Trump and Norman Vincent Peale

In my last article, “An Insane Person for President?” I argued that someone completely disassociated from reality was insane, and that defined Trump. I even cited a comment from his niece, Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist:

“It’s hard to see how anybody thinks my uncle is tethered to reality.”

Creating Your Reality

In this article, I would like to explore this notion of reality in relation to Trump a little deeper. It’s commonly said in New Age and New Thought communities that people can create their own reality.

“ The Secret’’, a movie that became famous a couple of decades ago, was based on precisely this point: If one willed and worked hard enough, people could bend reality to their liking. I’m not going to argue that this is entirely mistaken, but I want to take a deeper dive into it because that view is exactly what Donald Trump believes in.

The Power of Positive Thinking

Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking was a runaway bestseller and one of the earliest proponents of this notion. Along with his father, Fred Trump, and attorney, Roy Cohn, Peale was one of Trump’s three critical mentors. Peale was influenced by New Thought writers such as Ernest Holmes (Science of Mind), Charles Fillmore and Napoleon Hill. They all believed the mind can influence reality directly.

In other words, as Gary Lachman said in his book Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump:

“This means that by merely thinking we can change the world around us. If that isn’t magical, I don’t know what is.”

In the early 1950s, Trump began attending Peale’s services at the Marble Collegiate Church on New York’s Fifth Avenue with his parents.

From Peale, Trump learned to use positive thinking to attain his goals. Lachman says:

“The idea that winning was everything was brought home in those Sunday services.”

Lachman goes on to say:

“Trump took Peale’s teachings as a kind of scripture and suggested he won the approval of his mentor. ‘He thought I was his greatest student of all time,’ Trump, no practitioner of false modesty, reported.

“Peale taught Trump to think only of the best outcomes—to, in the words of an old song, ‘accentuate the positive, and eliminate the negative.’ ‘The mind,’ Trump believed, ‘can overcome any obstacle. I never think of the negative.’ No wonder he’s convinced he’s a winner.”

Have No Doubt: Ignore Facts if Needed

Part of this belief system is your firm belief in your heart of hearts that the reality you desire will happen, and if facts get in the way, ignore them. There can be no doubt, and we see that exhibited by Trump in his denial of his election loss.

We also see his supreme confidence that he’ll win the upcoming election. He claims he already has an overwhelming lead in the polls along with the critical battleground states, implying that if he loses the election, it must have been rigged or stolen. Again, the total focus is on winning. As the song says, “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.” Trump believes it’s impossible for him to lose.

Little “r” realities and Big “R” Reality

This idea, that we can create our own reality if we just work hard enough, is fascinating. However, if you look at it from a broader perspective, it implies each individual reality is competing with everyone else’s. So, how can everyone create their own reality? Wouldn’t that lead to competing realities where not everyone can win?

Imagine two or more people running for president or competing in a sports event. All believe that if they work hard enough, victory is theirs, but of course, that means those others, working just as hard, will lose. Not everyone can create the reality they desire.

What if Little “r” realities Conflict?

So, how does this work? How can this work when one visualized future conflicts with another’s? If there is no other measure than the strength of a person’s will to determine the outcome, it means only those with the strongest will win.

It’s a kind of “survival of the fittest” mentality, or might makes right. Is there any morality or any sense of right and wrong in this endeavor? It appears to be a battle of egos and the strongest or mightiest wins. If ego was the determining factor, there’s no doubt that Trump would triumph for no one has a bigger one.

I would call the individual realities people strive to create little “r” realities of the ego, but is there also a big “R” Reality that supersedes all of this? I would argue there is and I would also say everyone is innately connected to this big “R” Reality. We bury that connection only when our egos overshadow it.

What is Big “R” Reality?

There is a Ground of Being (big “R” Reality) that some might call the Tao, Brahman, the Universe, Spirit, or God. The question then becomes how these little “r” realities connect to the big “R” reality.

It would seem that if the little “r” realities are disconnected from the big “R” Reality, they won’t be in harmony with the evolutionary intention of the larger Reality. That doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t succeed in the short term, but will fail in the long term. They are governed by the selfish motives of the ego and not by the Will of the Universe.

Trump’s Vision is Disconnected

Donald Trump’s version is not in harmony with this larger Reality. It’s why his campaign has taken on a darker and more forbidding tone, his speeches filled with hate, fear, racism, sexism, and intolerance. It’s why, as Vice President Kamala Harris says, he has become “unhinged.” He is disconnected from reality, imprisoned in his ego, and it is why I call him insane.

For this “Power of Positive Thinking” to work, it must be connected to this deeper reality. In other words, we must subsume our egos, our little “r” realities, to this big “R” Reality. That doesn’t necessarily mean our efforts will bear fruit, although the chances would be enhanced. It could be that it’s just not our time. Maybe the world is not ready for what we have to say, or perhaps we must keep refining our message to resonate with people.

Donald Trump’s view of the Power of Positive Thinking is deranged and unhinged because it comes solely from his ego and selfishness, completely disconnected from big “R” reality. It’s all about himself and has nothing to do with what’s suitable for others, the planet, and the universe.

That doesn’t mean he can’t win, but if he does, it will be a disaster for everyone, as people will quickly discover.