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New Thought

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The New Thought Movement or New Thought is a loosely allied group of organizations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of metaphysical beliefs concerning healing, life force, Creative Visualization, and personal power. The New Thought Movement developed in the United States during the mid to late 19th century and continues to the present time. It promotes the ideas that God is all powerful and ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human self-hood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, all sickness originates in the mind, and 'right thinking' has a healing effect.

History

19th century origins

The earliest identifiable proponent of New Thought was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby(1802-66) of Belfast, Maine[1], an American faith healer, student of Mesmerism, and practitioner of hypnosis, who claimed he could heal by mere suggestion. Quimby developed a belief system that included the tenet that illness originated in the mind as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to God's wisdom could overcome any illness.

During the late 19th century the metaphysical healing practices of Quimby mingled with the "Mental Science" of Warren Felt Evans, a Swedenborgian minister [2] and the ideas of the American transcendental philosophers Amos Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Emerson's writings in particular were a great source of inspiration to the nascent New Thought movement.

Quimby did not support any religion or denomination and he eschewed hierarchical organizations and thus, in the wake of his teachings, the New Thought Movement never developed a centralized authority. By the 1890s, many organizations were calling themselves "New Thought", but due to the absence of centralization, they presented a multiplicity of diverse and sometimes contradictory ideas. Among the concepts found in New Thought are Panentheism, Idealism, Spiritualism, mysticism, and Eastern Teachings, as well as a strong and pervasive Christian influence.[citation needed]

The major organizations that emerged from the New Thought Movement included the Unity Church, Religious Science, and Divine Science. Some branches of the movement resembled the mystical doctrines of Platonism[3]; others self-described as a form of Practical Christianity or embraced Asian philosophies (especially Hinduism). The Pacific Coast Metaphysical Bureau (later known as the Home of Truth), which was founded in the 1880s by the sisters Annie and Harriet Rix, was conceived from the start as an interfaith organization that gave equal emphasis to Christianity and Hinduism.

Some groups promoted 19th century semi-scientific theories such as animal magnetism, others taught the cultivation of memory or the affirmation and self-help techniques of Emile Coue. Some advocated meditation and quietism, while others used the positivism of New Thought as a springboard for teaching students about what they called the "law of attraction" or how to develop personal and financial success and courage. Some advocated a vegetarian diet; others taught the importance of will power and directed thought-force. Some focussed attention on metaphysical healing and affirmative prayer; others encouraged the development of the gift of divination and seership through crystal gazing.

Despite the disparate trends named above, the New Thought Movement of the late 19th and early 20th century was held together by the dissemination of its underlying ideas through a number of national magazines, courses of study offered in book form, and via membership in New Thought organizations and churches. There were also New Thought retreat centers and New Thought lecture bureaus, and by 1914, an International New Thought Alliance comprising individuals and groups who shared a common interest in the movement. [4]

By the end of the 19th century, the chief tenets of New Thought had become stabilized:

  • Infinite Intelligence or God is omnipotent and omnipresent.
  • Spirit is the ultimate reality.
  • True human self-hood is divine. (Christ Consciousness)
  • Divinely attuned thought is a positive force for good.
  • Most disease is mental in origin.
  • Right thinking has a healing effect.[5]

From its initial emphasis on the healing of disease, New Thought had developed into an intensely individualistic and optimistic philosophy of life and conduct.

20th century diversity

From 1900 through the 1920s, New Thought was popular in all regions of the United States, and spread to other nations as well. New Thought churches and centers began to form, as did New Thought clubs and other organizations. It was during this period that many classic books of the New Thought movement were published, including the financial success and will-training books of Wallace Wattles, Frank Channing Haddock, and Thomas Troward. [6]

In 1914, the International New Thought Alliance was formed, encompassing many smaller groups around the world. The alliance is held together by one central teaching: that people, through the constructive use of their minds, can attain freedom, power, health, prosperity, and all good, molding their bodies as well as the circumstances of their lives. The 1915 INTA conference, held in conjunction with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition -- a world's fair that took place in San Francisco -- featured New Thought speakers from far and wide. The PPIE organizers were so favorably impressed by the INTA convention that they declared a special "New Thought Day" at the fair and struck a commemorative bronze medal for the occasion, which was presenting to the INTA delegates, led by Annie Rix Militz. [7]

