Seen by many, when combined with Eastern mysticism, as a major source from which the current New Age Movement evolved, New Thought began as a spiritual and religious movement in the mid-1800s. It combines many mystical healing concepts, such as the techniques of Mesmer and Phineas Quimby, from whom many theories of Christian Science evolved. But unlike Christian Science, New Thought did not focus exclusively on mental and spiritual healing. It values the use of physical healing methods (i.e. drugs, surgery, etc.), but recognizes that there is also a vital spiritual aspect to healing. Other aspects of New Thought were derived from Christianity, Western occultism, transcendentalism, and even concepts of psychology as they had developed at that time. The most popular writer on New Thought was Ralph Waldo Trine, and his most famous book was In Tune with the Infinite, first published in 1897. Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company and the man who pioneered the assembly line for the production of automobiles, attributed his success to this book and even went so far as to purchase them in large quantities so he could give copies to other industrialists.

New Thought was the name given the philosophy of Phineas Quimby which can be summed up: “The infinitude of the Supreme One; the Divinity of man and his infinite possibilities through the creative power of constructive thinking and obedience to the voice of the indwelling Presence, which is ...

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