Authors: Mitch Horowitz
Earl Nightingale’s comment “I started looking for security” is from “Success at 35: Retirement at $30,000 a Year” by Frank Hughes,
Chicago Daily Tribune
, March 29, 1956. Nightingale’s business activities at WGN and his recruitment of insurance salesmen are recounted by Francis J. Budinger, the former president of Franklin Life Insurance Company, in “Francis J. Budinger Memoir” (1980), an oral-history interview conducted by Josephine Saner, Special Collections department, Norris L. Brookens Library, University of Illinois at Springfield. Nightingale’s pitch (“if you, my listener”) is recalled from memory by Budinger. Nightingale also described some of these activities in his book
Earl Nightingale’s Greatest
Discovery
(Dodd, Mead & Company, 1987). Additional sources on the life of Nightingale include Nightingale’s 1957 original professional recording of
The Strangest Secret
(Earl Nightingale Recordings); an updated version of
The Strangest Secret
, published in book form by Nightingale-Conant in 1998; Earl Nightingale’s 1960 abridgment and recording of Napoleon Hill’s
Think and Grow Rich
(Success Motivation Institute);
Learning to Fly as a Nightingale: A Motivational Love Story
by Diana Nightingale (Keys Company, 1997); “Radio, TV Broadcaster Earl Nightingale, 68,” Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1989; “Earl Nightingale, the Millionaire Who Retired, Was Not and Did Not,” by Clarence Petersen,
Chicago Tribune
, February 8, 1970; “Bob Proctor from ‘The Secret’ Shares His Insights on Learning, Creating Prosperity and the Law of Attraction” by Allison Kugel,
www.pr.com
, April 2, 2007; and “Lloyd Conant of Motivational-Record Firm,”
Chicago Tribune
, April 4, 1986.
Edwene Gaines’s quote about charity is from “Talking Prosperity: An Interview with Edwene Gaines” by Joel Fotinos,
Science of Mind
, December 2002. Her comment to a workshop attendee is from “Prosperity Plus,” an audio recording of an engaging presentation Gaines delivered at Unity of Tucson in Tucson, Arizona. Joel Goldsmith is quoted from
Invisible Supply: Finding the Gifts of Spirit Within
(HarperOne, 1983, 1992, 1994). The proportion of America’s largest churches oriented toward prosperity is from “Did Christianity Cause the Crash?” by Hanna Rosin,
The Atlantic
, December 2009. Gaines’s statement “you are a child of God” is from “Prosperity Plus.” Creflo Dollar’s juxtaposed statement is from “Suffer the Children,” a 2006 documentary on the Word of Faith movement, as transcribed at
http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/category/benny-hinn-2/
.
David W. Jones and Russell S. Woodbridge are quoted from their cogent book,
Health, Wealth & Happiness: Has the Prosperity Gospel Overshadowed the Gospel of Christ?
(Kregel Publications, 2011). The New Thought background of the Emerson School of Oratory is meticulously traced in Kevin Scott Smith’s master’s thesis, “Mind, Might, and Mastery: Human Potential in Metaphysical Religion and E. W. Kenyon” (Liberty University Graduate School of Religion, 1995). Of the many books, articles, and
polemics written about the Word of Faith movement, Smith’s analysis stands out for its historical scholarship and measured thought. Kenyon’s quotes about “libel upon the modern church” are from
A Different Gospel: Biblical and Historical Insights into the Word of Faith Movement
by D. R. McConnell (Hendrickson Publishers, 1988, 1995, 2000). “Basically you are a spirit” is from Kenyon’s sermon notes reproduced in
E. W. Kenyon and the Postbellum Pursuit of Peace, Power, and Plenty
by Dale H. Simmons (Scarecrow Press, 1997). Kenneth Hagin Jr. is quoted from
The Seduction of Christianity
by Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon (Harvest House Publishers, 1985).
In documenting the career of Oral Roberts, enough cannot be said to the credit of journalist David Edwin Harrell Jr., author of
Oral Roberts: An American Life
(Harper & Row, 1985) and
All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America
(Indiana University Press, 1975). Harrell’s biography of Roberts, in particular, is a model of objective sympathy in mining the life story of the controversial (and often misunderstood) evangelical leader. Except where otherwise noted, quotes from Roberts are from Harrell’s volumes. Roberts’s remarks to Will Oursler are from Oursler’s
The Healing Power of Faith: Exploring the World of Spiritual Healing
(Hawthorn Books, 1957; Berkley, 1991). For a sampling of the positive-thinking phraseology found in Roberts’s work, see his books
If You Need Healing—Do These Things!
