PLUS: Prosperity Consciousness

How the higher self gets into business

High on the New Paradigm agenda is transformation of corporations by increasing to a "critical mass" the number of individual psychic experiences. The primary means for achieving transformation of individual consciousness is Transcendental Meditation or other "psychotechnologies" with occult potential.

Meditation techniques taught to relieve executive stress are typically the Trojan Horse into the business world for subtly effecting conversion to a New Age perspective. Fundamental to the worldview of inner-directed meditation (rather than meditation directed toward a transcendent God) is the assumption that all is one: matter and spirit, creature and creator.

The belief that humanity is destined to realize its divinity is the underlying assumption in some seminars of Landmark Education (formerly Werner Erhard's Transformational Technologies), Lifespring, and others with major corporations on their client lists. Monism comes to the fore when salespeople are taught to center on the "higher self" and become one with the "Universal Mind" and its unlimited abundance.

A salesperson focusing on the "higher self" detaches from traditional, quantifiable business goals (such as sales quotas) that feed the ego. Instead, accrual of wealth (sales) comes about as a byproduct of spiritual progress.

As Deepak Chopra describes it in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, when the universal laws of wealth consciousness are assimilated, they will provide the ability to create unlimited riches "with effortless ease, and to experience success in every endeavor."

Similar philosophies have roots in the metaphysical cults of Charles Fillmore's Unity School of Christianity and the 19th-century New Thought (mind-healing) movement—the same taproot that eventually produced the so-called Prosperity Gospel.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere

Also appearing on our site today:

The Higher Self Gets Down to Business | An old movement appears anew—in the corporate world.

Utopia or Kingdom Come? | Discerning wheat from chaff in the new business spirituality.

Organizations or conferences mentioned in the article include:

Scruples' online sites offer resources, articles, and web forums on spirituality in the workplace.

Marketplace Ministries exists to share God's love through chaplains in the workplace by on-site Employee Assistance Program for client companies.

In November 1999, BusinessWeek looked at the growing presence of spirituality in Corporate America in the article, "Religion in the Workplace."

Beliefnet.com has an archive of articles on spirituality and religion in business.

Our Latest

Ethics Aren’t Graded on a Curve

President Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden was wrong, and no amount of bad behavior from Donald Trump changes that fact.

News

UK Christians Lament Landmark Vote to Legalize Assisted Dying 

Pro-life faith leaders say Parliament’s proposed bill fails to protect the vulnerable and fear it will “create more suffering and chaos.”

Strike Up the Band: Sixpence None the Richer Goes Back on Tour

With its perennial hit “Kiss Me” still in our ears and on our playlists, the Christian band reunites with nothing to prove.

Christianity Today’s Book of the Year

Two volumes rose to the head of the class.

The Bulletin

Matrescence with Lucy Jones

 

The Bulletin welcomes Lucy Jones for a conversation with Clarissa Moll on the neuroscience and social transformation of motherhood. 

Testimony

I Demolished My Faith for ‘My Best Life.’ It Only Led to Despair.

Queer love, polyamory, and drugs ruined me. That’s where Jesus found me.

The Book Screwtape Feared Most

Once a bedrock Christian classic, Boethius’s “Consolation of Philosophy” has been neglected for decades. It’s time for a revival.

Being Human

Airport Anxiety and Purposeful Publishing with Joy Allmond

CT’s executive editor learned to care for people as a 9/11-era flight attendant.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube