Posted on 08/05/2003 9:38:21 PM PDT by TBP
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.
"New Thought" is the result or creation of perpetually advancing mind.
Change and growth are the silent mandates of divinity.
Back of all, unseen yet all powerful, is the one universal law or cosmic urge, forever pushing and projecting man forward into higher physical, mental, and spiritual development.
"Through spiritual evolution are we led to God."
No two individuals are alike or think alike. Duplicates have never been discovered in all the broad domain of nature. Scientists tell us that even the molecules of which our bodies are composed differ one from the other.
"No two men in creation think alike,
No two men in creation look alike, No two men in creation are alike,
No worlds or suns or heavens, but are distinct and wear a separate beauty.''
Language, either written or spoken, is but a symbol, and at best an imperfect vehicle to convey thought. … "Thought is deeper than speech; feeling deeper than thought; souls to souls can never teach what to themselves is taught."
As each morning bathes the earth in new light, so each returning day and every recurring season bring new meanings and understandings to the soul.
The greatest gift from God to man is a growing mind, one that expands from day to day as the light of truth breaks upon it.
As man renews his mind and reaches out for larger conceptions of truth, his understanding is enlarged, he gains new viewpoints, his expanded thought is translated and externalized into life, he grows, he advances, he comes into a closer union with God.
We all live, move and have our being in an atmosphere of truth; truth is only assimilated by the individual.
Principles and laws are changeless, but our understanding of them changes as our minds gain new conceptions of truth and as they grow and develop. Only as the mind dwells on principles can it advance to a larger understanding of truth and higher conceptions of life. … To gain higher conceptions of the principles and laws underlying the universe is the real work of man.
Man is either progressing or receding; spiritually and mentally he cannot stand still.
Man can grow into a knowledge of his relationship with God and reach out toward the divine goal, only as he renews his mind, only as he enlarges his conception of what is within his consciousness, only as he presses forward into a higher spiritual and mental development.
Man grows only as he enlarges his thoughts. How can his thoughts be enlarged except as he takes on the new? By no other process can he enlarge his conceptions and understanding of life. As his ideals expand he comprehends more truth, he moves forward, he extends his visions, he grows, he sees beauty, harmony, and law in all created things.
Hence New Thought is a synonym for growth, for development, for perpetual and eternal progress. It recognizes the superior and excellent in man; it deals not with limitations; it sets no bounds to the soul's progress, for it sees in each soul transcendental faculties as limitless as infinity itself.
New Thought may be said to possess one fixed creed, that of an eternal search for truth. It is anchored to that one thought. … It realizes that attainment of truth is a process of evolution, growth, and development.
Man can acquire truth only as he is mentally and spiritually prepared to receive it. New Thought is anchored to the idea of finding the good and the beautiful in life, the development of latent possibilities in man, and that law reigns supreme in the universe. Anchored to these principles, New Thought moves forward in its quest for more truth, in its search for greater light that leads upward and onward toward a unity with God. It has not come to eradicate the old, except as the old fades away before the advancing light of the new. However, we have been told that it is dangerous to put new wine into old bottles lest the bottles may break. New Thought is constructive, not destructive. It is not here to tear down, but to build up.
Its goal is the understanding of life, of man, and a conscious unity of man with God. If its adherents differ, it is only in methods and not in the end sought. It does not enjoin methods. There are many avenues leading to truth. The arc-light sends out a myriad of rays, but they all lead to the one light.
The adherents of New Thought worship the omnipresent God, the indwelling God, in whom we live, move, and have our being. They do not conceive of God as distant or separated from man, but as a universal Spirit permeating all nature, finding its highest expression in man.
No better conception of the God of New Thought can be expressed than was given by Pythagoras to the world six centuries before the Christian era. Listen to the great message:
"God is the Universal Spirit that diffuses itself over all nature. All beings receive their life from Him. There is but one only God, who is not, as some are apt to imagine, seated above the world, beyond the orb of the universe; but being Himself all in all, He sees all the beings that fill His immensity, the only principle the light of heaven, the father of all. He produces everything. He orders and disposes of all things. He is the reason, the life and motion of all things."
New Thought teaches that the revelation of God to man is a continuous process through nature, through reason, the whispering of intuition through the events and experiences of life. …the desire to come into harmony with God.
