Norman Vincent Peale
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Norman Vincent Peale

Norman Vincent Peale
Born May 31, 1898(1898-05-31)
Bowersville, Ohio
Died December 24, 1993 (aged 95)
Pawling, New York
Occupation Author, Professional speaker, Minister
Nationality American
Genres Motivational
Subjects Positive thinking
Influenced
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Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was a Protestant preacher and author (most notably of the controversial The Power of Positive Thinking) and a progenitor of the theory of "positive thinking".

Contents

Biography

Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio and died in Pawling, New York. He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University and Boston University School of Theology.

Raised as a Methodist and originally ordained as a Methodist minister in 1922, Peale changed his religious affiliation to the Reformed Church in America in 1932 and began a 52-year tenure as pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. During that time the church's membership grew from 600 to over 5000, and he became one of New York City’s most famous preachers.

Peale and Smiley Blanton, a psychoanalyst, established a religio-psychiatric outpatient clinic next door to the church. The two men wrote books together, notably Faith Is the Answer: A Psychiatrist and a Pastor Discuss Your Problems (1940). The book was written in alternating chapters, with Blanton writing one chapter, then Peale, and so on. Blanton espoused no particular religious point of view in his chapters. In 1951 this clinic of psychotherapy and religion grew into the American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry, with Peale serving as president and Blanton as executive director. 1 Blanton handled difficult psychiatric cases and Peale, who had no mental health credentials, handled religious issues. (Meyer, Donald. The Positive Thinkers. Pantheon Books, 1965)

Peale started a radio program, "The Art of Living," in 1935, which lasted for 54 years. Under sponsorship of the National Council of Churches he moved into television when the new medium arrived. In the meantime he had begun to edit the magazine Guideposts and to write books. His sermons were mailed monthly. 2

During the depression Peale teamed with James Cash Penney, founder of J.C. Penney & Co.; Arthur Godfrey, the radio and TV personality; and Thomas J. Watson, President and Founder of IBM to form the first board of 40Plus, an organization that helps unemployed managers and executives.

In 1945, Dr. Peale, his wife, Ruth Stafford Peale, and Raymond Thornburg, a Pawling, New York businessman founded Guideposts magazine, a non-denominational forum for celebrities and ordinary people to relate inspirational stories. For its launch, they raised $1,200 from Frank Gannett, founder of the Gannett newspaper chain, J. Howard Pew, a Philadelphia industrialist and Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Peale was a prolific writer; The Power of Positive Thinking is by far his most widely read work. First published in 1952, it stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 1863 consecutive weeks, and according to the publisher, Simon and Schuster, the book has sold around 5 million copies. Nearly half of the sales of the book (2.1 mil.) occurred before 1958 ("Pitchman in the Pulpit." Fuller, Edmund. Saturday Review, March 19, 1957, pp.28-30), and the book has sold less than 3 million copies over the past 50 years. Some of his other popular works include The Art of Living, A Guide to Confident Living, The Tough-Minded Optimist, and Inspiring Messages for Daily Living.

In 1947 Peale co-founded (along with educator Kenneth Beebe) The Horatio Alger Association. This organization aims to recognize and honor Americans who have been successful in spite of difficult circumstances they have faced.

Other organizations founded by Peale include the Peale Center, the Positive Thinking Foundation and Guideposts Publications, all of which aim to promote Peale's theories about positive thinking.

For his contributions to the field of theology, President Ronald Reagan awarded Peale the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian honor in the United States) on March 26, 1984. He died of stroke on December 24, 1993 at age 95.

He was also the subject of the 1964 film One Man's Way.

Peale was also a Scottish Rite Freemason (33°). 4

Beliefs

“Positive thinking,” as described by Peale could be broken down into a three step process of practicing repeated self-hypnosis, attaining “divine” or God’s power to use for oneself, and eliminating and avoiding all negativity in life.

