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From time to time I hear from old friends, and sometimes from strangers, wondering why I occupy myself with what they regard as “woo-woo” stuff – that is, New Thought and positive-mind traditions. They are right about my commitments. Since the 2014 publication of my One Simple Idea, a history and analysis of positive-mind metaphysics, I have grown more dedicated to exploring the use and viability of the core mind-power thesis, which is: thoughts are causative. My aim is not to disembark from “serious” esoteric traditions (more on that in a moment); nor is it to discontinue my work as...

Why is the term "self-help" so often used in a derogatory manner in mainstream media? Writing in the opinion journal Aeon, journalist and social critic Elizabeth Svoboda recently sized up today’s self-help field and concluded that some cognitively based self-help books are effective – and well worth defending -- whereas New Age and positive-thinking books are the product of "woo-peddlers" who cheapen the field. I stand with the "woo peddlers." Svoboda's piece demonstrates two assumptions that make it difficult to intelligently discuss self-help therapeutics in much of today’s media. First, the author groups together two different kinds of books: metaphysical...

A great Lenten resource.

A history of the roots of the New Thought movement.

America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu—or Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan—nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each...

"Consciousness is the singular for which there is no plural," wrote the scientist Erwin Schroedinger. Schroedinger, famous for his theoretical disappearing cat, was one of the pioneers of quantum science. Lately, I've been contemplating the idea, if I understand it correctly (I am emphatically NOT a scientist), that things in a quantum Universe are essentially wavicles -- potentially, at least, in several places at once, achieving locality only when observed. Only when we focus on them do they show up in a specific place called here. The essential principle is that there is an observer consciousness that is the overriding...

An AIDS patient writes a letter to the HIV virus, forgiving it for the harm it’s done him and thanking it for inspiring him to live a fuller life. A recovering alcoholic reminds herself to “let go and let God.” Parents pray to see their son as “the perfect child of God” rather than call a doctor to prescribe medication for his earache. A collective of incorporeal beings sends this message to a best-selling author: “There is nothing you cannot be, do, or have.” What do these people have in common? All of them are heirs of the religious philosophy...

On any given Sunday, 100 million households from Australia, Europe, and across the USA will tune in to view Joel Osteen broadcasting from the 30,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Rated as the #1 inspirational television program by Nielson Media Research, Joel Osteen is preaching a message that certainly seems to be touching home with people all over America. In his much respected best selling book, Your Best Life Now-7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, Osteen outlines a seven-step process for effecting profound change in your life. He speaks in terms of the positive in everyday life. Expect...

When I was a boy, my parents used to enjoy a comedian named Ronnie Graham. One of his jokes was, "The other day a cat came up to me and said, 'How do I get to Carnegie Hall?' and I said 'Practice, man, practice.' This other cat came up to me and said, 'Meow.' He was a real cat." We talk a lot in our movement about spiritual practices. I am a Religious Science Practitioner; the root word of Practitioner is practice. But why do we practice? Ernest Holmes said that a central concept of our movement is "Perfect God,...

BARCELONA, Spain — At the inauguration of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, one of the largest and oldest prayer ministries announced the opening of the Office of Prayer Research, a think tank dedicated to broadening our knowledge of the scientific effects of prayer. Members of the spiritual thought movement, Unity, stressed the importance and ambition of their new prayer center, located outside Kansas City, Mo. “Throughout history, when science and religion have come together, there has typically been more clash than collaboration,” Unity President Tom Zender said, adding that at the Office of Prayer Research, “men and women of...

I'd love to hear your comments on the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know." I thought it was the most impressive movie I have seen in a very long time. Has anyone seen it? "What the Bleep" is a movie that deals with quantumm science, the power of thought to shape our experience, the scientific basis for the power of thought. It ries to explain the nature of reality, both scientifically and theoretically. It is about "how the quantum world invites spiritual and mystical interpretations of reality." "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" talks about the science of possibilities...

