and experience, have no reality, in reality, but have an existence in unreality. Although they are not real in a real sense, yet they are terribly real to this present limited consciousness. By realizing the truth, and by thinking and living in its light and power, the hypnotic spell becomes broken, not completely, else we should not grow old, but to such an extent that a state of greatly improved health can be enjoyed.’

- Henry Thomas Hamblin (1873-1958).

New Thought

New Thought made its

appearance in New England USA

about 1800-1825 in the form of a

revival of Neoplatonism

New Thought

Neoplatonism a religious philosophy a form of idealistic

monism … everything exists in or to

minds ... or as 'Mind' all reality is of the same

substance---mental the physical world is

produced by the mind we experience the

physical world through the medium of ideas … and not directly

New Thought

‘The one most important realization of all is that there is One Mind of God, and that the human mind conscious and subjective, is the gift of Divine Mind for use in a personal way. In truth the individual mind is like a wave on the surface of the ocean, one of millions of similar waves. Each wave is an individual in itself, but one with every other wave in the deeps of the ocean. The water of the wave is the water of the ocean. …

… cont’d

New Thought

… cont’d

‘The creative power of mind in man is the same as the creative power of God. He projects universes in Divine imagining; we project our limited creativeness in the tiny self and our civilization, but we use the same power.’

- Bro Mandus (1907 - 1988)Crusader, October 1960.

Bro Mandus was the founder

of the World Healing Crusade.

New Thought

Neoplatonism

… the Universe is the Infinite Utterance of one of an infinite number of Infinite Thoughts, which

cannot but emanate from an Infinite and Thinking Source.

New Thought

Neoplatonism the primeval Source of Being is the One and the Infinite … the source of all life absolute causality the only real existence.

New Thought

Neoplatonism the high origin of the human soul …

its departure from its first estate

the way by which the soul may again return to the Eternal and Supreme … the Infinite One.

New Thought

For this is the dream divine that has dawned: Man, as a part Of the unified Whole, A throb in the heart Of the Cosmical Soul,In the All-Life, shall life beyond.

- from In the Gardens of God (1904)by James Arthur Edgerton.

New Thought

Numerous people … despite their individual differences … were:

in rebellion against the then current Calvinism … which had for so long ruled New

England religious thought in reaction against the religious

skepticism of the previous century(the 'American Enlightenment')

interested in Eastern religions, mysticism and ‘alternative healing’

New Thought

‘Spirits in rebellion’ … the spokespeople of this

movement ‘were and are actually in rebellion, even

though they regard themselves as

the true proponents oforiginal Christianity’

(Martin A Larson,New Thought Religion)

New Thought

One branch bore fruitwhich is now known as Unitarianism (in the USA, Unitarian Universalism) …

The Unitarians had split from the Congregationalist Churches of New England

New Thought

The other branch brought into revival Neoplatonism …which later evolved into the Transcendental Movement within Unitarianism …

New Thought

Transcendentalism … the ‘transcending,’ or going beyond, empiricism … ascertaining a priori the fundamental principles of human knowledge …

New Thought

Transcendentalism … also the Presence and Power within

us of the ‘Self’ (‘True/Real Self’), that transcends the finite, little, false ‘self’:

‘There is a power lying hidden in man, by the use of which he can rise to

higher and better things. There is in man a greater Self, that transcends the finite self of the sense-man, even as the

mountain towers above the plain.’ - Henry Thomas Hamblin (1873-1958).

New Thought

Transcendentalism … German idealism [Hegel, et al] grafted upon Unitarianism …

New Thought

Transcendalism brought a renewed interest in … Mysticism Idealism Eastern religions Metaphysics Powers of the Mind the idea of … the Immanent God

New Thought

New Thought took form in about 1830 under the name of … Transcendentalism originally named and

founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson and certain other ‘awakened’ New Englanders.

New Thought

Yes, theNew Thought

movementis linked to the

Transcendalists within … and later

outside … the Unitarian movement

New

Thought

New Thought is a diverse movement … Christian and non-Christian groups formerly an ‘obscure cult’ but now a ‘prominent indigenous

American denominational family’ that has ‘established itself with a significant constituency in the United States’ (Gordon Melton)

New Thought affirms … ‘Ultimate Reality is Good; Humanity is divine; Mind is primary

and causative; The freedom of individuals in matters of religious belief’(Unity-Progressive Council).

New Thought

‘There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought, he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has befallen any man, he can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.’

– Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘History.’

New Thought

‘We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activity. … Who can set bounds to the possibilities of man? Once inhale the upper air, being admitted to behold the absolute natures of justice and truth, we learn that man has access to the entire mind of the Creator, is himself a creator in the finite.’

– Ralph Waldo Emerson,in his Studies of Nature.

New Thought

The ‘over-soul’‘We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul.’

- Over-soul, from Essays: First Series,Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841.

New Thought

The name New Thought – aka Metaphysics and the Metaphysical Movement –was taken in the 1890s

… generally replacing such names as ‘Mind Cure’and ‘Mental Science’.

New Thought

‘New Thought … is not so much an organization as it is a point of view.’ – C S Braden, These Also Believe (New York: Macmillan, 1949), p 143.

New Thought

New Thoughtis essentially a diverse

and non-creedal mind-healing spiritual and

metaphysical philosophy and

movement … as well as a way of life …

New Thought

… promoting fullness of all aspects of living (including the attainment of health, wealth and happiness) and affirming that:

1. God is supreme, universal and everlasting.2. Divinity dwells within each person.3. We are all spiritual beings.4. The highest spiritual principle is loving one

another unconditionally … and teaching and healing one another.

5. Our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living.

New Thought

'The Father within you, so lovingly and familiarly revealed by Jesus, is not a distance, far away in a place called ‘heaven.’ His abode is in the spiritual realms that underlie all creative forces. As Jesus realized and taught, ‘the kingdom of God is within you.’ Spirit is the seat of power; its abode is on the invisible side of man's nature.' - Charles Fillmore.

