Dictionary Definition
positiveness n : characterized by dogmatic
assertiveness [ant: negativeness]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
- The quality of being positive; positivity
Extensive Definition
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24,
1993) was a
Protestant
preacher and author (most notably of the
controversial The Power of Positive Thinking) and a progenitor of
the theory of "positive
thinking".
Biography
Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio and died in Pawling, New York. He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University and Boston University School of Theology.Raised as a Methodist and
originally ordained as a Methodist minister in 1922, Peale changed
his religious affiliation to the
Reformed Church in America in 1932 and began a
52-year tenure as pastor
of Marble
Collegiate Church in Manhattan. During
that time the church's membership grew from 600 to over 5000, and
he became one of New York
City’s most famous preachers.
Peale and Smiley Blanton, a psychoanalyst,
established a religio-psychiatric outpatient clinic next door to
the church. The two men wrote books together, notably Faith Is the
Answer: A Psychiatrist and a Pastor Discuss Your Problems (1940).
The book was written in alternating chapters, with Blanton writing
one chapter, then Peale, and so on. Blanton espoused no particular
religious point of view in his chapters. In 1951 this clinic of
psychotherapy and religion grew into the American Foundation of
Religion and Psychiatry, with Peale serving as president and
Blanton as executive director. Blanton handled difficult
psychiatric cases and Peale, who had no mental health credentials,
handled religious issues. (Meyer, Donald. The Positive Thinkers.
Pantheon Books, 1965)
When Peale came under heavy criticism from the
mental health community for his controversial book "The Power of
Positive Thinking," (1952) Blanton distanced himself from Peale and
refused to endorse the book. Blanton refused to allow Peale to use
his name in "The Power of Positive Thinking," refused to publicly
endorse the book, and refused to publicly defend Peale when he came
under criticism for defrauding the public. As scholar Donald Meyer
describes it: "Peale evidently imagined that he marched with
Blanton in their joint labors in the Religio-psychiatric Institute.
This was not exactly so." (Meyer, Donald. Positive Thinkers.
Pantheon Books, 1965, p.266). Meyer notes that Blanton's own book,
"Love or Perish, (1956), "contrasted so distinctly at so many
points with the Peale evangel," of "positive thinking" that these
works had virtually nothing in common. (Ibid.,p.273)
Peale started a radio program, "The Art of
Living," in 1935, which lasted for 54 years. Under sponsorship of
the National Council of Churches he moved into television when the
new medium arrived. In the meantime he had begun to edit the
magazine Guideposts and to write books. His sermons were mailed
monthly.
During the depression Peale teamed with James
Cash Penney, founder of J.C. Penney
& Co.; Arthur
Godfrey, the radio and TV personality; and Thomas J.
Watson, President and Founder of IBM to form the first board of
40Plus, an
organization that helps unemployed managers and executives.
In 1945, Dr. Peale, his wife, Ruth
Stafford Peale, and Raymond Thornburg, a Pawling, New York
businessman founded Guideposts
magazine, a non-denominational forum for celebrities and ordinary
people to relate inspirational stories. For its launch, they raised
$1,200 from Frank
Gannett, founder of the Gannett newspaper chain, J. Howard
Pew, a Philadelphia
industrialist and Branch
Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Peale was a prolific writer; The Power of
Positive Thinking is by far his most widely read work. First
published in 1952, it stayed on the
New
York Times bestseller list for 186 consecutive weeks. The book
has sold around 7 million copies (amazon.com) and translated into
several languages. Some
of his other popular works include The Art of Living, A Guide to
Confident Living, The Tough-Minded Optimist, and Inspiring Messages
for Daily Living.
In 1947 Peale co-founded
(along with educator Kenneth Beebe) The Horatio
Alger Association. This organization aims to recognize and
honor Americans who have been successful in spite of difficult
circumstances they have faced.
Other organizations founded by Peale include the
Peale Center, the Positive Thinking Foundation and Guideposts
Publications, all of which aim to promote Peale's theories
about positive thinking.
In 1960 Peale, as spokesman for 150 Protestant
clergymen, opposed the election of John F.
Kennedy as president. "Faced with the election of a Catholic,"
Peale declared, "our culture is at stake. (The Religious Issue: Hot
and Getting Hotter. Newsweek. Sept 19, 1960.) In a written
manifesto Peale and his group also declared JFK would serve the
interests of the Catholic church before the interests of the United
States: "It is inconceivable that Roman Catholic president would
not be under extreme pressure by the hierarchy of his church to
accede to its policies with respect to foreign interests," and that
the election of a Catholic might even end free speech in
America.(The Religious Issue: Hot and Getting Hotter: Newsweek,
Sept. 19, 1960. Buckley, William F. "We Hold These Truths."
