A New Vision for New Thought

Transcending spiritual superiority and embracing the sacred work of both realms

Lately, I’ve been part of an ongoing conversation among my fellow Centers for Spiritual Living ministers—a heartfelt discussion about the role of Science of Mind in these chaotic times. Many voices have offered inspiration, conviction, and deep trust in the teaching. But one recent post in particular stayed with me—not because it was wrong, but because it reminded me of something I’ve been quietly sensing for a while now:

I may no longer be solely a Science of Mind minister. I have become a New Thought minister.

And what I mean by that is this: I’m no longer content to work only with the principles of the Absolute—the clean, cosmic certainty that God is all there is. I still honor that truth. I still teach it. But I also know that people are hurting. Systems are breaking. And love, while ever-present, often needs hands and feet—ours—to make itself known in the human realm.

This is the tension I’m wrestling with: the growing divide between those who teach pure ideology and those of us committed to practical application.

In pure ideology—the domain of the Absolute—we hear:

There is no evil. There is no fear. There is no death. There is only God. All is well.

Yes. Metaphysically, yes.
But also—people are suffering.

To speak only from the Absolute without acknowledging human experience is not clarity—it’s disconnection. It is spiritual bypass dressed up as divine knowing. It’s a subtle, unintentional form of spiritual superiority—one that, if unchecked, breeds a ministry that appears enlightened while remaining emotionally and socially disengaged.

As ministers and leaders, we must do more than recite Truth. We must live it, apply it, embody it. Because the world doesn’t just need polished prayers. The world needs loving presence. Compassionate action. A theology that gets its hands dirty.

We must be honest: there are two sides to this coin.

• On one side, there is the Absolute. The changeless. The eternal. The One.

• On the other side, there is the relative. The wounded. The questioning. The deeply human.

If we reject one for the sake of the other, we lose something vital. To deny the human is to drift into elitism. To deny the Divine is to lose hope. The work of the New Thought minister is to hold both.

And maybe—just maybe—this is what the New Thought movement itself is being asked to do: to evolve beyond the pristine ideology of our early days into a more embodied, engaged, and inclusive expression of spiritual leadership.

Yes, we are here to affirm wholeness, to deny the permanence of fear, and to reveal Truth.

But let us also:

• Sit with the grieving without needing to “fix” them.

• Stand with the oppressed without needing to rationalize the injustice away.

• Speak out against systemic harm while still declaring the omnipresence of Love.

This is not contradiction. This is completion.

This is not diluting our teaching. This is deepening our responsibility to apply it where it counts most—in the pain, in the fear, in the hard places where God is not yet visible but must be revealed through us.

We are not here to transcend the world.
We are here to transform it—by showing up fully, as ministers of both Absolute Truth and practical love.

So yes—the sky may appear to be falling.
And yes—God within us is rising.

But those two truths do not cancel each other out. They are the dance of spiritual evolution. And if we are to serve this movement—and this moment—we must stop choosing sides.

We are not here to win theological debates.
We are here to usher in a new way of being.

One where Truth is not used to silence, but to awaken.
One where love is not just proclaimed, but practiced.
One where we, as New Thought ministers, hold both sides of the coin—and in doing so, help this movement rise into its next, more expansive, more compassionate expression.

“This is why we came.”

To redefine ministry for a changing world—affirming the Absolute while answering the call of the human.

If you’re feeling this shift too—toward deeper embodiment, toward both/and ministry—share your thoughts in the comments. Let’s build this next wave of New Thought together.