The Canon / Pillars / New Thought
Pillars · 1968
The Power of Decision
New Thought / Religious ScienceThe Power of Decision argues that decisiveness is itself a creative spiritual act and that indecision invites failure. Its central claim is that the moment of choosing is the operative point at which mind shapes outcome, so that making clear decisions is a discipline with real causal force.
The book translates Ernest Holmes's Science of Mind into accessible, success-oriented guidance, teaching that each conscious decision is either carried out or thwarted by the subconscious, which must be aligned through deliberate mental selection. Its method is the disciplined practice of resolute choice.
A leading Religious Science minister and president of the International New Thought Alliance, Barker helped define the practical register of mid-century New Thought, and the work belongs to a body of writing that influenced students such as Louise Hay.
In its words
Do not limit your decision by investigating the probable reasons why it will never happen. That is the detour to nothing. All false speculations of defeat have to be ruled out of your consciousness. If they enter into the decision for even a fleeting moment, the decision is robbed of authority and the subconscious mind cannot act upon it. You do not need to know how the final result will come to pass. That is the function of the subconscious.
Every success-motivated mind has been a decisive mind. Every failure-motivated mind has been an indecisive mind.
The ideas it carries
Practices it teaches
The Power of Decision — end indecision by deciding and refusing to re-decide
This is Raymond Charles Barker's signature practice, the heart of his 1968 book The Power of Decision. Barker held that the act of decision is itself the creative act of mind — that a person who cannot decide…
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The author
Raymond Charles BarkerDecision as the creative act of mind
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