Frank B. Robinson
(1886 – 19 October 1948)
About New Thought Author Frank B. Robinson
Frank Bruce Robinson was an American New Thought author and spiritual leader.
Robinson was a pharmacist in Moscow, Idaho, and the son of an English Baptist minister. Robinson was also a member of the Salvation Army for a short time. He studied in a Canadian Theological school but would later reject organized religion in favour of the New Thought Movement.
In 1928, Frank B. Robinson also founded the spiritual movement and New Thought organization Psychiana. It began and largely remained a mail-order enterprise.
Robinson desired to share his new-found spiritual insights with others and began typing out a series of lessons. In 1929, he borrowed money from aquaintances and spent most of printing his lessons and placing an ad in Psychology Magazine, in Spokane Washington. The advertising agency refused to run the ad, stating it was so badly written that noone would care to read it. But Robinson was determined and believed in his message.
After the ad was finally printed it pulled in over 5,000 responces. Robinson placed the ad it numerous other magazine, always pulling in a large response for the audiences. Within a year it became almost a full time job fulfilling the mass requests for his books and lessons, soon shipping out millions of pieces of mail a year from his office in Moscow, Idaho.
The first advertisement of Psyciana featured a picture of Robinson with the headline "I TALKED WITH GOD (yes I did, actually and literally)." Those who expressed interest in Robinson's promises of health, wealth, and happiness by responding to his ad were offered a series of bi-weekly lessons by mail on a subscription plan.
It became the most widely read advertisement of any period, appearing in over 100 newspapers, magazines and on over 60 radio stations simutaneously, even in other countries, all within the first year of running the ad.
Robinson would end up receiving over 60,000 peices of mail per day, and it is said that the post office of his small town had to relocate to a larger building to handle all the incoming mail. All this led to Robinson being nicknamed the ""Make-Order" prophet".
Frank B. Robinson owned his own printing presses and started a small publishing company, which offered many of his own books on various spiritual themes. The ideas that Robinson expressed in Psyhciana, grew out of the metaphysical tradition, later being classifed as New Thought. Robinson adopted concepts such as affirmations, positive thinking, self-help principles and mental healing. Robinson made little effort to establish any organization structure for his work beyond his headquarters in Idaho, preferring to operate strictly on a personal correspondence level. Robinson claimed the name Psychiana had come to him in a dream and envisioned it become a worldwide spiritual and revolutionary force.
Some people were offended by some of Roninson's ideas, particularly because of Psychiana's "businesslike" nature, and due to his somewhat harsh criticisms of conventional Christianity. Deportation proceedings were intiated against him in a federal court in Idaho when his opponents claimed he was illegally residing in the United States. Robinson contended that although he had been raised in England, he had been born in New York City while his father was visiting the U.S, and therefore was a U.S citizen. But Robinson was still ordered to leave the country, and eventually travele to Cuba, where he stayed briefly while Idaho Senator William Borah intervened on this case in his behalf, helping him to obtain a Visa. Robinson was soon back in Idaho and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1942.
After Robinson's death in 1948, Psychiana's operations were continued by his wife, Pearl Robinson, and son, Alfred Robinson; however, the organization failed to survive for more than a few years afterward.
Resources:
Psychiana.com
Psychiana - The Lessons
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