The Thought Exchange is a self-help method developed by David Friedman, The method is being taught in Unity Churches [1] in the United States. It is also marketed as a series of products, including a book, a feature film and merchandise.
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The Thought Exchange explores the relationship of the interior world of experience to the physical world, and why people resist taking on new thoughts. In his book The Thought Exchange - Overcoming our Resistance to living a sensational life [2] Friedman claims that people don't live in the physical world, but in an invisible world of experience, in which human beings have infinite possibilities.
The method places focus upon experiencing human sensations and the understanding of where human sensations are coming from and how they affect human behavior. The method also encourages new concepts and ideas concerning psychology of self, in which the human experiences in the physical world are shaped by the way an individual observes them, much like a person looking in the mirror and observing his or her life as an avatar.
The basic principles put forth in The Thought Exchange method are:
1. "We do not live in the physical world but in the invisible world of experience."
2. "In the invisible world, we experience thoughts and sensations."
3. "These thoughts and sensations are experienced by an invisible “Observer” which is actually who we are."
4. "The physical world is nothing more than an exact mirror of our thoughts. As such, we do not cause things to happen in the physical world, but rather, we see our own thoughts when we look at the physical world."
5. "Whatever we’re thinking is what we see in the physical world."
6. "Thoughts generate physical sensations"
7. "People resist taking on certain thoughts because the sensations that accompany them are painful because of past experiences. In order to stay with a new thought, one must be able to stay with the sensations it generates, even if they’re uncomfortable."
The book deals with the concept of cause and effect as well, David refers to thought as “cause,” sensation and beliefs as “effect” and what human beings see appearing in the world as “mirror.”
On July 5th, 2011 Digital Magic Entertainment announced the release of the Thought Exchange film. the first teaser trailer was released on December 11th, 2011 by the production firm and the publisher, [3] . The film is scheduled to be released on March 15th, 2012 and will include appearances by David Friedman, Lucie Arnaz, Dora Rubin, Arje Shaw and others. The film was produced and directed by Usher Morgan, and is his first feature film [4]
The Thought Exchange book [2] was published by Library Tales Publishing on May 10th, 2011. The book was promoted on April 25th by Kathie Lee Gifford on the Today Show. [5]. In July 2011, translation rights to the Thought Exchange was sold to the PLS Literary Agency in Korea.
Following the release of the book, the Thought Exchange was marketed in other merchandise products, [6] including pamphlets, CD's, audiobooks and board games. on March 19th, 2011, Library Tales Publishing announced a publishing venture with David Friedman to represent the Thought Exchange. [7]
The first Thought Exchange group was founded as an artist support group in a Unity church. [8] [9]. The method is being taught in New Thought and Unity Churches in the United States [10]. The first few pages of the book include six sponsorships and quotes from Unity Church leaders.