New Thought

'If we really wish to have a health that will never leave us we have to train the imagination. In training the mind, it is good to imagine, for instance, that our bodies are full of light, that they are a perfect blaze of light. Let us imagine that we take a light and carry it right down through the inner parts of our bodies and let it shine. We may call that light 'Love,' 'Wisdom,' or 'Life.' If there is anything wrong in any part of our bodies, we let the light shine there, we can put a word anywhere we like in our bodies; and feel the consciousness of it. Imagination is capable of this.'

- James P Mills,From Existence to Life:

The Science of Self-Consciousness.

New Thought

‘[I]nterest in mental healing gave the disciples of the New Thought a point of view, a way of approaching all questions, a way of looking at life as a whole; it gave an impetus toward individualism, toward freedom; it implied religious liberalism; it implied idealism as a working or practical philosophy. Hence the special interest is related with all other interests, and we find the disciples of the New Thought advocating it as an all-inclusive program. … cont’d

New Thought

… cont’d

… The devotees were eager to show that the New Thought not only stands for a method of healing but for a philosophy, a positive or affirmative idealism; hence for religion, applied Christianity, the rediscovery of the gospel of healing. In the course of time, the New Thought as thus conceived became sufficiently known and recognized to make possible the successful representative movement of today.’

– Horatio W Dresser, A History of the New Thought Movement (New York: Thomas Y Crowell,

1919), p 190.

New Thought

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) …Unitarian ministerTranscendentalistphilosopher, poet,

essayist the 'Sage of Concord' the spiritual father of

New Thought

New Thought

'God is one and omnipotent. Man is the noblest work of God.''As a plant upon the earth, so a man rests upon the bosom of God; he is nourished by unfailing fountains, and draws, at his need, inexhaustible power. Who can set bounds to the possibilities of man? Once inhale the upper air, being admitted to behold the absolute natures of justice and truth, and we learn that man has access to the entire mind of the Creator, is himself the creator in the finite. …'

- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

New Thought

'… the thought is always prior to the fact.'

'A man is what he thinks about all day long.'

'They conquer who believe they can.'

‘Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.’

‘Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.’

- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

New Thought

Theodore Parker (1810-1860) …American Unitarian minister and

Transcendentalistgreat social reformer and abolitionist

… his words and sayings had a great influence

on Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr

referred to God as ‘our Father and our Mother’ and in terms such as …

‘Perpetual Presence’ and ‘Infinite Presence who lives and moves and has Your being in all that is above us and around us and underneath us … [and] it is in You that we also live and move and have our being …’

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby (1802-1866) …

'Father of New Thought'

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby‘the modern world's first

true psychoanalyst’ (Dr Ervin Seale)

New Thought

Quimby's system of‘alternative’ healing …a metaphysical form of

insight-oriented psychotherapy

(together with autosuggestion) …

New Thought

… the beginningof the ‘New Psychology’and ‘Mental

Therapeutics’ …

New Thought

In addition, Quimbypaved the way for …

the whole field of modernpsychosomatic

medicine …

New Thought

… for let it be noted that New Thought

understood the nature of functional illness

long before depth psychology.

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby … Park to his friends

Maine clockmaker and inventor … father, blacksmith

mesmerist … inspired by Charles Poyen

magnetist … but gradually began to doubt the theory of

animal magnetism changed his practice to mental healing

through visualization

influenced by ideas of Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby … a metaphysical healer and lyceum circuit lecturer …

little formal education … but widely read

not religious by orthodox standards … suspicious of both orthodox medicine and established churches … yet often referred to Christianity in his teachings

his experiences and practices of mental healing … the real beginnings of and foundation for New

Thought

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby …well-known as a metaphysical

(spiritual) healer in Portland, Maine … treated over 12,000 people

in the last 8 years of his life first experimented with

various physical remedies … the result was just the same

regardless of the particular remedy …

thus, the healing lay NOT in the medicine but in the mind!

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby …taught 'the explanation is the cure' demonstrated that the human body moves

as it is moved upon by the mind …that is, the body …

acts as it is acted upon, and becomes, in effect, a mirror of one's mind – a most important discovery.

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby … ‘Man acts as he is acted upon.’ ‘Man is belief expressed.’

… in other words: our ideas, beliefs and opinions

activate our mind and condition us

we become an expression of our beliefs.

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby … ‘Our minds mingle like

atmospheres, and each person has his identity in that atmosphere.’

The moods, feelings, beliefs, etc, of others are impressed upon us …

BUT we can rise above the ‘race mind’ and ‘mass hypnosis’.

New Thought

'My practice is unlike all medical practice. I give no medicine, and make no outward applications. I tell the patient his troubles, and what he thinks is his disease: and my explanation is the cure. If I succeed in correcting his errors, I change the fluids of the system and establish the truth, or health. The truth is the cure. This mode of practice applies to all cases.' - Phineas P Quimby.

New Thought

The Quimby ‘argumentative method’ of healing (as described by son George): ‘to change the mind of a patient and disabuse it of its error and establish truth in its place, which, if done, was the cure.’‘Can a theory be found capable of practice which can separate Truth from error? I undertake to say there is a method of reasoning which, being understood, can separate one from the other. Man is made up of truth and belief and if he is deceived into a belief that he has or is liable to have a disease, the belief is catching and the effect follows it.’ - Phineas P Quimby.

New Thought

The Quimby ‘argumentative method’ of healing …spiritual reasoning …

you convince the patient and yourself that the sickness is due to: false beliefs groundless fears negative patterns in the

subconscious mind you explain that the basis of all

healing is … a change of belief You ‘build up’ evidence for the

healing power within You render a verdict in the

‘courthouse’ of the mind … in favour of yourself and the patient.

New Thought

The Quimby ‘absolute method’ of healing … used by Quimby in the latter years

of his healing career … you mention the name of the patient you contemplate the qualities and

attributes of God … you silently think of God as Infinite

Intelligence, Boundless Love, the Source and Restorer of Perfect Health, etc

you feel and envision the Power and Love of God being focused on the patient.

New Thought

'Everyman is a part of God, just so far as he is wisdom.''Jesus was the man who brought the true light or Christ to light. Christ was His religion, the God in Him. … What truth did Jesus come to bring to the world? One simple fact that man is a progressive being, that his happiness and misery are of his own make … .'

- Phineas P Quimby.

