Creative Visualization (New Age)
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Creative visualization is a term used by
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
,
popular psychology Popular psychology (sometimes shortened as pop psychology or pop psych) is the concepts and theories about human mental life and behavior that are purportedly based on psychology and that find credence among and pass muster with the populace. The ...
, and self-help authors and teachers in two contexts. Firstly, it is used by some to denote the practice of generating positive and pleasant visual
mental image A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...
ry with
intent Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ''a ...
to recover from physical sickness or
disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
and eliminate
psychological pain Psychological pain, mental pain, or emotional pain is an unpleasant feeling (a suffering) of a psychological, non-physical origin. A pioneer in the field of suicidology, Edwin S. Shneidman, described it as "how much you hurt as a human being. I ...
. Secondly, it is used by others to signify the generation of autobiographical
visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (th ...
mental image A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...
ry, by which the participant envisions themselves in desired circumstances, commonly evoking prospective images that depict abundance of financial wealth, professional or vocational success and achievement, pervasive
health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
, and persistent
happiness Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. ...
.


Background


Creative visualization and New Age popularity

The use of the term 'Creative Visualization' to denote the practice of visualizing idealized autobiographical
mental image A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...
ry indicative of physical, psychological,
social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
, and financial goals has remained one of many
self-realization Self-realization is an expression used in Western psychology, philosophy, and spirituality; and in Indian religions. In the Western understanding, it is the "fulfillment by oneself of the possibilities of one's character or personality" ( ...
or
self-actualization Self-actualization, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is the highest level of psychological development, where personal potential is fully realized after basic bodily and ego needs have been fulfilled. Self-actualization was coined by the organis ...
pursuits characteristic of
popular psychology Popular psychology (sometimes shortened as pop psychology or pop psych) is the concepts and theories about human mental life and behavior that are purportedly based on psychology and that find credence among and pass muster with the populace. The ...
and the
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
since the personal development author Shakti Gawain published a book entitled ''Creative Visualization'' in 1978.Gawain, S., Creative visualization. New World Library, 2002.Rindfleish, J., Consuming the self: New Age spirituality as “social product” in consumer society. Consumption, Markets and Culture, Vol. 8, No. 4, 2005, pp343-360. The first line of the book reads "Creative Visualization is the technique of creating what you want in your life". The following opening paragraphs define imagination as the "creative energy of the universe", and introduces the book as a means by which to use the so-defined imagination to "create what you ''truly'' want — love, fulfillment, enjoyment, satisfying relationships, rewarding work, self-expression, health, beauty, prosperity, inner peace, and harmony."


Nineteenth century origins in New Thought

Gawain's book popularized a
premise A premise or premiss is a true or false statement that helps form the body of an argument, which logically leads to a true or false conclusion. A premise makes a declarative statement about its subject matter which enables a reader to either agre ...
derived from the New Thought movement that began during the nineteenth century, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. The
premise A premise or premiss is a true or false statement that helps form the body of an argument, which logically leads to a true or false conclusion. A premise makes a declarative statement about its subject matter which enables a reader to either agre ...
is that individuals have a mind containing mental content, including thoughts,
images An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...
,
memories Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
, and predictions, which become manifested through the experience of living.Dresser, H. W., A History of the New Thought Movement, TY Crowell Co. 1919.


Claims and hypotheses

According to advocates of New Thought, physical sickness and mental illness, as well as unfortunate circumstances, are the consequence of such
mental content The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for vario ...
. Furthermore, they allege that when an individual controls, modifies, and regulates their mind and
mental content The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for vario ...
, then material life and the experience of living alters accordingly, healing physical sickness,
disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
and
psychological pain Psychological pain, mental pain, or emotional pain is an unpleasant feeling (a suffering) of a psychological, non-physical origin. A pioneer in the field of suicidology, Edwin S. Shneidman, described it as "how much you hurt as a human being. I ...
, and transforming destitution, indenture, and misery into
wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
, autonomy, and
happiness Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. ...
. Gawain's book focuses primarily on making changes to
visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (th ...
mental image A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...
ry, and attributes to it the capacity for hindering or facilitating an individual's
potential Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate things that are in a state where they are able to change in ways ranging from the simple r ...
, citing
vivid Vivid may refer to: Music * Vivid (band), a Japanese rock band * "Vivid" (song), by Electronic, 1999 *"ViViD", a 2016 song by Loona from '' HeeJin'' Albums * ''Vivid'' (Vivian Green album), 2015 * ''Vivid'' (Crystal Kay album), 2012 * ''Vivi ...
anecdotal stories drawn from her experience and that of others to support her thesis. Subsequent to the popularity of the book, the practice of creative visualization, as described by
Gawain Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
, remained a staple and stable feature within the
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
movement, self-help media, and
popular psychology Popular psychology (sometimes shortened as pop psychology or pop psych) is the concepts and theories about human mental life and behavior that are purportedly based on psychology and that find credence among and pass muster with the populace. The ...
of the 1980s, 1990s, and first decade of the 21st century.


Universal energy in eastern cultures

The belief in a universal life force or energy was and remains common to diverse ancient traditions, where it is variously named Qi or
Ch'i In traditional Chinese culture and the East Asian cultural sphere, ''qi'', also ''ki'' or ''chi'' in Wade–Giles romanization ( ), is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity. Literally meaning "vapor", "air", or " ...
in Chinese culture, (Traditional Chinese: 氣), (Simplified Chinese: 气), and Prana (Sanskrit: प्राण) in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n Hindu-based
philosophies Philosophical schools of thought and philosophical movements. A Absurdism - Action, philosophy of - Actual idealism - Actualism - Advaita Vedanta - Aesthetic Realism - Aesthetics - African philosophy - Afrocentrism - Agential realism - ...
,
religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
, and cosmologies, and thereby was not an original concept formulated by
Gawain Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
.


