Post by prvtmiller on Jan 4, 2008 11:39:42 GMT -5
'New Thought'
Influenced by quantum physics as well as philosophy, Process New Thought:
(1) replaces the idea of enduring thing-like substance with process, understood as living energy, activity, feeling;
(2) maintains that there is only one type of reality, called mental or spiritual, but
(3) recognizes that there are many units of it.
(4) Each unit is an experience that develops for only a fraction of a second. Then it becomes a changeless part of the past, exerting influence on future experiences.
(5) Each experience co-creates itself with God by blending the influence of the past with individually-tailored divine guidance: PAST + DIVINE PROPOSAL (God's offer of perfection as expressible in that situation) + CHOICE = NEW CREATION.
(6) This pattern or law (an abstraction summarizing how reality works) is changeless, since it is a description of the essence of reality; but laws of nature are habits of interaction that may change over vast periods of time. Laws do not act. They are only descriptions. Like Buddhism, process thought believes in process rather than substance, but
(7) Process thought agrees with Christian and other Western emphasis on God as the ultimate person.
(8) In order to be fully impartial, God has to be fully personal, i.e., self-conscious, rational, and powerfully, alluringly, purposeful. God is not human, but is the infinite person; we are finite persons.
(9) God plays an essential role in creativity, which could not occur without God's offer of the best that is possible for each experience.
(10) All creating is co-creating; there was no original creation.
(11) Process New Thought's panentheism considers everything to be in God; as the INTA Declaration of Principles says, the universe is God's body.
(12) In serial selfhood, a human body is a vast collection of many-at-a-time servant-experiences that are subordinate to the one-at-a-time selves that make up one's soul (mind, spirit, whatever of oneself is not body).
Theories of mental application. All New Thought agrees that there is direct application of feeling, thought, and will on the world, not simply indirect application by moving one's muscles. However, there is disagreement on whether the creative process that brings about application is mediated or unmediated. Troward's view holds that there is mediated, indirect creative action by feeling, thinking, and willing into an impersonal, automatically-responsive side of God called Law. This Law then shapes previously-unshaped substance into whatever it was that one regularly believed, hoped for, feared, or expected. Creation as unmediated is implied in Quimby's thought and is explicitly expressed in Process New Thought's recognition that creation occurs in the blending process of each fleeting experience. Mediated: We initiate and God responds; Unmediated: God initiates and we respond.
A process understanding of healing. Healing is enrichment of what will be the past of future experiences. To the extent that one reduces the contrast between the past and the divine possibilities for healing, one promotes healing, whether by mental or material means. In other words, healing is facilitating an experience's accepting of God's desires for it; the less the contrast between past and perfect possible, the easier is acceptance of perfection.
New Thought's past influence and future. New Thought has influenced much of popular religion and success literature. It is a significant element in the blending of complementary influences of East and West. New Thought is, as William James called it, a "religion of healthy-mindedness." It remains open to new understandings, to new thought of any origin.
Influenced by quantum physics as well as philosophy, Process New Thought:
(1) replaces the idea of enduring thing-like substance with process, understood as living energy, activity, feeling;
(2) maintains that there is only one type of reality, called mental or spiritual, but
(3) recognizes that there are many units of it.
(4) Each unit is an experience that develops for only a fraction of a second. Then it becomes a changeless part of the past, exerting influence on future experiences.
(5) Each experience co-creates itself with God by blending the influence of the past with individually-tailored divine guidance: PAST + DIVINE PROPOSAL (God's offer of perfection as expressible in that situation) + CHOICE = NEW CREATION.
(6) This pattern or law (an abstraction summarizing how reality works) is changeless, since it is a description of the essence of reality; but laws of nature are habits of interaction that may change over vast periods of time. Laws do not act. They are only descriptions. Like Buddhism, process thought believes in process rather than substance, but
(7) Process thought agrees with Christian and other Western emphasis on God as the ultimate person.
(8) In order to be fully impartial, God has to be fully personal, i.e., self-conscious, rational, and powerfully, alluringly, purposeful. God is not human, but is the infinite person; we are finite persons.
(9) God plays an essential role in creativity, which could not occur without God's offer of the best that is possible for each experience.
(10) All creating is co-creating; there was no original creation.
(11) Process New Thought's panentheism considers everything to be in God; as the INTA Declaration of Principles says, the universe is God's body.
(12) In serial selfhood, a human body is a vast collection of many-at-a-time servant-experiences that are subordinate to the one-at-a-time selves that make up one's soul (mind, spirit, whatever of oneself is not body).
Theories of mental application. All New Thought agrees that there is direct application of feeling, thought, and will on the world, not simply indirect application by moving one's muscles. However, there is disagreement on whether the creative process that brings about application is mediated or unmediated. Troward's view holds that there is mediated, indirect creative action by feeling, thinking, and willing into an impersonal, automatically-responsive side of God called Law. This Law then shapes previously-unshaped substance into whatever it was that one regularly believed, hoped for, feared, or expected. Creation as unmediated is implied in Quimby's thought and is explicitly expressed in Process New Thought's recognition that creation occurs in the blending process of each fleeting experience. Mediated: We initiate and God responds; Unmediated: God initiates and we respond.
A process understanding of healing. Healing is enrichment of what will be the past of future experiences. To the extent that one reduces the contrast between the past and the divine possibilities for healing, one promotes healing, whether by mental or material means. In other words, healing is facilitating an experience's accepting of God's desires for it; the less the contrast between past and perfect possible, the easier is acceptance of perfection.
New Thought's past influence and future. New Thought has influenced much of popular religion and success literature. It is a significant element in the blending of complementary influences of East and West. New Thought is, as William James called it, a "religion of healthy-mindedness." It remains open to new understandings, to new thought of any origin.