Women of New Thought

Women authors have had an enormous influence on the New Thought movement, consistently propelling it forward and bringing greater clarity to its spiritual theology. From Mary Baker Eddy to Terry Cole-Whittaker and more, these spiritual leaders offer a vital and valuable voice to ideas and philosophies built around creating a healthy, holy life.

Even so, many of these women wrote in the masculine-based language of the time, for example, referring to God as "He" and "humankind" as "mankind." In the tradition of updating and gender-neutral editing that has defined Newt List for years, we are proud to offer the following ebooks from these great spiritual thinkers.

Click on the book cover to get more information on each title.

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In The Divine Art of Living, Divine Science instructor Kathleen Besly outlines a method of right thinking that consequently leads to right living. In order to do this, she shows how we must keep the realization of the omnipresence of God foremost in our minds.

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A collection of more than 150  inspiring vignettes, Spiritual Life Lines explores the trials and struggles of contemporary life from a spiritual, New Thought perspective. Based on the premise, “Change your thinking, change your life,” it offers a gentle treasury of thoughts, a pathway from darkness into light. In vignettes shot through with little gems of wisdom, readers will find prayers for animals, for the earth, reflections on the long road to gay marriage, and the courage to keep hanging on during times so tough they seem to shatter the spirit like glass.

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In the spiritual classic, Mysteries, New Thought teacher Nona L. Brooks deals with the so-called mysteries of God—life, suffering, old age, death, healing, wrong habits, human characteristics, human relationships, thought transference, power, prayer, success and individual unfoldment, showing that there is an answer to all questions in the light that the concept of Oneness throws on all things.

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H. Emilie Cady’s Lessons in Truth presents twelve lessons for spiritual growth and personal empowerment. In this book, Cady explores  spiritual concepts using biblical references, with chapters including  faith, personality and individuality, spiritual gifts, and denials and affirmations. Lessons in Truth also contains a study guide for each chapter and a glossary of terms.

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The Game of Life and How to Play It presents a clear game plan and guidelines for getting the most out of life through the correct use of positive thought. Incorporating quotes from the Bible with real-life anecdotes from the author’s experience as a spiritual teacher, Florence Scovel Shinn’s book offers instruction and evidence of proven information for lifting your thoughts and experiences into a higher stage of powerful living.

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Margaret Stortz now offers her unique way of looking at the world in Blogs on Everything. From the everyday to the richly philosophic, each topic is explored in relation to Stortz’ unique perspective as one of today’s truly spiritual thinkers. 

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These titles and more updated, gender-neutral editions of classic spiritual ebooks are available at

NEWT LIST.

The Basis of All Metaphysical Work

All metaphysical work is based on a consciousness of the eternal power of God. “There is no power but of God” (Romans 13:1). No one knows what God is, but it is generally conceded that there is a power or intelligence behind the universe, and this power or principle of harmony is commonly called God. We know this power is not a person or super-person, so in order that we may have a basis for intelligent thinking, let us define the deity as Spirit, because in no sense can Spirit be conceived of as a person. Other synonymous terms are: Universal Life, Mind, Infinite Mind, Cosmic Mind and Cosmic Power.

The recognition of infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient Spirit, or Mind, admits of no opposing power. “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13). If Universal Life is omnipotent and knows evil or disharmony, then evil or disharmony becomes a universal necessity, a thing we cannot combat. The finite cannot change, efface or affect the nature of reality. If evil is a thing of itself, we are lost because we are unable to cope with it. If evil were an entity, the universe would be self destructive. This is unthinkable. Our only hope of escape lies in the knowledge that evil has no power except in our human thinking.

- Excerpted from Secrets of Metaphysics, by Clarence Mayer, with a foreword by Ernest Holmes

A newly updated and gender-neutral ebook from Newt List.

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If you enjoy this book, you may also be interested in The Basics of Spiritual Mind Healing, by Ernest Holmes, with a foreword by Rev. David Bruner.

Thanksgiving: A Day of Praise

Newt List wishes you and yours a festive Thanksgiving holiday with this free PDF excerpt from our newly-released ebook The Power of This Thing Called Life.

To download, click here!

The Power of This Thing Called Life!

