“New Thought is Now Thought!”
by Rev. Christine 7/25/2021
My talk today is New Thought is Now Thought. First of all what is New Thought? I’m referring to the International New Thought Alliance, or INTA. INTA is a member organization founded in 1914 for like minded churches, centers, schools and people who prescribe to the same timeless universal principles. Each year they hold a congress to share ideas and mingle.
The inspiration for today’s talk came from INTA’s 106th Congress that was held this past week, July 20-23, by online conferencing. Three days of speakers, music, prayer, and virtually being with like minded people. Such a great experience.
I thought I’d share INTA’s declaration of 10 Principles:
1. We affirm God as Mind, Infinite Being, Spirit, Ultimate Reality.
2. We affirm that God, the Good, is supreme, universal and everlasting.
3. We affirm the unity of God and humanity in that the divine nature dwells within and expresses through each of us, by means of our acceptance of it, as health, supply, wisdom, love, life, truth, power, beauty, and peace.
4. We affirm the power of prayer and the capacity of each person to have mystical experience with God, and to enjoy the grace of God.
5. We affirm the freedom of all persons as to beliefs, and we honor the diversity of humanity by being open and affirming of all persons, affirming the dignity of human beings as founded on the presence of God within them, and therefore the principle of democracy.
6. We affirm that we are all spiritual beings, dwelling in a spiritual universe that is governed by spiritual law; and that in alignment with spiritual law, we can heal, prosper, and harmonize.
7. We affirm that our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living.
8. We affirm the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven here and now.
9. We affirm expression of the highest spiritual principles in loving one another unconditionally, promoting the highest good for all, teaching and healing one another, ministering to one another, and living together in peace, in accordance with the teaching of Jesus and other enlightened teachers.
10. We affirm our evolving awareness of the nature of reality and our willingness to refine our beliefs accordingly.
So why call it New Thought? Basically it is having a new understanding in the stories of the Bible, of Jesus the Christ, from the traditional church doctrines. These new ideas started to come forth in the mid 1800's from people having their own spiritual experiences, and then able to interpret the Bible through new eyes of understanding.
I remember when having a new thought about heaven and hell. Going to Sunday School learning that if you are bad that after death you go to an everlasting hell, and hell is a really bad place where you are burned and tortured. And, if you are really good, then you are rewarded after death by going to a place called heaven. Heaven is a beautiful, peaceful place where you can join with loved ones who had passed on, and have anything your heart desires.
Heaven and Hell is quite a boggy-man story. We grow up with these stories believing they’re true; which may effect how we view and choose to live our life. Then in my early 20s I began reading New Thought authors as Emmet Fox and Joel Goldsmith. They were speaking of another kind of life and afterlife. That heaven and hell are not places you go to in an afterlife, but states of consciousness that we live right here and now. When I’m in misery - that’s hell, or when I’m feeling all is good, love, joy and peace - that’s heaven. Thought is cause and effect in the here and eternal now.
Back then I decided to reread certain Bible passages, and this time I understood them in a new way. It was a new thought about old doctrine. To believe we are here to be happy and fulfilled is a new way of thinking from the old church doctrine. The new idea didn’t come in the past or future - it was a present ah ha moment, a new thought, a new understanding.
Genesis is another good example - God created the heavens, earth, all life, and then rested on the 7th day. As children hearing these stories, we take them at face value, and they were taught very literally believing it was actually only 7 days, and then God stayed remotely in the heavens. God also judged us, and if we were really good might respond to our pleading prayers for help. There was always a sense of undeserving
The new idea as quoted by Divine Science founder, Malinda Cramer, in her works Basic Statements and Health Treatment of Truth in 1895 wrote: “Most people believe that creation was an event of the past, and that creative action ceased with the accomplishment of that event. Where this is believed, creation is claimed to belong unto time and place.
This is a false claim, for whatever lives, lives within, and unto God, the Omnipresent Creator, and is, therefore, living within and unto eternity; hence, must have being, beginning and finishing, and ending in God, in the eternal now. If the Being and beginning of Being’s manifestation was not eternal, existence would have no relationship with God now...
In another section, “As eternity of a continuation of the present, and Being is eternal, to Be at all is to Be what is, and is now real. The postponement to the future of possessing or attaining is prophecy; but the fulfillment of all prophecy must be in the present. Any and all action is in the present. We cannot begin the accomplishment of any work in the past or future; hence NOW is the beginning; so, ‘when we pray, believe that ye receive, and ye shall have.’
