One Simple Idea

by Mitch Horowitz

  Sources on the life of Neville Goddard include Israel Regardie’s profile from The Romance of Metaphysics (Aries Press, 1946); Samuel Bousky’s taped recollections (undated) in the collection of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Virginia Beach, Virginia; “Lecturer Presents Bible in New Light” by George L. Beronius, Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1951; Margaret Broome’s biographical chapter in her superb anthology of Neville’s work, The Miracle of Imagination (Canterbury House, 1990); Neville student Freedom Barry’s recollections at www.Lifeslight.org; and Neville’s stage lectures, which he delivered from the early 1930s until his death in 1972. Hundreds of Neville’s lectures are preserved on audio files and in transcripts, both privately held and posted online. Broome has collected several in her valuable anthologies, including the one mentioned above, and Immortal Man (DeVorss, 1999) and The Magic of Imagination (Canterbury House, 1992). Neville’s story of exiting the army is from a lecture of February 26, 1958. The U.S. Army Human Resources Command provided me with Neville’s existing service records. The only document remaining is his final pay statement, which shows his enlistment from November 1942 to March 1943 with the 490th Armored FA Battalion at Camp Polk, Louisiana. Records from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration show Neville’s date of enlistment as November 11, 1942. A spokesman for the Army Human Resources Command, Ray Gall, is quoted on the fire from an e-mail of January 11, 2010. The New Yorker profile that shows Neville back on the lecture circuit is “A Blue Flame on the Forehead” by Robert M. Coates, September 11, 1943. Jimmie Fidler’s syndicated column is from May 4, 1955. Neville’s account of his initial meeting with Abdullah is from a lecture of October 23, 1967, and his story of returning to Barbados is from a lecture of 1948 (date unknown). Margaret Runyan Castaneda is quoted from her book, A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda (iUniverse.com, 2001); an earlier version appeared in 1996 from Millennia Press (Canada). Her recollections also appear in “My Husband Carlos Castaneda” by Margaret Runyan Castaneda as told to Wanda Sue Parrott, Fate magazine, February 1975 (that account has some differences from her book, possibly to protect the privacy of intimates). Journalist Mike Sager also tells Runyan’s story in his entrancing “The Teachings of Don Carlos” from Scary Monsters and Super Freaks (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2003). Bernard Cantin is quoted from his book, Joseph Murphy se raconte à Bernard Cantin [Joseph Murphy Speaks to Bernard Cantin], published in 1987 by Quebec’s Éditions Un Monde Différent. It is a rare and valuable window into Murphy’s career.

  Alan Watts initially suggested to me that Arnold Josiah Ford may have been Neville’s Abdullah; I am grateful to him for this original insight. My sources on Ford include U.S. Census data for 1920 and 1930, along with the written sources “Arnold Josiah Ford” by Sholomo B. Levy from African American Lives edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Oxford University Press, 2004); Garveyism as a Religious Movement by Randall K. Burkett (Scarecrow Press, 1978); and The Black Jews of Harlem by Howard Brotz (Schocken Books, 1964, 1970). The latter two historians are quoted from their respective books. Jill Watts is quoted on Ethiopianism from her God, Harlem U.S.A. (1992). Sources differ on when Ford departed for Ethiopia; some place his departure in 1930, but a New York Times article—“Harlem Church Group Restrained by Court,” December 9, 1930—clearly shows Ford in New York by the end of that year. A 2008 article in Tadias, an excellent online journal of Ethiopian and African-American affairs, dates Ford’s departure to 1931, following Selassie’s land grant. See “African American and Ethiopian Relations” by Tseday Alehegn, August 10, 2008. At present, 1931 is the most persuasive date of Ford’s departure.

  Ernest Holmes’s meeting with Einstein is recounted in Fenwicke Holmes’s biography Ernest Holmes (1970). The reemergence of the placebo question during World War II is noted in The Anti-Depressant Era by David Healy (Harvard University Press, 1997), and The Psychopharmacologists II, interviews by David Healy (Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 1998).

