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The Greatest Power in the Universe by U. S. Andersen
The Greatest Power in the Universe Paperback – December 1, 1978 by U. S. Andersen (Author)
Paperback
First published December 1, 1978
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About the author
Uell Stanley Andersen
15 books60 followersUell Stanley Andersen was a successful self-help author in the 1950s and 1960s. Once a professional football player, he had a number of careers including running an advertising agency, wild-catting for oil, logging at the Columbia Sawmill, and acting as a gunnery officer on a destroyer escort.
Born in the USA of Norwegian parentage, U. S. Andersen developed his inspiring, dynamic philosophy during a very active life. He learned about the psychology of winning when he was a football great. In World War II he served as a Naval officer and in the heat of battle learned that evil is the great illusion and that sin is error. It was in Mary Baker Eddy's book "Science and Health" that he first glimpsed these great truths, and he later quoted from her book in some of his own metaphysical writings. In later years as a successful Los Angeles businessman, he learned that the secret of success is to create rather than to compete.
As well as the Christian Science writings of Mary Baker Eddy, Andersen also studied the mystical teachings and philosophies of Emmanuel Swedenborg, of the American "sleeping prophet", Edgar Cayce, of the celebrated Scottish spiritualist Daniel Dunglas Home, of philosopher Jacob Boehme, and the poetry of William Blake and Edward Carpenter, among others, and his own belief system was in effect a synthesis of the spiritual and mystical teachings of these writers. Jacob Boehme stated that when he was working he was the helpless tool of some power other than his normal surface mind, and Andersen clearly believed that some area of mental or spiritual existence, of immensely heightened perception, exists beyond and above man's surface personality and mind.
His concept of Reality as explained in his various books is very much inline with New Thought teachings: "Universal Mind is a vast and all-encompassing mental and spiritual being in whom all things and events exist. The principal quality of this Mind is that it is just one, infinite in size, eternal in scope, and nothing exists outside It. It is an enormous sea of consciousness, pervading all, supporting all, and individual consciousness grows out of It. All things are made from It; It is rock, sea, bird, beast, man. All things in their true essence, then, are mental, or spiritual, and the rock itself is not a rock at all but merely an example of enclosed or restricted consciousness. Awareness is in the rock. Universal Mind is there." (The Secret of Secrets, 1958.)
An articulate spokesman for mystical patriotism — the spiritual meaning of America — he was an unforgettable lecturer; and his insights into ecology led to the founding of his Atlantis University in Newport, Oregon, from where he taught his own brand of mysticism.
He published under the names U.S. Andersen and Uell S. Andersen.
He wrote the screenplay for the movie “The Charlatans.”
His short story Turn Ever so Quickly was included in Houghton Mifflin's anthology The Best American Short Stories of 1963.
Born in the USA of Norwegian parentage, U. S. Andersen developed his inspiring, dynamic philosophy during a very active life. He learned about the psychology of winning when he was a football great. In World War II he served as a Naval officer and in the heat of battle learned that evil is the great illusion and that sin is error. It was in Mary Baker Eddy's book "Science and Health" that he first glimpsed these great truths, and he later quoted from her book in some of his own metaphysical writings. In later years as a successful Los Angeles businessman, he learned that the secret of success is to create rather than to compete.
As well as the Christian Science writings of Mary Baker Eddy, Andersen also studied the mystical teachings and philosophies of Emmanuel Swedenborg, of the American "sleeping prophet", Edgar Cayce, of the celebrated Scottish spiritualist Daniel Dunglas Home, of philosopher Jacob Boehme, and the poetry of William Blake and Edward Carpenter, among others, and his own belief system was in effect a synthesis of the spiritual and mystical teachings of these writers. Jacob Boehme stated that when he was working he was the helpless tool of some power other than his normal surface mind, and Andersen clearly believed that some area of mental or spiritual existence, of immensely heightened perception, exists beyond and above man's surface personality and mind.
His concept of Reality as explained in his various books is very much inline with New Thought teachings: "Universal Mind is a vast and all-encompassing mental and spiritual being in whom all things and events exist. The principal quality of this Mind is that it is just one, infinite in size, eternal in scope, and nothing exists outside It. It is an enormous sea of consciousness, pervading all, supporting all, and individual consciousness grows out of It. All things are made from It; It is rock, sea, bird, beast, man. All things in their true essence, then, are mental, or spiritual, and the rock itself is not a rock at all but merely an example of enclosed or restricted consciousness. Awareness is in the rock. Universal Mind is there." (The Secret of Secrets, 1958.)
An articulate spokesman for mystical patriotism — the spiritual meaning of America — he was an unforgettable lecturer; and his insights into ecology led to the founding of his Atlantis University in Newport, Oregon, from where he taught his own brand of mysticism.
He published under the names U.S. Andersen and Uell S. Andersen.
He wrote the screenplay for the movie “The Charlatans.”
His short story Turn Ever so Quickly was included in Houghton Mifflin's anthology The Best American Short Stories of 1963.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 29, 2020
I did enjoy one concept in this book - that tension in the body is because you will either not allow something out (speak up for yourself, breathe, etc.) or because you will not allow something in (someone else's anger, breath, a new thought, etc.).
What I did not enjoy was that the author let me know that he was severely overweight and a smoker and this was after he had written several books on the power of consciousness. He did not practice what he preached and therefore lent a certain doubt to his theories and other books. I have read one of them and found more than once concept that made me think from a different perspective but if his theories are right, then why didn't he practice them?
In the author's desire to achieve alpha state of the brain, he took various drugs (that were popular when this book was written in 1976). Certainly, this is an easy way to obtain various states of brain waves, but hardly shows any sort of discipline and does show an attempt to control things. It's also easier to cheat on an exam, but again, no discipline and only a temporary solution.
Lastly, the book is sexist. Andersen so obviously writes for the male audience - he uses only men as examples of genius and he refers to men coming up with ideas while shaving.
What I did not enjoy was that the author let me know that he was severely overweight and a smoker and this was after he had written several books on the power of consciousness. He did not practice what he preached and therefore lent a certain doubt to his theories and other books. I have read one of them and found more than once concept that made me think from a different perspective but if his theories are right, then why didn't he practice them?
In the author's desire to achieve alpha state of the brain, he took various drugs (that were popular when this book was written in 1976). Certainly, this is an easy way to obtain various states of brain waves, but hardly shows any sort of discipline and does show an attempt to control things. It's also easier to cheat on an exam, but again, no discipline and only a temporary solution.
Lastly, the book is sexist. Andersen so obviously writes for the male audience - he uses only men as examples of genius and he refers to men coming up with ideas while shaving.
July 17, 2022
In a word Mindbending! Yay Uell!
August 20, 2025
Weird but fun book
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews