tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post4345376340924932675..comments2024-03-27T13:13:25.164-04:00Comments on johnshaplin: The Power of Positive Thinking by Barbara Ehrenreichjohnshaplinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-4875998891617048562010-07-04T07:49:43.523-04:002010-07-04T07:49:43.523-04:00Or perhaps it could be stated better like this: sh...Or perhaps it could be stated better like this: she doesn't get Calvin who undoubtedly might have made a remark very similar to one of Karl Marx's most famous: " I am not nor ever have been or will be a Marxist."johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-3482440267557572912010-07-04T07:38:57.419-04:002010-07-04T07:38:57.419-04:00Another thing Barbara doesn't quite get is the...Another thing Barbara doesn't quite get is the character of Calvinism in its early days in the 16th and 17th centuries: its upbeat nature, its careful attention to the precepts of Erasmus, the way it encouraged the expansion of liberal arts education and its complete antipathy to a fundamentalist interpretation of scripture.johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-20024506637105870882010-07-04T07:06:15.223-04:002010-07-04T07:06:15.223-04:00Of course positive thinking has a huge effect on p...Of course positive thinking has a huge effect on people's lives. One just has to look at the miserable, sickly, passive life of Mary Baker Eddy before Quimbly got her off her butt and after. Barbara recognized that- "It is true that subjective factors like determination are critical to survival and that individuals sometimes triumph over nightmarish levels of adversity", but its not what she emphasized, but focused rather on debunking the claims of the commercial "positive thinking" movement and the role it plays in the advancement of the conservative political agenda, the way "self-blame" deflects us from attending to very real inequities and injustices- and self-destructive tendencies- in American society as a whole. In some respects she herself is "a victim" of positive thinking", she just has a different agenda, pursues happiness, as usual, as a labor activist etc. <br /><br />One thing she seems to overlook more than I would prefer is the subtle, even facile, role negative thinking plays in the positive thinking movement. Sometimes it seems that movement could hardly stand without it, as in political campaigns and many other advertising and public relations endeavors. And it takes a lot more effort to think positively than negatively. We tend to accept negative judgments more more easily and on far less evidence than positive ones. One problem with Obama's administration may be he is not negative enough, which greatly undermines the power of his positive message! <br /><br /><br />Modern evangelicals do not emphasize the traditional Christian sins- and the depths in which they truly bind us- or damnation. They have expunged the image of the tortured and suffering Christ from their temples and preach a benevolent God and universal salvation. But they still use fear as a goad- fear of homosexuals, fear of liberals, fear of the breakdown of law and order, fear of socialism, fear that there are limitations to our ability to control nature with science, fear that the American dream is not what it is cracked-up to be. Ultimately, Barbara suggests, this is a childish and ineffectual way to deal with real problems and, based on evidence, positive thinking per se has almost no recognizable effect on individual destiny. This was first brought home to her in her long struggle with breast cancer.johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-18816802423176422582010-07-04T00:36:00.920-04:002010-07-04T00:36:00.920-04:00Its not the power of positive thinking...... think...Its not the power of positive thinking...... thinking does nothing...... the power of positive feeling actually changing the vibration!<br />Excuse me your life is waiting- Lynn Grabhorn<br />Been seeing some very real positive results when I can put this into actionAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-4546239144232981732010-07-03T18:19:50.534-04:002010-07-03T18:19:50.534-04:00To complainers everywhere: Turn up the volume!
...To complainers everywhere: Turn up the volume! <br /><br />Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, N.Y., 2009johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.com