New Thought
Working on it...
Napoleon Hill
This old chap led me to a great number of other authors. After reading his Think And Grow Rich for the first times, I was really quite amazed at how "Seth-like" the message appeared to be. Upon looking further into the men who had influenced Napoleon Hill, I was led to Allen, Troward, Atkinson and a few others. Of these New Thought authors, Napoleon Hill is the most famous and well-known, which is testimony to how well he brought together the information about how to communicate with one's subconscious mind.
- Think And Grow Rich
- The Law Of Success
- The Master Key To Riches
Napoleon Hill has other works that I have gotten to yet. Think And Grow Rich is his famous bestseller, but his other works are very worthwhile reading in their own right.
Charles F. Haanel
The works of Charles F. Haanel went overlooked for a long time after they were made publicly available. The "Master Key System" was not originally written for mass consumption, and it was only in the last few years that Haanel's books started to reach a wider audience. When I finally did get around to reading his books, I found yet another author who named the Law of Attraction as the guiding force for success in his life.
- The Master Key System
- Master Key Arcana
- You
- Mental Chemistry
- The Amazing Secrets of the Yogi
- The New Psychology
James Allen
Best known for As A Man Thinketh, James Allen is the author of around nineteen short books written in the early 19th century. Little is know about Allen's life, and although his works are quite popular and well known, history didn't record much about the author. I plan on delving more into James Allen's books and his spiritual philosophy after I'm done with other projects. For now, I've only read his primary work:
William Walker Atkinson
Another pioneer of the New Thought movement and American mysticism in the later part of the 20th Century, William Walker Atkinson wrote about mind power, mental influence, telepathy, reincarnation, suggestion and auto-suggestion. Atkinson is one of the earliest authors that I have found to use the expression "Law of Attraction", which is the same term used by Abraham-Hicks. Nearly everything Atkinson has written is out of print, so it's hard to buy original copies of his books. Of course, I was able to snag up copies of his writings through Kessinger Publishing's rare reprints on Amazon.com, including:
- Thought Vibration
- Mind Power: The Secret Of Mental Magic
- Secret Of Success
- Practical Mental Influence
Thomas Troward
Considered one of the fathers of the "New Thought" movement and the "Science of Mind", Thomas Troward quickly became one of my favorite authors after I began reading his books in 2006. He's spiritual works are a bit more difficult to comprehend than other writers on these subjects since they are written in the language of early 20th century intellectual philosophy rather than something produced for modern mass consumption. The man was well-versed in the Bible and many other ancient religious writings, and Ernest Holmes was greatly influenced by Troward. A list of his books on mind power include:
- Edinburgh and Dore Lectures on Mental Science
- The Creative Process In The Individual
- Hidden Power And Other Papers Upon Mental Science
- The Law And The Word
- Bible Mystery And Bible Meaning
I find that Troward's only student, Genevieve Behrend, conveys his teachings in a much more understandable way. In my opinion, if you want a simplified explanation of Troward's philosophy, you should read Behrend first. Troward might lose you early on with the in depth job he does laying out his explanations.
Genevieve Behrend
- Your Invisible Power
- Attaining Your Desires
There is a long list of other New Thought authors that I am not able to devote much of my time to, including Ernest Holmes, Wallace Wattles, Prentice Mulford, Elizabeth Towne, and so many others. It's not that their literary works don't warrant the attention, but rather that I lack sufficient time for such in depth reading of so many interesting authors. For example, I already bought a copy of Ernest Holmes' The Science of Mind, but it is over 600 pages in length, so, ummm, I'll have to read up on you later Ernest, :)
My foray into New Thought only began in 2005, so this area of study is still rather new to me. For now, I shall limit my focus in this area to the authors listed above until I have gone through all of their works in detail. Then, if I have time, I'll move on to other New Thought authors . . . basically reading whichever one has the shortest books first, lol.