The Secret Garden of Thought-Life
May 28, 2013/19 Sivan 5773
A well-lived life requires the person living it to take responsibility for and control over certain things that hold the potential to derail the entire ‘well-lived life’ process. The first thing that must be taken responsibility for and control over is his/her THOUGHT-LIFE.
To avoid getting derailed from the well-lived life track laid out for us one absolutely must take responsibility for and exercise control over the THOUGHTS he or she will allow to draw creative energy out of his or her soul. Just because a thought pops into our head does not mean we have to embrace it and nurture it, much less empower it with creative energy.
We have been empowered by our Creator with the capacity to control our thought life. We just have to take the bull by the horns and do it.
Only those thoughts which are consistent with the purpose and harmonious with the tenor of a well-lived life should be embraced, nourished, given the precious gift of our creative energy; other thoughts – critical, judgmental and self-serving thoughts derived from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – can . . . indeed MUST . . . be nipped in the bud. If these destructive thoughts are not nipped in the bud they will quickly sprout into opinions, attitudes, philosophies, imaginations, offenses, defense-mechanisms, and theologies which drain us of creative energy that we should be spending on our destiny, our calling, and the purpose for which we were given the breath of life at such a time as this. See Philippians 4:6-8.
Think of your thought-life as a garden over which you have been given responsibility. The garden is designed [a] to bring pleasure to you, [b] to enable you to practice co-laboring/co-creating with the Creator, and [c] to bring forth beautiful fruit that will nurture your family and everyone within the sphere of influence the Holy One has given you. But if you do not safeguard it bugs and weeds will take over, little foxes will spoil the vines and chase off the pollinators, and birds and unclean animals will sabotage and steal whatever fruit you still produce.
Take responsibility for your thought-life. If you do not, it will be next-to-impossible to build a well-lived life.
the Rabbi’s son
