New Thought leaders share "a religion of healthy mindedness"

By Alexis Yancey Jaami
New Thought News Service

New Thought sent a clear message in Melbourne about how intention and inclusion can change the world.

"There are two key New Thought teachings," Dr. Kenn Gordon, president of Religious Science International, told a receptive Friday morning audience. "One, we must know we live in a field of abundance, and two, there are no problems."

The session, A Religion of Healthy Mindedness – New Thought's Uniquely American Contribution to the Arena of New Religious Community, focused on the spiritual principles and wisdom that drive transformation.

Gordon's message brought loud applause, with some standing to cheer him, as he told how he has reconciled what he first considered a discrepancy in New Thought teaching that there are no problems, such as poverty and hunger.  

Formerly a farmer, Gordon saw how other growers would plow under their crops when market prices were down.  

"The issue's not food, it's money," he concluded. "Then, when I realized every little war costs a trillion dollars, I knew the issue's not money, either.  

"We need a bigger idea. We live in a field of abundance. In a democratic society, we have a small idea. We need to have will and intention for the way we want to live in the world … that is evolution!" 

Attendees listened intently as Michael Bernard Beckwith, spiritual director of the Agape International Spiritual Center, told how as a young revolutionary he went to a lecture on the benefits of slavery by Dr. Howard Thurman.  

All set to protest, he learned that the slave trade actually created a dynamic in the world; Africans had a mindset for deep forgiveness, and slavery ended up scattering that dynamic all over the world.  

"We live in a realm of plentitude," Beckwith said. "When we speak and think creatively from spontaneous goodness, we allow a revolutionary impulse to spread throughout the planet."

"People want you to believe that Jesus is coming back in violence. That was not his message," noted Dr. Barbara King, minister and founder of Hillside Chapel and Truth Center in Atlanta. "In our metaphysical approach to Jesus the Christ, we all have the Christ consciousness, inherent in our minds. New Thought is about inclusion. We want all people."

Dr. Kathy Hearn, community spiritual leader of the United Centers for Spiritual Living, echoed that inclusiveness.  

"Honoring all paths to God is deeply important to us," she said. "You are here honoring that deep sense of love. There is no one religion that can contain all the revelations of God. It takes all of the world's religions to begin to know all the revelations of God. There's divinity beyond the divinity we know. There's love beyond the love we know. Let's go over the falls together, to get the wisdom that is to come."

"As you listen to these presenters," moderator Dr. Roger Teel, senior minister of Mile Hi Church of Religious Science, said to laughter, "remember we in New Thought are NUTS, Never Underestimating the Spirit!"