In Happy Lies, Melissa Dougherty deftly described how New Thought philosophy has infiltrated modern American culture. She noted where early New Thought authors sometimes wouldn’t use religious language when they taught New Thought concepts. “This made New Thought blend right into everyday life.” She said she was shocked to discover the influence that Emmet Fox, a prominent New Thought author, had on the early development of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Let’s examine how Emmet Fox was associated with and influenced AA.
Dougherty referenced an article originally published in the AA Grapevine, “What We Were Like.” The article described how early AA groups in New York City would frequently adjourn from their recovery meetings and go to Steinway Hall to listen to Emmet Fox lecture on New Thought philosophy. Serendipitously, the mother of one of the early recovering alcoholics in New York City AA was the secretary to Emmet Fox. But this wasn’t the only Fox connection.
“What We Were Like” was written by Igor S. for the AA Grapevine, the International Journal of Alcoholics Anonymous. The articles are mostly written by members of AA. Consistent with their principle of anonymity, AA members only use the initial of their last name. In the article Igor S. mentioned how The Sermon on the Mount, by Emmet Fox, was one of the three main books used by AA members before the publication of the AA “Big Book,” Alcoholics Anonymous.
In New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle, Mel B. said The Sermon on the Mount was “one of the society’s most useful guides until the publication of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939.” Bill W., a co-founder of AA, acknowledged the importance of the book to AA, but insisted it was not needed after the Big Book was published. Mel B. also said Bill W. and other early AA members attended Fox’s lectures in the late 1930s. “Fox never had any direct connection with AA, other than through his books, but his ministry seemed to have been timed to be of considerable benefit to the shaping of the [AA] fellowship.”
Fox’s book [The Sermon on the Mount] was released during one of the worst years of the Great Depression. It was first offered, in fact, in the same year [1934] Bill Wilson was bottoming out to begin the painful trek to sobriety and recovery.
Mel B. said the key to Fox’s appeal was in his strong personal belief in his teachings and his ability to offer practical ways of using spiritual methods such as prayer and meditation to solve personal problems. “Like the Oxford Group, Fox’s students learned to practice daily prayer and to seek guidance on matters of concern.” He was direct, forthright, and hopeful. “He was optimistic in the best sense, and so utterly sure of the gospel and its workability that his quiet confidence led men to want to hear him. His message was for ‘right now.’”
It was this “here and now” element in Fox’s messages that also must have appealed to the AA pioneers. The Sermon on the Mount was popular with Doctor Bob Smith [the other co-founder of AA] and the early Akron members, and is still offered for sale by some groups in the Midwest.
New Thought and Self-Help
Mel B. saw Emmet Fox as “part of the self-help development in the mid-1930s,” along with others like Dale Carnegie, who published How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936. He said Bill W. also took the Dale Carnegie speaking course in New York City. Regardless of the ideas gathered from various sources, Mel said AA was still a new idea when it emerged as a separate society in the late 1930s. “Whatever it owed to the mutual self-help ideas that were in the general atmosphere, the AA society was still a new creation with a distinct character of its own.” He thought AA helped condition the general atmosphere for the appearance of more self-help societies.
In Happy Lies Melissa Dougherty said regardless of what label it carries, the modern American self-help movement traces its roots back to New Thought authors and leaders. Along with Think and Grow Rich (first published in 1916) by Napoleon Hill, How to Win Friends and Influence People continue to be among the top-selling self-help books each year. “Both Carnegie and Hill were prominent New Thought ministers among many who spearheaded the self-help movement, marketing the Bible, God, Jesus, and the gospel as products to improve life.”
No matter what approach early New Thought leaders took, here’s their basic message: Your reality is what you think. Think yourself rich. Think yourself thin. Think yourself successful. Think yourself smart-ish. You name it. Change the way you think, and you will have the happiness and fulfillment you always looked for. It’s centered on you. It’s all within you. It’s all about you.
A concept becomes New Thought when it asserts that our thinking alone can be the catalyst for and cause of the change in your life. It becomes New Thought when we believe our thoughts have the power to change and manifest reality. It becomes New Thought when the universe, or a divine source, responds directly to human thought.
The fact is we’re made in the image of God, and this means we experience truth, love, and good things all the time. But Scripture says we’re shortchanged in these things until we find our ultimate purpose in Jesus alone. There are objectively good and true concepts, teachings, and lessons in many self-help systems, including A.A. But mixing truth with untruth can confuse people.
Dougherty said when she first read The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, she couldn’t put it down. Peale was a popular New Thought author and minister, another one of the many New Thought sources influencing our culture’s views on positive thinking, self-reliance, following your truth—”everything to do with yourself as the answer to your problems.” You are not the problem; you’re the solution. This creates a huge barrier to accepting the gospel. “And tragically, those who follow the religion of self-improvement ultimately become a slave to its never-ending works-based demands.”
Nearly every false idea today can be traced back to this false premise that humanity is fundamentally good. This leads to the gnostic delusion we can rediscover something deep within ourselves and awaken our divine potential. People don’t need a savior. “I’m my own savior. I am enough!”
Although New Thought thinking began with healing and was easily applied to alcoholism, Dougherty thought it grew to promote personal prosperity and correct the “lie” that humans are inherently sinful. People didn’t need to know they were sinners to stop drinking. They needed to know about their goodness and inner divinity—about the Christ within them. The false beliefs of religious fundamentalists about human sinfulness were holding them back. “This was nothing but fear-filled religious propaganda, keeping humans from reaching their true potential.”
“Many self-help messages mix truth with untruths, making it difficult to discern.” Many so-called Christian self-help books have New Thought teachings in common with their views on human nature, the Bible, the gospel, the divinity of humanity. They may have embraced New Thought philosophy and not be aware of it, according to Dougherty. “Ultimately, the self-help message twists everything around and makes us the heroes, not the villains.”
But it seems the AA sense of recovery was being guided away from the gospel before Bill W. heard the teachings of Emmet Fox or Dale Carnegie, before The Sermon on the Mount was given to early recovery prospects to read before the publication of the AA Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Read “The God of the Preachers” and “Spiritual, Not Religious Experience” to see how Bill W.’s encounter with “the God of the preachers” was influenced by William James and The Varieties of Religious Experience.
