A Teacher
Ursula N. Gestefeld
Science of Being: work a Statement of Being - the real ‘I’ over the personal self
The transmission
Ursula Newell Gestefeld (born April 22, 1845, Augusta, Maine; died 1921) was an American teacher and author who began as a student of Mary Baker Eddy but broke away to develop her own system, which she named the “Science of Being.” She founded the Exodus Club and a Church of the New Thought in Chicago, edited her own periodical, and was recognized as a leading figure of the emerging New Thought movement.
Her early Ursula N. Gestefeld’s Statement of Christian Science (1888) marked the start of her divergence from Eddy. Her mature philosophy is set out most fully in The Builder and the Plan: A Textbook of the Science of Being (1901).
There she distinguishes the real “I” - the individual as offspring and expression of Spirit - from the limited personal self, teaching the student to know and live from their true being. A characteristic move is to take a “Statement of Being” and work it not as a slogan but as a daily working hypothesis: provisionally assuming the truth of one’s real spiritual nature and reasoning and living from it until consciousness conforms.
What they gave
Science of Being: Built an original metaphysical system centered on the nature and unfolding of individual being.
- Statement of Being: Framed a core self-statement to be tested and lived as a working hypothesis, not merely recited.
- Real “I” vs personal self: Drew a clear line between the spiritual individuality and the limited personality.
- Independent New Thought leadership: Helped move the movement beyond Christian Science through teaching, church, and publishing.
In their words
The kingdom is in you, not in the stars.
Your thoughts are the eggs you are incubating; and the chicks you will hatch out will be according to the kind.
The line they stand in
Influenced by: Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science (her starting point and foil); the broader Quimby healing lineage. Influenced: the “Science of Being” strand of New Thought; later individuality-centered metaphysical teaching.
Revelations they taught
Orders & Societies
Essential Works
- Ursula N. Gestefeld's Statement of Christian Science1888
- The Builder and the Plan1901
- How to Control Circumstances1901