  CHAPTER SIX:

  THE AMERICAN CREED

  Napoleon Hill’s “I gave a beggar a dime” remark is from his original eight-volume set of The Law of Success, published in 1928. Elbert Hubbard is quoted from his 1914 essay, “A Peace Picnic,” reprinted in Selected Writings of Elbert Hubbard (Wm. H. Wise & Co., 1922). Hill’s reference to “the richest man” is from his book The Master Key to Riches (Willing Publishing Company, 1945). Carnegie is quoted on Swedenborg from Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1920). Carnegie is quoted on the “law of competition” from his essay “The Gospel of Wealth” as reprinted in The “Gospel of Wealth” Essays and Other Writings edited with an introduction by David Nasaw (Penguin Classics, 2006); I benefited from Nasaw’s insightful introduction. The story of Hill covering up the bellhop’s death is from A Lifetime of Riches: The Biography of Napoleon Hill by Michael J. Ritt Jr. and Kirk Landers (Dutton, 1995). The book is basically an authorized biography; it is to the authors’ credit that the episode is included.

  Sources on Dale Carnegie include “How to Win Friends and Influence People: Dale Carnegie and the Problem of Sincerity” by Gail Thain Parker, American Quarterly, Winter 1977; “He Sells Hope” by Margaret Case Harriman, Saturday Evening Post, August 14, 1937; “If You Want to Gather Honey” by Peter Baida, American Heritage Magazine, February/March 1985; and “Dale Carnegie, Author, Is Dead,” New York Times, November 2, 1955. For the earlier spelling of Carnegie’s name, see The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg Esenwein and Dale Carnagey (Home Correspondence School, 1915). On the publishing collaboration between Dale Carnegie and Leon Shimkin, I drew upon the commemorative booklet Simon & Schuster: Our First Fifty Years, 1924–1974 (Simon & Schuster, 1973); You’re Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery by Richard Stengel (Simon & Schuster, 2000); Dale Carnegie: The Man Who Influenced Millions by Giles Kemp and Edward Claflin (St. Martin’s Press, 1989); and “Leon Shimkin: The Businessman as Publisher” by John Tebbel, Saturday Review, September 10, 1966. Stengel (2000) related the account of the title change; a differing version appears in the memoir of Carnegie’s fellow Missourian writer Homer Croy, Country Cured (Harper & Brothers, 1943), which reports Carnegie making the change over the phone with a Simon & Schuster art director. However, Stengel’s account is more fully consistent with Shimkin’s role in shaping the book. The “subtle cynicism” of Carnegie’s approach is noted in “Miscellaneous Brief Reviews,” New York Times, February 14, 1937.

  Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman is quoted from his Peace of Mind (Simon & Schuster, 1946), unless otherwise noted. Liebman’s record on the bestseller list is from the reference book The #1 New York Times Bestseller by John Bear (Ten Speed Press, 1992). Liebman’s earlier book title is referenced in Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert’s invaluable From Jewish Science to Rabbinical Counseling (1978). Fulton Sheen is quoted from Andrew R. Heinze’s insightful article, “Peace of Mind (1946): Judaism and the Therapeutic Polemics of Postwar America,” Religion and American Culture, vol. 1. no. 1, 2002. Ellen M. Umansky’s From Christian Science to Jewish Science (2005) is also vitally helpful on Liebman’s career.