New Thought

‘The suggestion you give to another, you are giving

to yourself.’– Phineas P Quimby.

In other words … What goes around comes around.

New Thought

Phineas P Quimbyon Prayer …

It’s like a defence lawyer pleading the case before

the judge … showing their client to be a victim of lies and false beliefs …

SO, AFFIRM THE TRUTH … DENY THE FALSE.

YOU ARE THE JUDGE … YOU RENDER YOUR OWN

VERDICT.

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby used the phrase 'Christian Science' as early as 1863

also referred to his method of healing as the 'Science of Christ', 'Christ Science', and 'The Quimby System'

Presbyterian minister William Adams had previously used the term 'Christian Science' before Quimby in his book The Elements of Christian Science (1st ed, 1850; later ed, 1857).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:William_Adams_(minister).jpg

New Thought

Thomas Troward (1847-1916) … the other taproot of New

Thought a member of the British

Civil Service served as a Divisional Judge in the Punjab for 25 years

lectured on 'Mental Science' (his term) … wrote many books

New Thought

Thomas Troward (1847-1916) … ‘Having seen the end, you have

willed the means to the realization of the end.’

Prof William James on Thomas Troward:‘… far and away the ablest statement of the philosophy I have met, beautiful in its sustained clearness of thought and style’

New Thought

The ideas and teachings of Thomas Troward were brought to the USA by:

initially, Dr Harry Gaze later, Dr Emmet Fox.

New Thought

Phineas P Quimby transmitted his ideas and methods to a number of his patients, among them:Warren Felt EvansMary Baker Eddy … then Mary Morse Patterson

Julius A and Annetta (Seabury) Dresser

New Thought

Warren Felt Evans (1817-1889) Methodist, later Swedenborgian,

minister of religion ... had been healed by Quimby

'the first real philosopher of New Thought' … and the first person to give literary form to New Thought

pioneer writer of New Thought wrote 2 books on 'Quimbyism'

before Mary Baker Eddy published her Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in 1875

New Thought

Warren Felt Evans (1817-1889) …

'Disease being in its root a wrong belief. Change that belief and we cure the disease. By faith we were thus made whole … .' - The Mental Cure.'Everything exists for us in thought. That of which we do not think has for us no existence.' - Esoteric Christianity, 1886.

New Thought

Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910)

treated by Quimby in 1862 author of Science and Health

with Key to the Scriptures (1st ed, 1875)

founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science), 1879

founder of the independent, non-denominational daily newspaper The Christian Science Monitor

'Stand porter at the door of thought.'

New Thought

Julius A Dresser(1838-1893)

Annetta (Seabury) Dresser(1843-1935)

New Thought

Julius A Dresser Dresser and Annetta (Seabury) Dressercontinued more directly in the tradition of Quimby himself

the first to formally organize what was to become known in time as the 'New Thought Movement'

competed with Mary Baker Eddy

New Thought

'To realize that our real life is spiritual was to

overcome the illusions of sense-experience with its

manifold bondages.'- Julius A Dresser.

New Thought

• Son Horatio W Dresser(1866-1954) continued his parents’ work the first 'historian of the

New Thought Movement' published many books on

New Thought as well as editing The Quimby Manuscripts (1921)

New Thought

Warren Felt Evans and Julius A Dresser gave systematic form to Quimby’s ideas the intellectual founders of New Thought and its allied movements

the most influential figures in the actual organization of the movement which came to be known as New Thought

New Thought

Both Christian Science and New Thought in all of its various forms have their origins in Quimby’s ideas

Mary Baker Eddy … developed her own highly

individualistic, indeed idiosyncratic, version of Quimby’s ideas and methods

would later claim to have been the 'discoverer' and 'founder' of those ideas and methods

New Thought

Mary Baker Eddyclaimed to have 'discovered' Christian Science in 1866

The matter went to the courts in 1883 …

New Thought

Suit was won by Mary Baker Eddy … but only because …

Quimby’s son George Quimby would not permit the 'Quimby Manuscripts' to be taken to court.

The other party to the proceedings (a former student of Eddy’s) was impecunious.

New Thought

The Quimby Manuscripts published in 1921

Horatio W Dresser (ed)

Mary Baker Eddy got most of her

essential ideas from Quimby

guilty of plagiarism

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Mrs Eddy also copied extensively from the writings of the German idealist philosopher Hegel … 1875 edition of Eddy's Science

and Health … 33 pages verbatim and 100 pages in substance … from Dr Francis Leiber’s manuscript ‘The Metaphysical Religion of Hegel’ … to which Mrs Eddy had access.

New Thought

Mary Baker Eddy died on 3 December 1910.

There's no truth to the persistent rumour that a telephone was installed in her tomb in case she returned to life.

The story arose from a phone line that was installed temporarily for watchmen at the site.

New Thought

NEW THOUGHT AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

New Thought esoteric impersonal without central authority, creed, or general

organization … neither monolithic nor doctrinaire … open-ended

of free and individualistic spirit universal spirituality … honouring every

human being as a sacred expression of the One

Spirit is more real and more powerful than matter

New Thought

NEW THOUGHT AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

Christian Science strong outward organization authority centred in one

person … originally, at least

absolute in doctrinal detail separatist and denominational

in form and policy Mind is all Matter is not real … it is only

the 'objective supposition of Spirit’s opposite'

New Thought

NEW THOUGHTAND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

New Thought for the most part, a form of objective idealism

there is an objective world … 'matter' … but which is mental (i.e. non-materialistic) … the manifested results of divine ideals

objective world is independent of the human knower

• it 'belongs' to one Absolute Mind ('Mind'), the absolute knower

• all individual minds are simply manifestations of Mind

New Thought

NEW THOUGHTAND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

Christian Science an extreme or absolute form of subjective

idealism nothing exists in creation but the ideal

no independent objective reality external to subjective perceptions

[Divine] Mind and idea are the only realities … all 'objects' are mental creations …

'matter' is a falsity … only an illusion of the senses … an 'illusion of the human belief'

A Christian Science joke … of sorts

The First Reader in a Christian Science church was talking to a member of his church. ‘And how is your husband today?’ ‘I'm afraid he's very ill.’ ‘No, no,’ corrected the First Reader, ‘You really shouldn't say that - you should say that he's under the impression that he's very ill.’ The woman nods in agreement, ‘Yes, I'll remember next time.’ A few weeks later the First Reader saw the woman again. ‘And how is your husband at the moment?’ ‘Well’, she replied, ‘he's under the impression that he's dead.’

