New Thought
I'm not sure how much everyone has studied this way of thinking/movement, but I have some opinions about it and would like to hear what do you my friends think about it.
First time I heard of the movement was by reading Rhonda Byrnes' book The Secret. The main point in the book from my opinion was to increase positive thinking among the people. Thats not a bad thing at all but there is something that bothers me a lot.
If someone tries to increase own wealth, health or social class with only turning mind and thoughts towards things he/she finds positive, or even thinking that this kind of material happines would be admirable to one, would that just turn everything just upside down? Doesn't it just turn the extreme misery of life into false all good mode?
If you try to falsely make everything positive and build walls around negativities and misery, won't you lose the idea of truth on the way?
I agree things like "everything is mental", but as everything is mental, every mental and spiritual action has it's reflection in physical life and actions. And if someone is only concentrating on self happines, wealth and own well being, ain't the truth lost in the way?
World isn't a 100% happy place for everyone. Here in finland the living is easy and still there is a massive amount of depressed people in here. We can turn the depression into good, and yes, it takes some positive thinking to get there, but we can never forget those who doesn't have the same priviliges of life as we do and they should be our priority number one when we think about someones happines.
I don't know about false prophets but this sort of books like The Secret, Kybalion and many more, which have influenced millions of people, they can do more harm from my point of view than they do good.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael A. Williams on
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David, I'm fairly familiar with "New Thought." Here's the Wikipedia entry on it that is an excellent overview.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Thought
One thing they miss, though, is the deep Hermetic roots of New Thought, it's not just a branch of esoteric Christianity. New Thought is not just some "religious movement" with dogmas and rituals that have to learned and then repeated like a parrot. Joining a New Thought church or organization is not required, one can be a lone operator or a member of a small private group. It all depends on one's personal temperament. It has to become a "Living Reality" in one's daily life, not just another metaphysical system to be intellectually understood and left at that.
Those of an Eastern philosophical bent might relate to New Thought author James Allen, who wrote several classics in the early 1900's. Mr. Allen was an American Buddhist and took certain aspects of Buddhism and applied them to the more outward life engaging lifestyle of the West for a more happy and successful life. His most famous book is "As A Man Thinketh,"
The chief principles are namely, as in Hermeticsm, that each Individual is "a center of divine operation in an infinite universe"; that human consciousness interfaces with the physical realm; and that ultimately each Individual is responsible for his or her own spiritual evolution.
In response the Jaacko Alhola's preliminary comments, they are very mistaken. They show a superficial and distorted understanding of New Thought and what has become the "Self Help" movement. Other terms that are being used as of late are the "The New Spirituality," "The New Consciousness," and "Evolutionary Spirituality."
Love, compassion and being of service to others, helping the poor and needy and giving to worthy charities are very much emphasized today. Mr. Alhola has obviously not involved himself in any depth in the movement. But, we cannot live other people's lives or be responsible for their happiness. Our real help is in assisting others to realize their own responsibilities and pointing to tools that can they can use in that endeavor.
In all my studies, I've never heard anyone call the "Kybalion," harmful, it's a classic in its field. As for "The Secret," it's not perfect, but has good information and is a Starting Point for further study and work, not an Ending Point.
The notion that we must be miserable and poor to be spiritual and help others is not only out of date old school, but utter nonsense. How can anyone who is depressed and with feelings of need and lack be of help to anyone?
By being joyful, balanced, prosperous, kind and giving in our personal lives, we are in a much better position to be of assistance to others when the occasion arises and also contribute to the collective good.
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