Brand new, never-before published, a new ebook by Ernest Holmes, the author of "The Science of Mind" and "Life Is What You Make It"

Advance praise for The Power of This Thing Called Life:

“This book has a simple, yet powerful message: One does not need to make things happen; one’s job is to make things welcome. The Power of This Thing Called Life will teach you how to make your good welcome.”
Rev. David Bruner, DD 
Senior Minister & Spiritual Director

“The Power of This Thing Called Life brings the voice of a spiritual master to life once again. 20th Century American philosopher Ernest Holmes left a huge imprint on the world in the field of spirituality. His wisdom was timeless, and this revised version makes it fresh and relevant for a new generation. Use it as a study guide to happiness and success.”
Dr. Chris Michaels 
Author of The Power of You 

“Students of the world, searching for something to make them whole and something to bring joy into their lives, will find answers in The Power of This Thing Called Life. Here, Ernest Holmes shares basic truths of the universe and of God that will resonate with the reader. Every sentence is filled with wisdom, insight and ways to capture the love and happiness we all seek. We have all the tools, and we’re shown how to use them. The power is within us. I was reminded throughout the book of the simple nature of the feelings, thoughts and emotions that comprise all action and reaction, and the resulting consequences.

This is an excellent book to illuminate the pure nature of God in everything. The Power of This Thing Called Life is a beacon of power and strength in a sometimes rocky existence. Our course is made straighter and stronger.”
Antonia AlbanyAuthor, Golden Grace: Embracing the Richness of Our Later Years

“Newt List publications bring new life to classic works of metaphysics by revitalizing the language for the modern reader. In addition, by making the texts gender neutral, these exciting ideas about the creative power of mind become accessible in a potent new way because the barrier of antiquated writing conventions has been dropped. The Power of This Thing Called Life is beautiful, inspiring, and wonderfully engaging to read. This new book in the tradition of Newt Lists updated classics is a keeper and a must have for serious students of spirituality.”
Dr. Edward Viljoen 
Author, The Power of Meditation

This updated, gender-neutral ebook is now available from Newt List. To order this ebook, visit NewtList.com,  or click here.

How to Improve Your Personality

You are God’s good person, and you alone can decide whether your personality will be happy and whole, dynamic and creative, attractive or repulsive. You alone hold the golden key to a larger life. You hold it in your hand, but you cannot use this key until you first consciously connect yourself with that “something” greater than you are. This doesn’t mean that you are going to get lost or become submerged in a dream or a fantasy. It means that you are going to learn to live and think and act from the feeling that there is a limitless power behind everything you do—a power for good.

Somewhere in you is the same imagination that wrote every book ever written, the same creative genius who invented everything that makes modern life comfortable, the great artist who painted all the pictures, the composer who wrote all the songs. The very dance of life itself is in everything God ever made, and it is in you.

You may ask, “How am I going to bring all this out? How am I going to bring it to the surface? How am I going to become that wonderful, dynamic personality that I would like to be?” Perhaps the best way to begin is not to try to be so wonderful or so dynamic. Don’t strain. Don’t wear a mask. Don’t try to be anyone but yourself. All imitation is suicide. You are you, and you are real. Coming to know the real you is not so much something you develop or create or compel as it is something you discover.

Your first step, then, is as simple as this: Hook up your personality, your physical body, your environment and everything you do, say and think with what you really are—an individual living in pure Spirit here and now.

God didn’t make a mistake when God created you, when God implanted God’s own being in your life and breathed into you the breath of life itself. God made you to be happy and whole, complete and contented. You may start, then, by believing that at the center of your being there is a real person, a lovable person, a creative person. This should not be done with conceit or arrogance, but with the utmost simplicity. You must become acquainted with yourself. You must come to know that the real you is lovable, kind, happy and whole, and of course you can’t do this unless you believe the same thing about everyone else.

- Excerpted from How to Use Your Power: 20 Practical Lessons for Creating a Balanced Life, by Ernest Holmes

 

 

Perfect Peace

The moment we come into harmony with the Spirit of infinite peace, there comes to us an inflowing tide of peace, because peace is harmony. A deep interior meaning underlies the great truth that “to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” To recognize the fact that we are Spirit and to live in this thought is to be spiritually minded and so to be in harmony and peace. Oh, the thousands of people all around us weary with care, troubled and ill at ease, running hither and thither to find peace, weary in body, soul and mind, going to other countries, traveling the world over, coming back and still not finding it. Of course they have not found it, and they never will find it in this way because they are looking for it where it is not. They are looking for it without when they should look within. Peace is to be found only within, and unless one finds it there, one will never find it at all.

Peace lies not in the external world. It lies within one’s own soul. We may travel over many different avenues in pursuit of it, we may seek it through the channels of the bodily appetites and passions, we may seek it through all the channels of the external, we may chase for it hither and thither, but it will always be just beyond our grasp because we are searching for it where it is not. In the degree, however, that we order the bodily appetites and passions in accordance with the promptings of the soul within will the higher forms of happiness and peace enter our lives, but in the degree that we fail in doing this, disease, suffering and discontent will enter in.

