Phineas Parkhurst Quimby
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (February 16, 1802 – January 16, 1866) was an American folk healer, mentalist and mesmerist. His work is widely recognized as foundational to the New Thought spiritual movement.[1]
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby
January 16, 1866 (aged 63)
American
Mesmerist, clockmaker, inventor
Founder of New Thought
Early life[edit]
Born in the small town of Lebanon, New Hampshire, Quimby was one of seven children and the son of a blacksmith and his wife. As was customary for his social and economic class at that time, Quimby received little formal education. He later wrote that he suffered from consumption (now called tuberculosis) in his youth, a disease that then had no cure, and was prescribed calomel by his doctor. The calomel was no cure, and began to rot his teeth.
Quimby began experimenting with his own ideas for a cure. He found that intense excitement (such as galloping on his horse) alleviated his pain for brief periods of time, and he became interested in the mind's ability to affect the body. He claimed to have cured himself of consumption by his methods.[2]
Personal life[edit]
Quimby married in 1827 and had a family of four children. One of his sons, George, was a follower and strong defender of him, working to differentiate his work from that of Mary Baker Eddy, a patient who later founded Christian Science. His son owned his father's writings, which were mostly not released until the 1920s, after the son's death.
Followers and patients[edit]
Notable followers[edit]
Among the people who claimed to be cured by Quimby were Julius Dresser and his wife Annetta Dresser, from what sickness it is unclear.[11] Their son, Horatio Dresser, wrote extensively on Quimby's theories. He edited and collected many of Quimby's papers in his book Health and the Inner Life: An Analytical and Historical Study of Spiritual Healing and Theories (1906) (reissued as a 2009 paperback by Forgotten Books). He also edited and published selected Quimby papers in the book, The Quimby Manuscripts (1921; reprinted in 2008 paperback by Forgotten Books).
Warren Felt Evans was a Methodist minister who was moving over to Swedenborgianism about the time that he visited Quimby twice about 1863. While he was reputed to be a student of Quimby, modern scholarship has shown that he considered himself an equal of Quimby and not a student.[12]
Notable patients[edit]
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, was a patient of Quimby's and a healer steeped in Protestant theology and science.[13] Later, claims were made that she was at least partially inspired by Quimby in her theology. However, both Quimby's son[14] and Christian Scientists[15] have pointed out major differences between Quimbyism and Christian Science. Biographer Gillian Gill[16] and others[17] agreed, pointing out that because of its theism, Christian Science differs considerably from the teachings of Quimby, who did not base his work in religion.
Beliefs[edit]
Quimby has sometimes been connected with Transcendentalism, especially by historians relying on the Dresser version of his writings,[18] however his knowledge of Emerson and the Transcendentalists "was no doubt tenuous and secondhand at best" according to Albanese,[19] and it was really only "Dresser's spiritualized Quimby that fit this classification" according to Hazen.[20]
Legacy[edit]
Quimby is sometimes identified as the "founder of New Thought," but his actual influence is debated. Since Quimby's writings were not available until Dresser's The Quimby Manuscripts in 1921, they did not directly effect New Thought's development during its formative period.[21] Barry Morton, a scholar of faith healing, has said that Quimby's constant practice of his mind cure method led him to make important discoveries related to curing psychosomatic illnesses, and in effect started a "gnostic" healing tradition. Some of his methods were adopted by John Alexander Dowie, who revolutionized Christian faith healing in the 1880s.[22]
Although Quimby never published anything in his lifetime, a number of his writings have been published after his death. The publication of Quimby's writings and their editors are as follows: