a blog written August 2011

If a man thinks a rock is "ugly" and "worthless," that does not ultimately define the rock as "ugly" and "worthless." It may to the person criticizing, but those thoughts clearly would arise from his own emotional state. Sometimes people forget this and believe the external to be exactly what their thoughts say about it. Instead of "ugly" and "worthless" being just a thought, it may become the thinker's ultimate, unwavering idea of the rock. Taking internal emotions and possibly believing them to be the external world. Instead of it being a rock to the man, with many qualities, the rock IS undeniably ugly and worthless. The man may choose to ignore it's beneficial properties. It's possible he refuses to allow his mind to be flexible, to believe it could be anything other than his own thoughts about it. The making of his own feelings to be objective for the rock, unaware that it is much more than his mind is allowing. The rock is many things. A creation of the Supreme Being, a feature of Earth, a piece of ground that people have once walked upon, and of endless value. To the man, it is only his beliefs. He may be too closed off to even think he is part of this Earth. As people, this happens sometimes. A person may be in a bad mood and allow the entire day to be saturated with the mood. They may be unable to think past the mood. The down mood seems to be the permanent moment that will not change ever again. When really, five minutes from that moment, a new, brighter mood will unfold. When one opens their self to new modes of thinking, they can invite this into their mind. Our thoughts of the outer world are intertwined reflections of our inner world. If one is open enough and has the volition to, they can learn to appreciate the beauty of the outside world. A rock may suddenly have new significance and be realized to be part of God's majestic, immense creations. If a person consciously chooses to shut their self off from being appreciative, they will also be shunning some new, incoming ideas by their decision to be critical and have a negative outlook. It is part of our soul's journey to practice gratitude. By doing so, a person strengthens their relationship with God and the Heavenly. What could possibly be more important than that?