The first step in positive thinking is focused on the use of repeated "techniques." Peale describes positive thinking as first and foremost as “simply a series of practical and workable techniques for living a successful life.” 5

Peale, who had no mental health credentials, was vague as to a definition of his "techniques," although he repeatedly stated that they were scientifically proven and "firmly established as documented and demonstrable truth." 6 Mental health experts, however, clearly saw and identified the techniques as hypnosis.7 Hypnosis is defined as "A trance like state that resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject."8

The reader was instructed through constant repetition of affirmations to bypass his conscious mind and implant suggestions into his unconscious mind where they would operate automatically, without the interference of conscious will. “Let them sink into your unconscious and they can help you overcome any difficulty. Say them over and over again. Say them until your mind accepts them, until you believe them – faith power works wonders.”9 Peale's readers were instructed to "pray ceaselessly," to use his techniques repetitively and permanently.

Peale promised the reader that if they followed and practiced his techniques, they could attain success over almost any adversity. “It is a power that can blast out all defeat and lift a person above all difficult situations.”10 Peale insisted that the only way to acquire these attitudes was through the unconscious and through his techniques. Peale repeatedly instructed his readers that their conscious will, their self knowledge, self determination, courage and intelligence were not enough to live a successful life. He described these conscious acts of will as unreliable, untrustworthy and not sufficient to meet the demands of life. Peale repeatedly told his readers they were powerless without his "techniques." Peale insisted that the conscious, self-determining self was to be rejected, disempowered and “surrendered,” so that Peale’s techniques and the unconscious were now the determining and motivating factors in the individual’s life.

The payoff for this rejection of self, according to Peale, was the attainment of God’s power, “I hereby draw power from You as an illimitable source,”11 is one Peale formula. Men now had superhuman powers, and God had now become "man's omnipotent slave." 12 Peale further said that regular prayer was insufficient to meet the demands of life, that in order for prayer to really work the reader had to use his techniques. Peale said controlling the unconscious, using his techniques, was the only channel to attain God’s power. “Surface skimming, formalistic and perfunctory prayer is not sufficiently powerful” 13 says Peale when describing his “prayers” for overcoming an inferiority complex. Formalistic prayer used for thousands of years by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and other mainstream religions didn’t produce sufficient results according to Peale.

Peale also promised his readers that if they followed his techniques that they could always think positively and remove all negativity from their lives. Negative attitudes were not to be tolerated but avoided at all costs according to Peale. Negative thoughts were to be repressed, cancelled out and destroyed through his techniques. “It is important to eliminate from conversations all negative ideas, for they tend to produce annoyance and tension inwardly." 14

The Peale statements, and the words that made them up were actual “things” according to Peale. “Thoughts are things,”15 and the repetition of his phrases were more important than actions. Repeating positive only statements would cause only positive things to happen. But according to Peale, the reverse is also true. Thinking negatively causes negative things to happen. Thus the fear of negativity, of avoiding all negative, fearful "thoughts" and realities is part and parcel of positive thinking. There can be no positive thinking without this avoidance of negative thinking, according to Peale. “Never think of the worst. Drop it out of your thought, relegate it. Let there be no thought in your mind that the worst will happen. Avoid entertaining the concept of the worst, for whatever you take into your mind can grow there.” 16

Praise

The Rev. Billy Graham said at the National Council of Churches on June 12, 1966 that "I don't know of anyone who had done more for the kingdom of God than Norman and Ruth Peale or have meant anymore in my life for the encouragement they have given me."17

Upon hearing of Dr. Peale's death, U.S. President Bill Clinton had this to say: The name of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale will forever be associated with the wondrously American values of optimism and service. Dr. Peale was an optimist who believed that whatever the antagonisms and complexities of modern life brought us, that anyone could prevail by approaching life with a simple sense of faith. And he served us by instilling that optimism in every Christian and every other person who came in contact with his writings or his hopeful soul. In a productive and giving life that spanned the 20th century, Dr. Peale lifted the spirits of millions and millions of people who were nourished and sustained by his example, his teaching, and his giving. While the Clinton family and all Americans mourn his loss, there is some poetry in his passing on a day when the world celebrates the birth of Christ, an idea that was central to Dr. Peale's message and Dr. Peale's work. He will be missed.18