To be at one with God is to be at peace. The child simplicity is the greatest agency in bringing this full and complete realization, the child simplicity that recognizes its true relations with the Creator’s life. There are people I know who have come into such a conscious realization of their oneness with this infinite life, this Spirit of infinite peace, that their lives are fairly bubbling over with joy.

- From Ralph Waldo Trine's In Tune with the Infinite, one of the most influential and popular books of the New Thought philosophy.

A Newt List publication, updated and gender-neutral

You may also enjoy gender-neutral editions of these great books:

           

The Master Key

The real secret of power is consciousness of power. The Universal Mind is unconditional. Therefore, the more conscious we become of our unity with this Mind, the less conscious we will become of conditions and limitations. As we become emancipated or freed from conditions, we come into a realization of the unconditional. We have become free!

As soon as we become conscious of the inexhaustible power in the world within, we begin to draw on this power, and apply and develop the greater possibilities that this discernment has realized, because whatever we become conscious of is invariably manifested in the objective world and is brought forth into tangible expression.

This is because the infinite Mind, which is the source from which all things proceed, is one and indivisible, and each individual is a channel whereby this eternal energy is being manifested. Our ability to think is our ability to act on this universal substance, and what we think is what is created or produced in the objective world.

The result of this discovery is nothing less than marvelous, and means that Mind is extraordinary in quality, limitless in quantity and contains possibilities without number. To become conscious of this power is to become a “live wire.” It has the same effect as placing an ordinary wire in contact with a wire that is charged. The Universal is the live wire. It carries power sufficient to meet every situation that may arise in the life of every individual. When the individual mind touches the Universal Mind, it receives all the power it requires. This is the world within. All science recognizes the reality of this world, and all power is contingent on our recognition of this world.

The ability to eliminate imperfect conditions depends on mental action, and mental action depends on consciousness of power. Therefore, the more conscious we become of our unity with the source of all power, the greater will be our power to control and master every condition.

Large ideas have a tendency to eliminate all smaller ideas, so that it is well to hold ideas large enough to counteract and destroy all small or undesirable tendencies. This will remove innumerable petty and annoying obstacles from your path. You also become conscious of a larger world of thought, thereby increasing your mental capacity as well as placing yourself in position to accomplish something of value.

This is one of the secrets of success, one of the methods of organizing victory, one of the accomplishments of the Master Mind. It thinks big thoughts. The creative energies of Mind find no more difficulty in handling large situations than small ones. Mind is just as much present in the infinitely large as in the infinitely small.

When we realize these facts concerning Mind, we understand how we may bring to ourselves any condition by creating the corresponding conditions in our consciousness, because everything that is held for any length of time in the consciousness eventually becomes impressed on the subconscious and thus becomes a pattern that the creative energy will weave into the life and environment of the individual.

- From Master Key, by Charles Haanel

An updated, gender-neutral ebook from Newt List

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On Governing a Free People

Americans are a dynamic lot. They are independent, opinionated, energetic, and it is very hard to tell them what to do. In dealing with citizens of a free country, the best that legislators can hope to do is use reason and rhetoric to persuade people to their points of view. The U.S. Constitution guarantees this, along with the right to function as free people so long as we do not force our ideals upon others. Right now, however, narrow points of view are prevailing in Congress, not the inclinations of our legislators to vote and govern according to the best interests of our country.

I think the American flag very much depicts where our legislators find themselves right now. We see our iconic image drooping and listless. No wind unfurls its folds; we do not see the stars and stripes flying vigorously in the breeze as they should. Lack of motion mutes the flag’s swirls, this same lack apparently denying our legislators the vigor of governance. Confusion and anger are overtaking the American people as we wait for legislators who will not legislate.

It does not matter what our party affiliations are, whether we live in a red or blue state, and what our ethnicities and cultures may be. We are at heart and with reason Americans, and we deserve the vitality and action of legislators who were elected to represent us, not hide in entrenched, ideological camps.

The country and its citizens are suffering because of the mindless intransigence of a few. We know what to do. First we pray; then get on phones, computer, and iPhones. Make calls, send e-mails and tweets; mail letters. According to the Constitution, we live under a social contract through which we consent to be governed by representatives. Let’s get on it and demand that our elected officials either govern…or go home and let us have those who will!

Excerpt from Blogs on Everything by Margaret Stortz
An exclusive Newt List publication

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Make It "Click"

If you are convinced that you are a failure, you will be a failure until you impress the subconscious with the conviction you are a success. This is done by making an affirmation that “clicks.”

A friend in a meeting said that I had given her the statement as she was leaving the room, “The ground you are on is harvest ground.” Things with her had been very dull, but this statement clicked.

