What is New Thought?: An Exercise in Googling

If you type this question into Google not surprisingly the first link that comes up is for the New Thought entry in Wikipedia. Once you click into the page the first thing you learn is that it is also referred to as Higher Thought. If you then take the term Higher Thought and place that into Google you will come across a page sharing oddball videos and photos of the meme variety. The 2nd link is to Chapter 24 of a Thomas Troward book called "The Hidden Power." He refers to a Kensington Higher Thought Centre and says the idea of Higher Thought is:

1. That Man controls circumstances, instead of being controlled by them
2. Whatever teaches us to rely on power borrowed from a source outside ourselves is not Higher Thought
3. Whatever explains to us the Infinite source of our own inherent power and the consequent limitless nature of that power is Higher Thought.

 According to Horatio Dressler who wrote the book, A History of the New Thought Movement, the name Higher Thought is the name originally preferred in England.

The 2nd entry that shows up in Google when you type the question "What is New Thought?", is a link to the New ThoughtAlliance page with the same question. They offer their "elevator answer" as follows:

“New Thought is an ever evolving understanding that all of life happens through us, never to us. It uses the term or word consciousness to further explain the process, often quoting Emmet Fox’s statement, ‘Life is consciousness,’ that leads one to the ever unfolding idea that in order to affect a change in our life, the realm of mind called consciousness must first change.”

According to Emmet Fox "Life is a state of consciousness. That is the beginning and the end."

In a nutshell as we pull out of the gate in an attempt to answer the question of "What is New Thought?" through an exercise in Googling, we find that it can also be referred to as Higher Thought although that term appears to have been hijacked by internetland. We see that Higher Thought at one time stood as a preferred term for at least one organization in England in the early 20th Century. According to Troward we are in control of our circumstances and this is the meaning of Higher Thought. He goes on to explain that our power relates with an infinite source which is limitless. According to the New Thought Alliance this evolving understanding happens through us meaning that we are active participants in this process. Emmet Fox refers to life as consciousness which is a state that acts as both the beginning and the end of the entire ball of wax.

Did you get all that?

Gleanings from The Kybalion

A couple of years ago I came across this text called The Kybalion while looking up info on Summum which some refer to as a Sex Cult. A writer friend of mine mentioned them and it sounded too interesting to not look into further. They are based out of Salt Lake City, Utah and have built a full scale pyramid which apparently all are welcome to visit. They are also very big into mummification.

Anyway, the Kybalion is an important book to Summum and is available in full in the public domain (I am a huge fan of all books about spirituality in the public domain). The book is traced back to William Walker Atkinson who also wrote under the psuedonym Yogi Ramacharaka among many other aliases, and is widely known for his law of attraction book Thought Vibration. The Kybalion is said to be very similar to another book which he wrote called The Arcane Teachings.

Regardless of its origins I found the laws stated in the Kybalion to be easy to understand and instantly applicable even if they all really just appeared to be reworked concepts around the age old Law of Attraction teachings. At that time I set to writing some of my own thoughts on the book and today came across them as I continue to organize and develop a system to house all of my computer files. In the interest of not holding back and in openly sharing the wisdom sitting in my hard drive I decided to post some of them here. With that being said what follows is a  a short rundown on 2 of the laws: Vibration and Polarity.

The 3rd Hermetic Law of Vibration tells us that everything is perpetually in motion. Presuming you buy into this fact (which I certainly do and thus feel no need to convince anyone or harp on any detailed explanation of proofs of this truth) then the dual question becomes:

• How do we choose to Vibrate?
• How do we align ourselves to pick up beneficial Vibrations from the world?

I feel that we are on an ever expansive journey with many things to be revealed along the way. A teacher once advised us to treat the teachings as an "open filing cabinet." Our present understanding will evolve and deepen as we continue to apply ourselves toward learning life's truths. As practitioners we must remain skillful and approach life with a sense of service. There is great danger in falling into the trap of puffed up ego and thinking we are the end-all of the universe.

The 4^th Hermetic Law of Polarity talks about how all things contain their opposites. By use of this law when you find yourself caught in an unwelcome situation you can flip the circumstance to its opposite on a dime. This is because they are of the same class, and only differ by their degrees. Once we begin to realize how these poles relate to each other we can transmute them in a way that we are no longer bound to seeing ourselves trapped in one extreme or the other.

The true test comes from trying these things out in daily lives. If we don't take this leap then all we have is a pile of words, and ideas with no bite to them. If you want to be in the vibration of life then you must actively engage in the ideas set forth in the teachings that you encounter. This will enable you to determine which ones work for you, what makes sense, and what doesn't need to be adopted into your personal belief system. Action always trumps belief. Belief can put you on the road, but it is the act of doing that will move your cart along life's highway.

By applying the antidote and moving into an embodied or felt sense we can radically shift the experiences of our daily life. We could practice this both in the fire of the everyday as well as back at the lab with our minds and body through meditative repetition.

Non-Theistic Affirmations

I really enjoy the writings of Ernest Holmes known primarily for his Science of Mind book. I do struggle with the belief in God as taught by most religions and common interpretations. This caused me to slightly modify some of the affirmations he suggests in his book How To Change Your Life so that I could be feel more in tune with their message.

This brings to mind a discussion I once had with the deacon at the St. Marks Church where he advised that if you have trouble with the word God then find a word that works for you. He suggested love. You can find that conversation embedded in Episode 5 of Norm Scott's Audio Zine Lo-fi Confessional. All you have to do is scroll down and click the bar to listen. One thing you are guaranteed to find out is that I laugh a lot. There are plenty instances on there of me cackling away. That tape is one of my favorites of his very impressive body of archival works. It captures an important moment in time, the protests surrounding the 2004 NYC Republican National Convention, but I digress.

Another important teacher that brought home the power of a minor semantics makeover is Emma Curtis Hopkins. She is commonly referred to as the teacher of teachers for the string of students that went on to become household names within the new thought movement. In her later years she even taught Mr. Holmes himself. As a matter of fact she forced him to recognize something he had been hesitant to embrace his whole life - that he was a mystic. Although she heavily used the word God in her own work, she also likens it to "good" stating that "God is Love" and also "My Good is my God." It is in the service of these concepts that I began to work with the appearance of the word God I keep coming across in New Thought literature as "My Good" and "Love." Perhaps blasphemy to some but a lifeboat to others. There is no reason why we can't work with the power of spirit even if we have a lot of questions. I now present to you the aforementioned affirmations:

Abundance
I identify myself with abundance; I surrender all fear and doubt. I let go of all uncertainty. I know there is no confusion, no lack of confidence. The Presence of All Good is with me. The Mind of All Good is my mind. The Freedom of All Good is my freedom. The power of All Good is my power. The abundance of All Good fills my every good desire right now.

Success
I know exactly what to do in every situation. Every idea necessary to successful living is brought to my attention. The doorway to ever-increasing opportunities for self-expression is open before me. I am continually meeting new and larger experiences. Every day brings some greater good. Every day brings more blessings and greater self-expression. I am prospered in everything I do. There is no deferment, no delay, no obstruction or obstacle to impede the progress of right action.

How to Attract Good Things
I know accepting only good in my life penetrates any unbelief in my mind, casts out fear, removes doubt and clears away obstacles, permitting that which is enduring perfect and true to be realized. I have complete faith and acceptance that all the worthwhile ideas I now affirm will be fulfilled as I have believed. I do everything with a sense of reliance upon the Law of Mind, therefore I know that my word shall not return unto me void. I accept this word and rejoice in it. I expect complete and success fulfillment of the thoughts of increased good which I now establish.