Ancient Wisdom

In 1916, Claude Hopkins wrote:

"Social morays and fashions are fleeting and salient, ever changing. Human psychology however is not whimsical. The things which motivate us today, are the same things which motivated us 1,000's of years ago. The things which work for us today, are the same things which worked for us throughout all of human history."

Although our clothes and dialects change, our core motivations have changed little over the millennia. Much the same can be said for all the techniques we use to get results in the real world.

While some like to regard the New Thought Movement as esoteric or philosophical, in truth it is nothing more than the collection of ancient wisdom used for getting lasting results in the real world. Nothing fancy, magical or mystical about it.

So why does it always seem some mystical? The answer to that rests in the techniques of the ancient ones themselves. You see, the classical techniques are still, as they ever were, the most effective and efficient ones available today...

But, like all things archaic, there is an air of mysticism around them which both delights and infuriates the modern mind:

1. There is a all pervasive force of benevolence flowing through all things
2. Each human is part and parcel of this force
3. By tuning or tapping into this force any human can accomplish anything

Pretty simple and straightforward right? Let's look at an example to illustrate the idea. The skirt becoming the mini-skirt and then the micro-skirt is a great example of the same phenomenon that is occurring with thought itself.

There is no doubt, that each generation is the 'first to rebel' against its elders. If your generation wore skirts - the one that follows will either make theirs shorter or longer, and call it a "New Fashion" that they created all themselves. When the practical limits are reached (there is a limit to how long or how short a skirt can be), the ebb flows in the opposite direction.

Everything Old Becomes New Again

A subtle irony exists in this waxing and waning,because there are practical limits at both ends, the cycle must pass through the same basic fashions time and time again. In this way, everything old really does become new again, over and over.

Thought itself very closely follows a similar pattern as the skirts, with Conservative at one end of the spectrum and Unconventional or Experimental at the other.

For some it may be a stretch to think of Thought as having Fashions, but even a superficial look at the way you view the world compared to the way your Grandparents or Great Grandparents view the world will illustrate how true this point is.

Our thoughts themselves govern our perceptions, accomplishments, and even our overall joy in life. The New Thought Movement is a return to ancient wisdom and a departure from the modern ways of unchecked self indulgence.

Modern Thought versus Ancient Thought

Modern Thought can be encapsulated in the phrase, 'Me First' and said to be governed by the notions of Adam Smith, who in his 1776 classic, "The Wealth of Nations" popularized the idea that; "Every person acting in their own self interest will result in the best results for society as a whole."

As we seem to have discovered the hard way, when everyone puts their own self interest above the good of the group; pollution, environmental exhaustion, and cultural genocide are the inevitable results. So just like skirts reaching their maximum shortness gradually return to their full length cousins, so too is thought swinging back the other way.

No longer can we afford to think in terms only of our own best interest, instead we now return to the ancient knowledge that, "Creating the most good for the most people possible, results in the most good for the individual."

The New Thought Movement is leading the way into this innovative 'old way' of thinking by popularizing, synthesizing, and adapting these ancient methods and practices for the modern mind. What was old, has truly become new again as leading political, economic, and social scientists now agree, "What is good for the many, is good for the individual."