“Harvest Ground, Harvest Ground,” rang in her ears. Good things immediately commenced to come to her, and happy surprises.

The reason it is necessary to make an affirmation is because repetition impresses the subconscious. You cannot control your thoughts at first, but you can control your words, and Jesus said, “By your words you are justified and by your words you are condemned.”

Every day, choose the right words, the right thoughts!

The imaging faculty is the creative faculty. “Out of the imaginations of the heart come the issues of life.”

We have all a bank we can draw upon: the Bank of the Imagination.

Let us imagine ourselves rich, well and happy. Imagine all our affairs are in divine order, but leave the way of fulfillment to Infinite Intelligence.

“God has weapons you know not of.” God has channels that will surprise you.

One of the most important passages in Psalms 23 is, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

This means that even in the presence of the enemy situation, brought on by your doubts, fears or resentments, a way out is prepared for you. 

--From The Secret Door to Success by Florence Scovel Shinn

A Newt List publication

Fear or Faith?

We are called on every day to decide something of importance. But how are these decisions to be made? Are we to follow fear or faith?

Fear declares that everything may go wrong. This is always the language of fear. But faith declares that everything will go right, and this is always the language of faith. Fear does not know; faith does know. Follow the verdict of fear, and everything will go wrong, because the path of fear leads into wrong. But follow the superior insight of faith, and everything will go right. The path of faith is the ever-ascending path to the greatest good that real life can give. Therefore, no one can follow faith without finding the richer, the larger, the truer and the better.

Fear always expects the worst because it can see only darkness. Faith positively assures us of the best because it can clearly see the light. And it is in the light that the best is always found. But whether we decide to follow fear and live in darkness or to follow faith and live in the light will depend entirely on how much faith we have in faith.

Millions are living lives that are not satisfactory. They long for a change, but they are in such complete bondage to fear that they are afraid to even hope for something better. There is a power, however, that can break the bonds, and that power is faith. Are you in bondage to a ruler of evil, oppression and misery? Faith can lead you out. Depend on faith, and begin this moment to follow wherever faith may go. Is there a Dead Sea of mental materiality between yourself and the promised land of peace, happiness and plenty? Take the rod of faith in your hand and stretch it out over the sea. The waters will instantly divide, and you may walk safely to the other side. Faith can do anything. Have faith in faith.

There is not a single person in the world today who cannot enter the promised land and do so now. Anyone may find peace, health, happiness, freedom and the very best that life can give. These things are for you in your present state of existence. It is the will of God that life should be sweet to every soul. Do not believe that you must suffer. There is freedom for you this very moment. There is a beautiful life that you may enter at once, and faith is the open door. 

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, and the reason behind this is that faith lives in the light. Faith knows that we may receive anything we ever hoped for, because faith discerns the power that makes all things possible. Faith is in the light and sees what has not been seen. It does not simply believe that the unseen is real, but proves the reality of everything by going out into the boundlessness of everything.

From The Pathway of Roses, by Christian Larson

An updated, gender-neutral Newt List publication

What's Going On?

Did you know, you can register for free at NewtList;s growing blog to receive automatic updates when guest posts, book reviews and other interesting articles appear?  Click on any of the articles below to get a sample of what you can have delivered to your inbox:

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  Guest Post by Edward Viljoen: Maybe I'm Not That Interesting?

  Word-of-Mouth The truth is that word-of-mouth is quite powerful because we seem to be very interested in each other's opinion.  We see...
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  Bible Meaning

  T he Bible is a book about humankind in our relation to God, and it therefore starts with certain fundamental statements regarding this re...
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  The Story of Easter

  E aster is the festival of triumph. It follows what is traditionally called Holy Week. The word “holy,” in the context of our metaphysical...
• 

  Why is this book so important?

  Never Been Seen Before This book, The Basics of Spiritual Mind Healing , has never been published before.  That's important.  It'...
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  God

  GOD, the universal life-force and energy running through everything, is an intelligent presence pervading all space, a beginningless an...
• Have Superior Ideals!

  O ur destiny is determined by what we are and by what we do, and what we are to be or do is determined by what we are living for, thinking ...
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  Success

  Success is adaptation to life as it comes to us from within. What makes life “worthwhile,” as we say, is found through appreciation of t...
• Reading Emerson was like drinking water to me... Ernest Holmes

  Introduction to the new e-book from NewtList: “Reading Emerson was like drinking water to me,” Ernest Holmes once said. “I have studied ...
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  Guest Blog: Edward Viljoen on The Power of Meditation - An Ancient Technique to Access your Inner Power

  What is meditation? The term meditation is as broad in definition as the term ‘art’ is. Both include a wide range of practices, styl...
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  Living the True Life

  / W ith each of us, there is the strong desire to lead the life that holds the greatest sum of happiness. What is that life? Is it the 

The Story of Easter

Easter is the festival of triumph. It follows what is traditionally called Holy Week. The word “holy,” in the context of our metaphysical study, means whole and complete, not sanctimonious. It means physical health. It means freedom of the soul, peace of mind, and the unity of life that is the will of God for all people. Easter signifies nothing less than this. For many people, Easter commemorates a marvelous event that happened twenty centuries ago. But they feel it has little bearing on the present day, and thus the Bible, in one of its great moments, loses its spiritual import. Easter is not a thing of the past, but a grand and glorious awakening for us today and tomorrow and for all the days to come.

