Thinking under control
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. John 15:1-6 [0]
The I AM is the vine, the branches and fruit represent our work. Given that the I AM is primarily expressed in thinking these branches can represent our thoughts. Are our thoughts fruitful or are they withered? Fruitful thoughts would be full of courage and boldness. They would honest and open. They would embrace the future and all that is new, they would be creative, productive and uplifting.
Withered thoughts are negative. They would be the thoughts of not being good enough, of not being able to achieve, of not being worthy. On the other hand they could be the thoughts that over estimate our ability. Or they could be thoughts that continually revisit bad experiences preventing us from moving on. They would also thoughts that are judgmental of others; premature thoughts that under value others. They can also be our abstract thoughts or anxious thoughts.
Rev Mario Schoenmaker often stressed the need to be in charge of our thinking. Thinking must be clear and objective he often said. Can we control our thoughts? When a destructive thought begins to form in our soul how soon can we nip it in the bud? Thinking is a tool of the I AM and the more our I AM can use this tool, the more controlled our thinking will be.
Thinking is not simply the product of our brain as we are led to believe. Thinking is a spiritual element that we take into ourselves. If we drink water we don’t say that the water came out of our tongue do we? Nor do our thoughts come out of our brain; the brain and its nerves are the conduit for our thoughts.
This flow of thoughts can be conscious or unconscious. The unconscious flow of thoughts belongs to an ancient consciousness, we could call it psychism [0]. The conscious flow of thoughts belong to the new human consciousness which we can call clairvoyance – clear seeing.
“Every time you have a thought, as it is happening in your brain, it is also happening in the Cosmos,” says Rev Mario in his lectures on the Book of Hebrews (Lecture 32). He explains that when we can really experience thinking as a cosmic rather than a personal event we assist Christ and become co-creators with Christ. Then, through our effort, the deterioration of thinking in the world is reversed. What a huge responsibility!
If we take this seriously the first thing we realise is that our thinking is no longer private and personal. What we think is everybody’s business because what we think affects the whole Cosmos. This is why Christ is telling us that the I AM is the vine and the Father is standing by with the snippers.
Thinking is an extraordinary resource. Rev Mario regularly said that we have to see spirit in every manifested thing. If we can’t see spirit in all that meets our eye; the other person, or the food we are eating, etc. then think it! With our thinking we can remind ourself that the world around us is pulsating with spiritual beings shaping and forming physical matter. Each day we can try to make a point of thinking to ourselves when we look at a flower, “the shape, the colour, the smell of this flower is the result of the activity of spiritual beings”. When that experience becomes real to us we are filled with awe.
Those who are serious about controlling their thoughts can set aside five minutes each day to think about one particular object; a needle or a pencil. Goethe did this for hours at a time and then he came to the idea of the Ur-plant. Hold the pencil in your mind and think about its shape, its length, its lead, think about how it is made. Think as many thoughts about the pencil as you can but do not allow any other thoughts in. When another thought intrudes use your will to remove it. It is the will that can control thoughts. If you can hold the pencil easily in your thoughts for five minutes then try to do it for ten minutes. In this way we can strengthen our will. Then we will give life to our dead thinking though our own efforts and we will be a co-creator with Christ – abiding in him and he in us.