New Thought History vs New Thought Folklore
Another approach to learning New Thought is the historical approach. Differences of opinion with regard to the origination of New Thought mean one has latitude within this approach. There are a variety of views about the beginning of New Thought: A. One can take the view that the beginning of the New Thought movement starts with the first mention of “new thought” or B. the first time that these words are capitalized. Common folklore promotes the view that C. New Thought history begins with Phineas Quimby, yet some people claim D. New Thought begins with Transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau. Using the memetic approach championed in the book Spiral Dynamics, E. New Thought history could be said to begin with the Navajo Blessing Way (Hózhǫ́ǫ́jí), or with F. Japanese Buddhist Nichiren in 1253 CE, or G. Anne Hutchinson whose teaching can be summed up with four principles echoed by today’s Christian New Thought teachings.
- People are not converted to Divine Truth, but awaken to the truth of their oneness with God.
- All people are Divine Reflections of God regardless of what they look like.
- Life is meant to be lived as a celebration with joy, not as a painful experience.
- To be a woman is a blessing, not a curse.
Regardless of where one decides to begin New Thought history, this approach can lead to wonderful and positive insights.
New Thought Library suggests you begin your journey into the literature and history of New Thought with Abel Allen’s work: The Message of New Thought
Go on a journey of New Thought discovery!
We strongly urge you to visit New Thought Centers to discover more about New Thought and its different denominations or sects. In most large cities within the free world one can find several different New Thought Communities. Take notes! Perhaps you will find a community within this love based spiritual path that will become your home. Do not be dismayed if the first presentations you encounter do not provide a substantive approach to important issues, or if particular ministers are touting views that seems to be anachronistic. Some New Thought ministers do not watch the news because they are afraid it will taint their consciousness with current events. They will sometimes say they “prefer to focus on eternity.” This can be very attractive for some folks and might be your cup of tea. Other New Thought ministers are quite hip and understand what is going on in the world. These ministers will address the every day real life challenges people deal with in life, perhaps that is more to your liking.
Go to all the New Thought communities in your area, so that you can make the best choice. Keep in mind that there are sometimes more services than one and thus there might be different ministers scheduled to speak at varied times during the week or even on the same day. If you encounter a minister who is teaching stale Prosperity Gospels or a Stoic approach to life espousing that all problems you encounter are solely your fault, go to a different service on a different time or day.
Personal Responsibility and the Principle of Co-Creation
While New Thought teaches personal responsibility as the vehicle for change in one’s life, a core concept of New Thought is co-creation which teaches that we are all in this life together and reality is the result of shared consciousness. Those who have been through a personal tragedy such as rape are aware that some experiences are the result of another’s consciousness. It would be quite sick to blame the victim of such an experience. There is an ancient aphorism: “You can teach a dog not to chase but you can’t teach a horse not to run.” This is about predator behavior and teaching children not to play the role of the aggressor. For readers wishing to learn more about the importance of wisdom and compassion training we recommend Thich Nhat Hanh and his works.
If you encounter someone teaching abusive nonsense, simply get up and leave.
Be Aware That Aberrant New Thought Forms do Exist
Such speakers are teaching from the playbook of Late New Thought which is an aberrant New Thought form from the end of the 20th Century. Ministers trapped within this anachronism do not represent all of New Thought. They are deeply ensconced in the dominator paradigm which is the same paradigm that drives fraternities to haze people. Such people hold views similar to fundamentalists in other paths. If you encounter a minister who is not progressive, thoughtful, caring and kind, simply leave and find a different minister. After all you are not in New Thought to deal with old anachronisms and how far along the path can such a person help you go?
Simply search on! You will find a New Thought teacher who understands life and teaches timeless truth that supports positive change in your life and community. Because New Thought is a progressive path of empowerment, there are a lot of great women in the movement.
:) There is a Universal New Thought Directory :)
The directories in the Universal New Thought Directory system offer the opportunity for anyone to sponsor a listing pertaining to a particular New Thought Community. Do it! Be a sponsor because many New Thought Communities need your help to demonstrate prosperity. Every center with a “charity” designation needs your support. It is not a pricey proposition. Sponsor a New Thought Center with a Charity designation moving it to Prosperity status for $1 per day or more.