Long before Jesus came on earth, long before Abraham went out into the new land, the festival of Easter was observed. In the ancient civilizations, long before written history, people kept the festival of springtime, because that is what Easter is. Civilizations have always celebrated the coming of spring with special rites and ceremonies, because we have intuitively felt that regeneration and resurrection are part of the law of life. The true law of our lives has no part in death. Death is not part of God’s scheme. By the fundamental law of nature, all living things constantly renew, fulfill a cycle, and renew. The seasons have followed one another, never failing through all the millions of years that the solar system has been in existence. Following winter, spring has always come. The trees seem to die away. The leaves fall off, the flowers decay, but spring comes, and they are renewed. Human beings have felt that this process had a special message for them. So always there has been the spring festival following the vernal equinox.

Then, Jesus came to the earth. He taught, worked, suffered, and finally died that we might realize that we can make Easter a real thing for ourselves. Jesus, of course, need not have died had he not wanted to. He could have dematerialized his body and gone away to the presence of God without dying, as others had done. But he wanted to make it possible for us to follow him in the regeneration and resurrection. Sooner or later, as individuals and as a race, we have to overcome death. Death is the last enemy that will be overcome. When we have overcome death, we will have accomplished Easter, and our work will be done. That will be the end of fear, the end of sickness and decay, the end of sin and limitation.

A time is coming when the human race is going to overcome these things. There are those who say that humankind is necessarily sinful and can never be otherwise. Such an idea is spiritual blindness and an insult to God. Sin, sickness and limitation are not part of God’s plan for us. Sooner or later, we are going to overcome them. All the things that make life on earth so difficult—sickness, fear, threats of war, aggression of one nation against another, one set of people in terror of another set of people—these things will all disappear. Do not listen to pessimists, because they are at heart atheists. The truth is that God is good, and as the human race realizes this more and more, these things will disappear.

For hundreds of millions of years, the seasons have told us this story again and again. The winter of doubt and fear and frustration will ultimately disappear for the whole human race. Spring will come with its promise and summer with its fulfillment. That is the story of Easter.

- From The Bible Unveiled, by Emmet Fox

A Newt List publication, updated and gender-neutral

Have Superior Ideals!

Our destiny is determined by what we are and by what we do, and what we are to be or do is determined by what we are living for, thinking for or working for. We are not being made by some outside force. We are making ourselves with the power of those forces and elements that we employ in our thought and our work, and in all our efforts physical or mental, we invariably follow our ideals. We who live, think and work for the superior become superior; we who work for less, become less. It is therefore evident that any individual may become more, achieve more, secure more and create for themselves a greater and a greater destiny by simply beginning to live, think and work for a superior group of ideals.

To have low ideals is to give the creative forces of the system something ordinary to work for. To have high ideals is to give those forces something extraordinary to work for, and our fate is the result of what our creative forces hourly produce. Every force in the human system is producing something, and that something will become a part of the individual. It is therefore evident that anyone can constantly improve the power, the quality and the worth of their being by directing the forces of their system to produce that which has quality and worth. These forces, however, are not directed or controlled by the will. It is the nature of the creative forces in humankind to produce what the mind desires, wants, needs or aspires to attain, and the desires and the aspirations of any mind are determined by the ideals that are entertained in that mind.

The forces of the system will begin to work for the superior when the mind begins to attain superior ideals, and since it is the product of these forces that determines both the nature and the destiny of humankind, a superior nature and a greater destiny may be secured by anyone who will adopt the highest and the most perfect system of idealism that they can possibly comprehend. To entertain superior ideals is to picture in mind and to hold constantly before mind the highest conception that can be formed of everything of which we may be conscious. To mentally dwell in those higher conceptions at all times is to cause the predominating ideas to become superior ideas, and it is the predominating ideas for which we live, think and work. When the ruling ideas of any mind are superior, the creative force of that mind will produce the superior in every element, faculty, talent or power in that mind. Greatness will thus be developed in that mind, and the great mind invariably creates a great destiny.

