The "Human Potential" movement is a branch of the
"New Age" movement that is especially packaged to be
acceptable to corporations, government, small businesses, and the
educational establishment in the form of "motivational
seminars" or "Learning to Learn skills".
Its principles are based on eastern mysticism and the occult,
but the terminology has been changed to sound scientific and
psychological.
Claiming that humans have unlimited or infinite potential, the
goal then becomes to achieve this infinite potential.
This is accomplished by rejecting traditional beliefs
that limit us and avoiding any negative thoughts.
The subconscious must be reprogrammed by daily affirmations, positive thinking, and constant self-talk
(e.g., "I am great, I am wonderful, I will
achieve!").
The ability to be reprogrammed can be enhanced by
consciousness altering techniques that create a state of
higher suggestibility, such as meditation, visualization,
guided imagery, and other inward looking activities.
These are also promoted for stress reduction.
"Self" is said to be the source of all success
and each person can "take responsibility" to
"create his own reality".
The "New Age" principles
The above summary of
"human potential" principles plus many other elements
in these training programs are founded on the premises and goals
of the "New Age" movement.
All is One: The external
world and consciousness/thoughts are one and the same
(monism) which accounts for the occult powers of the mind
(e.g., psychokinesis and levitation).
Man is a Divine Being: We
are all part of God, so we are God (pantheism).
Life is for evolutionary
purposes: There is no destination in life. Meaning is
found in the journey through the process of
reincarnation and the guiding impersonal force of karma.
Self-actualization:
Awareness of the "True Self" within leads to
mastery of your own reality.
There are many paths to
God: Since each person creates their own reality and
there is no absolute truth, each person's religious views
are equally valid.
God is the sum total of
all that there is: God is impersonal, a force, energy.
The earth is at the dawn
of a "New Age" of peace, harmony, and
enlightenment that will be achieved through a global
transformation; a quantum leap of human evolution. The
global transformation will occur after a "critical
mass" of individuals have achieved personal
transformation through mystical means including
meditation, guided visualization, and other looking
within techniques.
The Biblical View
There is only one God and he is personal.
There is one reality and it is created by God.
Jesus is the only way, truth, life, and means of
relationship with God.
Satan fell when he exalted "Self" to be above
God through positive thinking, self-talk, affirmations:
"I will... I will... I will..." (Isaiah
14:12-14)
Satan seduced Eve into rebellion by contradicting God's
negative thinking, "...you will surely die" if
you eat the fruit.
Satan was the positive one, "you will not surely
die."
Instead he told Eve, "you will be like God, knowing
good and evil."
As a Christian, "I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me", as opposed to, "I can do
all things through the Occult powers of my own
mind."
We are to "die to self" and "it is no
longer I who live but Christ lives in me."
Biblical meditation has nothing to do with leaving our
rational mind and entering an altered state of
consciousness. Biblical meditation is the conscious
pondering of God and His truth.
Warning: Satan comes as an "Angel of Light".
"In latter times some will abandon the faith,
following after seducing spirits and the doctrines of
devils." (1Timothy 4:1)
The above is the text (slightly modified) of a pamphlet we
published in 1987-88.