After decades of maintaining the New Thought Directory system, with several generations of volunteers working on it. The present millennial volunteers point out that it is obvious that New Thought Communities in Charity status simply don’t have the “where with all” to sponsor their own listings. This is a call to us all to be loving, be kind, and most of all to be the solution to their challenge.
Unsponsored Listings are a great opportunity!
Unsponsored listings offer independent sponsors the opportunity to report on the community, and support those in need through using resources commensurate with the level of sponsorship in the manner the sponsor deems best. Sponsors that participate beyond simple financial sponsorship can direct listing links in the way they deem best supports the propagation of New Thought in conformance with the terms.
FindACenter.com is thoroughly indexed by Google, Bing and other search engines. While attendance at New Thought Centers has been shrinking since 1999, the number of independent adherents to New Thought is growing. This means that even in the face of the closure of over 49% of New Thought communities around the globe since the dawn of the New Millennium there is a growing audience for New Thought ideas that pay attention to the tenets of New Thought 3.1.
Thus sponsoring a listing or group of listings over a period of time can provide the sponsor with a great way to support the growth of New Thought through actively participating in the information within those listings particular the direction of the graphical links. Think about it!
Be charitable and caring toward elders who are not web savvy.
Some older folks don’t know how to properly use the internet. It is important to be charitable and caring toward elders who are not web savvy. After all it might be one of those elders who visits you in the hospital if you have an auto-accident due to digital anxiety prompting you to check your ‘smart’ phone while driving in the middle of traffic.
If your New Thought leaders were born prior to 1990, it might be easier to simply sponsor the listing pertaining to your favorite community then have some fun! Trying to explain some things that are simple to you can often be such a waste of time that it is easier to become the sponsor yourself.
Some people actually navigate the internet through Google. Be kind. They are usually doing this because they belong to a different generation. Be loving and helpful, one day you will be old too.
With a little kindness and encouragement elders can learn to use Skype and PayPal, only you can discern whether the particular leader you are communicating with can transcend a non-digital past.
It is rare to encounter New Thought leaders opposing positive change
The New Thought Library supports archiving physical texts in a variety of geographically distinct areas with special regard to climate control in order to insure their long term survival in the event of climactic, geographic, social or political upheaval. This is why seekers should not be surprised to occasionally encounter New Thought leaders who are opposed to positive social progress. It is rare to encounter New Thought ministers who oppose positive change but they do exist. They are living in a bubble and if you question their reality do not be surprised if they get angry and lash out. It is rare, but New Thought is a universal religion and thus has the same kind of diversity that we encounter in other religions.
Walling create bubbles of individualized reality.
The US election of Donald Trump came as a massive surprise to many. People around the world asked: “how is it that Americans can be so uninformed that they would elect a man like Trump as their president?”
Yet to the savvy New Thought reader such a result is not surprising. After all New Thought teaches us to focus on the reality that we wish to create, while working to insure its manifestation.
Trump is a powerful example of the application of will without regard to highest good. This is a form of walling. Walling is the action of erecting barriers which create bubbles of consciousness. Walling leads to self-deception and / or personalized delusions. Naturally it is much easier to create bubbles of illusion when one has power (whether derived from wealth or politics) to avoid any reality other than one’s personal bubble. It is said that Howard Hughes lived in a such a bubble. More recently the immensely talented Michael Jackson apparently lived in such a bubble. Perhaps North Korean leader Kim Jong-il lives in such a bubble. The challenge of living in such a bubble is most apparent when the bubble bounces against the sharp edges of a larger reality.
While a skilled metaphysical practitioner can force things in a desired direction that is not aligned with highest good; when the will pushing in said direction is relaxed, the conditions created thereby unravel. This is due to the second law of thermodynamics. Unless a system is in a steady state of equilibrium, then entropy (the tendency toward disintegration) is a constant presence. Thus the maintenance of a given desired state requires the application of energy, if the application of this energy is eliminated then entropy will reign.
