A Teacher
Raymond Charles Barker
Decision as the creative act of mind
The transmission
Raymond Charles Barker was an American Religious Science minister, teacher, and author who became one of the most influential popularizers of the Science of Mind teaching in the mid-twentieth century.
A close associate of Ernest Holmes, he founded the First Church of Religious Science in New York City in 1946 and served for many years as a prominent voice of the movement, also holding the presidency of the International New Thought Alliance (INTA).
Through a long ministry centered in New York he built a substantial following and a body of practical metaphysical writing. Barker’s books, including The Power of Decision (1968), Treat Yourself to Life, and The Science of Successful Living, helped define New Thought’s practical, success-oriented register.
His teaching held that decisiveness is itself a creative spiritual act and that indecision is failure-prone, with the subconscious mind either supporting or sabotaging each conscious choice. Among his students were future New Thought figures Stuart Grayson and the author Louise Hay.
He continued writing and speaking from Rancho Mirage, California, until his death on January 26, 1988.
What they gave
Decision as creative act: Reframed the act of choosing as the operative point where mind shapes outcome, making decisiveness a spiritual discipline.
- Subconscious cooperation: Taught that conscious decisions are carried out or thwarted by the subconscious, which must be aligned through deliberate mental selection.
- Practical Science of Mind: Translated Ernest Holmes’s metaphysics into accessible, success-oriented guidance for everyday life.
- Movement leadership: Led a major New York congregation and the INTA, mentoring figures such as Louise Hay who carried the teaching forward.
In their 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 line they stand in
Influenced by: Ernest Holmes and the Science of Mind; the broader Religious Science and New Thought tradition descending from the Emma Curtis Hopkins lineage.
- Influenced: Louise Hay; Stuart Grayson; later affirmation and decision-based New Thought teaching; the Religious Science ministry.
Revelations they taught
Orders & Societies
Essential Works
- Treat Yourself to Life1954
- The Power of Decision1968