The following, expressed in many different forms, according to the views of the respective teachers, are the fundamental principles of The New Thought.
1. There is a Supreme Power back of, underlying, and in all things. It is Infinite, Illimitable, Eternal, and Unchangeable. It Is, has always been, and always will be. It is Omnipresent (present everywhere); Omnipotent (all-powerful, possessing all the power that is); and Omniscient (all-knowing, all-seeing, knowing everything, seeing everything). This Supreme Power – Universal Presence – All Mind – may be called MIND, SPIRIT, LAW, THE ABSOLUTE, FIRST CAUSE, NATURE, UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE, LIFE, or whatever name best suits the taste of the person using the term but call it what you will you mean this Supreme Power – the Centre. GOD is this great Universal Presence, and not the conception of a limited God held by any man. GOD must be illimitable, and all of the Universal must be an emanation of him.
2. Humanity is unfolding in consciousness, and many have now reached that stage of spiritual consciousness whereby they become conscious of the existence and immanence of God, and thus know rather than entertain a belief based upon the authority, real or assumed, of other men. This God-consciousness to which humanity is rapidly tending is the result of our unfoldment, development, and evolution for ages, and, when fully possessed by us, will completely revolutionize our present conceptions of life, our ethics, customs, conditions, and economics.
3. GOD is not a being afar off from us, full of wrath and punishment, but he is right here with us; all around us; even in us; understanding us from the beginning; realizing our limitations; full of love; and patiently seeing the gradual growth and unfoldment which brings us into a clearer understanding of him.
4. As to the reason of GODS plan and laws, The New Thought does not pretend to have the knowledge, holding that this cannot be known by Man in his present stage of development, although by reason and intuition he is beginning to understand that all is Good, and to see evidence of a loving, good, perfect, just and wise plan, in all the experiences of life. And having that Intelligent Faith which comes of the God-consciousness, it rests content, saying “GOD IS – and all is well.”
5. All is One – all the Universe, high and low, developed and undeveloped, manifest and unmanifest, is One- all is an emanation of GOD. Everything in the universe is in touch with every other thing, and all is in connection with the Centre – GOD. Every atom is a part of a mighty whole, and nothing can happen to any atom without a corresponding effect upon every other part of the whole. The sense of separateness is an illusion of the undeveloped consciousness, but an illusion necessary in certain stages for the working out of the plan. When we have so far progressed in spiritual growth and unfoldment that certain heretofore dormant faculties awaken to consciousness, or rather when our consciousness has so far developed that it takes cognizance of certain faculties the existence of which has heretofore been unknown to us, we become conscious of the Oneness of All, and our relation to all that is. It is not merely a matter of intellectual conception, it is the growth of a new consciousness. The person who passes this simply knows; the person who has it not deems the idea allied to insanity. This Cosmic Knowing comes to many as an illumination; to others, it is a matter of gradual and slow development.
6. We are Spiritual beings; our Soul is Immortal New Thought teachers differ in their theories as to just how and where he will live in the future. However, when we obtain that wonderful assurance of immortality from our awakened spiritual faculties, we see no need of worrying about the “how” and “where”. We know that we are and will be. We have within us such an abiding sense of existence, and deathlessness, that all of humanity’s speculations seem like idle theories to us- useful in their place, of course, but of no vital importance to us. We know there are limits to the possible manifestations of life – we know that “infinity plus infinity” would not begin to express the possibilities before us, and we fret not. We learn to live in the NOW, for we know that we are in Eternity right now, just as much as we ever will be, and we proceed to Live. We are concerned with Life, not with Death, and we Live. We have confidence in GOD and in the Divine Plan and are content. We know that if our entire solar system, and every other system the suns of which are visible to us, were dissolved into their original elements, we would still exist, and would be still in the Universe. We know that the Universes large, and that we are a part of it – that we cannot be left out or banished from the Universe – that we are important atoms, and that our destruction would disarrange and destroy the whole. We know that while the Universe lasts – we last. That if we are destroyed the Universe is destroyed. We know that GOD had use for us or we would not be here, and we know that God makes no mistakes – changes not his mind – and destroys no soul that he has expressed. We say: we are Sons of GOD; what we shall be doth not yet appear; but come what will we are still Sons of GOD; what our future may be, concerns us not – it is not our business – we will place our hands in that of the Father and say, “Lead Thou us on”.
7. Since we are immortal, Life can be seen only as being on an ascending scale, rising from lower to higher, and then on to higher and higher and higher. In the Universe there are beings much lower than us in the spiritual scale, and there are others much more advanced, much more highly developed than us, and we are progressing along a Path until someday we will be where they are; and others now much lower will someday be where we are now and so on.
8. There is a spiritual evolution going on in Humanity – we are growing, developing, and unfolding in spiritual attainment. Our minds are developing and causing us to unfold new faculties which will lead us to higher paths of attainment. The Higher Reason is beginning to make itself manifest. Humanity is nearing the plane of Cosmic Knowing.
9. “Thoughts are things” – every thought we think goes forth, carrying with it force which affects others to a greater or less extent, depending upon the forces behind our thought, and the mental attitude of the other persons. Like attracts like in the world of thought – we attract to ourselves thoughts in harmony with our own – people in harmony with our thoughts – even things are influenced by thought in varying degrees.
10. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” and we may change, and often do change, our entire character, and nature by a change of thoughts, an adjustment of mental attitude. Fear thought and Worry and all the rest of the foulbrood of negative thoughts attract thoughts, people, things, from the outside, and pull us down to the level of our thought-pictures. On the contrary, we may, by right thinking, raise ourselves from the mire, and surround ourselves with people and things corresponding to our thoughts. Thoughts take form in action.
11. The Mind is positive to the Body, and we may become sick or well-diseased or free from disease, according to our thoughts and mental attitude.
12.The Mind contains latent forces, lying dormant, awaiting the day of their unfoldment, which may be developed and trained and used in a wondrous way. We are in our infancy regarding the proper use of his mental powers.
This is only a little bit of the Truth. Every other man or woman has his or her bit, so that this portion is merely as a grain of sand on the seashore.
Mauricio Chaves-Mesen
as quoted from his introductory article,
The History, Influences, and Principles of The New Thought Movement and The Importance to The Works of Genevieve Behrend