To entertain superior ideals is not to dream of the impossible, but to enter into mental contact with those greater possibilities that we are now able to discern, and to have the power to discern an ideal indicates that we have the power to realize that ideal. We do not become conscious of greater possibilities until we have developed sufficient capacity to work out those possibilities into practical, tangible results. Therefore, when we discern the greater, we are ready to attain and achieve the greater, but before we can proceed to do what we are ready to do, we must adopt superior ideals, and superior ideals only. When our ideals are superior, we will constantly think of the superior, because as our ideals are, so is our thinking, and to constantly think of the superior is to steadily grow into the likeness of the superior.

- From The Ideal Made Real by Christian Larson

A Newt List spiritual ebook, updated and gender-neutral

Bible Meaning

The Bible is a book about humankind in our relation to God, and it therefore starts with certain fundamental statements regarding this relation. These are to the effect that death, and consequently disease and decrepitude, are not laws of humankind’s innermost being. How could they be? How could the negative be the law of the positive? How could death be the law of life? Therefore, we are told that in the true order of things, this is not the case.

The first thing we are told about humankind is that we are made in the image and likeness of God, the Spirit of life, therefore capable of manifesting a similar equality of life. But we must note the words “image” and “likeness.” They do not impart identity, but resemblance. An “image” implies an original to which it conforms, and so does a “likeness.” These words remind us of the passage in which St. Paul speaks of our “reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord” and being thus “transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” (II Cor. 3:18) It is this same idea as in the first chapter of Genesis, only expanded so as to show the method by which the image and likeness are produced. It is by reflection. Our mind is, as it were, a mirror reflecting that toward which it is turned. This is the nature of mind.

We become like what we contemplate. We cannot avoid it, because we are made that way, and therefore everything depends on what we are in the habit of contemplating. If we realize that growth, or the manifestation of the spiritual principle, always proceeds from the innermost to the outermost, by a creative process from within as distinguished from a constructive process from without, we will see that the working of the mind on the body and the effect it will produce on it depends entirely on what form the mind itself is taking, and what form it will take depends on what it is reflecting.

This is the key to the great enigma. In proportion as we reflect the pure Spirit of life, we live, and in proportion as we reflect the material, contemplating it as a power in itself instead of as the plastic vehicle of the Spirit, we bring ourselves under a law of limitation that culminates in death. It is the same law of mind in both cases, only in the one case it is employed positively and in the other negatively.

From Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning, by Thomas Troward

A Newt List publication, spiritual ebooks updated and gender-neutral

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God

GOD, the universal life-force and energy running through everything, is an intelligent presence pervading all space, a beginningless and endless eternity of eternities, a self-existent cause, a perfect unit and a complete wholeness. 

The unthinking person would believe that God is a spirit who keeps books and checks up on the wrongdoings of each individual member of the human race, and that God sends some to heaven and some to hell, all for God’s glory. All people, according to their own light, have believed in the kind of God who best fitted their personal ideas, or in the idea of God that has been imposed on them by ignorant or superstitious leaders. 

But always there has been the voice of those crying in the wilderness of superstition, ignorance, doubt and fear, the voice of those who have thought the thing through to conclusions that have been independent of race beliefs, of the subtleties of religious dogma, and of theological superstitions. These have been the way-showers of humanity, and millions have lighted candles from their flames. But the world progresses slowly. Evolution and the growth of knowledge and wisdom is a process of time and experience. In olden times, an intelligent few understood much deeper truths than were known by the multitude, but the common people were thrown a few crumbs from the tables of those who were “in the know.” These crumbs were shrouded in mystery, symbol, word pictures and parables. Perhaps this was the only way in which wisdom could have been taught at all. 

In principle, the great religions of the world do not differ as much as they appear to. Stripped of their accumulations of adornments, observances and incrustations of interpretations, it is found that each acknowledges that there is one central power, force—or God—which is self-existent. It is from this one power that all things emanate. All of life flows from it and is a part of it. Nothing can exist separate from it. The Christian interpretation of the ultimate nature of the creative source of the universe places more emphasis on the life of the individual as being an integral part of the one life. For this reason, an intelligent understanding of the fundamental concepts of Christianity has had a greater appeal to the progressive peoples of the world.

From The Basics of Spiritual Mind Healing, by Ernest Holmes

A Newt List book, updated and gender-inclusive.

Living the True Life

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With each of us, there is the strong desire to lead the life that holds the greatest sum of happiness. What is that life? Is it the life of social dissipation, or that of study or sensual indulgence? Or is it the spiritual life?