  For background on the life and career of Norman Vincent Peale I benefited from discussions with Rick Hamlin, the executive editor of the magazine Peale founded, Guideposts, conducted on August 18, 2011, and with Peale’s successor at Marble Collegiate Church, Rev. Arthur Caliandro, conducted on August 23, 2011. Caliandro, a minister of great substance and sensitivity, passed away on December 30, 2012. The conclusions reached in the chapter are strictly my own. I am also grateful to Sally Rhine Feather and Susan Freeman for providing me with key primary documents from the Duke University Libraries Special Collection of Parapsychology Laboratory Records, 1893–1984, which includes correspondence between psychical researcher J. B. Rhine and both Peale and Blanton (material I hope to more fully explore in another volume), as well as early promotional literature from the Religio-Psychiatric Clinic. Peale’s record on the bestseller list is from Bear (1992). Peale’s reference to “sc
ientist of the spiritual life” is from A Guide to Confident Living (Prentice-Hall, 1948). Blanton’s statement on the transformative powers of the unconscious is from his and Peale’s coauthored book (in which he and Peale wrote alternate chapters), Faith Is the Answer: A Psychiatrist and a Pastor Discuss Your Problems (Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1940). The numbers of clients at the clinic are from Carol V. R. George’s indispensable biography, God’s Salesman: Norman Vincent Peale and the Power of Positive Thinking (Oxford University Press, 1993). Peale’s quotes on Ernest Holmes are from “The Pathway to Positive Thinking: Recollections by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale” by Elaine St. Johns, Science of Mind, June 1987. I further explore the Holmes-Peale relationship in my Occult America (2009) and in “The Mystic and the Minister,” Science of Mind, October 2010. The intersections between Peale and Florence Scovel Shinn are explored in “Peale’s Secret Source” by George D. Exoo and John Gregory Tweed, Lutheran Quarterly, Summer 1995. Peale’s father is quoted from The Tough-Minded Optimist by Norman Vincent Peale (Prentice-Hall, 1961). The rescinded invitation to Dale Carnegie is noted by George (1993). The corporate subscriptions to Guideposts are noted in The American Myth of Success: From Horatio Alger to Norman Vincent Peale by Richard Weiss (University of Illinois Press, 1969), an important study on the shaping of a success mind-set in America.

  Peale’s reference to a “sinister shadow” is from George (1993). The Citizens for Religious Freedom statement is from “Protestant Groups’ Statements,” New York Times, September 8, 1960. Peale’s reference to a “philosophical” discussion is from George. Peale’s reference to “the general subject of religious freedom” is from his memoir, The True Joy of Positive Living (Ballantine, 1984). His statement “I never been too bright” and the congregation’s reaction are from “Minister Backed by Congregation” by Homer Bigart, New York Times, September 19, 1960. Peale’s 1960 comments “I don’t care a bit” and “Protestant America got its death blow” appear in George, who provides an extremely valuable record of this period. Peale’s statement “as time passes men’s ideas change” is from a letter of February 5, 1936, to congregant Edward M. Porter. Porter’s grandson, James Porter, shared this correspondence and other valuable material from his family’s attendance at Marble Collegiate.

  George Santayana is quoted from his memorial to William James in Santayana’s Character and Opinion in the United States (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920). Peale’s friendship with Tehilla Lichtenstein is noted by Umansky (2005). Peale’s quote “you couldn’t get me near a politician” is from “Norman Vincent Peale: The High Priest of Positive Thinking Is Undiminished by Age, Untouched by Self-Doubt,” by D. Keith Mano, People, April 12, 1982. Peale’s assessment of New Thought is from a 1989 interview with George (1993). An overall help in grasping Peale’s career, and an important critique of it, is Donald Meyer’s The Positive Thinkers (1965, 1980, 1988).

  Gerald Ford’s evaluation of Reagan is from Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power by Lou Cannon (Public Affairs, 2003). Newsweek’s assessment of Reagan was “What Would Reagan Really Do?” by Andrew Romano, July 19, 2010. Reagan’s statements about his acting career are from Cannon (2003). Eden Gray’s (1901–1999) recollections of Reagan were related to me by documentarian William Kennedy, who knew Gray, in an interview of January 27, 2011. Reagan’s quotes about Jeane Dixon and his musings on the qualities of Aquarians appeared in a syndicated article by freelance journalist Angela Fox Dunn; the version I used is “Reagan: A Personal Profile,” Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), July 20, 1980.

