by: Richard Vegas
Many centuries ago there was a Greek philosopher who lived on the Aegean Sea and wanted to go to Carthage. He was a very well educated professor of logic, so he decided he should do the very thing he taught his students. Hmmm….What was it?
Have you ever heard you are what you think? Well, ok then, I'm a Cadillac. :>). Nah…that's not the kind of thinking I talking about. What do you really think you are? Hmm…Just how organized and orderly are your thoughts? How straight is your thinking? How clean are your thoughts? Uh oh…now I've stopped teaching and gone to meddling. :>)
You see, there are certain mental patterns of thoughts that invade the thinking of almost everyone, even the most genius of people. Negative emotions, beliefs, passions, and habits all become entangled in these patterns.
Sometimes you discover habits you would really like to correct. Sometimes you are strongly tempted to do wrong. And, then like a bug caught in a spider web you start kicking and fighting to get free.
What is happening? Your conscious will has found itself in opposition with your imagination, or emotions. And you feel the fangs of that black widow spider trying to suck the blood out of you. The more you kick, the tighter that web gets and the deeper those fangs go.
Ok, hot shot, so what do I do?
Well, I'm glad you asked. Some people just give up and we all know what the black widow does to the bug that gives up, right?
The human analogy of that is a mental torture. Other people learn to use the power of their subconscious mind and they get to eat the spider. That sounds tasty, uh?
We know that a bug may not be able to keep from being trapped in a spider web. And, once he is caught, it's pretty much history for that bug. But, we humans have absolute control over spider webs (thought patterns) that entrap us.
Because, we don't have to be trapped by our thoughts and can free ourselves from any undesirable thought pattern. But, to free ourselves we must use reason, in other words our logic.
Ah!! But, here's the rub.
We don't use reason alone. One of the fallacies of our thinking is to assume we always use logic. Not so.
In reality every conscious decision is the result of what we want to do. We make our own decisions.
When we are reasoning with our logic, we have the ability to reach conclusions that are most favorable to the strong inner urges of our subconscious mind. And this ability is present in everyone, even the smartest of people.
I'm getting there…I didn't forget him…:>)
I know, you want to know about our professor? Well, remember he wanted to go to Carthage. So, he studied the reasons he should go and the reasons he should not go. What he discovered was this; that for every reason as to why he should go, he discovered as many reasons he should not go.
What a revolting development!
Well, on the "should not go" side, he realized he might get sea sick. He knew the boat was small and might get into a storm and break up. He knew pirates were lying in wait for travelers. He knew if they captured him, they would take his possessions and sell him into slavery.
All his logic and reason was yelling, don't go. But he did. Why? Well, maybe he was more afraid of his wife than the pirates. :>) Don't you ladies get mad at me now, I'm kidding. I don't know. Stupidity? Nah… he was an educated professor. Well why then? Well, here it is, a true revelation, It was because he wanted to.
Yeah, because he wanted to.
Everyone should try to keep his emotions and logic in harmonious balance. You should never allow one to ever get the controlling hand.
So, sometimes it is good to do what you feel like doing. And, other times follow your logic and reason. History says he had a successful trip and made it back home to his wife. :>) Although rumor has it, that he got syphilis, I bet he wished the pirates had got him. Ha!
Then there was this old guy named Socrates. He went down in history as a pretty good thinker. Yet, he was plagued with stinking thinking too.
He fell in love with a "reeeeeal" hot number. She was sooo….beautiful. And Socrates was as ugly as a pig. He he.. But, he was very persuasive. Persuasive people seem to have the ability to get what they want.
And, he got her. They married and that's when his emotions (what he wanted) turned out to be his biggest problem. After the honeymoon, she began to see his faults.
He was very selfish and egotistical. So, she started nagging him. And, he always tried to prove her wrong..
If he had used that same persuasion to understand his wife, instead of always trying to prove her wrong, he would have prevented his stinking thinking from getting the controlling hand and dashing his hopes for the future.
Socrates would tell his friends, that he tolerated his wife's nagging to teach himself self-discipline.
Puke!! because his very actions disproved his words.
Just so all the guys won't be mad at me; his wife was not perfect either. The biggest fault of both Socrates and his wife was, each only wanted to see the toothpick in the other's eye and completely ignore the 2 X 4 in their own eye.
So, think about that and go home and kiss your spouse. :>)
Richard Vegas © 2002