How do you fill your mind so full of the Christ...

[Just Me]

...that there is no room for error?

I am struggling with a difficult physical problem and have been for too long. I've also been working with a practitioner during this time.

I seem to have too many negative thoughts pop in my consciousness. How can I keep a clear consciousness all the time? Especially with physical discomfort?

Thanks for your input.

[LoraHoward]

Just Me,

Good question. We all deal with that one! The answer is to watch your thoughts, kick out the bad ones and put more good ones in--all the time. There are a number of ways to do this that are simple. The deal is that we have control and full responsibility for every thought we have. Since that is true, we can choose what to think. But it is often an effort to think good, especially in situations as you are having right now. There is a reason MBE called it mental "work."
Some means to the end are--read the hymnal, one hymn after another; think of the many qualities associated with each synonym, and then then think about how each synonym and those qualities, apply to you and all Man; watch your thoughts and catch some negative ones and say that there is no such claim, because of what the Truth is. For example,"This will never be healed, and I'm tired of hurting." To that, say," This is a claim of AM. It is not me, no matter how it seems. There is no past or future to that wrong suggestion and I refuse to affirm it NOW. Spirit is actual substance, and as Sprirt is Life, which manifests health only, that is me. I am not outside of God." ;When that doesn't seem to work for you, read some CS literature, or practice your favorite hobby.
I know all this sounds maybe like stuff you have heard, but those are the tools. The problem is AM wearing you down or catching you off guard, so you feel overcome or victimized by it. But those are lies and at any point, we can go back to what we know is true, using the simple tools at hand.
Sometimes, when my mind is making those endless negative circles, I break it by forcing myself to think of 10 good things. And do that throughout the day. The way is to change thought--repent--and simple things you can believe in, done over and over, help.

--Lora

[Norbu]

Originally Posted by Just Me

I seem to have too many negative thoughts pop in my consciousness. How can I keep a clear consciousness all the time? Especially with physical discomfort?

Dear Just You,

There is just no way that we can keep the lid on a boiling pot. The human mind is like this. We cannot suppress the mental chatter. If you can apply kindness to yourself and not push thoughts away and not get tangled in them the mind can just slowly naturally become peaceful. It is your deepest nature that has a quality of peace and kindness and clarity; all you have to do is let it come. I'm not going to pretend this is always easy.

Perhaps there is an obstacle? There can be many kinds of obstacles: In the end they all come from some kind of lack of understanding and some kind of habit of thinking that ends up causing a problem. I can't pretend that finding one's way to the source of the problem is always easy either. I personally have spend many years understanding the "emptiness" (a Buddhist term) of the things we think are real and substantial; the things we cling to, to hold onto a sense of self; the things that cause us to foster poisonous emotions supported by justification, which is, in the end self justification.

I have only ever been able to find the way to stilling the chatter of the mind by meditation. I did find quite a lot of benefit from slowly repeating "God is Love" and "All is Love" over and over again slowly, feeling the meaning of the words. But this was based on the reasoning that only Love was the cause of all things because all things must be based on a relationship and the only quality of relationship that had a creative potential was one that was unconditionally loving and accepting. This unconditional loving is not one that is judgmental or wanting or needing some kind of result; it is a fountain of vitality that comes into the experience of now in a human frame.

Kind wishes,

Norbu

[David]

I’ve always found that it really helps to start with perfect God and perfect man. God is Mind, and, as God’s idea, I reflect and express Mind. In fact, I can’t think anything that isn’t an expression of Mind, an expression of God. Starting with this, and having the humility to keep any human mind out of the picture, gets results. We realize that we’re not helpless—that God is right with us giving us dominion over anything that’s not Godlike.

And all this is perfectly natural. I don’t have to make it happen. I like the way it’s described in an article called “The Activity of the Christ” that’s included in Anthology of Classic Articles, recently published by the Christian Science Publishing Society. The author talks about the coming of the dawn. It’s unstoppable. Even if all the people in the world worked together to stop the dawn, they couldn’t. The dawn comes—must come. And so it is with the Word of God. It can’t be stopped. The Christ reveals it to us, letting us know that there’s no separation between God and us. This puts an end to unproductive thinking—and it heals.

