A Thought!

Do we become upset and depressed too easily? Do we often forget that the real wonder and beauty of life on Earth are its contrasts? I think we may also forget the power of our own minds. The mind is what determines our emotional response to any given situation and the mind is capable of controlling how we react. What is required is a measure of personal discipline, a quality that is often derided in these days when so many wear their heart upon their sleeve. I am not talking here of the iron will that hardens the heart against almost every emotional involvement. I am talking about the discipline that makes it second nature for us to look on the positive side of all and any negative occurrence. This discipline does not freeze our emotions but instead subjects them to the mind’s positive energy. Becoming emotionally involved in things makes life worth the living and if occasionally that means a certain amount of suffering then it is more than adequately compensated by those times of joy and even ecstasy. It is a natural reaction to become upset and depressed when receiving bad news concerning ourselves or others but it is another thing to become so affected by it that it colours all our thoughts and actions.

Change is a constant feature of our lives, even though at times it seems certain things will remain the same forever. It is ironic therefore that most of us have a fear of change. We forget that many previous changes brought positive results. We cling to the status quo as though to lose it will bring such dire consequences. All our past experience should convince us otherwise but . . . ! If only we can teach ourselves to examine changes positively, to look at the benefits they offer, instead of the drawbacks. This is especially so where bad news affecting others is concerned. Instead of feeling as upset and depressed as they may be, should we not be working out how we can help? How we can help them to not only face and overcome the challenge with which they are faced, but to look for the benefits that could flow from it if the right attitude is adopted.

What about bad news in general; the negatively angled news bulletins that seek to manipulate our emotional responses? Here above all should we be on our guard. Just as the mind has the power to convert negative events into positive in our own lives, or vice versa, so it also has the power to spread alarm and despondency across the world very quickly. It has the power to influence others subconsciously, for good or ill. If we fail to control our thoughts and our emotional responses, which add energy to those thoughts, a dark cloud of depression can quickly spread outwards. The more people react in this way, the quicker will the dark clouds spread. Thoughts are real, tangible things; they are not inconsequential, private things that we can keep to ourselves. Scientists who persist in denying the separate existence of the mind from the brain have caused immense damage. It is because of this that most people do not understand the power of thought, which is the product of the mind – not of the brain. Consequently, few make any attempt to control their thoughts in the same way they try to control their actions.

We have tended to view the evolution of human beings from a physical point of view only. Here again we are bedevilled by this scientific assumption that the mind is synonymous with the brain. Therefore, the evolution of the brain has been studied as extensively as that of the body. However, let us assume for a moment, that this is not the case. Let us assume the mind is independent. This would mean we need to study how the mind has evolved too, and It certainly has. The brain is used by the mind to control and to use the body in many different ways. The fact that the brain has evolved so much since early man is because the mind has evolved and it needs more brain to accomplish what it wants in the physical world.

All human progress began with a thought! That is it began with the mind. Nothing we have ever invented or law of nature we have ever discovered happened without the first step taken being to think. Renee Descartes was so right when he wrote, “I think, therefore I am.” Yet of all human attributes, the mind and its product, thought receive the least attention. Until we become more focussed on our thoughts and trying to control them, I believe the Earth will continue to be far too unhappy a place. The Earth is a beautiful place and everything that happens to us while we are here is part of growing and evolving into a better physical representation of our inner, spiritual selves. Let us try to welcome the challenges rather than dreading them.