Creative visualization and universal energy in the 21st century

The claim that thoughts and visual mental images are composed of a universal energy described by Gawain in 1978 as the "creative energy of the universe", which can be brought under volitional control by Creative Visualization was amplified and exaggerated twenty-eight years later by the author and television producer,
Rhonda Byrne Rhonda Byrne ( ; née Izon; born 1951, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian television writer and producer. Her book '' The Secret'' is based on the belief of the pseudoscientific law of attraction, which claims that thoughts can change a p ...
. In 2006, Byrne made a film called ''The Secret'',The Secret, TS Production LLC. DVD Release Date: October 1, 2006. ASIN: B000K8LV1O. and compiled a subsequent
book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...
of the same name, which made significant claims for the potential human use of such an energy, and popularized a
maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...
called the Law of Attraction, originally proposed in 1906 by New Thought author
William Walker Atkinson William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 – November 22, 1932) was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is the author of the pseudonymous works attribut ...
, in his book ''Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World''. Byrne's book and film ''The Secret'', and its rendition of the Law of Attraction, asserted three claims. Firstly, that thoughts and other
mental content The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for vario ...
, such as
visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (th ...
imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as psychotherapy. Forms There are five major types of sensory im ...
, is composed of " pure energy". Secondly, that this is the same
energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
that permeates everyone, everything, and brings order to the
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...
. Thirdly, that this
energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
obeys the principle of 'like attracts like', such that if you
think In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...
negative thoughts, or visualize unpleasant or undesirable
images An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...
, the energy of which those thoughts and images are allegedly made will attract the material manifestation of what you think and visualize. According to advocates of this
maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...
, including Bob Proctor,
Neale Donald Walsch Neale Donald Walsch (born September 10, 1943) is an American author of the series ''Conversations with God''. He is also an actor, screenwriter, and speaker. Biography Walsch was brought up as a Catholic by a family who encouraged his quest for ...
, and
Jack Canfield Jack Canfield (born August 19, 1944) is an American author, motivational speaker, corporate trainer, and entrepreneur. He is the co-author of the ''Chicken Soup for the Soul'' series, which has more than 250 titles and 500 million copies in prin ...
, it is also logically reversible, such that negative or undesirable circumstances are to be interpreted as the
causal Causality (also referred to as causation, or cause and effect) is influence by which one event, process, state, or object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the ca ...
outcome of negative thoughts and
images An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...
.


Criticism

Byrne's inspiration for ''The Secret'' came from a book entitled ''The Science of Getting Rich'', by writer Wallace D. Wattles, originally published in 1910. The assertions made in ''The Secret'' film and book have been widely criticized, sometimes scathingly, by a number of commentators, for implying that undesirable circumstances and conditions, such as poverty,
physical pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...
and
psychological pain Psychological pain, mental pain, or emotional pain is an unpleasant feeling (a suffering) of a psychological, non-physical origin. A pioneer in the field of suicidology, Edwin S. Shneidman, described it as "how much you hurt as a human being. I ...
, result exclusively from a failure to exercise control over the mind by successfully harnessing and directing a hypothetical universal energy, a concept upon which many
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
principles and practices rely. The concept of positive thinking has far-reaching implications in many arenas making it a dangerous ideology to promote. By simply thinking positively, people can “cure” themselves of physical diseases, such as cancer, and will often refuse medical intervention on such grounds. After The Secret aired on Oprah Winfrey, for example, a woman by the name of Kim Tinkham wrote a letter to Oprah telling her that she would be using positive mental imagery to fight against her breast-cancer diagnosis. In order to believe in the power of positive thinking to cure oneself of illness or improve one's life circumstances requires that we sacrifice rational thought as it goes against everything we know about the way the world works.Salerno, S. (2009). Positively misguided: The myths and mistakes of the Positive Thinking Movement. ''Skeptic, 14''(4), 30-37. The cost of promoting the positive thinking movement results in lives lost as people begin to refuse medical treatments in favour of “curing” themselves. There are other costs as well. For example, businesses that refuse to acknowledge any problems with their business strategies because it is seen as being too pessimistic. The person who does point out the flaws in business strategies is labelled as being all doom-and-gloom and an inadequate team player. In politics, it is also problematic because many campaigns and policy changes are promoted through the politicians’ sheer belief that a given policy or platform will be effective, rather than on the soundness of the policy itself.Salerno, S. (2009). Positively misguided: The myths and mistakes of the Positive Thinking Movement. ''Skpetic, 14''(4), 30-37. The problems the positive thinking movement has brought upon the education system absolutely must be addressed. The influence of the positive thinking movement can be seen in the move towards an education system that values boosting self-esteem over educational accomplishment. The idea was that boosting self-esteem would lead to high academic achievement, but all that has happened is that we focus exclusively on boosting self-esteem to the detriment of education attainment. Teachers cannot fail children so they are being passed through every grade regardless of their performance or how much knowledge they have demonstrated, and can pass in assignments whenever it so pleases them. Such an educational system, which has been influenced by the positive thinking movement, is detrimental to society as a whole because it produces entitled kids who have no sense of responsibility, hard work, or accountability and likely will not be the kind of citizens who will contribute in a meaningful way to society. Furthermore, such children will find it difficult to succeed in a work environment where qualities such as responsibility, hard work, and accountability are still highly valued.


References

{{New Age Movement New Age New Age practices