The Heart of the New Thought

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) was an American author and poet. Her best-known work was Poems of Passion (1883), and her autobiography, The Worlds and I was published in 1918 shortly before her death. She started writing poetry at a very early age, and was well known as a poet in her own state by the time she graduated from high school. She married Robert Wilcox. Not long after their marriage, they both became interested in Theosophy, New Thought, and Spiritualism. She made efforts to teach occult things to the world. Her works, filled with positivism, were popular in the New Thought Movement and by 1915 her booklet, What I Know About New Thought had a distribution of 50,000 copies, according to its publisher, Elizabeth Towne.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction

81 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 1942

About the author

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet.

Her best-known work was "Poems of Passion". Her most enduring work was the poem "Solitude", which contains the lines:

"Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone".

Her autobiography, "The Worlds and I", was published in 1918, a year before her death.

Reviews

[Teressa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the Audible version of this book read and by Karen Commins.

"Heart of the New Thought Lacks Heart"

I'm on the fence with "The Heart of the New Thought." The audiobook didn't feel like it had much heart in it. The physical book was written over 100 years ago by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, perhaps loosely based on the 'New Thought movement' which was of the belief system that illness originates in the mind, and through God one could overcome any illness since illness was derived from erroneous beliefs. This very closely sounds like Christian Science. I found there were a few pearls of wisdom (very few) within this audiobook but the way in which they were put across sounded negative.

Karen Commins narrative of this book was mostly monotone. I would have liked it much better if it had been more upbeat and positive.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast."

[Malola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I thought it would be...

EWW doesn't give any true foundation (read: ontology and epistemology) for her philosophy (which by default I find annoying); however overall the book was nice. (It actually reminded me somewhat of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations with the assertions she makes.)

The meditation part (breathing exercises, habits of mind, power of thought) stroke a chord.
I reject the appeals to a god/higher power, but still it's worth reading.