Vol. 14, No. 1, 1997

Articles on the New Age

Chicken Soup for the Soul Reviewed

Charisma magazine recently ran a short news story, "Christians are Buying Book that Critics Claim has New Age Flavor" (November 1995, p. 25). The book referred to in the article was Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.

Unfortunately, Spring Arbor, a major Christian book distributor, sold 35,000 copies of it in one year. As of November 26, 1996, it has been in the top four of the "self-help" bestsellers in the New York Times' bestseller list for 113 weeks. Its newer companion volume, A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, has also made the list.

These books have been enormously popular. The success has generated additional offerings - A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul, Chicken Soup for the Soul Cookbook, Chicken Soup for the Soul of Women, and Chicken Soup for the Soul of the Workplace. All are published by the New Age oriented Health Communications, Inc.

So why are some Christians critical of these books? If there is something so un-Christian about them, why are so many Christians reading and enjoying them? These are good questions that deserve answers.

Jack Canfield has long been a New Age self-esteem guru. He formerly directed the Institute for Wholistic (New Age) Education, was past president of the Association for Humanistic Education, chairman of the board for the Foundation for Self-esteem, board member for the National Council for Self-esteem, and president of "Self-esteem Seminars," which has currently evolved into The Canfield Training Group. His current training seminars in "self-esteem" include the use of meditation (guided imagery and visualization), the New Age, highly questionable Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and affirmations.

Canfield has been a prominent leader in transpersonal or New Age education for over 20 years. He describes his beliefs and approaches to enhance self-esteem, "In a growing number of classrooms throughout the world, education is beginning to move into a new dimension. More and more teachers are exposing children to ways of contacting their inner wisdom and higher selves.... New age education has arrived. A new note has been sounded and our children are ready" (New Age, February 1978, p. 27).

Canfield promotes meditation, centering, Arica psychology, mandalas (psychic pictures), yoga, and spirit guides. The promotion of those beliefs are blatant examples of Canfield's New Age world view, but his focus on "self-esteem" is more subtle and, therefore, more insidious.

Canfield has a long history of mingling his New Age philosophy with humanistic psychology. This approach is termed "transpersonal psychology" or "fourth force" psychology. It was launched by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, whose goals are for the individual to reach an optimal state of "self-actualization" or "self-transcendence."

The assumptions are that man is not only basically good, but intrinsically very good, even perfect. Therefore, if one appeals to or satisfies their emotional (affective) side and reinforces their abilities to be self-sufficient (omnipotence), then they will become whole and happy. The direction this usually takes is toward self-absorption, narcissism, subjectivism, and experiential truth.

One of the most misleading aspects of Canfield's view of self-esteem and performance is that if we can first inspire people to feel good about themselves, then their behavior will automatically change positively.

Christians recognize that encouragement is very helpful, but they also believe a true (biblical) self-image rather than self-esteem should be man's goal. God demonstrates His unconditional, unfathomable love in that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Yes, man is made in the image of God, is "fearfully and wonderfully made," and has wonderful potential and value. But the way to experience that fulfillment is to surrender to Him, become His servant, learn His truth and obey. The New Ager reverses this and seeks the image of God rather than God Himself.

The way to build a proper self-image is by giving someone 1) founding, guiding principles that are true (biblical), 2) realistic objectives, 3) corrective discipline, and 4) much encouragement along the way. When one's thinking is biblical, and one accomplishes biblical goals or tasks, a healthy self-image results (Rom. 12:1; Eph. 4:17).

The Chicken Soup series is full of material from Canfield's and Hansen's self-esteem colleagues. If one checks the descriptions found in the contributors section, many of these professional self-esteem speakers are found. Many of them are also New Agers.

In fact, the original Chicken Soup volume contains at least 25 New Age attributions or contributors, at least one Mormon contributor, and at least 7 other self-esteem gurus. The term "at least" is used because some of the authors' short biographical sketches don't indicate their perspective one way or the other.