(Healing Waters Revival Ministry, 1947);
Miracle of Seed Faith
(Oral Roberts, 1970);
The Miracle Book
(Pinoak Publications, 1972);
A Daily Guide to Miracles
(Pinoak Publications, 1975); and
Don’t Give Up!
(Oral Roberts Evangelistic Assn., 1980). The Napoleon Hill quote (“what the mind of man can conceive”) is from
Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude
by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone (Prentice-Hall, 1960, 1977).
On Jim Bakker’s sentencing see the
New York Times
editorial “Jim Bakker’s Startling Sentence,” October 29, 1989. The appellate ruling is from “New Hearing for Jim Bakker Is Postponed” by Associated Press,
New York Times
, May 30, 1991. Also see “Jim Bakker Freed from Jail to Stay in a Halfway House,”
New York Times
, July 2, 1994. I have quoted Bakker and Star Scott, as well as Senate committee informants’ fears of “retaliation” by megachurches, from “Review of Media-Based Ministries,” a report
prepared by Senate Finance Committee staff members Theresa Pattara and Sean Barnett, and presented to Iowa senator Charles Grassley, January 6, 2011. On the resolution of the civil suits against Eddie Long see “Sex Lawsuit Involving U.S. Pastor Resolved, Lawyer Says,” MSNBC. com, May 27, 2011. On Creflo Dollar’s arrest see “Police: Creflo Dollar Choked, Slapped Daughter,” by Christian Boone and Shelia M. Poole,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, June 9, 2012.
The
San Jose Mercury News
covered the Robbins fire walk in “21 People Treated for Burns After Firewalk at Tony Robbins Appearance” by Eric Kurhi and Mark Gomez, July 20, 2012. On August 8, 2012,
Fox and Friends
host Steve Doocy made an on-air correction of the show’s July 23, 2012 depiction of the fire walk. An additional assessment of the fire walk appeared in “A Self-Improvement Quest That Led to Burned Feet” by Carol Pogash,
New York Times
, July 22, 2012, in which a fire department official reports several attendees seeking medical attention. The news coverage of the event is critiqued in “Tony Robbins Sets the Record Straight About Fire Walk ‘Controversy’ ” by Marianne Schnall,
Huffington Post
, July 31, 2012. For an example of Robbins’s program of success modeling, see his book
Unlimited Power
(Simon & Schuster, 1986).
For background on James Ray, see “Sweat-Lodge Trial: James Arthur Ray Often Misused Teachings, Critics Say” by Bob Ortega,
Arizona Republic
, April 10, 2011; “At the Temple of James Arthur Ray” by Christopher Goodwin,
The Guardian
, July 8, 2011; “Suicide at James Ray Event Raises New Questions,”
www.ABC15.com
, March 18, 2010; “From Transcendence to Terror” by Tanya Castaneda,
San Diego Union Tribune
, October 22, 2009; “Families of Sweat Lodge Victims Detail Emotions,” Associated Press,
Wall Street Journal
, June 28, 2011; and my “When Spirituality Kills,”
Wall Street Journal
, July 8, 2011.
Vernon Howard is quoted (“it’s not negative”) from his pamphlet
Be Safe in a Dangerous World
(New Life Foundation, 1981). Howard’s statement “I started realizing the uselessness” is from “He’s on the Highway to Higher Truths” by Anne LaRiviere, January 1978,
Los Angeles Times
. The
observation about Boulder City is from “Not All Mystical Sages Are Big Stars” by Ed Vogel, July 21, 1979,
Las Vegas Review-Journal
, which is also the source for Howard’s quote “we send our message out.” Other helpful articles include “Searching for the Mystic Path with Boulder City’s Cosmic Master” by Eleanor Links Hoover, March 1979,
Human Behavior Magazine
; “New Age Prophet Offers Mystic Road Map to Inner Bliss” by Steve Chawkins, May 5, 1988,
Los Angeles Times
; and “New Life Foundation Founder Howard Dies of Natural Causes” by Carri Geer, September 3, 1992,
Las Vegas Review-Journal
. Howard’s statement “will you trust a religion” is from
1500 Ways to Escape the Human Jungle
(New Life Foundation, 1978). Howard’s books, pamphlets, and audio and video recordings are published today by the New Life Foundation (
www.anewlife.org
), which puts out a regular newsletter, and by the Eagle Literary Foundation (
www.lifewithvernonhoward.com
), which maintains a helpful online archive of articles and printed material relating to Howard’s life.