New Thought

… A very real connection between Mary Baker

Eddy and the New Thought Movement …

Much of New Thought filtered down through

Eddy by means of one of her former pupils …

Emma Curtis Hopkins

New Thought

Emma Curtis Hopkins (1849-1925)

known as the 'Teacher of Teachers' inspired by the medieval mystic

Joachim of Fiore broke from Mary Baker Eddy …

'When we are spiritual, we do not try to bring great things to pass, yet they come to pass. The most wonderful achievements of mankind have been brought to pass by confidence in some wonder-working unseen power.‘ (Emma Curtis Hopkins)

New Thought

Emma Curtis Hopkins(1849-1925) …

brought together and focused the national New Thought movement in 1886-88 with the base in Chicago

then transmitted her ideas and methods to certain students who would later become the founders of all of the major New Thought denominations, centres and schools, including the following …

New Thought

Malinda E (Brooks) Cramer (1844-1906)

and

Nona L Brooks (1861-1945) cofounded Divine Science

with

Fannie Brooks James (1854-1914)

Alethea Brooks Small and

Kate (Mrs Frank) Bingham - cured by Mabel MacCoy, a

student of Emma Curtis Hopkins

- then conducted informal classes attended by the Brooks sisters

New Thought

Dr Nona L Brooks … cofounder, Colorado College

of Divine Science, 1898 lectured and held classes in

a number of Australian cities, 1930

'The whole of Divine Science is the practice of the Presence of God' (Nona L Brooks)

New Thought

Dr Nona L Brooks ordained Emmet Fox (1886-1951) as a Divine Science minister …

Dr Emmet Fox Minister, Church of the

Healing Christ, New York City, 1931-51

author of numerous New Thought books including The Sermon on the Mount and Power Through Constructive Thinking

'We are all sparks from the Great Fire'(Emmet Fox)

New Thought

Charles (1854-1948)and

Myrtle (1845-1931) Fillmore cofounded the Unity

School of Christianity ('Unity')

'I am a child of God, and therefore I do not inherit sickness' (Myrtle Fillmore)

New Thought

Ernest Holmes (1887-1960) ordained as a Divine Science

minister founded the United Church of

Religious Science ('Science of Mind') … now United Centers for Spiritual Living

author of The Science of Mind and many other books and articles

radio and TV

'To think is to create.'

'There is a power for Good in the Universe greater than you are, and you can use it!'

The Law of Attraction …

‘Like attracts like’‘Birds of a feather flock together’

By focusing on positive or negative thoughts, you can bring about positive or negative results.

Thomas Troward – ‘the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed to

grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions necessary for

its manifestation in outward visible form.’The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science, 1904.


1904: Elizabeth Towne How to Grow Success‘The money you attract is the exact measure of value of the Ideas you have succeeded in externalizing.’‘YOU are a center of attraction, with greater force than is in all your environment beside. You can literally pull yourself together and become master instead of puppet.’

1906: William Walker Atkinson Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World ‘Law of attraction’ … ‘like attracts like’


1907: Bruce MacLelland Prosperity Through Thought Force‘You are what you think, not what you think you are.’

1910: Wallace D Wattles The Science of Getting Rich1915: William Q Judge The Ocean of Theosophy1919: Annie Besant Popular Lectures on Theosophy1928: Napoleon Hill The Law of Success in 16 Lessons1937: Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich


1937: Israel Regardie The Art of True Healing: A Treatise on the Mechanism of Prayer and the Operation of the Law of Attraction in Nature1952: Norman Vincent Peale The Power of Positive Thinking‘When you expect the best, you release a magnetic force in your mind which by a law of attraction tends to bring the best to you.’

2007: Rhonda Byrne The Secret [DVD: 2006]

2008: Esther and Jerry Hicks Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth & Happiness


What the Skeptics think …• no basis in scientific reality …• it is unlikely that thoughts can affect anything

outside the head

• ‘a tendency to accept magical thinking … [a tendency which] has such profound roots within human experience and culture that it constantly reasserts itself’

- Paul Kurtz, philosopher, humanist, skeptic • ‘sympathetic magic’ … based on the

metaphysical belief that like affects like• a limited placebo effect …


The theory of sympathetic magic was first developed by Sir James Frazer in The Golden Bough.

Frazer subcategorised sympathetic magic into two varieties: that relying on similarity, and that relying on contact or 'contagion':

‘If we analyze the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called the Law of Similarity, the latter the Law of Contact or Contagion. From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not.’


Magical thinking Dr Phillips Stevens Jr, anthropologist …Several elements, including … • a belief in the interconnectedness of all

things through forces and powers that transcend both physical and spiritual connections.

• investing special powers and forces in many things that are seen as symbols …• ‘the vast majority of the world’s peoples … believe that

there are real connections between the symbol and its referent, and that some real and potentially measurable power flows between them.’


• believing that one's own thoughts can influence events …• beneficially …by creating good luck/positive outcomes, or • for the worse … as in divine punishment for ‘bad thoughts’

• believing that words can directly affect the world …• avoiding talking about certain subjects (‘speak of the devil

and he'll appear’) • using euphemisms instead of certain words• performing little ‘rituals’, eg after saying something which you

fear may bring on bad luck (eg the ritual of ‘touching wood’)• believing that to know the ‘true name’ of something gives one

power over it … or that certain chants, prayers or mystical phrases will change things.

The Law of Attraction

‘Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, Hutson shows us that magical thinking has been so useful to us that it's hardwired into our brains. It encourages us to think that we actually have free will. It helps make us believe that we have an underlying purpose in the world. It can even protect us from the paralyzing awareness of our own mortality. In other words, magical thinking is a completely irrational way of making our lives make rational sense.’

‘The so-called law of attraction is the kind of law that many people will find attractive. It provides them with the illusion of having control over their lives.’