National Review. Jan. 28, 1961). Protestant theologian Reinhold
Neibuhr responded "Dr. Peale and his associates... show blind
prejudice." (The Religious Issue: Getting Hotter and Hotter:
Newsweek. Sept 19, 1960). Protestant Episcopal Bishop James Pike
echoed Neibuhr: "Any argument which would rule out a Roman Catholic
just because he is Roman Catholic is both bigotry and a violation
of the constitutional guarantee of no religious test for public
office." ("The Power Of Negative Thinking." Time. Sept. 19, 1960).
The Peale statement was further condemned by President Truman, the
Board of Rabbis, and other leading Protestants such as Paul Tillich
and John C. Bennett. (Ibid.) Peale was forced to recant his
statements and subsequently fired by his own committee. As
conservative William F. Buckley succinctly described the fallout:
"When... The Norman Vincent Peale Committee was organized, on the
program that a vote for Kennedy was a vote to repeal the First
Amendmant to the Constitution, the Jesuits fired their Big Bertha,
and Dr. Peale fled from the field, mortally wounded." (National
Review. "We Hold These Truths." January 28, 1961). Peale
subsequently went into hiding and threatened to resign from his
church. (New York Times. "Beliefs." Oct. 31, 1992). The fallout
continued as Peale was condemned in a statement by one hundred
religious leaders and dropped as a syndicated columnist by a dozen
newspapers. (Ibid). The uproar caused the pastor to back off from
further formal partisan commitments, possibly to avoid offending
part of the mass audience for his primary religio-psychological
message. He was, however, politically and personally close to
President Nixon's family. In 1968 he officiated at the wedding of
Julie
Nixon and David
Eisenhower. He continued calling at the White House throughout
the Watergate crisis, saying "Christ didn't shy away from people in
trouble.
Peale is also best remembered in politics by the
famous Adlai Stevenson quote: "I find Paul appealing and Peale
appalling." The origin of the quote can be traced to the 1952
election, when Stevenson was informed by a reporter that Peale had
been attacking him as unfit for the presidency because he was
divorced. (Former Senate candidate Ed Garvey in his blog
fightingbob.com). Later during the 1956 campaign for President
against Eisenhower, Stevenson was somewhat rudely introduced in the
following way: "Gov. Stevenson, we want to make it clear you are
here as a courtesy because Dr. Norman Vincent Peale has instructed
us to vote for your opponent." Stevenson stepped to the podium and
quipped, "Speaking as a Christian, I find the Apostle Paul
appealing and the Apostle Peale appalling." In 1960 Stevenson was
asked by a reporter for a comment regarding Peale attacking JFK as
unfit for the presidency because he was Catholic, to which
Stevenson responded: "Yes, you can say that I find Paul appealing
and Peale appalling." (Political commentator Tom Roeser
tomroeser.com).
Stevenson continued to lampoon Peale on the
campaign trail in speeches for JFK. Though Nixon and the
Republicans tried to distance themselves from the furor caused by
Peale's anti-Catholic stance, Democrats did not let voters forget.
President Truman, for one, accused Nixon of tacit approval of the
anti-Catholic sentiment, and it remained a hot issue on the
campaign trail. (The Religious Issue: Hot and Getting Hotter:
Newsweek. Sept. 19, 1960). Regarding Peale's intrusion into
Republican politics, Stevenson said in this transcript of a speech
given in San Francisco: "Richard Nixon has tried to step aside in
favor of Norman Vincent Peale (APPLAUSE, LAUGHTER)... We can only
surmise that Mr. Nixon has been reading 'The Power of Positive
Thinking.' (APPLAUSE). America was not built by wishful thinking.
It was built by realists, and it will not be saved by guess work
and self-deception. It will only saved by hard work and facing the
facts."
(Pacifiradioarchives.org/projects/transcripts/pdf/adlai_jfk.pdf -
M).
At a later date, according to one report,
Stevenson and Peale met, and Stevenson apologized to Peale for any
personal pain his comments might have caused Peale, though he never
publicly recanted the substance of his statements. There is no
record of Peale apologizing to Stevenson for his attacks on
Stevenson. IIt has been argued that even his "positive thinking"
message was by implication politically conservative: "The
underlying assumption of Peale's teaching was that nearly all basic
problems were personal."
For his contributions to the field of theology,
President Ronald
Reagan awarded Peale the
Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian honor in
the United
States) on March 26,
1984. He died
of stroke on December 24,
1993 at age 95.
