What is "new thought"

New Thought \New` Thought"\ Any form of belief in mental healing, other than (1) Christian Science and (2) hypnotism or psychotherapy. It was practised in the 19th century, and its central principle was affirmative thought, or suggestion, employed with the conviction that man produces changes in his health, his finances, and his life by the adoption of a favorable mental attitude. As a therapeutic doctrine it stands for silent and absent mental treatment, and the theory that all diseases are mental in origin. As a cult it has its unifying idea the inculcation of workable optimism in contrast with the ``old thought'' of sin, evil, predestination, and pessimistic resignation. The term is essentially synonymous with the term High Thought, used in England. -- New` Thought"er, n. -- New` Thought"ist, n.

The New Thought movement is a philosophical movement which developed in the United States in the 19th century, following the teachings of Phineas Quimby. There are numerous smaller groups, most of which are incorporated in the International New Thought Alliance.

The concept of New Thought (sometimes known as "Higher Thought") promotes the ideas that Infinite Intelligence, or God, is everywhere, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.

Although New Thought is neither monolithic nor doctrinaire, in general, modern-day adherents of New Thought believe that God or Infinite Intelligence is "supreme, universal, and everlasting", that divinity dwells within each person, that all people are spiritual beings, that "the highest spiritual principle [is] loving one another unconditionally... and teaching and healing one another", and that "our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living".

The New Thought movement originated in the early 19th century, and survives to the current day in the form of a loosely allied group of religious denominations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of beliefs concerning metaphysics, positive thinking, the law of attraction, healing, life force, creative visualization, and personal power.

The teachings of Christian Science are similar to and partially based on Quimby's teachings, as its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, was a student of Quimby's.