If you haven’t read the first article in this series — exploring the natural evolution of New Thought and Science of Mind toward collective liberation — you’ll benefit greatly from reading it. It sets the foundation for everything that follows.
Following that essay, it is natural to ask: what does this actually *look like* in practice? How do we take these ideals — of expanded vision, embodied prayer, shared prosperity, and sacred activism — and make them real in our daily lives, our communities, and our spiritual institutions?
This three-part series answers that question by exploring the living edge of New Thought: not as an intellectual or private philosophy, but as a collective and public practice. If the previous essay was the why, this series is the how.
We begin with the foundation: expanded vision and embodied prayer. These are not just ideas to consider — they are ways of seeing and moving through the world. They form the spiritual muscle memory for what comes next. These two pillars set the tone for all that follows. Without a broader field of vision and a deeper embodiment of our spiritual practice, our efforts risk becoming performance rather than transformation.
Expanded Vision
A mature New Thought practice begins with Expanded Vision — not only of what’s possible, but of what’s required. It’s no longer enough to manifest a personal breakthrough while ignoring the social systems that shape the lives around us. As Ernest Holmes wrote, “Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what they think into it.”¹ If this is true on the personal level, it must also be true on the collective. What are we, as a society, thinking into the world? What are we affirming into being with our silence, with our budgets, with our politics?
Too often, New Thought has stayed in the realm of personal transformation while leaving the architecture of injustice untouched. But if the Law responds to belief, and we are constantly immersed in a shared field of consciousness, then systemic change becomes a spiritual imperative. Collective belief produces collective conditions.
An expanded vision means that spiritual communities must learn to see what they have not wanted to see: racism, economic disparity, environmental destruction, and inherited trauma. It means we acknowledge that we do not all begin on equal footing, even though we all arise from the same spiritual Source. This is not contradiction; it is complexity. And spiritual maturity allows for that complexity.
Expanded vision also requires leaders who are trained not only in metaphysical principle, but in social history, trauma awareness, and restorative practice. We can no longer pretend that we can treat our way around injustice. We must treat — and then act.
As Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis puts it, “We are not here to tweak the world. We are here to remake it.”² This remaking begins in consciousness, yes — but it doesn’t end there. Our vision must become action, and our action must be rooted in spiritual clarity.
Expanded vision does not mean abandoning our tools. It means applying them with greater depth, with collective intent, and with courage.
Embodied Prayer
The second foundational practice is Embodied Prayer. In traditional New Thought, prayer is not begging or pleading, but a process of alignment with the highest Truth. It is affirmative, declarative, and creative. But in a world that cries out for justice, our prayer must also become relational, grounded, and brave.
Embodied prayer is not a private transaction with the Universe. It is a public vow to participate in transformation. As Ernest Holmes reminded us, “There is nothing in the Universe that denies us the right to be fulfilled, to be well, to be whole — except our own belief to the contrary.”³ Today, that belief must extend to our neighbors, to the stranger, to the collectively unseen. Do we believe in wholeness for the single mother navigating eviction? For the Black child denied resources? For the asylum seeker in detention?
To say "yes" is to pray in a new way.
Embodied prayer does not stop at the pulpit or the cushion. It moves into the street, into the school board meeting, into the city council vote. It aligns spiritual intent with social responsibility. It is not partisan — but it is passionately moral.
When we pray for peace, we must include an end to militarism. When we pray for abundance, we must examine the systems that hoard wealth. When we affirm Divine Love, we must ask what that love demands of us in the face of exclusion or cruelty.
This is not about weaponizing prayer. It is about liberating it.
Embodied prayer allows us to bring our whole selves — our intellect, our heartbreak, our gifts, and our courage — into spiritual practice. It reminds us that prayer is not separate from action but the soil from which right action grows. As Howard Thurman reminds us: “The test of religious experience is not what it makes us feel, but what it makes us do.”⁴
So we ask: What does our prayer make us do?
Does it make us more courageous? More compassionate? More willing to stand where it’s uncomfortable? Does it challenge our assumptions and soften our hearts?
Embodied prayer must move us. If it doesn’t move us, it won’t move the world.
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In Part II of this series, we’ll explore what it means to build Beloved Community and practice Sacred Activism — not just as ideas, but as tangible, spiritual expressions of a world that works for everyone.
In Part III, we’ll conclude with a deeper look at Healing Historical Wounds and cultivating Universal Compassion, grounding these final practices in the long view of justice and collective healing.
This is not about making New Thought something it never was. It’s about becoming everything it’s always promised to be.
The journey is ongoing. The practice is the path.
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Sources:
1. Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind (1938).
2. Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness (2021).
3. Ernest Holmes, This Thing Called You (1948).
4. Howard Thurman, Footprints of a Dream: The Story of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples (1959).
I believe that way we teach spiritual practice does not reflect our contemporary world. Many spiritual centers around the country are missing people 18-50 because of this. I was inspired to create the “Making Peace With Your Inner Shit-Talker” 90-Day Program to help make spiritual practice more accessible. https://substack.com/@revkctaylor