The practitioner guided by compassionate wisdom, in alignment with highest good, will co-create with love. She enfolds the truth of Nash’s Equilibrium such that the cause put in place yields lasting effective results that are independent of the need for the practitioner to add new causes. Practitioners who wish additional confirmation of this principle and how it applies to individual Spiritual Mind Treatment can reference the work of the Holmes brothers. Fenwicke and Ernest Holmes taught that prayer is most effective when the practitioner relaxes into the truth of oneness with That That Is; one realizes the most effective outcome is manifesting in alignment with highest good; giving thanks for this alignment, the practitioner releases this thought into the Universe without further effort.
Thoughtfulness is a characteristic of higher consciousness, as is mindfulness. In contrast, thoughtlessness and mindlessness are considered hindrances to spiritual development and realization. The thoughtful soul is mindful of his or her impact upon the lives of others understanding that we are all co-creating the world we co-exist within. This underscores the powerful difference between the New Thought spiritual path versus those old thought religious paths which teach determinism. Such old religious paths teach that “everything is predetermined thus people are predestined for success for failure.” Research demonstrates that adherents to such paths are the most likely people to hurt others then declare that it was “God’s will.” In contrast to such individuals, research shows that atheists are less likely to hurt others. Such facts are often surprising to some folks on the spiritual path.
New Thought teaches us that while we are responsible for our personal successes and failures, we are in a process of co-creation with others. One of the best ways for the soul to awaken to this truth is through collaborative processes such as the creation of dance or dramatic productions. When we hear “Roll sound!” then the response “Sound Speed!” followed by “Roll camera!” ultimately leading to the director’s call: “Action!” We are hearing a cadence of call and response within a group co-creating a video / film production. The great film, TV and theater productions we love are not usually the result of solo producer / performers.
Likewise, Life is a co-creation shared by billions. While the lesser mind might think that everything is a competition, in truth it is a cooperation. This does not mean that everything is always running smoothly, in fact the way of cooperation is a process of communication which may not be smooth or easy, but is a necessity. In fact we are at the advent of an era of communication; presently we are in the networking phase which characterized by both connectivity and disconnection. One might ask: How can it be characterized by both connectivity AND disconnection? The answer is found within the truth elucidated by Lao-Tzu, the founder of Taoism.
If the reader wishes to better understand the movement between phases through visual means, the study of the art of Escher is recommended.
Many factors support the argument that the most dramatic political crises and consequent breakdowns come when least expected, but in hindsight it is generally observed that there were signs on the side of the road leading to the crisis. In ancient days, people who warned societies that steps must be taken to avoid coming consequences as a result of causes already in place were called prophets. Today we call these people scientists. Thought is called scientific when it is based on the Scientific Method which is the study of cause and effect. While everyone has an opinion, there is a vast difference between informed insight versus a wild guess.
People are increasingly aware that some folks look for, or even create crisis in order to exploit problems for personal gain. Machiavelli’s The Prince was condemned because it shone a light on this truth. The Abrahamic Aphorism: “A prophet is least accepted within her own home or country,” addresses the phenomena that “familiarity fosters contempt.” While it is not healthy, it is quite normal for humans to want people they know to remain within the confines of their personal perceptions. In short, your original family prefers to see you as the child they remember not as the person you have become.
When this tendency is accompanied by the fact that most people do not wish to encounter a truth that conflicts with embedded beliefs, the reader can understand why so many folks today tend to fall into the above referenced practice of walling. Social Media encourages living within bubbles of reality surrounded by people with do not challenge one’s existing world view. This is why diplomacy is the art of sharing truth in the form and manner which enables a soft awakening on the part of those participating in the process.
Those who ‘speak truth to power’ are well aware of the fact, or soon become aware, that bursting bubbles can result in dramatic and not always pleasant results. Some neuroscientists focus on what is called “brain hacking.” A great deal of this work is dedicated to manipulating technology users through understanding the function of dopamine in transactions characterized by loss / gain or punishment versus reward. Through “proper coding” users can be manipulated to create an addiction to a particular app. Other coding can manipulate users to participate in activities that ultimately harmful to themselves. The addictive effects of nicotine, heroine and other substances can be replicated through an app! Perhaps this is the reason that some folks say that the Abrahamic Aphorism: “the meek shall inherit the earth” should be rewritten to “the geeks shall inherit the earth.”
