My thoughts are that positive thinking, like any other tool, is needed at certain times during our journey. Past that point, it may not be useful anymore, or it may continue to be. Nevertheless, it is still useful, even if people eventually "evolve" past it. The mistake is in saying that it's not useful when you personally don't need it anymore; it's still useful for others.
In terms of consciousness, each level is a boon to the level below it, and a bane to the level above it. But it doesn't mean it's "good" or "bad", it's just a stage you go through one way or another.
I tend to lump positive thinking, goal setting, time management, visualization/LOA/I-M, yoga/energy work into the category of rajas of the three Hindu gunas. The three gunas are tamas (lethargy, inaction, darkness, ignorance), rajas (passion, energy, desire, activity), and sattva (harmony, order, peace). I see the rajas as roughly corresponding to the levels of Courage to Reason/Love.
As an example, someone who is a lazy bum (tamas) might be motivated to earn a ton of money (rajas), and thus use positive thinking and motivation to drive him toward success. After a certain point, he might realize that he could be happy whether he was poor or rich (sattva), and there is no need to see the "positive" in every situation anymore, whatever outcome is ok. Surprisingly, that's usually when success starts coming to you whether you want it or not. That's when you don't have to work for your goals, they just become attracted to you via synchronicity; the "wantingness" doesn't repel things anymore, you've gotten over caring about it one way or another.
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