Sometimes it is a bit of a struggle to understand that the human mind doesn’t heal (and that it really can’t prevent healing). But Love gets us to this understanding. That’s the nature of Love: to help and to expose the utter unreality of anything that isn’t good. God, Love, is All, and the Christ is present under all circumstances to reveal this. God and Christ are working—are always working—and each one of us is the result of that work.

I hope that doesn’t sound theoretical. It really does work. The “battle,” so to speak, is God’s, not ours, and we can count on Him to be what He is: All-in-all.

[Caron]

Originally Posted by Just Me

...that there is no room for error?

I seem to have too many negative thoughts pop in my consciousness. How can I keep a clear consciousness all the time? Especially with physical discomfort?

Thanks for your input.

Dear Just Me,

My heart goes out to you, and I think this is a good place to ask your questions. I see some very good suggestions have been offered so far, and I'd like to add a few from my experience.

You naturally are seeking to feel more connected to God, so find those activities that bring you a sense of peace and joy; maybe singing hymns or other songs, playing music, doing some kind of dance, writing, or art, being out in nature, finding a Bible passage that means a lot to you that day and staying with it. Find new ways to do routine things. You want to break out of old patterns of thought and action, if they're not working for you.

Something else that I've found helpful is to not overreact to negative thoughts. See them for what they are: impositions from the atmosphere of world thought. Do they really have anything to do with YOU? If you feel they do, then you're more likely to try to fight them, instead of simply allowing them to pass on through. And they will. In themselves they have no power. A passage from 1 John has often been useful to me: "...greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."

Another passage that's helped me in times of physical and emotional challenge is, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Allow the Christ to minister to you. Don't fear for a moment that you are not good enough to be healed. You are worthy, a beloved daughter of God. "The king's daughter is all glorious within."

[Just Me]

That you have all taken the time to come here and help me with your thoughtful replies has brought me to tears. I feel so loved!

Thank you thank you thank you thank you...I am appreciating each one.

[JudyRae]

Dear Just Me,

What a wealth of suggestions and ideas you’ve had! It all goes to show that there is no formula, that each individual works through in their own way.

In this week’s Bible Lesson, we have the wonderful passage from Paul which includes these words: "...and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (II Cor 10:3-5)

Here is the passage from other Bible translations:

The truth is that, although of course we lead normal human lives, the battle we are fighting is on the spiritual level. The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God's warfare for the destruction of the enemy's strongholds. Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ. (JB Phillips NT)

….fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. (The Message)

Something I find helpful when negative and fearful thoughts try to come in is to add “Thus saith the Lord” at the end – for instance, “I am ill. Thus saith the Lord” – do you see how ridiculous that is?

Using that word has led me to something else I hadn't thought about for ages! I am a great Harry Potter fan – I just love the battle between good and evil that he stands for and the many lessons that he and his friends learn along the way.

The way the Hogwarts students learnt to deal with the ‘Boggart in the Wardrobe’ has some similarity to the way we learn to heal in Christian Science. A Boggart is a shape-shifter, which takes the shape of whatever frightens us the most. The way it is destroyed is simple, but requires force of mind - it is through laughing at it, and shouting the spell “Ridikulus,” in other words, seeing its ridiculousness, its unreality. (I’m sure JK Rowling must have met my former Norfolk (in the English countryside) builder, with his broad accent – he was forever shouting out “Ridikulus!”)

At first, the students were overwhelmed by the image of their fear when it shot out of the cupboard; (“To fear and admit the power of disease, is to paralyze mental and scientific demonstration.” Science and Health p. 376) but Professor Lupin encouraged them to stand up to their fear, imagine it clothed in stupid garments etc, laugh at it and whoosh, it was gone, because it never had any more reality than the fear manifested in the first place.

One of my favourite “Ridikulus’ shouts is this:
“Insist vehemently on the great fact which covers the whole ground, that God, Spirit, is all, and that there is none beside Him. There is no disease.”(Science and Health p 421)

We wipe the illusion, the mistake, off the blackboard, but then we need to put the truth in its place and we do this through finding the stillness, quietness and listening that enables us to commune with Love. It’s not what we know about God, but what God knows about us that does the healing (the revealing of the perfection that is already there). I have described a healing I had on post 28 of the “Crime Victims” thread which illustrates this. Another time, I saw so clearly, through 7 “yields” in the Lesson, that just like the moon does not shine through any struggle or effort of its own, but simply reflects the light of the sun, so all I had to do was to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” (Phil 2:5) Severe pain and disability from an injury were gone when I woke the next morning.

