New Thought refers to a religious movement that began in the late 19th century and continues today. Its ideas inspired countless self-help and positive thinking books and contemporary teachers such as Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle. New Thought is marked by a belief that there is an underlying, intelligent consciousness that manifests as all creation. From that it follows that 1) the mind and positive thoughts have influence over an individual’s life circumstances and 2) that each person is an aspect of that underlying intelligent, divine consciousness so to harm another is to harm ourselves. These basic beliefs gave birth to multiple New Thought religious organizations including Unity, Divine Science, Religious Science, and Christian Science. Readers interested in a deeper dive into the movement’s history and present are referred to Mitch Horowitz’s book One Simple Idea.
