Category: philosophical counseling

• March 25, 2026

  Yogic New Thought: Problems & Directions

  My wife Alexandra and I are currently writing a book entitled Yogic New Thought. New Thought is a largely American “metaphysical religion” that began in the second half of the nineteenth century and that continues, mainly in pop cultural form, today. To simplify to an extreme: the basic tenet of New Thought is a thought…
• March 13, 2026

  Yogic New Thought: A Reappraisal And Interpretation

  John S. Haller Jr., in his book The History of New Thought: From Mind Cure to Positive Thinking and the Prosperity Gospel (2012), regrettably misses the mark. A secular humanist tasked with studying the history of American religion and medical humanities, he lacks a good ear with regard to what was actually attractive about New…
• March 12, 2026

  Rugged Spirituality

  Have you ever wanted to be pushed—I mean really pushed, pushed really hard? I have. But not to do more pushups or to climb harder. I wanted to be pushed inward, to be directed to keep going toward the truth. I meditated and philosophized for countless hours, but I never found that pusher, that mentor,…
• March 10, 2026

  A Defense Of The Prosperity Gospel

  John S. Haller Jr.’s treatment of “the prosperity gospel” in his book The History of New Thought: From Mind Cure to Positive Thinking and the Prosperity Gospel (2012) shows all the marks of the contemporary academy’s small-mindedness. Of course, it would be easy to say, with Haller, that the 1920s (“the roaring twenties”) effected a…
• February 25, 2026

  AI Anxiety & The Role Of Intuition

  On Monday, a paper describing a “speculative scenario” about how AI’s great success could, ironically, entail the hollowing out of 10% of white collar work was released. The result was that software stocks fell sharply. Yesterday, Josh Barro, in “Good Things are Good,” rebutted this scenario, arguing that, if anything, AI’s massive increase in productivity…