Thinking About Thinking
I’ll spare you a long diatribe about how long it’s been since I’ve posted anything and cut right to the chase in hopes that I can get back in the habit of posting things consistently again.
I have been ruminating lately (due to various conversations and readings I’ve partaken in) on the notion of thought and communication. I’m taken, naturally, with the wisdom in the Scriptures on these issues and can not seem to get certain passages out of my head. For one, I keep having Proverbs 10:19 run through my head, “When words are many, transgression is not lacking [NIV: ’sin is not absent’], but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.” For me, prone to talk too much, this message is essential. I unfortunately am most likely to think outloud, much to the detriment of those too impatient to listen to me work out my thoughts verbally. This has been a consistent struggle for me and one that I think has been to the annoyance of many friends and even my family (especially my own household). I can’t get this off my mind though; Solomon’s wisdom here is that it is rare that an abundance of words is going to be void of some self-serving quality. It’s not to say that if I say a lot I am automatically being sinful, but it does serve to make me pause and consider whether or not my words are worth saying and/or are in some sense self-serving. Am I trying to “enlighten” those around me? Am I trying to solicit sympathy from my hearer(s)? Am I just trying to get attention like a little child who doesn’t like to be ignored or dismissed? They are worthwhile considerations in my mind.
Secondly and of equal import is the notion of thinking itself (since I think verbally, this naturally is the root issue, it would seem). My wife and I were discussing the idea of distractions and senses as it concerns a tirelessly thinking mind. I find myself often trying to shut down one or more of my senses just so I can focus on something singular as a drill to keep my brain from going in too many directions at once. I have found it therapeutic over the years to help reel in my own thinking and keep myself from some sort of mental vertigo. It has served me well, but ultimately brings to mind a couple of other passages in the Scriptures. Both are from Paul’s letters and I think both have a strong bearing on how to handle our own thinking.
The first is Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” This idea of being transformed by the renewal of your mind suggests applying God’s redemptive grace to your thinking specifically so that you are not reeling from an unfocused mind. The temptation for me is to distract myself with something mindless or to listen to lyrical music or something to contemplate those words due to my mind spinning but ultimately this leads in the opposite direction of the solution. The solution, Paul intimates here, is to bring your thinking into focus by applying the redemptive renewal of God’s grace and gospel; not bring your thinking out of focus by distracting your thinking onto something mindless or trivial. I think there is a tendency for your brain to start to wrap itself around the trivial, then, which ends up exalting the trivial as important. Pretty soon, you have merely exchanged significant thought for trivial thought and now the focus of your thinking is on the insignificant instead of what truly matters.
The other passage that seems to speak to this is 2 Corinthians 10:5: “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” The idea here of taking “every thought captive to obey Christ” again insinuates this notion of reeling in our own thinking so that or thinking is focused on wisdom and God’s glory instead of spinning out of control. Here again, distracting the mind is merely trying to keep from thinking; the message is instead to apply a discipline to thinking so that it is sharp and focused, defined and captive to (or aligned with) the mind of God. It takes work, is often inconvenient and uncomfortable, but it must be done. I think it is the only responsible way to preserve the life of the mind. Cultivate it; do not quell it.
Ugh. I wish these things were easier. In a culture that gives us a thousand ways to numb the senses, it is an immense challenge to keep a healthy, cultivated mind. My hope and prayer is to be increasingly responsible in this way and to be ever-vigilant in seeing to it that I do not allow myself to be comfortably numb. In the busy-ness of the day-to-day, however, that temptation is far too enticing.
Peace.