Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
HOW TO TRAIN OUR THOUGHTS
THOUGHT is the first step in all activity, i.e., we cannot do anything without first thinking about it, either voluntarily or involuntarily; and all thought is under our control, for we control involuntary thought by directing the habits, inclinations, temperament, etc., which in turn direct the action. Having cultivated more or less determination to strive earnestly for better things, it is easy enough with most of us to command our voluntary thoughts, and therefore to avoid doing the things that are commonly looked upon as wrong; but it is the much more important involuntary thoughts that need attention; for we are judged by the acts that we do in emergencies,—spontaneously, on the spur of the moment, when there is no time to think out a program. That which one does under stress of unexpected conditions is taken by people generally to be a display of his real character; as, when one is under some unusual influence or strain that seems to take him out of what commonly passes for his true self, it is popularly said to be "the real man showing himself."
Whenever the subject of judging another—the necessity of manifesting a spirit of broad charity at all times, in short, of loving our neighbor—comes up for discussion, we may argue—and sincerely, too—for the loftiest idealism, and perhaps cause our listeners to think, "What a good man he is to think of others so kindly!" But imagine the effect on one of these onlookers if he should hear us reply angrily to an impatient exclamation from an overworked and harassed street car conductor, or abuse a telephone operator! What would he think if he heard us burst out in criticism of public or private individuals on account of some suddenly manifested injustice? Thus it is that all the effect of our carefully expressed idealism is swept away by our failure to practise what we preach. That old school precept, "Actions speak louder than words," rises up to confound us.

July 25, 1908 issue
View Issue-
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND CULTURE
REV. ARTHUR REEVES VOSBURGH.
-
LOYALTY
GERTRUDE RING.
-
HOW TO TRAIN OUR THOUGHTS
C. W. JENNINGS.
-
SCIENTIFIC PROGRESSION
SEYMOUR KNIGHT.
-
THE RECENT CONVERT
CASSIUS M. LOOMIS.
-
A CALL
MARIE HEDDERWICK BROWNE.
-
If all thinkers were to accept the dictum of Miss Reed,...
Frederick Dixon
-
In every step Christ Jesus took he counseled with the...
Rev. H. G. Greensmith
-
"By their fruits ye shall know them" is a saying which...
Ida T. Hodnett
-
No Christian Scientist with any knowledge of the subject...
J. V. Dittemore
-
MRS. EDDY TAKES NO PATIENTS
Editor
-
A WELCOME ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Archibald McLellan
-
FOR GOD
John B. Willis
-
"THE MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD."
Annie M. Knott
-
LETTERS TO OUR LEADER
with contributions from Frederick Dixon, John B. Stanton, Dorothea Lowe, E. Margaret Chick, Bird Stewart Scotland, Gertrude Beasley Morris, Mary Brookins
-
THE LECTURES
with contributions from F. A. Line, John D. Works, Charles Grilk
-
Although I had been a church member for forty years,...
Christiana V. Turner
-
It is just a little over two years since I began the study...
John Stuart Findlay, Jr.
-
I would like to tell what Christian Science has done for...
Edward B. Jewell
-
Christian Science has been of so much help to me during...
Louise Blanchard
-
I became interested in Christian Science about two years...
Maude E. Skinner
-
In giving my testimony I must be numbered among...
Lora Young Olney
-
Thinking it may help or encourage some other seeker...
Della H. Gardner
-
VISION AND EXPERIENCE
REV. MARTIN SINDELL.
-
FROM OUR EXCHANGES
with contributions from W. B. Selbie, William E. Barton, George A. Gordon, John Clifford