What You Think You Become: How New Thought Shapes Your Life

What You Think You Become
New Thought, SELF-HELP
AND POPULAR PSYCHOLOGY
Presented by
Dr Ian Ellis-Jones
Wellness Instructor and Practitioner
Legal Practitioner, Educator and Trainer
Minister of Religion, Consultant and Author

CHANGE YOUR THINKING … CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
If you have ever read any books written
by 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 Eddy
Rhonda Byrne ~ Shakti Gawain ~ Dale Carnegie
Charles Fillmore ~ Norman Vincent Peale ~ Prentice Mulford
Robert H Schuller ~ Joseph Murphy ~ W Clement Stone
Emmet Fox ~ Ralph Waldo Trine ~ Christian D Larson
Neal Donald Walsch ~ Harry Gaze ~ Eric Butterworth
Orison Swett Marden ~ George S Clason ~ Miguel Ruiz
Wallace D Wattles ~ Thomas Troward ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Napoleon Hill ~ Anthony Robbins ~ James Allen ~ Glenn Clark
Florence Scovel Shinn ~ Joel S Goldsmith ~ Frederick Bailes
Ernest Holmes ~ Catherine Ponder ~ Claude M Bristol
David J Schwartz ~ Eckhart Tolle ~ Jack Canfield
… then you have read ‘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 ascend
to 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, Omni
scient 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 talking
of 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 improvement
is 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 God
is 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, but
from 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
Spiritualism
Christian Science
New 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 Varieties
of 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 of
original Christianity‟
(Martin A Larson,
New Thought Religion)

New Thought
One branch bore fruit
which 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, the
New Thought
movement
is 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 Thought
is 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 minister
 Transcendentalist
 philosopher, 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
Transcendentalist
 great 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 beginning
of the „New
Psychology‟
and „Mental
Therapeutics‟ …

New Thought
In addition, Quimby
paved the way for …
the whole field of modern
psychosomatic
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
 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
 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 Quimby
on 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).

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 Evans
Mary 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) Dresser
continued 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 Eddy
claimed 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

New Thought
 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 THOUGHT
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 THOUGHT
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 Rich
1915: William Q Judge
The Ocean of Theosophy
1919: Annie Besant
Popular Lectures
on Theosophy
1928: Napoleon Hill
The Law of Success in 16 Lessons
1937: 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 Nature
1952: 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 inner
life lies the secret of
your outer well-being.’
Rev Dr Robert H
Schuller (1926- ) …
‘God plans for success
and 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 to
the Eternal
Thought.’

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 back
to 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 thought
than a great machine.’ – Sir James Jeans.
‘The stuff of the world is mind-stuff. The mind-stuff is not
spread 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; therefore
what 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 wife
Mrs 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

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 Perth
 By 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
 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
 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
 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
 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.

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
 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

New Thought
NEW THOUGHT IN
AUSTRALIA
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
 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 and
around 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 birthright
through 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.

New Thought
 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 Melbourne
 radio broadcaster, CBA-FM, 30 years
 author 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
Prominent 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 Science
Minister …
„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 Science
Minister

New Thought
Australia
I seem to hear Australia calling me;
I seem to see its sunny lands so free,
And from its gleaning heights
I often see the lights
Of 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 eyes
Its wide opalescent skies.
Australia I’m coming back again!
- Julia Seton MD.
Written c1925.
Adapted to the tune of ‘Honolulu, I’m Coming
Back Again’ (music by David S Lindeman).

New Thought
Known Current New Thought Centres …
NEW SOUTH WALES
Sydney (Gordon) - Dr Laurie Levine - Positive Living Spiritual Centre
QUEENSLAND
Gold Coast (Mudgeeraba) - Dr Barry Pierce - New Thought Centre
for Spiritual Living/New Thought Institute of Australia Inc
Brisbane - Unity Reflections of Truth
VICTORIA:
Melbourne (Malvern) - New Thought Study Group
Melbourne (Burwood) - Unity of Melbourne
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Perth (Balcatta) – Divine Science Centre Perth
Perth (Innaloo) - Joan Stam

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

New Thought
 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.

New Thought
INTA’s
Declaration of
Principles
first adopted in 1917
most recently revised in
January 2000.

New Thought
 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. …

New Thought
 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.

New Thought
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Ellis-Jones Enterprises
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All Rights Reserved.
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What You Think You Become: How New Thought Shapes Your Life

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