U. S. Andersen was the pen name of Uell Stanley Andersen, a retired pro football player, novelist, and metaphysical writer. Andersen’s
Three Magic Words
first appeared in 1954 under the title
The Key to Power and Personal Peace
, as published by Hermitage House (a New York press that had incidentally issued L. Ron Hubbard’s first edition of
Dianetics
four years prior). Andersen’s book was republished in 1956 under its current title by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and later by the Wilshire Book Company. In its retitled version,
Three Magic Words
gained wide popularity.
Freeman Champney is quoted from his biography,
Art and Glory: The Story of Elbert Hubbard
(Crown, 1968). In fairness to Gina Cerminara, she also wrote critically of the excesses of New Thought in her
Insights for the Age of Aquarius
(Quest, 1973).
The translation of Swedenborg from which Warren Felt Evans is quoting is
The True Christian Religion
(J. B. Lippincott, 1875). Prentice
Mulford is quoted from his pamphlet “The Law of Success,” which he wrote in 1886; it later became one of the early chapters in his compilation
Your Forces, And How to Use Them
, vol. 1 (1890).
Thomas Troward is quoted from his 1904 lectures, later expanded in 1909, and published as
The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science
; the edition I am using was published as
The Edinburgh and Doré Letures on Mental Science
(DeVorss, 1989).
Rhonda Byrne is quoted from an interview with Associated Press reporter Tara Burghart, which AP published June 24, 2007. Krishnamurti’s statement “truth is a pathless land” was delivered in a talk of August 2, 1929, in which he dissolved the spiritual organization that had been organized around him. It is reprinted in
Total Freedom
(HarperSanFrancisco, 1996).
Carl Jung is quoted from his 1952 essay
Synchronicity
(Princeton University Press, 1960, 1969, 1973). J. B. Rhine’s 1934
Extra-Sensory Perception
is published, with its English prefaces and appendices, by Branden Publishing Company (1997). A more recent assessment of Rhine’s experiments and career appear in Stacy Horn’s superb study,
Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsycho-logical Laboratory
(HarperCollins, 2009).
C. S. Lewis is quoted from
The Screwtape Letters
(HarperOne, 1942, 1996). Leslie D. Weatherhead is quoted from
Psychology, Religion, and Healing
(Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1951).
For a summary of Charles Honorton’s ganzfeld experiments see
An Introduction to Parapsychology
, 5th edition, by Harvey J. Irwin and Caroline A. Watt (Garfield, 2007). Charles Honorton and Ray Hyman are quoted from “A Joint Communiqué: The Psi Ganzfeld Controversy” by Ray Hyman and Charles Honorton,
Journal of Parapsychology
, vol. 50, December 1986. Honorton, who died in 1992, is separately quoted from his posthumously published article, “Rhetoric over Substance: The Impoverished State of Skepticism,”
Journal of Parapsychology
, vol. 57, June 1993. Hyman is quoted from his article, “Evaluation of a Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration
, vol. 10, no. 1, 1996. Also useful
on the ganzfeld controversy is Jessica Utts’s 1991 article, “Replication and Meta-Analysis in Parapsychology,” as reprinted in
The Parapsychology Revolution: A Concise Anthology of Paranormal and Psychical Research
edited by Robert M. Schoch, Ph.D., and Logan Yonavjak (Tarcher/Penguin, 2007). A volume that predates the ganzfeld debates but helpfully frames psychical questions is Arthur Koestler’s
The Roots of Coincidence
(Random House, 1972).
Lois Wilson is quoted from
Lois Remembers
(Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979). Jiddu Krishnamurti is quoted from
Think on These Things
(Harper & Row, 1964).
David Hume is quoted from his 1758 “Of Miracles” from
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
. Anthony Robbins is quoted from
Unlimited Power
(1986).
Maxwell Maltz’s
Psycho-Cybernetics
was published by Prentice-Hall in 1960, and reprinted that year by the enterprising publisher Melvin Powers at his Wilshire Book Company, where it found its major success. Powers, who also republished the work of U. S. Andersen, had an eagle eye for mind-power classics that had been neglected or overlooked in earlier editions.
Bill Wilson is quoted from a 1958 talk reprinted in his pamphlet “Three Talks to Medical Societies.”
Anthony Robbins is quoted from his 2010 primetime NBC television show,
Breakthrough
. While this self-help program lasted only two episodes on the air, it was a thoughtful and constructive standout in a television field crammed with situational shows.
Breakthrough
was the kind of reality programming that one hopes network television could sustain.