Catherine Ponder's Ponderings: J. Sig Paulson

J. Sig Paulson

A Visit With Dr. Catherine Ponder about J. Sig Paulson

Sig Paulson is a name familiar to many 20th century New Thought students. He served as head of the Department of World Unity at Unity School of Christianity for many ears, thereby traveling the world for Unity. He also served for a long period as the popular minister of Unity Village Chapel, where people from around the world came to know him as they attended retreats and vacationed at Unity Village. Sig was also a best-selling author, with poems and articles appearing often in the Unity publications, and his books much in demand. Later he served Unity of Houston, Texas, before retiring. In the midst of all this activity, Sig took the time to serve on the International New Thought Alliance Executive Board and to help lead the New Thought Movement forward. He was "a man for all seasons" in the world of New Thought.

My first contact with Sig came when he invited me in the mid-1960s to serve as a field lecturer representing Unity School and to speak for six weeks in the many Unity centers and churches in Southern California. He felt that the spiritual message of prosperity was one that was needed by New Thought students everywhere. While on that trip, I was invited to Palm Springs by Countess Viola Lukawiecki, founding minister of the Unity Church of Palm Springs. Visiting Palm Springs for the first time was love at first sight. I vowed to return to live and write someday, and Viola strongly encouraged me to do so.

That day came nine years later, when I set up my global ministry in nearby Palm Desert and my first home in the desert in the old Hollywood Colony neighborhood of Palm Springs. Many early screen stars had either built second homes or had retired to the area. The Gloria Swanson estate and the Cary Grant estate were both nearby.

When I wrote to Sig, thanking him for first introducing me to Southern California and the desert, he sent back a poem he had written while visiting Palm Springs that had been published in the Daily Word magazine.

Earlier, in the 1960s, at his request, I also toured the state of Florida, lecturing in every Unity center, church, and study group in the state at that time. Although he later extended other lecture invitations to me to speak in various parts of the country on behalf of Unity School's prosperity teaching, I was unable to do so immediately because of my own growing ministry in Austin, Texas. Later, I spent the better part of twenty years on the New Thought lecture circuit.

The last time I had the occasion to visit with Sig and his vivacious wife, Janie, was at the International New Thought Alliance Congress in Honolulu. They attended the party I gave in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, known as "the pink palace." The hotel pre-dated World War II. It was a packed party, overlooking the famous Waikiki Beach with an impressive view of Diamond Head in the background. A delightful Congress followed.

Another International New Thought Alliance Executive Board Member later wrote me that he felt that party was the highlight of the Congress. I secretly felt that visiting with Sig and Janie was among the highlights for me. Little did I realize that would be the last time I would have the opportunity to visit or see either of them. Their love of Truth and their sharing it in their extensive world travels in the 20th century doubtless spread many seeds of Truth that are now bearing fruit in the New Thought movement on an international basis in the 21st century.

Through his insight and intetest in the spiritual teachings of prosperity, Sig opened many doors for me in the world of New Thought, for which I am most grateful. He launched me in my "have books, will travel" lecture ministry, thereby reaching numerous students for New Thought. He was also instrumental in introducing me to the Palm Springs area, where I have lived since 1973, conducted a global ministry, and quietly written books that have had a world outreach for New Thought.

And so a special word of thanks goes to both Sig and Janie Paulson. No couple ever worked harder for, or were more beloved and appreciated in the New Thought movement!

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