Religion & Culture | Mental poisoning - Negative thoughts hurt the body

Oftentimes we are told by metaphysicians that we create our reality.

While this might prove a bitter pill to swallow, we are disingenuous if we marginalise the integral role that the mind plays in our environment, our physical and mental health and our interaction with each other.

Every thought is energy, a building block for creation. Every thought determines our state of mind. Every thought determines our well-being. You become what you think. If you dwell on evil, you will attract it. There is a saying that hatred of war will not bring peace, only love of peace will bring about that desired state.

And from the Bible there is a quote worth citing if only because, in metaphorical terms, it explains the power of our thoughts to bear fruit or create havoc:

Jesus said: "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

(Matthew 5: 28.)

 

Loaded guns

 

Negative thoughts are like loaded guns that will turn on their bearer. Envy, jealousy, greed, anger, lust, avarice, covetousness are all mental poisons that destroy us. The misguided, self-destructive mind harbours fear, doubt, resentment, hatred, tribalism, sectarianism, arrogance, hubris, boastfulness, entitlement, insensitivity and selfishness. Indeed, the list is exhaustive.

In a competitive world these poisons are overtly evident. The poisoned mind creates a life that is tortuous, stressful and anxiety ridden. These poisons also affect the body.

Psychosomatic disorders are physical ailments and diseases caused by a poisoned mind. It behoves us to sift and drain the destructive and harmful thoughts that cause unhealthy situations. We must remove the wheat from the chaff. In many ways it is a form of preventative medicine.

Our blessings come from our own efforts. Our curses come from our own hands. No one else is responsible for our predicaments. Every creation, decision or situation, begins with an idea or thought.

As the gateway to the creative source, our mind must be receptive to all that is ethically and morally wholesome. It must be quieted to produce positive, healing and healthy thoughts. An incorruptible mind produces good health and the right framework to go deeper into ourselves.

Conversely, destructive thoughts have a boomerang effect as they slowly chip away at our well-being, taking us down a precipitous slope towards self-destruction.

Any belief system that upholds kindness to our fellow human beings, animals, and nature, any system that promotes charity, truth, honesty, empathy, forgiveness and service to others will produce a blooming sense of being.

A sense of peace, wisdom, creativity and success is our reward when we have removed the poisonous thoughts that hinder our progress. We are given inherent capabilities to surmount just about every obstacle.

Thoughts are like snapshots that, once projected, are indelible; they are stored in chambers of the mind, impacting our lives unbeknown to us.

 

Negligible attention

 

Psychoanalysis attempts to peel away at these mental layers but is limited because of the negligible attention it gives to subtle thoughts that affect us.

Of the energy-like impulses of thoughts, Dr Jeffrey Palmer said: "Every thought interacts with the energy of the universe. Negative thoughts look for other negative thoughts to bind with. Eventually, a matrix of negative thought energy is created and forms a thought wave.

"These powerful negative thought waves manifest themselves in our lives in the form of poverty, crime, war, plagues and natural disasters. Negative energy creates a vacuum, it detracts from the life giving nature of the universe.

"Negative thought waves come in many sizes and have been known by many names: bad luck, misfortune, disaster, evil, curses, etc. Call them what you will, the source of their energy is the same. The source is us."

To eradicate the poisons from our consciousness we must serve selflessly, atone for our improprieties, and learn the power of forgiveness, the most efficacious of all attributes.

Congregationalist Henry Ward Beecher once said that forgiveness must be likened to a cancelled note - torn in two and burned so that it can never be used against another.

Christian author Lewis B. Smedes counselled that to forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.

And the following quote from the inimitable Dr Martin Luther King Jr offers the consummate antidote for mental poisoning: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

- Dr Glenville Ashby is the author of Anam Cara: Your Soul Friend and Bridge to Enlightenment and Creativity now in audio book format. His latest book: The Qigong Handbook for Good Health is now on sale at Amazon