  Reagan’s childhood recollections are from his memoir, Where’s the Rest of Me? coauthored with Richard G. Hubler (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1965). Lou Cannon calls Nelle a “determined improver” in his Reagan (Putnam, 1982). Dunn (1980) says Nelle “encouraged positive thinking.” Nelle’s poem is quoted from Bob Colacello’s Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House (Warner, 2004). Colacello’s account is one of the most insightful chronicles of Reagan’s rise. Lou Cannon is quoted (“within the Reagan household”) from his Governor Reagan (2003). The reference to a “class of destiny” is from Cannon’s Reagan (1982).

  D. D. Palmer’s reference to “the spiritual world” is from his posthumous book The Chiropractor (Press of Beacon Light Printing Company, 1914). B. J. Palmer’s reference to the serpent, and other details of his garden, are from his massive volume (one of several he produced), The Bigness of the Fellow Within (Palmer College of Chiropractic, 1949). Reagan recalled the college walls having slogans in his memoir (1965). B.J.’s “THINK! SPEAK!” appeared in his grandson David D. Palmer’s book, The Palmers (Bowden Bros., 1977). B.J.’s reference to “INNATE” is from Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home by Garry Wills (Doubleday, 1986).

  Parts of my section on Reagan and Manly P. Hall previously appeared in my “Reagan and the Occult,” Washington Post, April 30, 2010. Edmund Morris is quoted from his important and often-misunderstood biography of Reagan, Dutch (Random House, 1999). That book and Morris’s “Portrait of the President as a Young Man,” New York Times, April 2, 2006, expanded my understanding of Reagan’s spiritual life. Also helpful in that regard were conversations with documentarian Stephen K. Bannon. Manly P. Hall’s earliest writing on the “unknown speaker” appeared in his journal Horizon, February 1943, which served as a precursor to his 1944 account in The Secret Destiny of America (Philosophical Research Society). For more on Hall’s career, see my Occult America (2009).

  Reagan’s statements about cancer are from “The Presidency: A Conversation with Ronald Reagan” by Hugh Sidey, Time, August 25, 1985. I am indebted to Cannon’s Governor Reagan (2003) for directing me to that passage. Reagan’s references to World War I are from Cannon (2003). For Reagan’s affinity for science fiction see Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars, and the End of the Cold War by Frances FitzGerald (Simon & Schuster, 2000). Lucille Ball’s recollection of Reagan’s UFO account is from Lucy in the Afternoon: An Intimate Memoir of Lucille Ball by Jim Brochu (William Morrow & Co., 1990). Senator Charles Schumer is quoted from “The Senator and the Street” by Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker, August 2, 2010. Quimby’s quote on “man’s happiness” is from The Quimby Manuscripts (1921).

  CHAPTER SEVEN:

  THE SPIRIT OF SUCCESS

  For a helpful digest of current prosperity-themed ministers and life coaches see John S. Haller Jr.’s The History of New Thought (Swedenborg Foundation Press, 2012). On the controversies surrounding Robert H. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral, sources include the following articles from the New York Times: “Opening of Crystal Cathedral Is a Feast for the Eyes and Ears” by Robert Lindsey, May 15, 1980; “Founder Retires from Megachurch” by Associated Press, July 11, 2010; “Dispute over Succession Clouds Megachurch” by Laurie Goodstein, October 23, 2010; “Ailing Megachurch Selling Its Property” by Ian Lovett, May 27, 2011; “Crystal Cathedral’s Founder Quits Its Board” by Associated Press, March 10, 2012; and “Founding Family Decides to Leave Crystal Cathedral” by Ian Lovett, March 11, 2012. From USA Today, see “Catholic Diocese Buys Crystal Cathedral for $57M” by Douglas Stanglin, November 18, 2011. On the development of Schuller’s career see “Mountains into Gold Mines: Robert Schuller’s Gospel of Success” by Dennis N. Voskuil, The Reformed Journal, May 1981.

  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).