Edinburgh and Dore Lectures on Mental Science

Rating:
Summary: Bulletproof Arguments for How Thought Creates Reality
Review: Having read most of New Thought Literature over the last few years, my quest for the origins and inspirations of current New Thought literature eventually led me to discover Judge Trowards incredible writings. I believe that our current "we'll believe it when we see it" mindset imprinted in our social memory banks can be a barrier to discovering the true nature and source of our own creative powers. To the analytical mind of today that needs a solid foundation and understanding of how his arguments may be true, I find there is no comparison. Though written in turn of the century language which can be a little heady, his discussions and logical conclusions on how we are "distribution centers for divine unlimited creative power" are simply brilliant. I have not found any single other New Thought book that attempts to explain by "logical argument" from beginning to end, the path that leads the reader to understand the Laws of Cause and Effect and The Descent of Spirit into Matter and how to use these Laws to Create our own positive, unlimited life. Incredible Life Changing Book. READ IT DAILY!

Rating:
Summary: A rewarding read
Review: The lectures in this book were one of the earliest (1904-1909) explanations of how our minds control our lives.

In it, you'll learn about Spirit and Matter. Spirit is alive, intelligent, and essentially one. The cosmic spirit can be thought of as the universal subjective mind. Our thoughts, or objective mind, impose themselves on this universal subjective mind. Hence, our thoughts ultimately create external events. But there is a universal law of growth. Success comes easiest when we are in alignment with this law.

Unlike many of today's books on positive thinking -- which focus on material success -- this is a deeply spiritual book.

But it's also an old book. It's written in the British English of a hundred years ago.

So, while it's a difficult read, it's also a highly rewarding one.

Rating:
Summary: one of the most interesting / different metaphysical books
Review: Today not known and obsure writer, Judge Troward writes in a powerful and unique way. His book cover areas such as: Spirit and Matter/Intution/Healing/The creative power of thought. Having read over the years hundreds of metaphysical and science of the mind books I found his work to be thought provoking, compelling and complex especially when he details the relation between the universal mind and the individual mind. His style is his own,a sample:"To get good results we must properly understand our relation to the great impersonal power we are using. It is intellegent,and we are intelligent, and the 2 intelligents must cooperate. We must not fly in the face of the Law by expecting to do for us what it can only do through us;and we should therefore use our intelligence with the knowledge that it is acting as the instrument of a greater intelligence; and because we have this knowledge we may, and should, cease from from all anxiety as to the final result.".....vintage Troward. Highly recommended for those looking for something more "heavy".

Rating:
Summary: Interesting ideas in new thought, but an imperfect work
Review: Troward was a late 19th/early 20th C. new thought pioneer, who sets forth in these very accessible pages the outlines of the positive thinking/mental science ideas that others would refine and popularize. Ernest Holmes cited Troward as a major influence, and it is not hard to see why. Troward grasped and expressed well the new thought concepts of the interconnection between thought and the physical universe. Troward is often overlooked today, but he had a great deal of interest to say.

Unfortunately, though Troward had some ideas that were a bit ahead of his time, some of his ideas proved him sadly a creature of his time. The lecture which describes a kind of ethnic manifest destiny for the English people is not a particularly odd notion for his time, but seems particularly poorly-thought-out today. Troward's good ideas are unfortunately leavened with some deeply flawed ones. Still, this book is worth a read, and the fact that its title reflects "lectures" should not be taken to mean that this is one of those dry impress-the-academics lectures. These talks are neither dry nor unduly sermon-y. This book is an interesting read, even though a few of its ideas are deeply unsatisfying.