- The Skeptic’s Dictionary.

New Thought in The Bible …

God the One Power‘There is no power but of God; the powers that be are

ordained of God’ (Rom 13:1).‘I am with you for only a short time, and then I am

going to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come’ (Jn 7:33-34).

God is our Life‘Be still, and know that I Am God’ (Ps 46:10).‘The kingdom of God is within you’ (Lk 17:21).‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts

17:28).God the Good‘You are of purer eyes than to behold evil’ (Hab 1:13).

New Thought in The Bible …

Law of Life (Law of Mind/Law of Thought)‘As in heaven so on earth’ (cf Mt 6:10).‘There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed’

(Lk 8:17).‘For as we think in our heart, so are we ...’ (Prov

23:7).‘The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are

healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!’ (Mt 6:22-23)

‘You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you’ (Job 22:28).

New Thought in The Bible

‘If two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven’ (Mt 18:19)

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us …’ (Jn 1:14).

‘He sent forth his word, and healed them, and delivered them from destruction’ (Ps 107:20).

‘The Father judges no person, but has committed all judgment unto the Son’ (Jn 5:22).

‘Be transformed by the renewal of your mind’ (Rom 12:2).

‘Be renewed in the spirit of your minds’ (Eph 4:23).

New Thought in The Bible

Thought is Incipient Action‘Whoever looks on a woman with lust has already

committed adultery with her in his heart’ (Mt 5:28).‘For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I

dread befalls me’ (Job 3:25).‘By your words you will be justified, and by your

words you will be condemned’ (Mt 12:37).Power of Belief‘Ask, and you will receive’ (Jn 16:24).‘According to your belief is it done unto you’ (Mt

9:29).‘Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall

receive’ (Mt 21:22).

New Thought in Mainstream Christianity

Rev Dr Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993) …‘Within your innerlife lies the secret ofyour outer well-being.’

Rev Dr Robert H Schuller (1926- ) …‘God plans for successand believes in it.’

Archbishop Fulton J

Sheen (1895-1979) ... ‘God thinks only one Word---Himself. God

the Father is related to God the Son as the

Eternal Thinker is related tothe EternalThought.’

New Thought and the Buddha

‘What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. Our life is the creation of our mind.’‘The mind is everything. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world.’‘They are able who think they are able.’‘Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.’‘The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness.’‘Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.’‘It is a person's own mind, not their enemy or foe, that lures them to evil ways.’‘To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a person can control their mind they can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to them.’

New Thought and Literature

‘Every one of us has untapped reservoirs of power.’– Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881).

‘The world is a looking glass and gives backto every man the reflection of his own face.’

– William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863).‘Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine

what you desire; you will what you imagine;and at last you create what you will.’

– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).‘We are thought. Thought leads us. Therefore, the secret

of our destiny lies here: in regulating our thoughts.’– Antonin-Gilbert Sertillanges (1863-1948).

New Thought and Science …

‘The universe begins to look more like a great thoughtthan a great machine.’ – Sir James Jeans.

‘The stuff of the world is mind-stuff. The mind-stuff is notspread in space and time; these are part of the cyclic scheme

ultimately derived out of it.’ – Sir Arthur Eddington.‘The most beautiful and most profound experience is the

sensation of the mystical. … To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and

the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this

feeling is at the center of true religiousness.’– Albert Einstein.

‘In some sense man is a microcosm of the universe; thereforewhat man is, is a clue to the universe. We are enfolded in the

universe.’– David Bohm.

New Thought and Science

‘Scientists are slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth - the universe looks suspiciously like a fix. The issue concerns the very laws of nature themselves. For 40 years, physicists and cosmologists have been quietly collecting examples of all too convenient "coincidences" and special features in the underlying laws of the universe that seem to be necessary in order for life, and hence conscious beings, to exist. Change any one of them and the consequences would be lethal. Fred Hoyle, the distinguished cosmologist, once said it was as if "a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics".’ – Paul Davies.

New Thought

NEW THOUGHT IN AUSTRALIA

Agnes Nesbit Benham (1850-1932) South Australian socialist, radical and

feminist published booklet First Steps in

Mental Science, 1895

• 'Our souls are individualised portions of Spirit-rays (from the Great Sun of Spirit we call God) projected far into matter'

- Morning 17 October 1900

New Thought


Dr James Porter Mills MD (1847-1926) [left] … Chicago physician … gave up his medical practice to promote Christian metaphysics

and his wifeMrs Anna W Mills …… from Chicago USA … later based in New York and London …… in Australia: 1896-98 … system of thinking called

'the Teaching' each wrote many excellent

metaphysical books

New Thought


Dr James P Mills and Mrs Anna W Mills …• founded Brisbane Christian

Metaphysical Association …• 1st edn of Practical

Metaphysics (1896) completed in Brisbane home of Mr Henry E Aguilar [left] and his family

• visited Adelaide, Aug 1897 …• Christian Metaphysical

Association formed …• Joachim M Wendt [right] first

president … formerly a Unitarian

http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=1994&mode=singleImage

New Thought


Anna W Mills- called herself 'Healer'- among the first to come into prominence in New Thought Movement- New Thought writer … also dabbled in Christian Science- founded ‘The Truth Students’ Association’- author of Practical Metaphysics for Healing and Self Culture (1896)

New Thought


Henry Cardew, Sydney (Metaphysical Book Company, Jan 1898 onwards: The Metaphysician (later titled Progressive Thought)

By 1899: Mary E Prescott, Sydney (Divine Science practitioner)

By 1901: Sydney: ‘Sydney Metaphysical Association,’ ‘Students of Truth Association,’ and monthly jrnl Thought Waves (Hobart Caunter [ed], Enmore NSW) …

also metaphysical healers in Melbourne and PerthBy 1902: ‘Science of Life Society’ meetings: Sydney,

Adelaide, Hobart, Perth, New Zealand

New Thought


Sr [aka Rev/Rev Sr] Veni Cooper-Mathieson(Amanda Malvina Thorley-Gibson)

(c.1868-1943) father, T. H. Cooper, of South Brisbane,

Queensland, Australia eccentric but influential

metaphysician/‘healer’ and writer/self-publisher

formerly engaged in newspaper work … cont’d

New Thought


Veni Cooper-Mathieson … cont’d

the classic, archetypal New Thought expositor: itinerant speaker, teacher and writer self-publisher self-proclaimed ‘healer’ self-promoter extraordinaire

3 years (1906-09) in Great Britain & USA, studying metaphysics married (1) Samuel Matthews Jr (29 Feb 1884), (2) Earlam

Joshua Gibson (1902) … … cont’d

New Thought


Veni Cooper-Mathieson … cont’d pioneer work in Australia began in 1903 … Women’s White Cross Moral Reform Crusade … a society to promote celibacy among young women ... met weekly in the Sydney

Domain there was also a companion group for young men---not-so-successful!