Belief systems

Evolution of thought

Adherents also generally believe that as humankind gains greater understanding of the world, New Thought itself will evolve to assimilate new knowledge. Alan Anderson and Deb Whitehouse have described New Thought as a "process" in which each individual and even the New Thought Movement itself is "new every moment." Thomas McFaul has hypothesized "continuous revelation," with new insights being received by individuals continuously over time. Jean Houston has spoken of the "possible human," or what we are capable of becoming. [8]

Theological Inclusionism

Home of Truth, which, from its inception as the Pacific Coast Metaphysical Bureau in the 1880s, has disseminated the teachings of the Hindu teacher Swami Vivekananda, is one of the more outspokenly interfaith of New Thought organizations, stating adherence to "the principle that Truth is Truth where ever it is found and who ever is sharing it." [9]

Therapeutic theories

Because New Thought grew out of the faith-healing ministry of Phineas Quimby, healing services and affirmations have been important among many New Thought groups, especially those which are organized as churches or denominations. Agreement on how such healing comes about is not a hard-and-fast tenet of New Thought theology, however. Theories vary, and with them so do healing practices.[citation needed]

John Bovee Dods (1795-1862), an early practitioner of New Thought, wrote several books on the theory that disease originates in the electrical impulses of the nervous system and is therefore curable by a change of belief. Later New Thought teachers, such as the early 20th century author, editor, and publisher William Walker Atkinson, delved into this theory as well. Atkinson wrote a number of books on healing and he also developed a theory of personal magnetism and success that outlined a linkage between general electromagnetic phenomena, neural processes, and mental states of being. [10]

Divine Science, Unity Church and Religious Science are organizations (with denominational aspects) which developed from the New Thought movement, which teach that that Infinite Intelligence or God is the sole reality, sickness is the result of the failure to realize this truth, and healing is accomplished by the affirmation of the oneness of the human race with the Infinite Intelligence or God.[11][12][13][14]

Distinguishing New Thought from other belief systems

New Thought / Christian Science

Both New Thought and Christian Science do place an emphasis on direct healing of the body, but Christian Science developed in a different direction from New Thought and is not considered a New Thought organization. Mary Baker Eddy[15], the founder of Christian Science[16], was a disciple and patient of New Thought pioneer Phineas Quimby, but she rejected his healing methods, citing her belief that healing came from the power of the Christian God, not the mind. Emma Curtis Hopkins, another pioneer of New Thought and prolific writer, was at one time associated with Christian Science, but she was eventually excommunicated. Following her departure from Christian Science, she became an independent New Thought advocate, and came to be considered the "teacher of teachers", that is, the mentor of several key New Thought leaders. She synthesized a healing method described in her book "Scientific Christian Mental Practice." Her influence was theoretical and practical rather than theological.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Phineas Parkhurt Quimby at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  2. ^ New Thought entry, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, at Bartleby.com. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  3. ^ Platonism at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  4. ^ A History of the New Thought Movement by Horatio Dresser. 1919. Free online edition. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007
  5. ^ New Thought at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  6. ^ A History of the New Thought Movement by Horatio Dresser. 1919. Free online edition. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  7. ^ A History of the New Thought Movement by Horatio Dresser. 1919. Free online edition. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  8. ^ Houston, Jean. The Possible Human. 1997.
  9. ^ Home of Truth home page. Retrieved Sep. 20, 2007
  10. ^ Dumont, Theron, Q. [pseudonym of William Walker Atkinson. Mental Therapeutics, or Just How to Heal Oneself and Others. Advanced Thought Publishing Co. Chicago. 1916.
  11. ^ New Thought at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007.
  12. ^ Official website of Divine Science. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007.
  13. ^ Official web site of Unity Church. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007.
  14. ^ Official web site of Religious Science International. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007.
  15. ^ Mary Baker Eddy at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  16. ^ Christian Science at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.

Further reading

  • Anderson, Alan and Deb Whitehouse. New Thought: A Practical American Spirituality. 2003.
  • Braden, Charles. Spirits in Rebellion.
  • Gold, August and Joel Fortinos. The Prayer Chest. Doubleday. 2007) ISBN 0-385-52349-1
  • Judah, J. Stillson. The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical Movements in America. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1967. Review by Neil Duddy.
  • McFaul, Thomas R. Religion in the Future Global Civilization printed in The Futurist magazine. September-October 2006.
  • White, Ronald M. New Thought Influences on Father Divine (Masters Thesis, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. 1980. Abstract
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