He was also the subject of the 1964 film
One Man's Way.
Peale was also a Scottish Rite Freemason
(33°).
Teachings
“Positive thinking,” as described by Peale could
be broken down into a three step process of practicing repeated
self-hypnosis, attaining “divine” or God’s power to use for
oneself, and eliminating and avoiding all negativity in life.
The first step in positive thinking is focused on
the use of repeated "techniques." Peale describes positive thinking
as first and foremost as “simply a series of practical and workable
techniques for living a successful life.”
Peale, who had no mental health credentials, was
vague as to a definition of his "techniques," although he
repeatedly stated that they were scientifically proven and "firmly
established as documented and demonstrable truth." Mental health
experts, however, clearly saw and identified the techniques as
hypnosis. Hypnosis is defined as "A trance like state that
resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are
readily accepted by the subject."
The reader was instructed through constant
repetition of affirmations to bypass his conscious mind and implant
suggestions into his unconscious mind where they would operate
automatically, without the interference of conscious will. “Let
them sink into your unconscious and they can help you overcome any
difficulty. Say them over and over again. Say them until your mind
accepts them, until you believe them – faith power works wonders.”
Peale's readers were instructed to "pray ceaselessly," to use his
techniques repetitively and permanently.
Peale promised the reader that if they followed
and practiced his techniques, they could attain success over almost
any adversity. “It is a power that can blast out all defeat and
lift a person above all difficult situations.” Peale insisted that
the only way to acquire these attitudes was through the unconscious
and through his techniques. Peale repeatedly instructed his readers
that their conscious will, their self knowledge, self
determination, courage and intelligence were not be enough to live
a successful life. He described these conscious acts of will as
unreliable, untrustworthy and not sufficient to meet the demands of
life. The conscious, self-determining self was to be rejected,
disempowered and “surrendered,” so that Peale’s techniques and the
unconscious were now the determining and motivating factors in the
individual’s life.
The payoff for this rejection of self, according
to Peale, was the attainment of God’s power, “I hereby draw power
from You as an illimitable source,” is one Peale formula. Men now
had superhuman powers, and God had now become "man's omnipotent
slave." Peale further said that regular prayer was insufficient to
meet the demands of life, that in order for prayer to really work
the reader had to use his techniques. Peale said controlling the
unconscious, using his techniques, was the only channel to attain
God’s power. “Surface skimming, formalistic and perfunctory prayer
is not sufficiently powerful” says Peale when describing his
“prayers” for overcoming an inferiority complex. Formalistic prayer
used for thousands of years by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus
and other mainstream religions didn’t produce sufficient results
according to Peale.
Peale also promised his readers that if they
followed his techniques that they could always think positively and
remove all negativity from their lives. Negative attitudes were not
to be tolerated but avoided at all costs according to Peale.
Negative thoughts were to be repressed, cancelled out and destroyed
through his techniques. “It is important to eliminate from
conversations all negative ideas, for they tend to produce
annoyance and tension inwardly."
Peale’s readers were instructed to never doubt or
question a statement Peale made or this would cut off the “power
flow.” Any negative doubting of Peale or whether his techniques
worked were to be immediately canceled, and the reader was
instructed to immediately repeat the Peale phrases.
The Peale statements, and the words that made
them up were actual “things” according to Peale. “Thoughts are
things,” and the repetition of his phrases were more important than
actions. Repeating positive only statements would cause only
positive things to happen. But according to Peale, the reverse is
also true. Thinking negatively causes negative things to happen.
Thus the fear of negativity, of avoiding all negative, fearful
"thoughts" and realities is part and parcel of positive thinking.
There can be no positive thinking without this avoidance of
negative thinking, according to Peale. “Never think of the worst.
Drop it out of your thought, relegate it. Let there be no thought
in your mind that the worst will happen. Avoid entertaining the
concept of the worst, for whatever you take into your mind can grow
there.”
Criticism and controversy
Peale's works came under criticism from some
theologians, mental health experts, scholars, and politicians, many
of whom said Peale was a con man and a fraud. (Meyer, Donald.
"Confidence Man." New Republic. July 11, 1955, pp. 8-10.) Critics
appeared in the early 1950s after the publication of The Power of
Positive Thinking.
One major criticism of The Power of Positive
Thinking is that the book is full of anecdotes that are hard to
substantiate. Almost all of the experts and many of the
testimonials that Peale quotes as supporting his philosophy are
unnamed, unknown. Examples include a "famous psychologist,", a
two-page letter from a "practicing physician," another famous
psychologist, a "prominent citizen of New York City," and dozens,
if not hundreds, more unverifiable quotations. Similar scientific
studies of questionable validity are also cited. As psychiatrist R.