The Universal Truth Healing Fellowship The Truth Centre … 3 years' lecture course in Sydney on ‘The Truth Seekers’ later, The Church Universal …• founded Perth, 4 Oct 1911 (cf Dresser: Apr 1909)• relocated to Sydney, Dec 1914]

and Metaphysical College … cont’d

New Thought


Veni Cooper-Mathieson … cont’d founded – among several other orders & institutions – The Esoteric College and Home of Truth The Church of Truth Universal The Truth-Seeker Publishing Company The Universal Truth Publishing Co (of Australasia) [1915] The Order of the Prince of Peace taught that Australia was the ‘land of the dawning’ and

advocated female emancipation cofounded Australian New Thought Alliance (conferences 1916, 1928) … Australia’s 1st ‘New Thought Day’ held on 7 Oct 1916

… cont’d

New Thought


Veni Cooper-Mathieson … cont’d wrote … Woman's Emancipation: Thoughts on the Marriage Question

(1904) Australia! Land of the Dawning (c1904) A Marriage of Souls (1914) The Soul’s Immaculate Conception (c1923) The Universal Health Restorer (1929) The Heart of God ; and Mirrors of the Infinite : (Higher

Thought Essays) … as well as short stories, etc also published/edited the Australian New Thought journals … The Truth Seeker [first published Sydney, Jan 1905 [1905-13]] The Healer [1911-13] The Revealer [1915-18] …

cont’d

New Thought


Veni Cooper-Mathieson … cont’d assisted by Bro Ariel [Ariel Herman Adam] (died 1952) fined for practising as a physician, Hobart Police Court, Hobart,

May 1934 … claimed she had Divine powers of healing through breathing on patients and could

detect inward physical growths that X-rays wouldn’t reveal (dubbed the ‘Living X-Ray’) …

as at 1943: was still listed as an INTA District President …

died 6 Jun 1943; buried Lunawanna Cemetery, Bruny Island, Tasmania, 10 Jun 1943

Truth Centres: Sydney NSW, Perth WA, Blue Mountains NSW, and (lastly) Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

… cont’d

NEW THOUGHT CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM… from A Marriage of Souls: A Metaphysical Novel (1914)

by Veni Cooper-Mathieson

‘… But, remember if you are not prepared to go through the entire process within your own souls, then the crucifixion of Jesus and the resurrection of Christ has no real meaning for you. Its sacred symbolism is lost, and the whole tragedy is seen but as the harrowing spectacle of the cruel murder of a good man; while the last act of the drama reveals the overcoming of the world's greatest enemy, the last one to the progress of the race—Death. And that, too, through this chief actor, Jesus, who triumphed over all His foes and showed forth Man's dominion and God's glory: He made it possible to conquer even death, and when we can believe a thing possible for one, the more likely we are to accept it as probable for others and eventually for ourselves, even though this recognition on the part of humanity is necessarily slow. Yet what Jesus did we can also do, if we will. But even this great moral lesson is of no avail if we see it only with the eyes of sense. We must behold it with our inward spiritual vision, and there see the chief actor in that drama as ourself. Each one of us must go through every scene in that life tragedy as the Master did, till we attain to the final overcoming of the Christ-Man, Who is the model for our guidance.’

NEW THOUGHT CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM… from A Marriage of Souls: A Metaphysical Novel (1914)

by Veni Cooper-Mathieson

‘Then, of course, all things are possible to us if we will but believe it. We shall have dominion and power over all things; indeed, the power is now latent within us, just as the full-grown man is lying hidden within the babe, only waiting to be developed and hence revealed. When we come to this stage of consciousness we naturally are able to do the works of a Son of God, just as His first-begotten, or eldest son, Jesus, did. He said we were His brethren, and that His Father was our Father, and that Truth is for all eternity and for all Humanity: not only for one people or one age; for God is no respecter of generations or nations any more than He is of persons, He is God of all the earth. This was so … for it came from the Source of all truth, the Spirit within every man that giveth understanding. …’

New Thought


Grace M Aguilar (Paul) [1881-1964]

influential Australian New Thought leader, writer and self-publisher …

‘[her] work has claimed the attention of the world’ (The Brisbane Courier, 15 July 1926) …

introduced Unity literature to Australia advocated female empowerment

father, Henry Elias Aguilar [1857-1940], also an exponent of New Thought & writer (assoc w/Dr & Mrs J P Mills) …

… cont’d

H E Aguilar

New Thought


Grace M Aguilar … cont’d

mother’s uncle Sir George Williams (1821-1905) …

English merchant & YMCA founder

grandniece of author Grace Aguilar (1816-1847) …

The Women of Israel, Records of Israel, Spirit of Judaism, etc

… cont’d

New Thought


Grace M Aguilar … cont’d attended one of Dr James P Mills’

Brisbane public addresses on metaphysics … later experienced a dramatic healing

(from rheumatic fever) hon. treasurer, Brisbane Christian

Metaphysical Association later studied with Willoughby Connor

(Hobart Metaphysical Scty) … while working for soft goods emporium G P Fitzgerald & Co Hobart 1909-10

opened her first Truth Centre Hobart c1910 … cont’d

http://www.auspostalhistory.com/151_IMAGE1.jpg

http://www.auspostalhistory.com/151_IMAGE3.jpg

New Thought


Grace M Aguilar … cont’d founded ‘Adelaide Truth

Centre’ in 1911 … paid her tram fare to Adelaide City with a

borrowed 6 pence … rented a room … opened the Centre

relocated to Brisbane & then Sydney … opened New Thought Centre NSW (later New Thought Centre[s] of Australia, still later New Thought Centres, (E) Australia) … cont’d

New Thought



served as leader longer than any other in the movement in Australia …

long-serving District President, International New Thought Alliance (INTA)

married dental technician H George Paul (1902-2002), who also became a prominent Australian New Thought leader

… cont’d

New Thought


Grace M Aguilar … cont’d wrote: New Thoughts: or Light in Our Darkness (1917) the play Woman’s Power [2 versions: children’s play in

2 Acts/adult play in 3 Acts] (1917) … 1st prodn, INTA Congress, St Louis MO, 4 Aug 1917

(‘New Thought Day’) the children’s story Who is Our Fairy Godmother?