Evangelist Robert Schuller has praised him, too.19

Quotations

Facts

  • Dr.Ernest Holmes founder of the Religious Science movement was a mentor to Peale.
  • Peale took several of Holmes' Foundation classes (New Thought).Tag line of Class, "Change your thinking, change your life".
  • Modern televangelist and minister Robert H. Schuller was mentored by Peale. Like Peale, Schuller has also authored many religious self-help books, including Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking (1973).

Cultural references

A selection of his books

  • Stay Alive All Your Life (1957)
  • The Power of Positive Thinking, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (August 1, 1996). ISBN 0-449-91147-0
  • Guide to Confident Living, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (September 1, 1996). ISBN 0-449-91192-6
  • Six Attitudes for Winners, Tyndale House Publishers; (May 1, 1990). ISBN 0-8423-5906-0
  • Positive Thinking Every Day : An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year, Fireside; (December 6, 1993). ISBN 0-671-86891-8
  • Positive Imaging, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (September 1, 1996). ISBN 0-449-91164-0
  • You Can If You Think You Can, Fireside Books; (August 26, 1987). ISBN 0-671-76591-4
  • Thought Conditioners, Foundation for Christian; Reprint edition (December 1, 1989). ISBN 99910-38-92-2
  • In God We Trust: A Positive Faith for Troubled Times, Thomas Nelson Inc; Reprint edition (November 1, 1995). ISBN 0-7852-7675-0
  • Norman Vincent Peale's Treasury of Courage and Confidence, Doubleday; (June 1970). ISBN 0-385-07062-4
  • My Favorite Hymns and the Stories Behind Them, Harpercollins; 1st ed edition (September 1, 1994). ISBN 0-06-066463-0
  • The Power of Positive Thinking for Young People, Random House Children's Books (A Division of Random House Group); (December 31, 1955). ISBN 0-437-95110-3
  • The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking, Fireside; Fireside edition (March 12, 2003). ISBN 0-7432-3483-9
  • Stay Alive All Your Life, Fawcett Books; Reissue edition (August 1, 1996). ISBN 0-449-91204-3
  • "You Can Have God's Help with Daily Problems" FCL Copyright 1956-1980 LOC card #7957646
  • Faith Is the Answer: A Psychiatrist and a Pastor Discuss Your Problems, Smiley Blanton and Norman Vincent Peale, Kessinger Publishing (march 28, 2007), ISBN 1432570005 (10), ISBN 978-1432570002 (13)
  • Power of the Plus Factor, A Fawcett Crest Book, Published by Ballantine Books, 1987, ISBN 0-449-21600-4
  • This Incredible Century, Peale Center for Christian Living, 1991, ISBN 0-8423-4615-5

References

  1. ^ from Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
  2. ^ Norman Vincent Peale: Turning America On To Positive Thinking
  3. ^ CHRONICLE - New York Times
  4. ^ Freemasonry and Religion
  5. ^ Power of Positive Thinking, Epilogue: Power of Positive Thinking
  6. ^ Ibid. Introduction, p. X
  7. ^ Murphy, R.C. "Think Right: Reverend Peale's Panacea." The Nation. May 7, 1955, pp.398-400
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Dictionary on-line
  9. ^ Power of Positive Thinking, p.104
  10. ^ Ibid, p.175
  11. ^ Ibid, p.45
  12. ^ Cate, C.W. "God and Success." The Atlantic. V.199, April 1957, pp. 74-76
  13. ^ Power of Positive Thinking, p.17
  14. ^ Ibid, p.33
  15. ^ Ibid, p. 169
  16. ^ Ibid, p.103
  17. ^ Hayes Minnick, BFT Report #565 p. 28
  18. ^ Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents|Date: 1/3/1994
  19. ^ Norman Vincent Peale

External links

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