From Working with God by Gardner Hunting, Unity Publication, 1934.
Let's think about positive thinking. there is a popular superstition that the public does not want to think, is that true? Everybody who has lived long enough to become aware of having any interest in anything finds pleasure in positive thinking. They think often about their own pet subject or project and they love to do it. We think about what we are interested in. It is a great pleasure to do so.
We often do not realize the source of the pleasure we enjoy. We fancy that it is the easy chair, the satisfactory dinner, the comparative peace in the house after the children have gone to bed, or the opportunity to let go after the strain of the day. We feel the soothing of our nerves, relaxing our muscles and taking the burden off of our brain. But it is not these activities, it is the sheer satisfaction that always comes from letting loose the one great faculty that we possess—thinking.
We do the average person at great injustice in assuming that they do not think or that they do not want to think. They seem to take some opinions ready-made from newspapers or from other people. Why do we often conclude that a person has no ideas of their own? When we fall into this notion—that a person does not think—we are misunderstanding about thinking.
We think clearly about some subjects and muddily about others. Why? Because we are interested in some subjects and not in others. Know that we spend most of our time with our own thoughts. It is frequently said that thinking is an exceedingly difficult and unattractive job. This is not true. If we choose to think about a particular subject, it is because we prefer to think about it. Thinking is some of the best fun we can have.
If a student does not show an aptitude for studying in school, the teachers are prompt in declaring that the student finds it hard and distasteful to think. But, give this person something that vitally interests them and they will produce many original thoughts.
We may misguide ourselves by believing that an achievement is better than thinking. Some say that the result is the goal of thinking but that is not it at all. As soon as a thing is achieved—as soon as the result is accomplished—the person may drop it and care little for it. Then a person rushes off on a new tangent; after a fresh hobby. The real pleasure is in the first undertaking and the subsequent thoughts that successfully draw attention to a subject. The pleasure lies in thinking about new things and not in the possession of a previous result.
For example, watch a little girl building or arranging her dollhouse. It is tremendous fun—absorbing every faculty—just as long as it is in the doing. When the task is done, energy flags and concentration vanishes. The busy hands drop. Weariness appears. But... let someone with a working imagination suggest new arrangement for the dollhouse and the little daughter takes on fire again and is not a bit tired.
01/28/24