(1932) the historic novel The Great Untouched Future (1938) poems, tracts, pamphlets, booklets and other misc.

writings compiled the booklet Thoughts published and edited leading Australian New Thought

journal The Affirmer … in publication for several decades.

… cont’d

New Thought



cofounded Australian New Thought Alliance (conferences 1916, 1928) …

Australia’s 1st ‘New Thought Day’ held on 7 October 1916

New Thought Centres: Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney [CBD & Mtrpltn*], Newcastle, Cowra [WWII] and Blue Mountains NSW …

also lectured and taught in Perth and Hobart. … cont’d

* including, at various times and periods, Manly, Chatswood, Burwood, Parramatta, Hornsby, Eastwood and Dee Why.

New Thought


A ‘PROTECTIVE MEDITATION’‘There is only God good everywhere,

and Divine protection is in andaround each and all.’

- Grace M Aguilar.~

‘The positive thinker repels disease:the negative thinker invites infection.’

- Veni Cooper-Mathieson,The Universal Health Restorer (1929).

New Thought


‘As the child of God, I here and now declare my birthrightthrough the living Christ, in love.’ – Grace M Aguilar.

~‘You have the Majesty of God’s life, and the creation

of your own thoughts.’ – Grace M Aguilar.~

‘The supreme test of any spiritual understanding is, I think,Does it work? Can it be applied to everyday life experience.’

– A S Webb.~

‘Man is the offspring of God, and as such, is Lord of the planet. Jesus said, “Ye are gods, children of the Most High.” And he knew what he

spoke was Truth. He claimed this for all mankind, recognising himself as a God; and acknowledging his Sonship with God; and also

affirmed that his God was our God, his Father our Father!’– Veni Cooper-Mathieson.

http://threekingsgiftshop.com/viewitem.php?productid=316

New Thought

NEW THOUGHT IN AUSTRALIA Emilie A Hulett, Melbourne (‘Melbourne New Thought Centre’, Good Will magazine) Madame Emilie Sawes, Melbourne ('Science of Thought Centre’) Christine Laurenson, Melbourne (‘Divine Science Centre’) A S Webb, Perth (‘Seekers Christian Fellowship’) Madam Spontini, Sydney (‘Metaphysical Scty of NSW’/‘Unity

Success Club’) and Charles Randall, Perth (‘Science of Mind Church and College’)

Willoughby Connor, Hobart (‘Hobart Metaphysical Society’) H T Glover (‘The Progressive Thought Society’)

and P H Nicholls, Adelaide E E S Earle, Florence Lockyer, Lee Marshall, David W McClure, Elva Holcombe, Midge Berkman, Grace Merrick, and others … Unity

New Thought


Rev Dr Gordon Powell AM(1911-2005)much-loved minister of …

Collins Street Independent Church, Melbourne St Stephens, Macquarie Street, Sydney Scots Church, Collins Street, Melbourne Christ Church, Quaker Hill, Pawling, New York

instrumental in forming AA in Melbourneradio broadcaster, CBA-FM, 30 yearsauthor of many successful books including ..

Personal Peace and Power, Happiness is a Habit, The Blessing of Belief, The Secret of Serenity, Freedom from Fear, Famous Birthdays, etc.

New Thought


‘If God is at the centre of our thinking, if we believe that God is good, what a foundation that is! It means that however dark the present may be, ultimately things must work together for good---if we love God.’

- Gordon Powell.

New Thought

NEW THOUGHT IN AUSTRALIAProminent overseas visiting lecturers have included … Dr James P and Mrs Anna W Mills 1903 [rtn visit] J W Colville (The Spiritual Science of Health and Healing) Annie Rix Militz (Master Mind magazine) 1913-14 Dr Julia Seton (Sears) (‘Church of the New Civilization’)

3 lecture tours incl 1916 and 1926 … also established a New Thought centre in Perth

W G Hooper (field secty, British Section, INTA) 1927 Dr Harry Gaze (How to Live Forever) 3 lecture tours 1914, 1934 & 1937 Dr Nona L Brooks (cofounder, Divine Science) 1930 Prof James R Adams 1936 Dr Joseph Murphy (The Power of Your Subconscious Mind) 1955 and 1962 Bro Mandus [1963] and Bro Conrad [1965] (‘World Healing Crusade’,

Blackpool UK)

New Thought

Dr Julia Seton Sears(1862-1950)Influential New Thought Leader, Lecturer and Writer

‘We have no more right to put our discordant states of mind into the lives of those around us and rob them of their sunshine and brightness than we have to enter their houses and steal their silverware.’ – Julia Seton Sears.

Dr Harry Gaze(1878-1959)

Influential New Thought Lecturer,Writer and Divine ScienceMinister …

‘People do not grow old; they become old by not growing.’ – Harry Gaze.

New Thought

Bro Mandus(1907-1988)

Influential New Thought

Leader, Lecturer and Spiritual Healer

Dr Joseph Murphy(1898-1981)

Influential New Thought Lecturer,Writer and Divine ScienceMinister

New Thought

AustraliaI seem to hear Australia calling me;I seem to see its sunny lands so free,And from its gleaning heightsI often see the lightsOf a country that is very dear to me.

I seem to see its fields of waving grain,Its wattle bloom all dripping in the rain,And I see with longing eyesIts wide opalescent skies.Australia I’m coming back again!

