 The discordant thought often appears very suddenly in response to external suggestion, and sometimes that fact is made an excuse for allowing it to pursue its course. The plea is, "It came before I knew it;" but this does not justify any one in allowing it to continue. One can think in one direction just as rapidly as in another, and, if he chooses to do so, he can stop the discordant thought as suddenly as it appeared -- even on the very instant. The unexpected flash of anger can be cast out of the mind with the same instantaneous- ness that it started. There is no difference in the rapidity of the different kinds of thinking. It takes no longer to think harmonious thoughts than discordant ones, and no longer to exclude the discordant though', than it did to admit it. If one is instantaneous, so may the other be. Though it takes a little time for the mind to send its orders along the nerve to the muscle, still, in itself alone thinking is very nearly if not quite instantaneous. Of course, in all this there are those thoughts which immediately precede an act, and others which were antecedent and contributory to it. The series may be a long one, running far back into the past. Before a man murders another, there must have been in his own mind thoughts of greed, envy, anger, hate, desire for revenge, or others of evil character. According to some statements of modern science, these may have followed one another through generations of ancestors. The first one of the series is more easily controlled than any of its successors, and destruction of the first prevents the birth of any of the others. They are all evil and discordant, and, under the rule, each is to be abandoned as soon as it appears, even though none of them point to any immediate "overt act." Indeed, the danger of the overt act does not constitute the greatest danger. That really lies in the first thought of the series. The woodsman can split the log if he can only make an entrance into the wood with the point of his wedge, and so it is with thinking. A person should not allow in his mind the smallest item of discordant thought, because it is there that the danger lies. It is the point of the wedge, and safety lies in not admitting even that. That wise old Chinese philosopher, Laotsze, said: "Contemplate a difficulty while it is easy. Manage a great thing while it is small." If the seed is destroyed, there will be neither the little shoot nor the rank weed to be uprooted and cast away. The trouble with many of us is that we do not understand, and we allow weeds to grow until they overrun the garden. Let there be neither hesitation nor delay. Discordant thinking gathers force and persistence with every moment it continues. Delay affords it an opportunity to entrench itself, and this only increases the difficulty. If one neglects the little fire, he cannot stop the big conflagration. The boy coasting, if he sees danger ahead, may check his first movement with very little difficulty. Whether the start is abrupt and the descent steep, or more deliberate in the beginning and the descent more gradual, the stop should be made with decisive promptness the very instant that danger is perceived. Halfway down the declivity, when the, velocity is great and the accumulated impetus is considerable, the stop cannot be made so easily. The boy may put down the brakes, but there is danger of accident, and he must "play the game out" even though he may conclude it sooner because of his efforts. The better and easier way is not to start; or, having started, to stop at the first movement. The discordant thought should be dropped out of the mind as quickly as a red-hot coal would be dropped out of the hand, and another and harmonious thought should be welcomed in its place with equal celerity. Prompt and decisive action here will save much future effort. |
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