Texts: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2)
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
The Bible is not a mental health textbook. But it does recognise that our hearts and minds can be a battleground. Jesus explained, “For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” (Matthew 15:19-20). Emotions and thoughts, our rich inner life has many terms in the Bible including heart, mind, soul, and spirit.
How did the ancients see the human person? As a generalisation Greeks tended to divide the body with flesh and spirit, but the Hebrews were more holistic and saw the spirit of a person representing whole person towards God. Thus, a man or woman in prayer would be in their spirit. Today I like to explore the role of negative thoughts as they influence how we feel and how we relate to God.
- Thoughts
Think for a moment about your thoughts. What percentage would you estimate are positive? Negative?
There is abundant scientific research which has established a close connection between our thoughts and how we feel. If we tend to think about the future and what might go wrong, we tend to be anxious. If we look back with regret we tend to be depressed. If we keep re-experiencing terrifying past events, we may have something like PTSD. Voices and delusional thoughts are part of psychosis.
There is a sign in the state of Maine, USA where a paved road gives out to a dirt road. In winter the mud freezes and there is a sign, “Choose your ruts wisely, you will be in one for the next 9 miles.”
Consider the humble thought. It simply is. Thoughts are what minds produce. It is like a counterfeiter who prints money, minds produce thoughts.
For example, if I ask you to think about a pink elephant say in a tutu. This is of course an absurd thought. I could have asked you if you thought the moon was made out of Swiss cheese. This is to illustrate that a thought is simply a thought. It does not establish the reality of elephants in tutus or the substance of the moon.
One of the problems with negative thoughts is that we tend to think that a thought is more than a thought. We have ‘hot thoughts’ which we are tempted to believe have substance. Say you have a negative thought such as “I am a bad person” you might think of it as a legal verdict, spoken by an Old Testament prophet or from God him or herself.
There has been a recent emphasis on mindfulness in mental health including clinical psychology. This is all about paying attention, focusing on something rather than being on ‘autopilot’. Mindfulness has something to say about our negative thoughts.
Generally, there are two therapeutic approaches to dealing with negative thoughts. (a) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) would encourage you to notice your thoughts, perhaps record them in a thought diary and to begin to actively dispute them with rational argument. It is a ‘talk back’ approach.
(b) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) would encourage you to notice your thoughts, but with gentle curiosity to simply accept them as nothing more than thoughts.
TO DO: Think of a hot thought that you have about yourself, usually judging or making you feel bad. Then try saying: it’s just a thought. It has no substance it is nothing more than a thought which my mind produces.
This leads to an important principle of thought de-fusion. De-fusion is to separate the thought from the negative emotion, to de-fuse it. This is an ACT concept. There are many ways to do this and all help to take the heat out of the thought. A few suggestions to try:
- Imagine yourself writing the thought on a piece of paper and then dropping the paper into a stream which floats it away. Since this exercise remains mental you will not pollute the environment!
- Imagine a sky writing plane writing the thought in the sky and then watch it slowly break up and disappear. When the thought returns (it usually does!), simply repeat the exercise.
Portia Nelson wrote an Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters:
I
I walked down the street, there is a deep hole in the sidewalk, I fall in. I am lost, I am helpless, it isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
II
I walked down the same street, there is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again, I can’t believe I’m in the same place, but it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
III
I walked down the same street, there is a deep hole in the sidewalk I see it is there. I fall in, it is a habit. My eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault I get out immediately.
IV
I walked down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk, I walk around it.
V
I walk down a different street.
If you find that you are routinely struggling with negative thoughts, then I suggest you find a different way to deal with them. You might walk down a different street!
- Spiritual Disciplines
The idea of having a better focus for our thoughts is in our spiritual tradition. The Bible frequently talks about the spiritual value of meditation. Psalm 1 begins: “Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take a path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers; But their delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water which yield their fruit in due season and their leaves do not wither. In all they do they prosper.” (v1-3)
The idea of mindful noticing is in Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount, “Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, and how they grow; they are neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:28-29).
Last year I saw a couple of movies for the second or even third time. In both there was the theme of ‘Lost in space’. In the wonderful Australian movie The Dish the crew at the Parkes radio telescope lost Apollo 11 on its journey to the moon and they were desperately searching for a reference point. One of the engineers said, “We know they are going to the moon, we can look on that trajectory.” The second movie was Apollo 13 with its catastrophic failure of almost every system on a spaceship. The craft was returning from circling the moon. They needed a reference point to plan their re-entry to earth and once again it became the moon. There is a similar truth in our spiritual tradition that we need to orient ourselves to God – the still point in our lives.
The Eastern Orthodox Church has a tradition of repeating a piece of liturgy or a Bible verse to help our mental focus on God. For example, “The peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). Notice that the verse has both protective and encouraging aspect to keep the focus on our Lord Jesus Christ. The eastern tradition has the insight of repeating “The peace of God passes all understanding”. It is a form of repetitive prayer which becomes like breathing, in and out, resting in the presence of Christ.
Edmund Sherman said, “Silence is the language of the Lord and anything else is a bad translation.”
Conclusion
Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks. He thought for a moment and answered, “because that is where the money is.” It is a simple but profound insight that our focus is to be on Jesus Christ because spiritually “that is where the money is”. Negative thoughts, or curiously even overly positive thoughts, are nothing more than a distraction.
The Rev Dr Bruce A Stevens (PhD Boston University, 1987) was the Wicking professor of Ageing and Practical Theology at Charles Sturt University 2015-2019. He is a clinical and forensic psychologist. He is currently the supply minister at GUC.