- Julia Seton MD. Written c1925. Adapted to the tune of ‘Honolulu, I’m ComingBack Again’ (music by David S Lindeman).

New Thought

NEW THOUGHT IN AUSTRALIAKnown Current New Thought Centres …

NEW SOUTH WALESSydney (Gordon) - Dr Laurie Levine - Positive Living Spiritual Centre

QUEENSLANDGold Coast (Mudgeeraba) - Dr Barry Pierce - New Thought Centrefor Spiritual Living/New Thought Institute of Australia IncBrisbane - Unity Reflections of Truth

VICTORIA: Melbourne (Malvern) - New Thought Study GroupMelbourne (Burwood) - Unity of Melbourne

WESTERN AUSTRALIA Perth (Balcatta) – Divine Science Centre PerthPerth (Innaloo) - Joan Stam

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New Thought


Christian Science first introduced into Australia by a

visitor from the USA to Melbourne, 1891 copy of Science and Health with Key

to the Scriptures presented to a Melbourne commercial library

first regular Christian Science Sunday services, Melbourne, 1898

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The umbrella organization the International New Thought Alliance ('INTA') was established at a convention in St Louis MO in 1915.

It had been preceded by: the International Divine Science

Association of 1892 the International Metaphysical

League of 1900 the New Thought Federation of 1903 the National New Thought Alliance

of 1908.

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INTA’sDeclaration of

Principles first adopted in 1917 most recently revised

in January 2000.

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1. We affirm God as Mind, Infinite Being, Spirit, Ultimate Reality.2. We affirm that God, the Good, is supreme, universal, and

everlasting.3. We affirm the unity of God and humanity, in that the divine

nature dwells within and expresses through each of us, by means of our acceptance of it, as health, supply, wisdom, love, life, truth, power, beauty, and peace.

4. We affirm the power of prayer and the capacity of each person to have mystical experience with God, and to enjoy the grace of God.

5. We affirm the freedom of all persons as to beliefs, and we honor the diversity of humanity by being open and affirming of all persons, affirming the dignity of human beings as founded on the presence of God within them, and, therefore, the principle of democracy. …

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6. We affirm that we are all spiritual beings, dwelling in a spiritual universe that is governed by spiritual law, and that in alignment with spiritual law, we can heal, prosper, and harmonize.

7. We affirm that our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living.

8. We affirm the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven here and now.

9. We affirm expression of the highest spiritual principle in loving one another unconditionally, promoting the highest good for all, teaching and healing one another, ministering to one another, and living together in peace, in accordance with the teachings of Jesus and other enlightened teachers.

10. We affirm our evolving awareness of the nature of reality and our willingness to refine our beliefs accordingly.

Declaration of Principles, International New Thought Alliance (INTA).

Self-help and Popular Psychology

Benjamin Franklin – Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732)George Combe – Constitution (1828)

Samuel Smiles – Self-Help (1859)James Allen – As A Man Thinketh (1902)

David Seabury – The Art of Selfishness (1933)Dale Carnegie – How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)

Napoleon Hill – Think and Grow Rich (1937)Norman Vincent Peale – The Art of Living (1937)Dilworth Lupton – Religion Says You Can (1938)

Joshua Loth Liebman – Peace of Mind (1946)Claude Bristol – The Magic of Believing (1948)

Norman Vincent Peale – The Power of Positive Thinking (1952)Claude Bristol and Harold Sherman – TNT: The Power Within You (1957)

Maxwell Maltz – Psycho-Cybernetics (1960)Albert Ellis and Robert A Harper – A Guide to Rational Living (1961)

Joseph Murphy – The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (1962)

Self-help and Popular Psychology

Vernon Howard – The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power (1967)Thomas A Harris – I’m OK—You’re OK (1967)Wayne W Dyer – Your Erroneous Zones (1976)M Scott Peck – The Road Less Traveled (1978)

Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson – The One Minute Manager (1982)Robert H Schuller – Self-Esteem: The New Reformation (1982)

Louise L Hay – You Can Heal Your Life (1984)Deepak Chopra – Quantum Healing (1989)

Stephen R Covey – The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People (1989)

Martin Seligman – Learned Optimism (1991)Anthony Robbins – Awaken the Giant Within (1992)

William J Knaus – Change Your Life Now (1994)Daniel Goleman – Emotional Intelligence (1995)Miguel Ángel Ruiz – The Four Agreements (1997)

Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now (1999)

The Human Potential Movement (HPM)

Notable HPM proponents include …William James (1942-1910)Fritz Perls (1893-1970)Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)Carl Rogers (1902-1987)Viktor Frankl (1905-1997)Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)Alan Watts (1915-1973)Werner Erhard (1935- )Jean Houston (1937- )Anthony Robbins (1960- )


Basic ideas and teachings …1. Each of us is the architect of our own life. Each of us

ultimately creates our own experience. Each of us must take responsibility for our thinking and actions.

2. Our true nature is good, even though we often do not express it.

3. The basic challenge of life is---self-understanding, self-acceptance and self-love.

4. Self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom and self-correction---and freedom from inner bondage to ‘self’ (‘liberation’ or ‘transformation’).

5. To change what we get we must change who we are---but first we must want to change for the better.

6. The stages of true growth are---discontent, search, escape, discovery and freedom. … cont’d


Basic ideas and teachings … cont’d

7. Each of us can experience a complete psychological revolution in the nature of the whole human being. Each of us can heal our life of discord, anxiety, fear, guilt and lack.

8. This psychological revolution can happen instantaneously or incrementally. Within us is the power.

9. The revolution is not something that others can do for us. Only we can effect this change within ourselves. It is an awakening, in which we wake up ... and then learn to stay awake.

10. Each of us has the inner power to become a ‘fully functioning person’---the person we are all trying to become.

11. Becoming a fully functioning person is a lifelong, dynamic process.

New Thought

'The mind exercises a powerful influence over the body. From the beginning of time, the sorcerer, the interpreter of dreams, the fortune-teller, the charlatan, the quack, the wild medicine-man, the educated physician, the mesmerist, and the hypnotist have made use of the client's imagination to help them in their work. They have all recognized the potency and availability of that force.' - Mark Twain, Christian Science.

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