However, many are very well known to New Age and cult researchers. Names like Wally (Famous) Amos, Kahil Gibran, Eric Butterworth, Virginia Satir, Michael Murphy, Gloria Steinem, Tony Robbins, Tielhard de Chardin, Carl Rogers, Wayne Dyer, Lao Tzu, and Richard Bach are prominent. The volume even advertises the New Age oriented magazine, Changes.

Some of the stories are overtly New Age. For example, in Canfield's "The Golden Buddha" he writes, "We are all like the clay Buddha covered with a shell of hardness created out of fear, and yet each of us is a Golden Buddha,' a golden Christ,' or a golden essence,' which is our real self." He goes on to say that after two years old we begin to cover up "our golden essence, our natural self" with the dirt (p. 71). This reflects the New Age belief that we are born pure and perfect, with natural omniscience and omnipotence.

Another example is Mark Victor Hansen's story titled "Amy Graham." In it Hansen recounts the time he conducted one of his seminars (which he promotes at the end of his book) at the Mile High Church in Denver. Mile High Church is a part of the Church of Religious Science, an overtly New Age group.

Hansen asked the one thousand plus attendees if they wanted to learn how to "grow and become more fully human." He then proceeded to teach them a "healing technique." He instructed them to "vigorously rub their hands together, [and] separate them by two inches and feel the healing energy" (p. 41). Incredible! It seems the regression to the Dark Ages has been faster than imagined.

Other New Age/self empowerment stories in Chicken Soup are "Two Monks," "The Dolphin's Gift," "Sachi," "My Declaration of Self-Esteem," "Rules for Being Human," and "All I Can Remember."

In A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul can be found at least 38 New Age or Mormon contributors or attributions, including M. Scott Peck, Steve Andreas, Sai Baba, Martin Buber, Gandhi, William James, Joseph Campbell, Leo Buscaglia, Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, Benjamin Hoff, Ken Blanchard (Please See Update), Canfield, Hansen, and T.M. promoter Harold Bloomfield.

In A 3rd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul are at least 23 New Age or Mormon contributors or attributions. And in Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul, there are at least 20 New Age contributors, with several of them having multiple stories (as in all the books in the series).

Some of the authors or references in these last two volumes are Dr. Bernie Siegel (six times), Peter McWilliams, Norman Cousins, Jonas Salk, Joan Borysenko, Marianne Williamson, Fr. John Groff, Alan Cohen, Les Brown, and two Mormon contributors - Art Berg and Hal Manwaring.

And finally (for now), in Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul, at least 27 New Age and Mormon authors or attributions are found, including a "psychic", two Transcendental Meditation trainers, a Unity minister, and a shaman.

Chicken Soup for the Working Soul has at least 42 New Age and Mormon contributors and attributions, including Joseph Campbell, Jean Houston, Pierre Telhard de Chardin, Gerald Janpolski, Meister Eckhart, Buddha, and Ernest Holmes.

Issues of Concern

The messages are fairly consistent. People can be inspired by others in order to realize their own potential. Tune in to your own intuitive and latent powers and go after what you feel is right.

The stories have the popular Norman Vincent Peale appeal. But, as the opening lines of his famous book, Power of Positive Thinking state, "Believe in yourself, have faith in yourself," this New Age and self-help blending is the wrong message. [For those who want a packet exposing the mind-science teachings of Norman Vincent Peale, contact your Watchman office and request it.]

The teaching and stories of these books blur any distinctions between a holy, transcendent, righteous and personal God, and their view of "god," which is a universal consciousness or power resident in all, for the use of all.

2. Promotes and gives credibility to Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.

As mentioned earlier, the temporal success of these books gives a platform and provides an acceptance for their authors' other books and seminars.

Canfield is featured as a spokesman along with other New Agers in a popular New Age magazine, Body, Mind, Spirit (June/July 1996, p. 43). He is a featured speaker in the recent "Sacred Living Conferences" along with Bernie Siegel, Wayne Dyer, Ram Dass and Dannion Brinkley, Dan Millman, and Barbara DeAngelis. He is also featured as a speaker at the summer 1996 Omega Institute for Holistic Studies alongside Deepak Chopra, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and John Gray (New Age Journal, May/June 1996, p. 61).