There can be no result in the present without acting in the present, and no present action without Being. NOW is the time to BE, to DO, and to have the example or result; for now is the accepted and only time. It is to be understood that the treatment is to heal now; for today is the day of salvation.”
Think about it; all we have is the now, this present moment. Yet so many people take this moment to think about the past or future; really they’re daydreaming. Or people are multitasking where nothing gets their full attention.
Now Thought is about being fully present. When someone is speaking to you, are you connecting eye to eye, mind to mind, heart to heart? Of course that is challenging through email, texting, twittering or phone. At least on the phone you can hear the tone of voice. These new modes of communication are getting more and more cryptic; some of the spellings are so short it could be almost anything - and we call this conversation.
To be fully present when someone is speaking is to have no other thought going on in your mind - to just listen. You can really feel the difference when you have someone’s full attention - when you’re being listened to and heard. There is an energy connecting the two of you. This is being in the now.
The Course in Miracles teaches about being present in the now to connect with our Oneness of God, and Christ consciousness within us. The workbook has a lesson for every day of the year to be practiced. These lessons are designed to awaken us, to break through our old beliefs. These old beliefs about things can color our perceptions, and therefore we don’t really see what is truly here now. I’m sharing with you today the first three lessons in the workbook, and I invite you to join in.
Get comfortable, take a deep breath and relax. The first lesson: “Look slowly around you, and to whatever you see say within, ‘This (blank) does not mean anything.’” For example, “This chair does not mean anything.” After a couple of seconds move your eyes to something else, and repeat “This (blank) does not mean anything.”
Lesson 2, again we’ll be slowly looking around as before, and this time we say “I have given everything I see in this room all the meaning that it has for me.”
Lesson 3, Again, slowing look around the room as before. This time say “I do not understand anything I see in this room.” This is a sample of how the doorway of our mind is being opened to truly see beyond our past conditioning, and to to see anew with fresh eyes.
Learning to be consciously aware of our thoughts takes being present in the moment and that is why I call New Thought is Now Thought. We can only experience the Christ consciousness and cosmic or mystical consciousness while being fully present. Silent meditation and contemplation leads to these more awake states of consciousness. Silent meditation is the cornerstone practice of Divine Science for greater realization of our Oneness in God.
When faced with a problem, I will ask myself “How can I see this differently?” This immediately puts me in a more attentive state of consciousness. My normal conscious state may not have the answer, and it will submit to the Christ consciousness, that aspect of our mind, that knows the answer. And, a new way of seeing is revealed.
In 2005 I came across an article written by Russian scientists that decoded some of the other 90% of our DNA. It had been believed that only 10% of the DNA code was used and the other 90% was called junk DNA. They discovered that the other 90% is dynamically programmed from our thoughts and feelings. Meaning our DNA is constantly changing.
If we are predominately thinking and feeling anger, fear, hate, and anxiety; then these will overwrite the programming of our DNA, manifest in our world with like experiences, and possibly manifest as disease.
Good to know that our positive thoughts based in Truth, love, compassion of self and others, forgiveness, joy and peace of mind can strengthen our immune system, heal and harmonize our cells and organs; restoring our body to its true natural state, and manifest in our world with matching experiences.
Scientists used to believe that it took 7 years or so to replace all the cells in the body; except for the brain and heart - these couldn’t be replaced. Not true anymore. Scientists have found that the brain and heart can reproduce new cells - just apparently more slowly according to today’s science.
There are now scientists saying the rest of the body changes its cells every 7 days, and some say daily. According to the stories of Christ Jesus people were instantly healed. Withered legs were fully restored in hours, sight returned within seconds, and instantly rising from the dead fully restored to life.
How can this be? Its because our bodies are not solid matter, bodies are of Spirit - Spirit Substance. Spirit is living this body, every atom and cell. I say the atoms of our cells are in a constant state of exchange. We are a powerful atomic chain reactor.
Therefore healing is beyond time and place, just as God creates beyond time and place. God is forever expressing, creating life - we then are in a constant state of recreation moment to moment. Change the thought. Change the outcome.
Our bodies are not limited to man’s concept of matter or its physical laws. There is no solid matter for all is spirit, and spiritual law supercedes science’s concept of physical law. God is constantly expressing new ideas - new thoughts through mankind to be expressed; and to be realized in this world in the here and now.
Jesus said, “You to shall do these works, and even greater works than these shall you do.” Now this is good news, this is self-empowering. I have, we have a choice, we can choose to have a new thought.