Hope this helps!

JudyRae

[LoraHoward]

Norbu,
Just me did not ask how to stop mental chatter,, but how to fill the mind with Christ. There is a distinction. Stopping what seems to be there is a negative approach, and actively filling up with good is positive.
The mind thinks. That's what minds do. Another fact is that one can't think two things at once. So it is perfectly possible to think Christ-like thoughts and, by so doing, there will be no room for negative "mental chatter."
Yes, this takes active effort, and it can seem difficult at times, especially at first--just like learning any new skill.
But there is absolutely nothing preventing us from thinking what we consciously choose. If we let our thoughts be undisciplined, we get to suffer the result of that. However, we have control of our own minds and what to put in them, and we can develop the skill to do that. Further, good Christ-like thought is actually true, so one has full support from one Mind which is our mind, in this activity.
Anything else is AM.

---Lora

[JudyRae]

Hi Lora,

Just Me needs our love and support, not cross-fire! Norbu was answering the bottom bit of her question, which he/she quoted and I could certainly feel the compassion there.

Surely though this is not about the human mind? Though Eddy is talking about accidents here, these words seem to me to point in the direction we should all be going in:

".. we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind,.." (Science and Health p 424)

JudyRae

[Norbu]

Dear Lora

Originally Posted by LoraHoward

Just me did not ask how to stop mental chatter,...

This is what Just Me wrote:

Originally Posted by Just Me

I seem to have too many negative thoughts pop in my consciousness. How can I keep a clear consciousness all the time?

Originally Posted by LoraHoward

...but how to fill the mind with Christ. There is a distinction.

I agree there is a distinction. There are many traditions that recognise the importance of the process of purifying the mind of self based thinking. Jesus asked “How can you take the goods from the strong man’s house if you do not first bind the strong man?”

Originally Posted by LoraHoward

Another fact is that one can't think two things at once. So it is perfectly possible to think Christ-like thoughts and, by so doing, there will be no room for negative "mental chatter."

I believe Just Me asked a specific question and I offered and answer from my experience. Your experience may be different, but from my experience it is often not so easy over-ride the chatter of “mortal mind” or to suppress “aggressive mental suggestion” just by thinking Christ-like thoughts.

Also this distinction, breaks down when in silent meditation or contemplation, the “Christ” presence fills the experience. This happens, from my experience, when we actually let go of our “thinking” and we notice that we are no longer trying to correct anything at all.

Originally Posted by LoraHoward

...there is absolutely nothing preventing us from thinking what we consciously choose. If we let our thoughts be undisciplined, we get to suffer the result of that.

I accept that the first step is to recognise that undisciplined thinking results in suffering but, from my experience, there is a little more to it than merely choosing to think in one way and not another.

Originally Posted by LoraHoward

However, we have control of our own minds and what to put in them, and we can develop the skill to do that.

We need a degree of mental stability before we can be the master and not the servant of our thinking processes. We need a degree of focus before we can even recognise the “strong man” to bind him.

Again, from my experience, and I accept we all have different capacities, training the attention to rest still on an object is the best means of developing this mental stability and then “binding the strong man.” From this base, understanding can remove the strong man’s goods from his house. Again, mental stability is needed to think clearly, to ponder over deeper things and to look kindly at our own faults. When the strong man’s goods have been removed we find there is no longer any need to bind him. We find that the house is, in fact, already filled with the spirit of “Christ.”

Originally Posted by LoraHoward

The mind thinks. That's what minds do.

The trouble is that the untrained mind is often so entangled in its imaginations that it thinks it is its thoughts. The nature of mind is spacious and joyous and filled with light. Thoughts emerge in this mind and then disperse. The thoughts pass like clouds in the sky but the nature of the mind through which they pass can neither be improved nor sullied by them.

Kind wishes,

Norbu