4 January

Believing What You Think. Spirituality and Disaster

by Jon Katz
Believing What You Think

 

I got a meaningful message this morning from Sue in Arizona. She said something I wrote reminded her of a sign one of her Buddhist friends gave her some years ago: “Don’t Believe Everything You Think.” We can, she wrote, become prisoners of our thoughts, especially when we live in fear.

I believe this is so. We are conditioned to thinking a certain way – this is what we learned, how we grew up, what we saw our parents do, our siblings, what we see in our political leaders, from our journalists, from friends, our doctors,  on TV. It takes an extraordinary shock or strong will to break away from this thinking, to not believe everything you think, to live our lives framed by the fear, anger and gloom that surrounds us. Sometimes I think that life in America is becoming  a never-ending seminar on Disaster Preparedness – terrorism, environmental doom, illness, economic ruin, aging, health care,  poisoned and damaged foods.

Sue and I have made the same choices, for better or worse.  Everybody gets to make their own. She says she has chosen a spiritual life, and that means questioning “what I think when those negative, judgmental, fearful thoughts pop up, and instead replacing them with gratitude and looking for the good in my life..Living in fear is simply too stressful for me: I’ve been there and I don’t ever want to go back.”

Sue’s message spoke my mind That is, I think, the definition of a spiritual path – not believing everything you are taught to think –  and it does mean questioning what we think in the face of a world that is mostly moving the other way.  It is sometimes terrifying not to believe what I think, because what I think is who I am. And it is difficult for many people to follow or understand.

In recent days, a number of people have expressed concern that I am callous for seeking new ways to approach fear, grief, illness and loss. One man wrote me that I was naive not to accept that the world was in danger of imminent collapse. I suppose you would have to live with me to know for sure if I am callous or not.  It isn’t really a discussion I wish to participate in.   One of the things I believe in my spiritual search is that my life is not an argument. I am not running for office or seeking agreement or asking other people to do what I do. Like Sue, I mean to keep questioning the fearful way my mind has learned to deal with life. And change. Like Sue, I believe that living in fear is simply too awful for me, and I’m not going back there either. But that means something has to change, if it is not to stay the same.

Sue is a fellow pilgrim to me, and I thank her for the message, and  suspect we will meet somewhere along the way, on this curious and mystical path.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email SignupFree Email Signup