Vienna, Va., July 23--(RNS) Leaders of the New Thought movement used their annual conference as an opportunity to encourage a nontraditional spiritual quest. At a morning session of the 89th Annual Congress of the International New Thought Alliance, held July 18-23, speakers suggested new ways to approach the metaphysical path on which they walk. In a speech titled "Thinking With NewER Thought," the Rev. Noel McInnis of Wilsonville, Ore., supported the congregational singing of a revamped version of "Let There Be Peace on Earth." "We just need to make over the old song," said McInnis, an ordained minister of Religious...

From Sunday, July 18 to Friday, July 23, 2004, the 89th International New Thought Alliance (INTA) Congress will be held at Sheraton Premiere Tysons Corner, Vienna, VA. This year's theme is "The Power of One: Coming Together as Love." INTA Congress programs on prosperity, healing and interfaith will include individuals from all New Thought movements coming together for dialogue, support and growth. Highlights include spiritual leaders Mary Tumpkin, Walter Starcke, and best-selling author Iyanla VanZant among many others, along with outstanding local and national musicians and an interfaith service. Highlights include an Interfaith Service on Sunday July 18th and a...

VIENNA, VIRGINIA -- As a part of a week-long gathering of New Thought leaders coming from around the world beginning July 18, 2004, the 89th International New Thought Alliance (INTA) leadership will be honoring Bishop William E. Swing for his groundbreaking work to stop religiously motivated violence. The Congress will be held at the Sheraton Premiere Tysons Corner, Vienna, Virginia from July 18 -23. Rev. Swing has gained national attention due to his innovative leadership of the drive to establish a United Religions body to promote religious harmony throughout the world through small circle dialogues among diverse populations. Bishop Swing...

Unity Launches `Office of Prayer Research' Linking Science, Faith (RNS) Unity, an interdenominational organization known for its emphasis on prayer, has announced a new Office of Prayer Research that will be a resource to foster scientific research on the effects of prayer.

Act as if you will. Act as if you are serious about attaining your dream. Walk, talk, and act enthusiastically, creating a single-minded attitude of success toward the results you desire. One of America's pioneering psychologists, William James, said that the greatest discovery is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind. What he advocated was that if you act as if you are what you want to be, then you will become that. This "act as if" principle is a powerful method of converting your consciousness from conditioned habits into specific positive behaviors that...

The Philosophy of Jesus for the World Today by Ernest Holmes Chapter One: The Power that Jesus Used ©Science of Mind Publications Throughout our lives we have read and wondered about the miracles of Jesus. But to how many of us has the thought come that this same power must be available to everyone? We have been so accustomed to thinking of Jesus as a man filled with love and compassion and human kindness that we have over­looked something else about him that is equally important. Jesus had access to a spiritual Power that he used in every way. To...

Today is Good Friday, the commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus. To me, the emphasis on the crucifixion misses the point. The real emphasis, to me, ought to be on the resurrection, to which the crucifixion was a prelude. In Religious Science, we teach that Jesus was not the Great Exception, some kind of special person doing things that were beyond ordinary people like us, but the Great Example, showing us what we can do and what we can be. Jesus himself says, “The things that I have done, ye also shall do and greater than these shall ye do.”...

1st Corinthians, Chapter 12: 4 Now there are diversities of gifts but there is only one Spirit. 5 And there are diversities of ministries, but there is only one Lord. 6 And there are diversities of powers, but it is the One God who works all things in all people. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every person as help. 8 For to one is given by Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by...

In his final "Sermon By the Sea" given in 1959 at Asilomar, California, Ernest Holmes shared with us his vision of the outcome of global well-being, the human species and Earth transformed by the consciousness that he had articulated as Science of Mind. His Sermon is a prescription for planetary resurrection, a prophetic, millennial assertion of the role of Religious Science in bringing about the world's rebirth: [Science of Mind] is the most direct impartation of Divine Wisdom that has ever come to the world, because it incorporates the precepts of Jesus, and Emerson, and Buddha, and all the rest...