Canfield and Hansen's Chicken Soup tape and book series is featured in the flagrant New Age Nightengale-Conant business catalogue along with many other prominent New Agers listed earlier (p. 34). Along with the popularity and wide spread exposure, the bibliography/advertisements of the various contributors will undoubtedly garner many bookings for their training seminars in the business community.

Canfield and Hansen have written another book, The Aladdin Factor, which more directly reflects their ideas. It is filled with quotes from New Age leaders. In it they write that the way to achieve personal happiness, creative fulfillment, personal success, freedom from fear and a new joy is to rid oneself of all negative programming derived from one's parents, school, church, doctors, by learning to go into oneself for answers and strength, especially by using affirmations and meditation visualizations (back cover, pp. 10-14). Yes, it is like Christian Science or Unity, which are neither Christian, science, nor unifying.

Canfield writes, "I was at a ten day meditation retreat and after seven days they conducted private interviews with everyone to make sure we were staying sane." (Ibid., p. 21; emphasis added). Everything was done in silence, without even eye contact allowed.

When asked how he was doing, Canfield said, "I think I am flipping out. Everything I ever believed in doesn't make sense anymore. Everything I thought was reality...." His instructor answered, "That is good. You must empty yourself of all your preconceived notions so that you can become acutely aware of what is really there...dissolving into a state of pure awareness." (p. 21).

3. Reflects a postmodern view of our church and culture.

The success of these books is troublesome, especially to discover Christians feeding on their contents and passing the books on to others. It reflects a culture that is shaping the church rather than vice-versa. It reflects a time when people are looking for the quick and easy, feel good, pick-me-up, the instant answers, the microwave, fast-food solution.

Postmodernism, the state of Western culture at large, assumes that there is no objective truth, that moral values are relative, subjective, experiential, and "truth" is that which seems relevant to each person. It is a self-absorbed, narcissistic world view.

This has given rise to the popularity and flood of self-help books and pop (often New Age) psychology. Postmodern culture is syncretistic, exploring and drawing from any or all forms of spirituality, and piecing together various elements that Ainspire," motivate, and give an emotional or sensual lift. Even the church is reflecting a lack of sound doctrine, a lack of the importance of systematic theology, and a reversal of the correct order of theology and experience. The correct paradigm is that if one has the right teaching, one will truly experience God. The new paradigm is that if one has some subjective experience of God, he must have the right teaching.

This is illustrated by the Gallup and Barna Research groups which found that 53% of professed evangelical Christians believe that there are no absolutes compared with 66% of America as a whole.

Protest!

The terms included publishing over one million condensed version booklets containing selections from A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup, with the inscription "Special Sampler Recognizing the American Red Cross Blood Donors for their Caring and Concern."

The deal also makes the Red Cross the authors' "charity of choice." The booklets have a coupon for one dollar off purchases of 3rd Serving, and a commitment of fifty cents per book purchased, to be donated back to the Red Cross. These "special samplers" are distributed to all blood donors. How ingenious! Who will dare criticize them now?

Christians must! Recently, a large church in Birmingham, Alabama, which conducts large and successful blood drives for the Red Cross, informed the Red Cross that they will not do it through them if they bring the Chicken Soup booklet, and told them why. Similar action should be taken by others, through whatever channels of influence they have. Write to Liddy Dole, and to Gene Dyson, and express your consternation and loss of respect for the organization. The address is:

Canfield and Hansen claim that their "Chicken Soup" is good for the soul, but the Scripture says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). The Mormon and New Age philosophies stirred into Canfield's and Hansen's Chicken Soup make it a deadly brew for the soul. "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soulY?" (Matthew 16:26). Chicken Soup purports to contain the elixir for inner peace. But it is not the peace of Him who said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you" (John 14:27). Jesus and Paul warn us that many are going to be deceived by Satan's craftiness, warning us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (Matthew 24:24; 2 Cor. 11:13). The Trojan horse of the Chicken Soup series is an example of just such deception.