Don’t believe everything you think

On a car in front of me I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Don’t believe everything you think” (riffing off the common phrase, “Don’t believe everything you hear”). It caught my attention because from my experience, we have reason to be a bit cautious of our own human thinking.

Why? Because human thought tends to fixate on problems, see things myopically, and focus on ourselves as being at the center of everything. That’s not to say there aren’t valuable human thoughts, too. But I’ve found that there’s a higher source that uplifts thought and inspires a more consistently productive take on things.

This source is God, divine Spirit – who, in truth, is at the center of all that is.

Scripture points to this distinction between mortal thoughts and thoughts inspired by God. Thousands of years ago the prophet Isaiah recorded God’s communication, “My thoughts are not your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8).

Let’s consider for a moment the difference between mortal thought (or something separate from God) and spiritual consciousness (which flows out from God, the divine Mind). In “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” the founder of Christian Science writes, “When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness” (Mary Baker Eddy, p. 264). And then later in the book she affirms that in truth we have “no separate mind from God” (p. 475).

As children of God, we’re wholly spiritual, expressing the divine consciousness – the only valid consciousness. Thoughts that aren’t from God are actually counterfeits. As we yield in thought to the divine Mind that is actually our only Mind, healing, progress, and solutions are revealed.

One time I was standing on the rail of a work truck when I slipped and fell heavily on my chest, significantly injuring myself. I was out of town at the time, and my immediate thought was that this was going to have a serious negative impact on what I needed to get done during the trip. And at first I almost believed what I was thinking.

But then I paused that distressed line of thought – which was stuck on fear and what I felt physically – and considered in prayer, “God, what do You know about this situation? And what do You want me to know about You and about myself?”

After making my way back to where I was staying, I got still and listened for answers to those questions. The result was an immediate quieting of the fear. I saw that good cannot be lost because it comes from God. Beginning to see myself as God does – spiritual, undamaged, painless, whole – I felt expectant that that grip of pain would release and that God, good, would reveal a way forward.

I spent some time studying the Word of God as revealed in Scripture, and reading Science and Health, which teaches how to put what Christ Jesus taught and demonstrated into practice today. I mentally affirmed what I was learning about God’s children as 100 percent true about myself. Thoughts from God are good and lead only to more good. When I noticed myself feeling afraid or stressed, I sought to yield up those thoughts and hear what God was revealing about both Himself and me. And I listened for each restorative, comforting message from God.

The result was healing. After a short period spent in prayer, I continued on with the purpose of the trip, unhindered. I was able to complete my objectives and return home not only satisfied with the outcomes but significantly blessed by a deeply meaningful healing.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote, referring to Christian Science, “The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind” (Science and Health, p. 162). In releasing any sense of ourselves as separate from God, divine Mind, and embracing spiritual consciousness, we increasingly find that we can trust the quality and content of the thoughts that come to us.

It’s valuable to be alert to our thoughts and not to accept everything we think as fact or even reality. Each day, we can take the opportunity to quiet human thought by consciously yielding to the divine Mind – and the result will be healing.