To teach man to come into a conscious realization of the divinity within, and the unity of man and God, so that out of the sublimity of his soul he can say with the Gentle Master, "The Father and I are one," is the supreme purpose and meaning of New Thought.
And listening to myself is listening to someone with my own limitations...all of which I know to well.
I want someone perfect to listen to. I don't fit the bill. (Therefore, neither do their teachings.)
IMHO, the New Thought churches are too wishy-washy, plus they have wantonly misinterpreted the Bible. The Bible according to Charles and Mildred Filmore? Doesn't bear much resemblance to the ancient, profound New and Old Testaments.
I was even asked to give talks at a Science of Mind church. I based my talks on Ernest Holme's epic poem in book form: The voice Celestial, which has some lovely passages. Holmes had much more depth than the Fillmores and was also an excellent speaker...I had some of his tapes. But Holmes is long dead and no one can fill his shoes. For me, speaking at the church was the beginning of my path back to more complex beliefs. In New Thought, I found only acceptance of the joys of life as holy. But what about sorrow? The painful paths some are given in life? New Thought makes it seem very unholy not to be on a high fulltime. I find that unrealistic, shallow, and unkind.
Attending a New Thought church is like going to see a motivational speaker.....the experience has value, but has no deep sense of the presence, power, and majesty of God. As I said, it's nice. But nice is not enough for me to base my spiritual life on.
...into the gas chambers of Auschwitz. 1945 was when much of the world soured on the progressivistic idea of human history. Sad to see it's back again.
Very good response, Claud. If you want to blow your mind on this topic, read: Talking With Angels : Budaliget 1943, a transcription of dialogues with "angels" and four women that took place in Hungary in 1943 and 1944. The book is widely hailed in New Thought and New Age circles (concentric circles, IMHO), as the beginning of a new and wonderful belief system. It's quite a slog to read through it. Basically, some voice comes through to the women and nudges them, gradually at first then quite insistently, to give up the idea of God above and to begin to worship the human: God gave you everything, you are perfect, you don't need a savior, God doesn't want you to believe in that nonsense any more. "If you believe in yourself, then you believe in the Divine."
The women all died in concentration camps. Guess they didn't believe in themselves enough.
I was leaning towards pantheism, but this sentence:
This One manifests Itself in and through all creation but is not absorbed by Its creation.
suggests that it might instead be panentheism.
That's the same thing Catholics say about Protestants. The Protestant retort is that he is led by the Holy Spirit.
They differ over the interpretation of scripture and tradition (history), but each recognizes the apostolic origins and authority of both.
When I asked if there was a "book" for the new thought folks, the answer was something about using different materials as each individual feels like it.
There is no authority to which one can appeal to validate teachings. It sounds like they make it up as they go.
I just skimmed, lightly, the article, if that matters.
Protestants and Catholics do share a source material and some history (though any bit of it could be disputed by any given person). I think that's a bit different than whatever mumbo jumbo is being peddled here.
This new thought seems to be nothing other than a worship of progress and a conceit that whatever is novel is authentic or worthwhile. A conservative should abhor such a thing.
SD
Yes.
translation: Smart people who have time to meditate and expand their intellect become one with G-D
This is gnosticism.
There is a story I have heard in both Christian and in Hindu versions, where a holy man once asked the lord to meet the holiest man in the world. An angel came, and they arrived at a poor man's house. The poor man greeted them kindly, and the large and loving family welcomed them, gave them part of their meager food, and their bed, and they treated the visitors with utmost kindness. After they left, an angel told the holy man: that man is closest to God...
If we give a cup of water lovingly in the Lord's name to the least important person in the world, we are closer to God than if we mediate and enlarge our intellect and ego into self satisfaction and egotism....
Della, you will recall, was the head angel on "Touched By an Angel." She's a minister in Culver City, CA.
I beg to differ, new thought and new age are one in the same, just a branch of the many beliefs of new age thinking or spirituality.
No, New Age vests power in crystals, tarot, and various external effects of that kind. New Thought does not do that at all. New Thought is not New Age. They are distinct and different things.
No, New Thought has some very concrete principles. They're similar to the principles taught by Tony Robbins, Steven Covey, Wayne Dyer, and the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?"
The basic idea is that how we think creates the reality in which we live. "As a man thinketh, so is he." "It is done unto you as you believe."
"Change your thinking, change your life" is one of teh key principles of New Thought. It is a philosophy of prosperity ("It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom") and spiritual healing. Many people find it very empowering.
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