C. Murphy exclaimed "All this advertising is vindicated as it were,
by a strict cleaving to the side of part truth," and referred to
the work and the quoted material as "implausible and woodenly
pious." much like the Jesuits of the
Catholic
Church.
Peale asserts that practicing his "techniques"
will give the reader absolute self confidence and deliverance from
suffering. Several critics, in turn, assert that the repetitive
"techniques" are actually a well known form of hypnosis (autosuggestion), hidden
under a thin guise with the use of terms which may sound more
benign from the reader's point of view ("techniques", "formulas,"
"methods," "prayers," and "prescriptions.") Some mental health
contemporaries contend that in this way Peale practices deception,
and that the constant self-hypnosis could be injurious to the
reader. Constant repetitions of auto-suggestions in the mind may
interfere with clear thinking, undermining independent thought on
the matters of self and religion to be found in the works.
Psychiatrist R.C. Murphy writes "Self knowledge,
in Mr. Peale's understanding is unequivocally bad: self hypnosis is
good." Murphy adds that the repeated hypnosis defeats an
individual's self motivation, self knowledge, unique sense of self,
sense of reality, and the ability to think critically. Murphy calls
Peale's understanding of the mind inaccurate, "without depth," and
Peale's description of the workings of the mind and the unconscious
mind as deceptively simplistic and false: "It is the very
shallowness of his concept of 'person' that makes his rules appear
easy . . . If the unconscious of man... can be conceptualized as a
container for a small number of psychic fragments, then ideas like
'mind-drainage' follow. So does the reliance on self-hypnosis,
which is the cornerstone of Mr. Peale's philosophy.'"
A third major criticism is that Peale's
philosophy is based on exaggerating the fears of his readers and
followers, and that this exaggerated fear inevitably leads to
aggression and the destruction of those considered "negative."
Peale's views are critically reviewed in a 1955 article by
psychiatrist R. C. Murphy, published in The Nation, titled "Think
Right: Reverend Peale's Panacea." "With saccharine terrorism, Mr.
Peale refuses to allow his followers to hear, speak or see any
evil. For him real human suffering does not exist; there is no such
thing as murderous rage, suicidal despair, cruelty, lust, greed,
mass poverty, or illiteracy. All these things he would dismiss as
trivial mental processes which will evaporate if thoughts are
simply turned into more cheerful channels. This attitude is so
unpleasant it bears some search for its real meaning. It is clearly
not a genuine denial of evil but rather a horror of it. A person
turns his eyes away from human bestiality and the suffering it
evokes only if he cannot stand to look at it. By doing so he
affirms the evil to be absolute, he looks away only when he feels
that nothing can be done about it.... The belief in pure evil, an
area of experience beyond the possibility of help or redemption, is
automatically a summons to action: 'evil' means 'that which must be
attacked . . .' Between races for instance, this belief leads to
prejudice. In child-rearing it drives parents into trying
obliterate rather than trying to nurture one or another area of the
child's emerging personality . . . In international relationships
it leads to war. As soon as a religious as a religious authority
endorses our capacity for hatred, either by refusing to recognize
unpleasantness in the style of Mr Peale or in the more classical
style of setting up a nice comfortable Satan to hate, it lulls our
struggles for growth to a standstill . . . Thus Mr Peale's book is
not only inadequate for our needs but even undertakes to drown out
the fragile inner voice which is the spur to inner growth." " The
mastery Peale speaks of is not the mastery of skills or tasks, but
the mastery of fleeing and avoiding one's own "negative thoughts."
Meyer writes this exaggerated fear inevitably leads to
aggression:"[B]attle it is; Peale, in sublime betrayal of the
aggression within his philosophy of peace, talks of 'shooting'
prayers at people.".
Praise
The Rev. Billy Graham
said at the
National Council of Churches on June 12, 1966 that "I don't
know of anyone who had done more for the kingdom of God than Norman
and Ruth Peale or have meant anymore in my life for the
encouragement they have given me."
Upon hearing of Dr. Peale's death, U.S. President
Bill
Clinton had this to say: The name of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
will forever be associated with the wondrously American values of
optimism and service. Dr. Peale was an optimist who believed that
whatever the antagonisms and complexities of modern life brought
us, that anyone could prevail by approaching life with a simple
sense of faith. And he served us by instilling that optimism in
every Christian and every other person who came in contact with his
writings or his hopeful soul. In a productive and giving life that
spanned the 20th century, Dr. Peale lifted the spirits of millions
and millions of people who were nourished and sustained by his
example, his teaching, and his giving. While the Clinton family and
all Americans mourn his loss, there is some poetry in his passing
on a day when the world celebrates the birth of Christ, an idea
that was central to Dr. Peale's message and Dr. Peale's work. He
will be missed.