This is why New Thought teaches the importance of daily spiritual practice and mind training. The most important thing today is to think clearly. You can train you mind, but you cannot train your heart. THINK before you act and ask leaders to think to. It may be challenging at times because so often it seems leaders are not listening, nor thinking. But your input can help them to make better decisions rooted in compassionate wisdom teachings.
If you are the type of reader who has chosen to be surrounded by brilliant people, you have probably heard that Thomas Picketty’s work: Capital in the New Millennium is the most important work in economics in 100 or 200 years. This is because Thomas Picketty developed new insights that cannot be denied. Picketty’s work supports early New Thought teachings based on ancient wisdom teachings.
Your most important resource is your heart-mind.
- “I feel… an ardent desire to see knowledge so disseminated through the mass of mankind that it may, at length, reach even the extremes of society: beggars and kings.” — Thomas Jefferson: Reply to American Philosophical Society, 1808.
- “The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate.” — Thomas Jefferson
- “I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” — Thomas Jefferson to W. Jarvis, 1820.
- “The information of the people at large can alone make them the safe as they are the sole depositary of our political and religious freedom.” — Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 1810.
Education is one of New Thought’s key values. New Thought encourages the development of the individual and the promotion of opportunities for education for every citizen within all societies. Wisdom occurs when knowledge is combined with compassion. This is what it means to develop the heart-mind. When we examine the quotes above from Thomas Jefferson, they support us to understand why a broad education, supporting the ability for individuals to think clearly and independently, is important. We can also see why those groups opposing the UDHR, which is the highest spiritual wisdom thus far, also oppose education, especially education of women. Research has clearly demonstrated that the education of women is the most significant factor in the creation and maintenance of prosperity and peace in any society.
Jefferson understood that information is not wisdom. Wisdom comes from the ability to use information to discern compassionate solutions. Rote memorization of texts, including New Thought texts, does not generate wisdom. The difference between training and a proper education is that while the former enables a person to to accomplish a specific task such as rote recitation of a text, the latter empowers one to come up with solutions to accomplish anything.
Once upon a time, there was a minister who was obsessed with the works of a 20th Century New Thought leader, he diligently memorized as much of the writer’s works as he possibly could. He noticed that some Abrahamic Religious Leaders carried leather bound copies of their key texts with them; so he purchased a leather bound edition of the writer’s major works and carried it with him in the same manner as an Abrahamic fundamentalist. He peppered his conversation with quotes from his hero, but during this process he forgot the essential. New Thought is not about memorization of another’s work, it is about internal transformation. He didn’t understand this principle because he was lost within outward form instead of inward substance. Instead of helping him, his approach to New Thought was walling off his good.
We awaken into awareness and develop consciousness. Spiritual teachings are here to support spiritual awakening. It does not help to parrot pages we find within spiritual works as much as to develop a personal spiritual practice and learn to live The Way, to be the change we wish to see in the world and help others in their growth of higher consciousness.
Jefferson owned a Koran and read extensively in all subjects, including ALL religions he could research. Those people of Great Soul (Mahasattvas) do not limit themselves. They are not content to be ignorant. Those of great wisdom are life long learners. They are not content to dwell within constraints of any kind with regard to the acquisition of wisdom. Ghandi was called a Mahasattva, so was Martin Luther King.
Great Spiritual Leadership is demonstrated through action. Those who sit on the sidelines of history may add a footnote, but are not within the text itself. Jefferson did not view any religion as better than any other; he held a strict view of how the freedom of humanity is a fragile thing that necessitates a solid and impermeable separation of church and state. This is why New Thought Millennials look to the UDHR as the highest spiritual wisdom thus far manifested. The UDHR supercedes all previous spiritual wisdom, providing the measure of all spiritual teachings. Any teaching which contradicts the UDHR is decadent and destructive, thus no longer valid.
More New Thought Articles:
Understanding New Thought Today / New Thought 3.1
Is New Thought a form of Islamism?
New Thought History versus New Thought Folklore
New Thought and John Nash’s Equilibrium
New Thought Yesterday, New Thought NOW
Other resources include:
New Thought Library for FREE books
Universal New Thought Directory to find New Thought Fellowship
New Thought Net has info about New Thought beliefs and practices