Those who have endured many trials and sorrows, and have viewed life from any points, have decided that social dissipation is hollow, that study of material science un-elevated by spiritual science is fruitless, that a life of sensual indulgence is followed only by misery and degradation.

The conclusion reached is that the only life worth living and worthwhile is the spiritual life. If that is true, it is important above all things for one to learn the meaning of the spiritual life and how to live it.

At the beginning, we must know that we must live to our highest and do our best in the circumstances in which we are placed. Associated with this effort must be our realization of the omnipresence of God. If God is omnipresent, there can be no separation between the material and spiritual. With this as an accepted view, we cannot think one thing more wonderful than another, because God, the infinite perfection, is in and of everything.

People often complain of the monotony of life. The attitude toward life depends wholly on the individual. The interest is as one makes it. There need be nothing monotonous in living life as we find it.

There are things of wonderful interest all around us. The renewal of the earth each spring, the change of the seasons, the glory of light and shade, the wonder of color that changes with the light—all these are of marvelous interest to the observant mind. Above all is the joy of helping one’s friends and neighbors, or strangers.

The possibilities of the new day are infinite. If one chooses, there need be nothing tiresome or monotonous in one’s daily existence. A cultivated interest in the lives and things surrounding us gives the spirit of youth and holds back age

From The Divine Art of Living, by Kathleen Besly

Updated and gender-neutral, Newt List

Guest Post by Edward Viljoen: Maybe I'm Not That Interesting?

Word-of-Mouth

The truth is that word-of-mouth is quite powerful because we seem to be very interested in each other's opinion.  We seem to have more confidence in the opinion of others than we do in the vast amount of information that comes to us through advertising.  That is why word-of-mouth is an important indicator of a movie's success. 

A friend who used to work in the advertising industry told me that world-of-mouth, in a way of thinking, is more valuable than just about any other kind of advertising.  The way he explained it is that we are likely to change our mind about seeing a movie, even after deciding not to see it, if a friend gives it a favorable report. So what you think, and what you say about a product really does matter.

I Want To Know What You Think

I know that I definitely pay more attention to what friends are interested in and I'm more likely to read a book that a friend recommends than if I read an advertisement for one.  If you've read a book recently that fascinated you, I'd love to know what it is and why you enjoyed it so much. 

Sometimes Randall Friesen, the editor of Newt List gender neutral, updated New Thought classics will call me very excited about a new text he is working on.  At first I may not be interested in the book but quickly his enthusiasm for some new kernel of metaphysical wisdom he discovered infects my thinking and I find myself wanting to read the e-book too.

I Thought I Had To Buy It

Recently I received the best review of my new book, The Power of Meditation, from a friend who called me up to say that he thought he "had to" buy my book being that he is a good friend.  It seemed the appropriate and supportive thing to do but he had no intention to read it.  Then while waiting for a trip to begin he cracked the book open and began to read it.  He called me up enthusiastically to say that he was thrilled with what he was learning from the book. I thought the story was rather humorous and told it to another friend, who, based on the excitement, bought the book too. 

Now this second friend had heard of the book, been around it and around me for ages, yet it wasn't until she heard of friend number one's reaction did she become motivated to pick it up.

You really are THAT interesting.

Edward Viljoen, author of The Power of Meditation, graduated as a Sonoma County Law Enforcement Chaplain in April 1999, received a Doctorate of Divinity from Centers for Spiritual Living and was awarded the much-respected Ernest Holmes Award for exemplary demonstration of the teachings of Dr. Ernest Holmes.

Among his passions as a minister is helping other ministers and has served the Ongoing Ministers Education Conference for 10 years. Other passions include music, cats, essential oils, science fiction and leading people on tours to places in the world to experience new cultures and new ways of understanding the Divine.

http://tinyurl.com/powerofmeditation

Success

Success is adaptation to life as it comes to us from within. What makes life “worthwhile,” as we say, is found through appreciation of the work given us to do, through response to our better nature. Success is never a mere game in which we get the better of our neighbor, whatever the world may assume on this point. Success is for higher self-realization. We have no rivals in the work we can do best. We feel dissatisfied simply because we have not yet accomplished our individual purpose—not because the world has failed us.

Sometimes there is inward success in an undertaking accounted a failure by observers. One may succeed in doing work for which one is not fitted, by sheer persistence in sticking to it. Some people wait many years before beginning their true work. Yet the real value of these secondary victories is seen in the use we make of the power acquired by meeting obstacles and then transferring our activities to some work that is to our liking. We may not judge merely by the vocations others are now pursuing—by their professions, salaries, profits, or even by their reputations in the community. Success involves the varied relationships of the inner life, and these are not apparent to the public eye. Those who know themselves understand what their work is doing for them and how their life may be turned to higher account. We no longer praise people for mere resignation in accepting life’s hardships and illnesses. We now look for the affirmative attitude.