Evangelist Robert
Schuller has praised him, too.
Quotations
Facts
- Dr.Ernest Holmes founder of the Religious Science movement was a mentor to Peale.
- Peale took several of Holmes' Foundation classes (New Thought).Tag line of Class, "Change your thinking, change your life".
- Modern televangelist and minister Robert H. Schuller was mentored by Peale. Like Peale, Schuller has also authored many religious self-help books, including Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking (1973).
Cultural references
- Peale is referenced in the song "The John Birch Society" by the Chad Mitchell Trio ("Norman Vincent Peale may think he's kidding us along...")
- Peale is sarcastically referred to as a 'deep philosopher' in the Tom Lehrer song 'It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier' (on the album An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer, 1959).
- In the "Treehouse of Horror VI" episode of The Simpsons, a building with the sign "Birthplace of Norman Vincent Peale" is destroyed.
- In POWER OF THE PLUS FACTOR (p. 39) Peale states that one of the most remarkable men he ever met was a native of Lebanon, Musa Alami.
- A clip of Peale's radio program is heard briefly in the film Grey Gardens (1975), and Peale himself appears as a character in the musical based on the film (2006).
- A widely reprinted editorial in the Los Angeles Times says that the 2006 book and DVD The Secret both borrow some of Peale's ideas, and that The Secret suffers from some of the same weaknesses as Peale's works.| accessdate = 2007-01-13
- M*A*S*H (TV series) episode 135 (The Smell of Music) contains a grossly injured soldier (guest star: Jordan Clarke) who rejects counsel from Col. Potter (Harry Morgan) stating “Doc, if there’s one thing I don’t need right now it's a Norman Vincent Peale sermon . . .”
- In fourth episode ("The Bracelet") of the HBO show "Curb Your Enthusiasm", Larry David calls Richard Lewis "Norman Vincent Lewis" after he says "Every day is a great day for me".
A selection of his books
- The Power of Positive Thinking, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (August 1, 1996). ISBN 0-449-91147-0
- Guide to Confident Living, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (September 1, 1996). ISBN 0-449-91192-6
- Six Attitudes for Winners, Tyndale House Publishers; (May 1, 1990). ISBN 0-8423-5906-0
- Positive Thinking Every Day : An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year, Fireside; (December 6, 1993). ISBN 0-671-86891-8
- Positive Imaging, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (September 1, 1996). ISBN 0-449-91164-0
- You Can If You Think You Can, Fireside Books; (August 26, 1987). ISBN 0-671-76591-4
- Thought Conditioners, Foundation for Christian; Reprint edition (December 1, 1989). ISBN 99910-38-92-2
- In God We Trust: A Positive Faith for Troubled Times, Thomas Nelson Inc; Reprint edition (November 1, 1995). ISBN 0-7852-7675-0
- Norman Vincent Peale's Treasury of Courage and Confidence, Doubleday; (June 1970). ISBN 0-385-07062-4
- My Favorite Hymns and the Stories Behind Them, Harpercollins; 1st ed edition (September 1, 1994). ISBN 0-06-066463-0
- The Power of Positive Thinking for Young People, Random House Children's Books (A Division of Random House Group); (December 31, 1955). ISBN 0-437-95110-3
- The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking, Fireside; Fireside edition (March 12, 2003). ISBN 0-7432-3483-9
- Stay Alive All Your Life, Fawcett Books; Reissue edition (August 1, 1996). ISBN 0-449-91204-3
- "You Can Have God's Help with Daily Problems" FCL Copyright 1956-1980 LOC card #7957646
- Faith Is the Answer: A Psychiatrist and a Pastor Discuss Your Problems, Smiley Blanton and Norman Vincent Peale, Kessinger Publishing (march 28, 2007), ISBN 1432570005 (10), ISBN 978-1432570002 (13)
- Power of the Plus Factor, A Fawcett Crest Book, Published by Ballantine Books, 1987, ISBN 0-449-21600-4
References
External links
positiveness in Bulgarian: Норман Винсънт
Пийл
positiveness in German: Norman Vincent
Peale
positiveness in Modern Greek (1453-): Νόρμαν
Βίνσεντ Πήιλ
positiveness in Spanish: Norman Vincent
Peale
positiveness in Indonesian: Norman Vincent
Peale
positiveness in Portuguese: Norman Vincent
Peale