Those of us who do fairly well in everything we undertake are deemed “lucky.” But luck implies that there is a fortunate combination of circumstances more powerful than the individuals themselves, who merely receive what comes while others must work hard. Behind the scenes, those who have really succeeded have been working as hard as anyone. The world often sees the finished result only, unaware of the years of incessant effort by which inner victories have been won and outward obstacles have been overcome. What we need to know is the inner history behind the alleged luck. There was an intelligible reason in every case, and no mere chance at all. There was alertness in meeting occasions, readiness in responding to opportunities that others did not take but might have taken. Those people of character who “always land on their feet” have acquired a certain art of rising to occasions. Then, too, we need to remind ourselves that there is divine guidance prompting people from within, hence a spiritual law in events seemingly coming by chance.

To start with the idea of God as all-encompassing Spirit, with the universe regarded as existing for spiritual ends, is to accord spiritual things the first rank from beginning to end, hence to see that spiritual success is the one real success. As spirits, we have a two-fold relationship: one in the spiritual world to the more direct activities of the divine life; and one in the natural world where, as dwellers in the flesh, we take on the conditions that come to us by birth. It is on the divine side that we draw from the great resources which bring success over external obstacles. What seems impossible outwardly becomes possible from within.

We have the power of the Spirit within us to rise above circumstances through insight into their meaning for the soul. The whole life-situation is changed for us when we grasp the inner point of view. We then see the spiritual transforming and expressing itself through the natural. What once seemed a hardship now proves to be an opportunity. Our external conditions prove adverse only as long as we regard them negatively. True success always grows out of the affirmative attitude. True success is for the individual and for society at the same time. There is no conflict, ultimately speaking, between self-realization and service. True success is based on the higher truth of our being. It implies the inspiring idea that there is only one power in the universe, and that this power is manifested in a world order which makes for spiritual success.

From Spiritual Health and Healing

Updated and gender-neutral, published by Newt List, and edited by Randall Friesen

What If You Don't Have Zest For Life? Passion and Success

The main thing I've learned is...

Through working on New Thought classics in public domain, I've seen a thread that runs through the messages of several New Thought authors.  There are definite, consistent ideas that many of them address.  I'm guessing these are the important ideas to focus on.  For example, there is a thread about the importance of your passion for life and how it relates to being successful. That's an interesting and frequent idea.

But what if you don't have passion for life.  What if you don't have zest for living?  Then you have to figure out how to get it.  In one way or the other New Thought authors say in one way or another that you have to be engaged and interested in life if we want to be successful.  And, if you don't have that passion, it can be acquired.  That's another repeated thought: you and I can regain our zest for living through spiritual practice.

Repetition is my friend

Practice means the thing you and I do regularly to express our spirituality.  Practice means repeat, repeat, repeat. With repetition comes improvement.  Through repeating new habits, you can change existing habits, for example through the use of spiritual tools such as affirmations to recondition your thinking.  Basically, to me the message I encounter over and over again in public domain New Thought texts goes something like this: talk your self into being passionate and do it over and over again.  Repetition helps in this regard.  It means presenting something to your mind repeatedly, so as to become familiar with it, as if you are trying it on until it feels normal.  I think that is what is meant by changing your mind, practicing something until it becomes normal. Personally, when I've done this, after a while of repeating a new idea I notice sometimes my habits have changed.  Almost always I feel better and more passionate about life.

Where to start

Of the book NewtList has published in gender neutral updated language the ones I think will be most helpful to someone wanting to establish different habits are:

Dynamic Thought
Pathway of Roses

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Why is this book so important?

Never Been Seen Before

This book, The Basics of Spiritual Mind Healing, has never been published before.  That's important.  It's a comprehensive book about healing, using prayer, or spiritual mind treatment.  It is written for professional prayer practitioners, but is wonderfully accessible to anyone who is interested in the history and application of spiritual healing.

How You Can Use It

It talks about the idea of metaphysics, the spiritual world and how it all works. Then he funnels it down to affirmative prayer, connecting it all with lessons in the second half of the book where he pin points topics and applications in a beautiful way.

Get inspired, learn and use it

It's like a self-contained mini seminar all in one book.  It clear, fresh and was never published.  It is inspiring about the ideas of spirituality, and an education too.  That's satisfying

Who is this book for?

This is a great book for people who are studying spiritual mind healing, but it is also for regular people like you and me.  I'm not a practitioner of spiritual mind healing, but I was engaged by the book and enjoyed it very much.  Personally, I learned from reading this book for the first time the WHY affirmative prayer is such an effective method.

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